When Trains Ruled the Rockies: My Life at the Banff Railway Station

This book is dedicated to my wonderful daughter Chantal,

without whose encouragement and support

I never would have gone the distance.

Who knew I could write anything?

It seems you did.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I – The Golden Years: When Trains Ruled the Rockies

The Canadian Pacific Railway

My Path to Banff: The Romance Begins

To Banff on a Train in 1948

Hollywood Comes to Town

The Trains to Banff: 1948 – 1954

Part II – Special Trains

Here Come the Royals

The Grey Cup Special

The Banff Springs Hotel Staff Trains

The Banff Winter Carnival Special

The Partners: From Station to Village to Resort

Communications Central

Part III – In the Train Station’s Backyard

The Ice House and the Water Tower

The Station Bush

Forty Mile and Whiskey Creeks

The Changing Ecosystem

Part IV – The Glory Years 1955 – 1962: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad…

Fabulous ’50s

Change and Innovation: A Revolution on the Rails

A Summer Day at the Station

Express and Freight: The Community Lifeblood

The Station Orchestra: Conductors, Photographers and Concessionaires

The Baggage Room

Lunchtime Fishing and the Quarters Game: Strange Perks?

Redcap Days: The Top of My World

A Very Social Caboose

Where Were You in ’62?

Part V – An Ending or a Beginning?

Moving On

Epilogue

Photo Gallery

About the Author

Foreword

By Marcia Pilgeram

Terry Gainer loves to talk about trains. After a 20-year-long friendship, I’m not surprised that we met over train talk when he simply cold-called me to do just that. At the time, I was the CEO of a small private rail company, and Terry – curious as always – wanted to talk about trains, specifically the one I was operating from Sandpoint, Idaho, to Livingston, Montana. He wanted to know exactly where we went, what kind of equipment we operated and all the other details. When you run a company, you take a lot of phone calls, but that call stuck out in my mind, and, after a while, I found myself looking forward to his increasingly frequent (and inquisitive) calls.

It wouldn’t be long before he was working with me. We collaborated over new tour routes, equipment and industry markets. Terry is a quintessential salesman: he’s talkative, friendly and extremely knowledgeable. While a business venture originally brought us together, it’s a deeply rooted friendship that has kept us together over the course of many years. We both were single parents with daughters of similar age (and the fact we both have Irish blood and the gift of gab weaved into our DNA didn’t hurt either). We both love to share a story or two, over a drink or two. But what we really had in common was our lifelong love of trains. I’ve yet to meet another individual who remembers more about a train – its route and schedule, the exact cars in the consist (and their layout) and, undoubtedly, the name of the conductor he’d met 40 years ago – than my pal, Terry. His extraordinary memory and recall is evident throughout every chapter of this book. His memory is like an old file cabinet, brimming with fascinating details of every train he’s ever encountered and every person he’s ever met.

I have never tired of his stories and had myriad opportunities to hear them as we often criss-crossed the country by plane, train and automobile to meet and collaborate with other train operators, cruise lines, travel agents and the occasional recruits for our growing team. Once, we had a chance to deadhead (reposition) a railcar recently purchased by our company from Chicago to Seattle, and we were positioned as the last car on Amtrak’s Westbound Empire Builder. For whatever reason, we thought it would be a grand idea to bring along a potential sales hire, ensuring we’d have some real quality time for a final interview with this promising candidate. We met at Union Station in Chicago and boarded the newly purchased crew sleeper/baggage car to begin our westward trip.

I’d brought along two days of supplies to nourish us along the route, but it turned out that the train line power had not been connected to our car. Thus, there would be no cooking and no lights, and worse, no air conditioning for our August journey. We left the baggage door ajar and sat on makeshift seats of metal crates and wooden boxes. Though I’d heard many of the train tales of Banff more than once, he told them so well that I always looked forward to hearing them again and again on that trip. We spent two captive days, regaled to the point of tears, with yet more tales of his youthful (mis)adventures. On the rare occasion when the train station stop was long enough, I’d hop off for some real food to share on our baggage-car adventure. And, in the cool of the dark evenings, long after our potential job candidate found his way to his sleeping berth, Terry and I passed many an hour in the baggage compartment, below the starlit sky, pondering the sad demise of real passenger rail service. I will long remember that trip (and the candidate, who not surprisingly, declined our job offer).

