When Trains Ruled the Rockies


Book Description

When Trains Ruled the Rockies is a personal history of the Banff train station from 1948 through 1962. Drawn from Terry Gainer's personal memories and experiences from his years living and working at the legendary Banff Railway Station, this entertaining memoir and important historical record beckons the reader into the golden age of railway travel in the mountains of western Canada. Complete with a selection of archival photographs, When Trains Ruled the Rockies documents life at the Banff Railway Station and traces the huge role the station played in the local community. The author's own story of growing up at the station winds a thread through the narrative and brings into clear focus Terry's lifelong passion for passenger trains, at one time the most dominant means of transportation for Canadians but sadly an experience that is now fading into history.




Railway Nation


Book Description

A riveting, visually engaging collection of vignettes highlighting the rich heritage of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Since its founding in 1881, Canadian Pacific has made an indelible mark on the lives of Canadians. Most commonly associated with its iconic railway, at its height CP also ran hotels, steamships, and an airline, and had myriad involvements in immigration, irrigation, resource development, war contributions, and international trade. It has been said that no other single corporation has shaped Canadian national identity as much as CP. Railway Nation: Tales of the World’s Greatest Travel System is a compilation of more than fifty thrilling and historically significant stories based on colourful anecdotes and archival sources dating back to the company's golden era. From the construction of the ground-breaking Spiral Tunnels on what was previously the most dangerous and accident-prone stretch of railway track in the Rockies, to the CPR-manufactured Valentine tanks that helped the Soviet Union fight off the Nazis in World War II, to the long and frustrating struggle of CP stewardesses fighting against sexist employment policies, this lively and nuanced portrait of an iconic company is illustrated with fascinating archival photography and will be an essential addition to any Canadian history buff's library.




Waterloo You Never Knew


Book Description

The history you don’t know is the most fascinating of all. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Waterloo, Ontario, could be any small Canadian community. Its familiar histories privilege the “great accomplishments” of those who built the institutions we know today: industry, government, and education. But what of those who were marginalized, weird, and wonderful — real people who lived between the boundaries of mainstream existence? Waterloo You Never Knew reveals forgotten and little known tales of a community in transition and reflects on those lives lived in infamy and obscurity, by choice or design. Meet the rumrunner, the ex-slaves, and the cholera victims, the grave-digging doctor, the séance-loving politician, and the sorcery-practising healer. Come inside. See the Waterloo you never knew, revealed.




Train Beyond the Mountains


Book Description

A captivating journey blending memoir, history, and biography that takes the reader on one of the world's most famous trains and tells of carving the dramatic route it follows, while pondering other international railways through the eyes of travellers past and present. Rick Antonson has ridden trains in more than thirty-five countries—but almost everything he thinks he knows about train travel changes when he boards the Rocky Mountaineer with his ten-year-old grandson, Riley. As they wind over trestles and through tunnels, each mile of track uncovers stories of dynamite and discovery, surveyors and schemers, explorers and visionaries, and the people who helped to build Canada against the odds of geography and politics. Surrounded by a wild landscape that sparks imagination, fellow passengers recount train travels in other countries, get nostalgic for the era of steam locomotives, and consider life’s unfinished journeys. Peppered with spirited dialogue, heartrending vignettes, and intriguing anecdotes, Train Beyond the Mountains is a travelogue with urgency: to make your travel dreams happen now. As one passenger muses, "The mistake we make is that we think we have time."




The Age of Steam


Book Description

Portrays 125 years of steam engine operations on the railroad.







Room at the Inn


Book Description

A fully illustrated social history profiling forty historic hotels spread over five regions of the southern interior of British Columbia, covering the time period of the 1890s to 1950s. Room at the Inn reveals the long-forgotten histories of British Columbia’s early hospitality industry, through the riveting stories of the men and women who built, ran, and frequented hotels, hostelries, resorts, and roadhouses in the southern Interior. From the Similkameen town of Keremeos to Spences Bridge at the confluence of the Thompson and Nicola Rivers, east to the Alberta border along the Trans-Canada Highway, and south to the Canada–US border, the history of these hotels mirrors the history of BC’s mining towns and boom-bust economy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as waves of prospectors, settlers, and eventually tourists shaped the culture of the province that we know today. Of the forty historic hotels profiled in this book, all contributed to their communities in various ways. They provided more than just a roof over the heads of weary travellers; they were often the sites of live entertainment, places where community members could meet and socialize. Some even doubled as makeshift hospitals during wildfires and floods. Through colourful anecdotes, meticulous research, and fascinating archival photography, Room at the Inn transports readers to a bygone era and pays tribute to the pioneers, entrepreneurs, and hard-work men and women who built and operated these historic accommodations.




They Call Me George


Book Description

A CBC BOOKS MUST-READ NONFICTION BOOK FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH Nominated for the Toronto Book Award Smartly dressed and smiling, Canada’s black train porters were a familiar sight to the average passenger—yet their minority status rendered them politically invisible, second-class in the social imagination that determined who was and who was not considered Canadian. Subjected to grueling shifts and unreasonable standards—a passenger missing his stop was a dismissible offense—the so-called Pullmen of the country’s rail lines were denied secure positions and prohibited from bringing their families to Canada, and it was their struggle against the racist Dominion that laid the groundwork for the multicultural nation we know today. Drawing on the experiences of these influential black Canadians, Cecil Foster’s They Call Me George demonstrates the power of individuals and minority groups in the fight for social justice and shows how a country can change for the better.




Canadian Railway Stories


Book Description

Canadian Railway Stories, 100 years of History and Lore, reissued at the request of the author by Octavia Book bindery. This book has been licensed by contract, and is the only publisher with such rights. (c) 2018, Adolph Hungry Wolf. It is just the plain truth to say that not for many years has the imagination of Canadians been so captured and illumined as it was during the recent epoch making run of the Fiftieth Anniversary Trans-continental passenger train, illustratingas it did the national development of the past half century . . . . Citizens of today cheered the . . . train because in it they saw the fulfillment of the promises of the first train, and a sound prophecy for the future.




The Toronto Book of Love


Book Description

Exploring Toronto’s history through tantalizing true tales of romance, marriage, and lust. Toronto’s past is filled with passion and heartache. The Toronto Book of Love brings the history of the city to life with fascinating true tales of romance, marriage, and lust: from the scandalous love affairs of the city’s early settlers to the prime minister’s wife partying with rock stars on her anniversary; from ancient First Nations wedding ceremonies to a pastor wearing a bulletproof vest to perform one of Canada’s first same-sex marriage ceremonies. Home to adulterous movie stars, faithful rebels, and heartbroken spies, Toronto has been shaped by crushes, jealousies, and flirtations. The Toronto Book of Love explores the evolution of the city from a remote colonial outpost to a booming modern metropolis through the stories of those who have fallen in love among its ravines, church spires, and skyscrapers.