Saint Constant Quebec - Omer Lavallee had emerged as the pre-eminent authority on all aspects of Canadian Pacific history, and more generally, on transportation history and economics.
 
Lavallee was named Supervisor, Special Projects and Corporate Archives in 1973 and retired in 1986 as Corporate Archivist and Historian Emeritus.
 
During his tenure, voluminous quantities of early company documents were transferred to the custody of the Archives from various company departments.
 
As well, Lavallee spearheaded the collection of objects deemed surplus when rail and ships passenger services were phased out.
 
But his contribution is remembered ore personally by scores of researchers, rail fans, writers, and others, with whom he generously shared his encyclopedic knowledge.
 
Omer Lavallee retired in 1986 and was inducted into th Order of Canada in 1989.
 
Following his death in 1992, the reading room of Canadian Pacific Archives was named in his honour.
 
Recent enquires to Canadian Pacific Archives produced the following message:
 
Effective immediately, any and all requests for any information or material from CP Archives is to be directed to ExpoRail. CP will no longer be handling external information or access requests.
 
Today, Josee Vallerand, the Archivist at Exporail, the Canadian Railway Historical Association, confirmed they now hold most of Canadian Pacific's Corporate Archives.
 
Exporail may be reached at:
 
Exporail, The Canadian Railway Museum
110 Saint-Pierre Street
Saint-Constant Quebec J5A 1G7
www.expoRail.org
 
William Slim.