Portal to the Online Railway Photos of Canadian Archives
4-4-0 #1 COUNTESS of DUFFERIN

Introduction

The arrival of the 4-4-0 locomotive #1 Countess of Dufferin in 1877 was a milestone in Canadian Prairie history. The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were yet to be. Manitoba was at an embryonic stage somewhat isolated from the rest of the country. Within a decade, the political map would be completely redrawn. Population growth and economic development would begin to rise with the completion of the CPR's transcontinental line in 1885.

The Countess' early days have been documented in literature and photographic media. In this article a timeline is constructed that brings together disparate pieces of information. Though redundant at times, it's interesting to read the different descriptions of the events. Keep in mind that Winnipeg and Saint Boniface were distinct centres facing each other across the Red River in the 19th century. It wasn't until 1971 that the latter became a ward of the former.

1872-1875

Winnipeg Railway Museum: The Countess of Dufferin: The locomotive “... was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia in 1872, for the Northern Pacific Railway as Number 21. ...The "Countess" was built at a cost of $9,850 (plus delivery charges of $400.00). During 1872 to 1875 she operated in Minnesota and the Dakota Territories, traveling some 119,362 miles.”

1874

Berton, p. 146: “...in September, 1874, the first sod had been turned on the long-awaited railway — a branch of the future CPR — that was to run from Selkirk through Winnipeg's neighbour St. Boniface down to Pembina to connect, it was hoped, at the border with a United States line, as yet uncompleted.”

1877

Legget, p. 78: “Loaded on to a barge at Fargo, she was brought down the Red River by the sternwheeler Selkirk, receiving a gun salute from the US garrison at Fort Pembina as she passed. On the 10 October the strange little flotilla passed Winnipeg with the whistles of both the Selkirk and the locomotive sounding shrilly, since steam pressure has been built up in its boiler to salute the auspicious occasion. Rails had been run to the water's edge at Point Douglas, near St. Boniface, on the east bank of the river, and here the first locomotive of western Canada was safely landed. By a truly remarkable coincidence, the locomotive had been bought by Joseph Whitehead, one of the railway contractors, who is said to have served as the fireman on the engine that hauled the first train for public passenger service on the Stockon & Darlington Railway in 1825....”

Lavallée, pp. 30-31: “The first locomotive to be seen in any of the present Prairie Provinces was brought to St. Boniface on a barge accompanied by six flatcars and a conductor's van. It had been purchased second-hand by Whitehead for $5,600 from the Northern Pacific Railway, and had been built by Baldwin of Philadelphia in 1872.

The arrival of the flotilla comprising the barge propelled by the steamer Selkirk on October 9th, 1877, was an occasion of great interest for the people of Winnipeg. The Selkirk had been held a few miles upriver from Winnipeg so that the arrival would take place in daylight, in view of the interest exhibited by the public. The locomotive had been fired up so that its whistle could be blown as part of the general celebration which began as the barge was brought up against the shore at the foot of Lombard Street in Winnipeg.

The arrival of Whitehead's original equipment coincided with a vice-regal visit to Winnipeg by the Canadian Governor-General, the Earl and Countess of Dufferin. Rising to the occasion, Whitehead named his locomotive Countess of Dufferin after the Earl's wife.

The barge was moved over to St.Boniface on the following day. Several days' work were required to unload the locomotive and cars and place them on the railway embankment. The equipment was then employed to lay track southward to Emerson, northward to Selkirk and then eastward on the Thunder Bay Section contracts. ”

Berton, p. 144: “On the morning of October 9, 1877, the citizens of Winnipeg were awakened by the unaccustomed shriek of a locomotive whistle. ...She was a Baldwin engine — the Countess of Dufferin — and she came complete with six flatcars and a van; but she could not arrive under her own steam. She had to be floated down the river because the railway to the boundary was not finished. Even if it had been, there was nothing yet on the other side of the American border with which it could connect. But a locomotive was still a marvel, and the entire town streamed to the dock to inspect it and to cheer the massive contractor, Joseph Whitehead, who was in charge and who as boy had worked on horse-drawn railways in England. Whitehead, who was laying track on the line between St. Boniface and Selkirk, had imported her as a work engine.”

