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Example of a lubrication cup

Rail Transportation

Elijah McCoy (1844-1929)

Real McCoy Do you ever hear someone refer to something as “the real McCoy” and wonder where it comes from? It’s said that Elijah McCoy’s invention could have triggered the phrase. His invention of the lubricating cup was extremely effective. Others tried to copy his idea to share the success, but their devices just weren’t as good. Railroad engineers began requesting his product by name and would ask if trains were equipped with “the real McCoy system”. On Track to Success Elijah McCoy was born

Model of a 20th century Canadian Pacific train with a full view of the interior of a railway post office, Canadian Museum of History, 1974.2091.1 a-c

Rail Transportation

The first mail car on North American trains (1854)

Canadian Museum of History

The first railway post offices appeared on Canadian railways in 1854 and were the first to be used in North America. Trains were first used to transport sealed mail bags in 1840, a few years after the first steam train in Canada was introduced in 1836. But railway post offices were what marked the beginning of the golden age of the railway mail service. At this time, Great Britain was transferring responsibility for the postal service to the government of the Province of Canada. Starting in 1854

Portrait of Sir Sanford Fleming. Source: archive.org

Rail Transportation

A question of time

Algonquin college

Daniel Prinn Algonquin College Journalism Program Father Time might be just a personification of time, but Sir Sandford Fleming, who is considered the father of standard time, is most certainly real. Fleming came up with the concept of standard time while he was building the Canadian Pacific Railway. With all the different local times, travelling across the country would be chaotic and make it impossible to maintain a schedule. Thus, the railway needed standardized times for train arrivals and

Canadian National Railway “6400/U4A” Locomotive

Rail Transportation

Canadian National Railway "6400/U4A" Locomotive

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canadian National Railways (CNR) designed and manufactured five 6400 series locomotives in the 1930s. Looking for ways to improve smoke clearance around the locomotive cabs, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) conducted wind tunnel tests throughout the design phase. These tests led the NRC to manufacture an entirely new style of locomotive, one that was more aerodynamic and semi-streamlined. With the intention of being used for passenger service, this

The view from the Summit Lake Mill (Nakusp), B.C., in the 1910s

Rail Transportation

Donkeys and Snow Chutes at Summit Lake, B.C.

Arrow Lakes Historical Society

Summit Lake is located midway between Nakusp on the Upper Arrow Lake, and Rosebery on Slocan Lake, in the West Kootenay of southern British Columbia. In 1908, when George Robinson was building the Summit Lake Lumber Company mill there, conditions were ideal for the undertaking! There was flat land for a townsite and mill. The Nakusp and Slocan Railway ran along the lakeshore. The lake itself would transport logs to the mill. It was expected they would cut over one hundred million feet of

Orange Jull’s snow excavator. Source: Library and Archives Canada/a194326

Rail Transportation

Rotary Snowplough

Library and Archives Canada

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the rotary snowplough is a Canadian invention. The spinning fan-like contraption, first used on the railroad, eventually inspired the modern snowblower. J.W. Elliot, from Toronto, Ontario, first conceived of a spinning snow shovel, which he patented in 1870. This shovel consisted of a rotary engine driving a wheel mounted on the front of a train. A steel collector on the tracks fed the snow to fan plates on the edge of the wheel, which threw the snow out of

Canada Sciene and Technology Museum: CN Images of Canada Gallery

Rail Transportation

Streamlined Locomotive

National Research Council Canada

In the 1930s, National Research Council of Canada engineering helped to launch a new generation of streamlined locomotives. A sleek design grew out of an NRC project to improve the efﬁciency of locomotives and prevent smoke from obscuring the engineer’s view from the cab. Reduced visibility was a serious safety issue, so Canadian National Railways (CNR) turned to NRC for a solution. Engineers used NRC’s new wind tunnel to test existing locomotive models and experiment with alternate designs

The 6400 locomotive hauling the Royal Tour Train, May 1939. London, Ontario.

Rail Transportation

CN 6400

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Royal Tour 1939 CN 6400 achieved the peak of its fame in 1939 when it carried King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on the Royal Tour across Canada and then went on display at the “World of Tomorrow,” the New York World’s Fair. The Face of Modern Rail Travel: Sleek and Streamlined Manufactured at the Montreal Locomotive Works for Canadian National Railways (CNR) in 1936, this steam locomotive featured a semi-streamlined body — designed by National Research Council of Canada engineers — and a state

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