Terry has covered thousands of miles by train, and, besides our infamous baggage-car journey, I was lucky enough to have shared many other rail miles with him, perched high in a vintage streamliner dome car, taking in the panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains, where he’d arguably win the debate of whose range of the Rockies was more spectacular. I had to concede: we’ll always agree that nothing compares to his Canadian Rockies (though there’s a lot we still argue over to this day). Even now, I can almost hear the thundering roar of the crowd at the Banff station, and the awe of young Terry, as the sleek Canadian glided into the Banff station for the first time. Terry’s stories transport me to the halcyon days of Banff and the great trains filled with tourists, eager to explore the grand Canadian Rockies.

Over the course of 20 years, I’ve had the good fortune to visit his childhood land of legends and lore and anecdotes, and I’ve even walked a bit of the trail that leads deep into the woods and the den of the notorious Station Bush Gang. It’s not far from the Banff train station, where Terry came of age, in the streamliner age of rail travel. Over the course of his lifetime, he watched first-hand as the old workhorse steam engines were replaced with sleek new diesel locomotives, and dozens of trains rolled through Banff and her iconic mountains, providing unlimited opportunities for Terry and his band of buddies. I’ve met some of these boys and girls from Banff, and I marvel at how the bonds of friendship, cultivated a half-century ago, are still strong to this day.

From a small boy in a polished suit, travelling by train alongside his parents, to the young man who stood overhead the Banff train station to watch the arrival of the future queen of England on her Royal Train, Terry’s stories will fascinate you. You’ll be entertained by the escapades of this self-assured young man who donned the infamous redcap to manhood and then, with a pocketful of summer savings, headed halfway around the world. More than 50 years later, his wanderlust continues, and I frequently bid him farewell as he heads off on yet another adventure. But his heart is deeply rooted in his beloved Banff the Beautiful, and he’s never forgotten about his lifelong friends, The Boys and Girls from Banff. And after you’ve read the recollections of this adventurous young man, from a simple mountain village, I suspect you won’t either.

Preface

When Trains Ruled the Rockies is a history of the Banff train station and the surrounding community during the period 1948 through 1962. I draw on the memories and experiences from those halcyon years when I lived and worked at the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) station, as well as archival information and photos.

I decided to take on this project after visiting the station in the summer of 2015 to view the renovations begun by the new leaseholder. Their intent was to restore the station as close as possible to its original design. While impressed by the refurbishments and a display of original photographs adorning the walls, I was left with a hollow feeling. There was no story or evidence portraying the major role the railway and the station played in the community during the heyday of train travel. The station was the hub of the community and the largest year-round employer. Everything that arrived in Banff, including the tourists, foodstuffs and merchandise, came off the trains and through the station doors.

This book documents life at the station, the trains that came to Banff and the huge role the station played within the community. The evolving changes to life and landscape documented in the text and photos also reflect a period of rapid change in Canada generally. My own story of growing up at the station winds a thread through the narrative. Our arrival in Banff marked the beginning of my lifelong passion for passenger trains, at one time the most dominant means of transportation for Canadians but sadly fading into history. As my editor, Joan Dixon, noted, This story is a lovely and informative requiem. With the history of passenger rail travel in Banff relatively undocumented, it needed to be brought to life by a witness and participant, and added to the bookshelf.

Acknowledgements

As I completed the last chapters of this book, I began to realize how many people guided me though this project. It also occurred to me that the acknowledgments might be the longest section in the book because I’m indebted to so many.

My thanks begin with family. In the summer of 2014, I was describing my recent visit to the Banff station to my daughter Chantal. A refurbishment was underway and it was heartwarming to see the station finally getting a facelift, but I felt something was missing, that historic photographs alone would not tell the station story. I ventured the opinion, Maybe there needs to be a book or something. Chantal never beats around the bush, short and sweet and to the point, and said, Dad you lived there, maybe you should write it. Chantal, you gave me the final push and I started writing. Love you and thanks.