Prud'homme: “As for the first arrival of the steamboat, bells pealed from the "turrets twain" to mark the outstanding event. This innovation was later followed by the Trans-Canada service of the C.P.R. and the linking of the West with the East by telegraphic facilities.”

Curiously, the commemorative plaque by the Manitoba Heritage Council states that “...the Countess of Dufferin arrived in St. Boniface October 8, 1877” . But the most bizarre discrepancy is the following artifact that dates the arrival at Winnipeg as June, 1876:

In addition, Lavallée's use of the word "coincide" in the second paragraph when describing the vice-regal visit is poetic license as the events occurred ten days apart. Lady Dufferin herself wrote about their visit and subsequent journey as follows:

Lady Dufferin, pp. 365 & 366: “Saturday, [September] 29th.—Last day at Winnipeg. We said goodbye to Silver Heights soon after breakfast, and drove through Fort Garry and across the Red River to a place where D. and I each drove in a spike in the Canada Pacific Railway, the first line in this part of the world. The chief engineer had gone to try and get the locomotive there in time for us to start it, but unfortunately it could not be managed. Mr. Whitehead (the engineer) was a stoker on the first line of railway opened in England, and now he is about to open the first line in the North-West. ...[W]e got on board the Minnesota, and started on our return journey amidst much firing and shouting and waving of adieux.”

Lady Dufferin, p. 367: “Monday, October 1st—Steaming up the monotonous Red River, we reached Grand Forks at two o'clock, and arrived at Fisher's Landing in the night.
Tuesday, [October] 2nd—We went ashore, and saw the engine No. 2 of the Canada Pacific Railway; it is going to Winnipeg with a train of railway-trucks, and it is to be called the ‘Lady Dufferin.”

How very peculiar! By October 8, the vice-regal party were well on their way back to Ottawa. The September 29 date is confirmed because Archbishop Taché and Bishop Grandin attended the spiking ceremony. As for the rest, was Lady Dufferin confused or misinformed about the company name? The Canada Pacific Railway Co. was chartered in 1871 to Hugh Allan and was unrelated to the government's Pembina Branch, let alone the future CPR. And then she saw the engine. So when did #2 "Lady Dufferin" become #1 "Countess of Dufferin"? Has the wrong number and name gone down in history?

1897

Legget, p. 78: “The Countess of Dufferin..., after serving well on the Pembina branch was sold to a lumber firm [Columbia River Lumber Company] in Golden, B.C., 1897, working there at shunting duties until purchased and presented to the City of Winnipeg in 1911.”

Though the record's caption does not state it, the above image does indeed depict the Countess. Despite the absence of a cow-catcher, which is not needed for shunting duties, the locomotive's profile matches that of the Countess perfectly as first restored. Moreover, although only the top third or so of the handwritten caption is visible at the bottom left, the first eleven characters appear to match the top part of "COUNTESS OF D".

1910-1944

Fleming, p. 180: “[Sir William MacKenzie] oversaw the return to Winnipeg of the old Countess of Dufferin, which had been performing the ignominious role of shunting carloads of lumber in MacKenzie's Columbia River Lumber Company at Golden, BC.”

After being re-assembled and refurbished by the CPR, the engine was plinthed in Sir William Whyte Park across from the CPR depot on Higgins Ave.

Not sure what's happening in the above image. Something is hanging off the lead left drive wheel. There's a folded item behind the tender at the nearest corner of the plinth. Moreover, there are other items by the railing inside the enclosure next to where the group of four men are standing.

Later, the engine underwent a second plinthing, being relocated further into the park. Moreover flower planters were added to its pilot, running boards, funnel and tender!

