Volume 13    Number 9    6 July 1983

Exposition Focuses on Railway's Past

by Charles Gordon
 

Book dust jacket.

Calgary's famous Glenbow Museum is opening its largest exhibition ever next month to commemorate the arrival 100 years ago of the first Canadian Pacific Railway train in this Alberta city.
 
"The Great CPR Exposition" is scheduled to open 11 August 1983 and will run until 13 May 1984. Special rates are being offered to employees attending the exposition by CP Hotels' Palliser Hotel.
 
The origin, arrival, and impact of the railway on Western Canada from the 1870s to the 1930s will be illustrated with original documents, photographs, maps, posters, artifacts, and large-scale models as well as "stage sets" depicting different phases of the railway's colourful history.
 

Model railroaders Al Hough ( background ), Bert Haynes ( center ), and Doug Vannan test the fit of the Stoney Creek Bridge on the styrofoam-base model.

"The exposition has been over two years in the making", said Bill McKee, chief archivist at Glenbow Museum. "Our research and the material we've collected have come from donors and lenders across Canada, the United States, England, and Scotland, so this gives some idea of the widespread interest the show is generating".
 
Focus
 
Canadian Pacific is sponsoring the 8,500-square-foot ( 790 square-meter ) exhibition which will be divided into four areas or stages, each focusing on a particular segment of CP Rail's development.
 

The Stoney Creek Bridge is being recreated by hobbyist Herbert Stroh.

The first deals with the initial proposal for a transcontinental railway line and Canadian expansion into the Northwest and British Columbia in the 1860s and 1870s.
 
The second stage reviews the monumental surveys undertaken by the federal government during the 1870s to determine the best possible railway route.
 
Dioramas
 
The third part traces the dramatic construction of the railway line between 1881 and 1885 - the first CPR train arrived at Calgary 15 August 1883 - and concludes with the story of the "Last Spike".
 
The final segment deals with the decades of growth between 1886 and 1930 and the effect of the CPR on the development of western Canadian communities, industry, and tourism.
 
One of the most impressive features of the exhibition is the construction of four large model railway dioramas. Design and work on the displays is being done voluntarily by model railroaders from Calgary and Burnaby, BC.
 

Glenbow Museum carpenters Ron Hoyle ( left ) and Pete Eisenmenger work on the stage set of a turn-of-the-century passenger coach.

Three of the dioramas are being built in Calgary by hobbyists like Bert Haynes, a former CP Rail draftsman at Ogden Shops from 1941 to 1981, and former CP Telecommunications installer Al Hough.
 
"The dioramas, including landscapes, buildings, and some railway cars, are being built completely from scratch, without the use of model kits", said Mr. McKee. "Historical accuracy is being carefully adhered to by using old photographs, railway books, blueprints, and drawings".
 
The largest, about 35 feet ( 10.5 meters ) across, depicts the arrival of the railway in Calgary, showing the route of the railway where it crosses the Elbow River.
 
Great Detail
 
A second diorama shows the original Stoney Creek Bridge, which was the highest wooden railway bridge in the world at the time of construction. The model is more than nine feet ( 2.75 meters ) high, and displays the bridge in its recreated mountain setting with a stream flowing below and a passenger train crossing overhead.
 

Designer Rick Budd reviews layout plans while carpenter Peter Eisenmenger installs window frames for the station operator's display.

The third diorama reflects the labour-intensive work involved in laying track across the prairies. Says Bert Haynes:  "Building a model railway today can be just as labour-intensive". Thousands of two-inch crossties have been cut, and rails set into place by painstakingly inserting miniature spikes.
 
Miniature Figures
 
The fourth, and only moving diorama, details the scenic route of the railway line between Calgary and the Vancouver waterfront. It has been built by volunteers for the Burnaby Art Gallery.
 
Miniature figures in period costume will complement each scene. "It's a considerable challenge. We've literally scrounged Europe and North America for hundreds of figures appropriate to the time", said Al Hough.
 

Hobbyist Al Hough has the exacting task of inserting each miniature spikes on a diorama.

In addition to the nine-month-long exhibition, the Glenbow Museum will host a CPR West Conference from 21-25 September. Twenty distinguished speakers from across Canada will give presentations on various distinct aspects of the railway's impact on Western Canada.
 
Some of the topics include:  "The CPR and Petroleum, The CPR and Indians, The CPR and Immigration, The CPR Tunnels, and The CPR Painters". Among the speakers will be Canadian Pacific archivists Omer Lavallee, Jim Shields, and Cecil Halsey. The registration fee is $100. and includes several lunches and a banquet dinner.
 
"We certainly hope all Canadian Pacific employees and pensioners, particularly in Western Canada, will make a special attempt to see this outstanding exhibition", said Glenbow Museum Director Duncan Cameron.