Portal to the Online Railway Photos of Canadian Archives
Grand Trunk ~ Canadian National Railways, 1919-1923

Introduction

«Marketing is the business process of creating relationships with and satisfying customers.» From 1919 to 1923, the marketing departments of the fledgling Canadian National Railways and the established Grand Trunk Railway System were in a mutual quandary and even perhaps at loggerheads on how best to meet these goals.

The mayhem began on December 20, 1918 when the government authorized the use of the designation “Canadian National Railways” for the lines it controlled., p. 345 The principal constituents at that time were the National Transcontinental (originating in 1915), the Canadian Northern (added in 1917) and the Grand Trunk (added in 1918)., p. 503

So the new year heralded the imminent birth of the CNR when «[t]he Act constituting the Canadian National Railway Co was passed in 1919...», p. 133 with the Intercolonial Railway also slated to be folded in. David Blythe Hanna was appointed president. But confusion then arose when the Act was not proclaimed in a timely manner, leaving the CNR's charter in limbo. This delay was the result of the Grand Trunk's shareholders not being satisfied with the compensation offers. «William Howard Taft, former President of the United States...led the defense of the Grand Trunk Railway in the expropriation proceedings.»,p. 298

During this turbulent period. the Grand Trunk continued to operate under its own flag. For example, in May 1921, its head office was transferred to Canada.,p. 296 «On May 26, an all-Canadian board of directors headed by Sir Joseph Flavelle took charge.»,p. 296

It wasn't until January 1923 that matters were sufficiently resolved so that the Act could finally receive royal assent ,p. 133 and the GT ceased to exist as a separate corporate entity.

In the intervening time, the legal turmoil was reflected in the signage in the front windows of various ticket agencies. It must have left prospective train travellers perplexed, questioning whether their ticket would be issued by the Grand Trunk Railway System, or the Canadian National Railways or, more puzzling yet, the Grand Trunk ~ Canadian National Railways. And then there likely was the whole matter of having to transfer from one to the other. So, of course, one has to wonder then how many times agents had to explain the relationship between the GT and the CNR and the political and judicial quagmire they were embroiled in during this period.

Following the official birth of the Canadian National Railways, why some ticket agencies then did not update their signage shortly after is somewhat perplexing. This is amply demonstrated by the photographic records shown below where even three years later the GT was still being advertised.

Boston

Sampson & Murdock Co.'s 1925 Boston directory listed the following companies operating out of Room 201 at the above location, 333 Washington Street:

It comes as no surprise that such a ticket agency was conducting business in New England in the first place as the Grand Trunk had established a presence in the region many years earlier. As far back as 1870, it had a Boston office initially at 134 Washington Street , p.296. So for the above agency to have added the CNR to its portfolio around 1919 was a straightforward development. What is unexpected however is why was the GTR still being advertised here as a corporate entity given that by 1925 it had been completely subsumed two years earlier by the CNR?

Fittingly, this office also handled ticketing for the Central Vermont Railway which was taken over by the Grand Trunk in 1898 , p.506 before becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the CNR on January 20, 1923.. It even acted surprisingly for the Newfoundland Government Railway which only became part of the CNR after Newfoundland officially joined Canada at midnight on March 31, 1949. The partnership was due to a steamer that sailed between Boston and St.Johns.

The interior was basically an open office as documented by the following two images:

The service counter is full length with many small drawers, presumably for the various tickets. An awkward staff entrance appears to be just to the left of it, giving access to a corridor leading to the front. Curiously, a minor alteration of the office environment was carried out in the intervening time between the two photographs.

The discrepancy is evidenced by the presence of an electric fan atop a filing cabinet in the l-h-s photo and its absence in the r-h-s one. Regardless, noteworthy are the many light fixtures and sprinkler heads mounted on the ceiling. There are four typewriters visible, with one of them similar to an Underwood No. 5 , and each are placed upon an ergonomic typewriter desk: it must have been a cacophonic environment when all of them were in use. There's a water cooler in a corner. The four obvious telephones are of the candlestick variety . With no rotary visible on their bases, they would have required the intervention of an operator to place and receive calls. Finally, note the calendar oddly showcasing the Norfolk and Western Railway!

Library and Archives Canada also possesses photographs simply described as "Boston ticket office" which are unfortunately undated. It is nevertheless well worth examining them closely for possible clues as to how they might relate.