Along with a planter box, a commemorative plaque was mounted to the cow-catcher:

It would seem that by March 17 1942, the engine had again been refurbished, getting a modified or different tender and a new paint job and lettering. Displayed originally in a sans-serif font, her name was now written in a serif font:

1944-1970

In 1944, she was “...moved across the street to a small forecourt between the Depot and the Royal Alexandra Hotel.” And no more flower boxes!

1970-1993

“By 1970 she had suffered drastically from the weather and vandals, so was restored, with the financial help of George Richardson. She was then placed on show in a small park on Main at the Disraeli freeway, adjacent to the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature.”

Note that the lettering and smoke stack have been restored to the 1877 style.

1993-

“On October 9, 1993 she was once more placed on display [at the Winnipeg Railway Museum] on Track 1 of the former CNR, now VIA RAIL CANADA depot at Main and Broadway.”

The depot was previously called "Union Station". Built by the CNoR, it was used jointly by the CNoR and the GTPR.

Fleming, p. 179: “The brightest jewel in the crown was Winnipeg's Union Station, which opened in June 1912. Whenever Mackenzie passed through Winnipeg, he must have revelled in its magnificence: a copper dome glimpsed from St. Boniface across the river, up and down Main Street, and from elegant tree-lined Broadway Avenue; skylights and windows, which allowed rich prairie light to play on interior marble; and the enormous Tyndal stone archway off Main Street, which welcomed travelling salesmen, harvesters, immigrants. and politicians. The building's understated elegance and clean classical lines proclaimed stability and longevity, and soon attracted international acclaim.”

Indeed, a stately home for the Countess!

Marginalia

1924

Got to wonder what happened to these models.

1925

Why a model of the Countess represented the first passenger locomotive into Calgary seems rather odd. Perhaps it was just re-purposed for the event as a quick and cheap solution given that the Countess has a passing resemblance to #147:

1940

Wikipedia: “Following her divorce from Archie Pitt, she married Italian-born film director Monty Banks in March 1940. However, because Banks remained an Italian citizen and would have been interned in the United Kingdom after Italy declared war in 1940, she went with him to North America, possibly at the suggestion of Winston Churchill who told her to "Make American Dollars, not British Pounds", which she did, in aid of the Navy League and the Spitfire Fund.”

1964

An engine of the Miniature Railway In Stanley Park, Vancouver, was liveried commemorating the Countess:

1984




References

  1. Berton, P. (1974), The National Dream & The Last Spike, Abridged, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, ISBN 0-7710-1332-9.
  2. Dufferin and Ava, Harriot Georgina Blackwood, Marchioness of (1891), My Canadian journal, 1872-8: extracts from my letters home written while Lord Dufferin was Governor-General, John Murray, London.
  3. Fleming, R.B. (1991), The Railway King of Canada, Sir William MacKenzie, 1849-1923, UBC Press, Vancouver, ISBN 0-7748-0382-7.
  4. Kennedy, R.L. (2004), Canada Pacific, Old Time Trains.
  5. Lavallée, O. (2007), Van Horne's Road: the Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Railfare Enterprises Limited, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-1-897252-36-9.
  6. Legget, R.F. (1973), Railways of Canada, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, B.C..
  7. Manitoba Heritage Council (1997), Commemorative Plaques: Countess of Dufferin.
  8. Prud'homme, M. (2011), The Life and Times of Archbishop Taché, MHS Transactions, Series 3, Number 11 (1954-55 Season).
  9. Wikipedia (2015), Saint Boniface, Winnipeg.
  10. Wikipedia (2016), Canadian Pacific Railway.
  11. Wikipedia (2016), Gracie Fields.
  12. Winnipeg Railway Museum (2007), The Countess of Dufferin.

Last Updated Sunday, 14-Apr-2024 00:01:16 MDT  ⚫ Visitor #