I connected with my sisters Sylvia and Frances and brother Fred, outlining the project. They are a few years ahead of me and their recollections of our move to Banff were much more vivid than mine. I doubt I could have provided the same accuracy and detail of our early years in Banff without their input. My brother Fred immediately began to provide me with anecdotes and recollections of life at the station, providing the photographs to back it up. During his school days, his hobby was photography and many of the images in the book he not only shot but also developed. Fred was the best big brother, breaking ground for me when we were kids, and here he was, 60 years later, helping me again. To my nephews Mark and Pat, I’m not sure what I would have done without your generosity, allowing me to bunk in at your respective dwellings for weeks at a time while I was researching the subject matter at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff. Frankly, I could not have written this without the support of my family.

Jim Alexander and I have been friends since the mid-1950s, working together at the station and fishing every worthwhile fishing hole around Banff. Now, as then, Jim has been an excellent source of information and I’ve hounded him repeatedly for the last two years. His recollections and clarification of subject matter were key in maintaining the accuracy I have tried to present about life at the station. Jim’s remarkable memory, and his recall of our days in Banff, is astonishing. Additionally, Jim provided me with the photos and information about his mother, Helen, who played for the famous Edmonton Grads. Jim, thank you for being my friend.

David Fleming is another Banffite who came to my assistance when I was floundering with my photo collection for the book. David is years younger than me, and I only knew him years ago as the son of his dad, Dr. Ray Fleming. But I met David during Back to Banff Days in June of 2017 and briefly discussed my book, mentioning I’d be using a number of black and white photographs from a family collection. David casually mentioned it was a sideline for him to find old photos for his Facebook site, Encyclopedia of Banff. He graciously worked his magic, finding images from 50 and 60 years ago that I desperately needed to provide the historical integrity for the storyline that only photographs can provide. Thank you, David, for your kind assistance and generosity.

To maintain historical accuracy and integrity, I spent hours researching train timetables, consists, seasonality and the role of other major players in the Rockies. The Whyte Museum and Archives of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta, and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta, provided me with many confirmations, including historical facts, timelines and photographs. As an unexpected bonus, my research unearthed valuable information I had either forgotten or been unaware of, thus enriching the project. Both facilities are outstanding and their staff members went well beyond the call of duty to guide me. I especially want to thank Lena Goon, who has been the rock at Archives of the Canadian Rockies for years. Without Lena’s help and patience, I would have floundered badly trying to keep to my timeline. When Lena retired in 2017, Elizabeth Kundert-Cameron, head librarian and manager of reference service, must have noticed my uncertainty referencing information and immediately stepped into the breech, getting me back on track. Elizabeth then guided me through the Use Fee Permissions and Conditions for Release of Reproductions process and introduced me to Lindsay Stokalko, my other guiding light, who joined the archives team in 2017. Lindsay became my go-to person as I worked to finish the project in the summer of 2018. Elizabeth and Lindsay, thank you so much for your amazing support and assistance.

I am also deeply indebted to the publisher of We Live in a Postcard, Banff Family Histories and the Banff History Book Committee volunteers. The members of the committee donated countless hours collecting information for that excellent publication dedicated to detailing historic Banff families. This information was the icing on the cake that I could not have found elsewhere. Thank you all so much.

Steve Boyko was my first contact when I began researching the book, struggling to find timetables and schedule information. I stumbled upon Steve’s website and he responded immediately, providing me with CPR timetables from 1948 through 1952. Steve, this information was so valuable to my timeline and gave me the starting point for my project. Your encouragement along the way has been a beacon. Take time to visit Steve’s website (www.traingeek.ca). I’m forever grateful I did!

I really hit the wall when I was seeking information on telegraph equipment and the systems employed in the heyday of this technology. I was getting a bit frantic and spent hours one evening surfing the internet. Somehow, I managed to connect with Harold Kramer via his website. Harold operates Amateur Radio Station WJ1B in Cheshire, Connecticut, and is a fountain of knowledge about communications technology. Harold is a true gentleman and freely accommodated my requests for images of telegraph keys, telegraph sounders and