In contrast to the purely utilitarian, open-plan design exhibited above, the personnel-only section of this office was walled off from the customer-facing area which was very elegant, in a post Victorian fashion:

One would be struck upon entering by the chandeliers, the sconce light, the tied-back window curtains, the exquisitely crafted counter, ticket cabinet and desks, the ornate iron work, the more modern phones which were one-piece handsets with rotaries on their bases, the stunning mural on the back wall along with a couple of provincial shields above the artisanal rear doors.

The shield above the r-h-s door is immediately recognizable as that of Prince Edward Island. Above the l-h-s door, one can distinctly make out parallel wavy lines in the emblem along with parts of the Royal Union Flag. Accordingly, it must be the shield of British Columbia. The overall symbolism then was likely meant to convey the idea of "coast-to-coast". But, in that case, one might well ask why PEI and not Nova Scotia? We can only speculate that the decor of the office must have been planned out before the CNR's charter was proclaimed in 1923. Our reasoning is as follows. By 1919 the federal government had already assumed responsibility for the Prince Edward Island Railway., pp.94-98 But the Intercolonial, which operated in Nova Scotia and was slated to be part of the CNR, could not as yet be recognized as an official constituent. So these events made PEI the eastern most area of operations, yet another confusing, albeit subtle aspect.

There's even an archived photographed highlighting the mural:

The depicted scenery appears to have been inspired by the Jasper station with Pyramid Mountain in the background and the Athabasca River in the foreground.

A crown-less version of the 1923 Canadian Coat of Arms hangs above the mural. Given our previous remarks regarding the two provincial shields, we are left wondering whether the coat of arms was added shortly after the initial decorating. But we concede that such fine points of discussion were likely of no interest to the customers. The decor was foremost meant to impress rather than inform.

There are also photographs of an inner office which are part of the same set as they follow the photographer's 324xx numbering scheme:

Not exactly swamped with paper work! Anyway, what is interesting here is Sir Henry Thornton's 1927 portrait on the back wall. This last observation leaves little doubt that this is a CN ticket office as Thornton succeeded Hanna as president.

The CNR was making a statement here with this more elegant and serene office, projecting the image of a first-class operation and thus allaying any traveller's qualms about its muddled beginnings. Consequently, the agents would be more likely able to entice stays at the company's resorts and upsell passages on its steamships, acting more like travel agents than just ticket agents.

Perhaps we now have a plausible answer as to why the GTR was still being advertised in 1926 at the first office. Given the striking dissimilarity in the decor and layout of the two offices, it seems as though the CNR focused all its attention on a new, second office, letting the first one stay the course until passenger services were completely relocated to it. According to a 1955 directory, the earliest post-1925 one we could access, a possible location might have been at 497 Boylston, p.434.

Postscript

The building at 333 Washington Street is still going strong a century later:

Buffalo

The large sign above the entrance makes it clear that this agency was established by the GTR. Not surprising as Buffalo was served directly by the GTR.

Stevens, G.R. (1973), History of the Canadian National Railways, The Macmillan Company, New York., p. 133.
Postscript

And if you're wondering what's visible in the top middle window, it's a cast iron hot water radiator.

Chicago

This was a one-stop agency, servicing all possible customer needs.

Detroit

Detroit was another city served by the Grand Trunk, this time via its subsidiary the Grand Trunk Western Railway.. And, similar to what happened in Boston, a more richly appointed agency was eventually set up under the CNR banner:

The interior was again very elegantly decorated. The two triptych-like paintings on the back wall are certainly eye catching. Both represent maritime scenes with the left one recognizable as on the west coast. The right one appears more representative of the east coast. Accordingly, the notion of coast-to-coast service was again being conveyed.

Edmonton

Four years after Lieutenant-Governor Bulyea drove the last spike on the Canadian Northern Railway at Edmonton on November 24, 1905, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway arrived in the city. It shared the CNoR's station (see our article CNoR, Edmonton, 1905 for details) three blocks north from this later CNR ticket agency at Jasper Avenue and First Street (now 101 St.). But with the CNR charter not yet granted in 1920, the agency added a less prominent and somewhat temporary GTP sign to the side of the building. Edmontonians were probably not too confused by this duality given their past journeys with the GTP since 1909 and their current view diagonally across Jasper Avenue of the landmark GTP-built Macdonald Hotel opened in 1915 .

Los Angeles

In stark contrast to Edmontonians' familiarity with events, Angelenos must have been utterly baffled by this signage: one mention of Grand Trunk Railway System, three of Canadian National Railways and three of Grand Trunk - Canadian National Railways, all with no actual trains running to the city! And this a year after the GT had ceased to exist as a separate corporate entity. The primary objective of this agency must have been to sell passages on CN's steamships which were obtained from the Grand Trunk and originally operated out of the GTP's western terminus at Prince Rupert, B.C..

Saint Louis

Note in passing the use of the singular here in the handwritten captions, namely, "Grand Trunk - Canadian National Railway". Not much is happening in the passenger department compared to the freight office with its two additional agents and a typist. One can only surmise that the agency's purpose was to sell passages and freight transport on the subsidiary Grand Trunk Western which operated in Illinois, right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

Seattle

Yet another agency that had yet to update its signage three years after CN's charter had received royal assent. Like in Los Angeles, this agency sold passages on CN's steamships. But contrary to the Los Angeles scene, it indirectly benefited from the Great Northern running a train from Seattle to Vancouver . Moreover, the Northern Pacific Railway had access to GN's Vancouver Union Station and it also serviced Winnipeg directly . With the GN's station next door to the ex-CNoRP station (see our article Coaling CNR's Vancouver Station for details), it was an opportunity to promote unhesitatingly the convenience of transferring to CN trains.

Vancouver

Similar to US agencies on the western seaboard, this agency offered passages on GTP steamships. But, being in Vancouver, it also offered local access to CN trains such as the advertised "The National" which would be leaving from the ex-CNoRP built station at False Creek (see our article Coaling CNR's Vancouver Station for details).

As expected, the signage eventually got updated, removing all references to the GTP:

One also notices that the CNR adopted tilting its square signs upwards as the GT and its subsidiaries had done. Moreover, the linen store next door was replaced by a ticket agency for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Co. (PGE), Union Steamships and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Pacific Railroad (CMStPP).

In the next decade, the division freight office took over the second floor from the silk manufacturer. The first floor was remodeled with a foreshortened rectangular front with the resulting wall gap filled in with brick instead of stone, thus rendering the facade incongruous. The entrance off the alley has been removed but more windows were added. A tobacconist and a camera shop had now moved in next door. Keeping in step with the elegant Boston and Detroit agencies, nicer chandeliers now hung inside and tied-back curtains were added. The overhead signage was redone with a light serif font, with a wider letter spacing, replacing the sans-serif font with underlining.

Conclusion

The above photographic records clearly demonstrate the conundrum faced by the ticket agencies, having to promote both the GTR and the CNR simultaneously from 1919 to 1923. For the newly proclaimed CNR, integrating and streamlining all its constituents' rail and ship operations, finishing projects like the CNoR's Montreal Tunnel and Vancouver stations and starting new high-value ones like its radio broadcasting network CNRW, p. 53, silk trains and Jasper Park Lodge was a much higher priority than unequivocally rebranding all its inherited assets.

References

  1. Legget, R.F. (1973), Railways of Canada, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, B.C..
  2. MacKay, D. and Perry, L. (1994), Train Country: An Illustrated History of Canadian National Railways, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto, Canada, ISBN 1-55054-153-6.
  3. mytypewriter.com (2019), Underwood No. 5
  4. R.L. Polk & Co. (1955),The Boston Directory, Internet Archive
  5. Sampson & Murdock Co. (1870), The Boston Directory embracing the city record, a general directory of the citizens, and a business directory. No. LXVI for the year commencing July 1, 1870., Google Books The Boston Directory.
  6. Sampson & Murdock Co. (1925), The Boston Directory for the year commencing July 1, 1925. Embracing the city record, a general directory of the citizens, and a special directory of trades, professions, with an almanac...", Tufts University, Digital Collections and Archives, tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00005.
  7. Stevens, G.R. (1973), History of the Canadian National Railways, The Macmillan Company, New York.
  8. Tucker, A. (1985), Canadian National Railways, 2nd Edition, in The Canadian Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton, ISBN 0-88830-327-0(v.1)
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  18. Wikipedia (2019), Northern Pacific Railway, last edited 17 December 2019, at 22:47 (UTC).
  19. Wikipedia (2019), Typewriter desk, last edited 26 February 2019, at 10:46 (UTC).
  20. Wikipedia (2020), Grand Trunk Western Railroad, last edited 1 January 2020, at 23:43 (UTC).
  21. Wikipedia (2020), Great Northern Railway (U.S.), last edited 2 January 2020, at 13:44 (UTC).

Last Updated Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 01:23:02 MST  ⚫ Visitor #