Canadian Rail No454 1996
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No. 454 Canadian Rail THE MAGAZINE OF CANADA'S RAILWAY HISTORY SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1996 PUBLISHED BI·MONTHLY BY THE CANADIAN RAILROAD HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION PUBLIE TOUS LES DEUX MOIS PAR L'ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE D'HISTOIRE FERROVIAIRE CANADIAN RAIL ISSN 0008-4875 PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY THE CANADIAN RAILROAD HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION TABLE OF CONTENTS CHARLES MELVILLE HAYS AND THE C_R.H.A .................................................. DEREK BOLES ............................. 119 1897 - A NEW OFFICIAL CAR FOR A NEW GENERAL MANAGER ................... RAILWAY & SHIPPING WORLD .. 121 CONTEMPORARY ARTICLES CONCERNING CHARLES HAYS. 1898 - 1912 .. RAILWAY & SHIPPING WORLD .. 122 THE DEATH OF CHARLES M. HAyS .................................................................... RAILWAY & MARINE WORLD ..... 124 MEMORIALS TO CHARLES M. HAYS .................................................... ............... FRED F. ANGUS ........................... 126 A CITY THAT REMEMBERS CHARLES M. HAYS ................................................ FRED F. ANGUS ........................... 127 GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY BRIDGE No. 302 ........................................................ GAY LEPKEY ..............................., 128 THE CENTENNIAL OF THE "MONTREAL ROOF" ............................................... FRED F. ANGUS ........................... 131 NEWS FROM THE CANADIAN RAILWAY MUSEUM ........................................... JEAN-PAUL VIAUD ...................... 139 THE BUSINESS CAR .......................................................................................................................... ............................. 142 FRONT COVER: Although Charles Melville Hays was President ofthe Grand Trunk EDITOR: Fred F. Angus Pacific for almost eight years, he did not make many visits to the western portions of CO-EDITOR: Douglas NW. Smith the GT? This photo shows Mr. Hays (right) with other officials posing by the official ASSOCIATE EDITOR (Motive Power): car "Canada" during a station stop on one such inspection trip. Hugues W, Bonin National Archives of Canada. Photo No. PA-21904. DISTRIBUTION: Gerard Frechette LAYOUT: Fred F. Angus For your membership in the CRHA, which The CRHA has a number of local divisions across the country. Many hold regular meetings and Issue Printing: Procel Printing includes a subscription to Canadian Rail, newsletters. Further Information may be obtained by writing to the division. write to: DIRECTORS OF THE C.R.H.A. NEW BRUNSWICK DIVISION CRHA, 120 Rue St-Pierre, St. Constant, Que. P.O. Box 1162 PRESIDENT: Frant;:ois Gaudette J5A 2G9 Saini John N.B. E2L 4G7 VICE PRES, : David W. Johnson DIVISION VALLEE-JONCTION BEAUCE TREASURER: James Bouchard Membership Dues for 1996: 397 Blvd. Rousseau Vallee-Jonclion Que GOS 3JO SECRETARY: Bernard Martin In Canada: $35.00 (including GST). Frederick F, Angus ST LAWRENCE VALLEY DIVISION United States: $30.00 in U.S. funds. P.O. Box 22, Station "B" Doug Battrum Other Countries: $35.00 in U.S. funds. Montreal P.Q. H3B 3J5 Walter J. Bedbrook RIDEAU VALLEY DIVISION Barry Biglow P.O. Box 962 Gerard Frechette Canadian Rail is continually in need of news, Smith's Falls, Ont. K7A 5A5 Dean Handley stories, historical data, photos, maps and KINGSTON DIVISION J. Christopher Kyle other material. Please send all contributions P.O. Box 1714 Kingston. Ont. K7L 5V6 Roger Martin to the editor: Fred F. Angus, 3021 Trafalgar TORONTO & YORK DIVISION Robert V,V. Nicholls Ave. Montreal, P.Q. H3Y 1H3. No payment P.O. Box 5849, Terminal "A" Toronto, Onto M5W 1P3 Andrew W. Panko can be made for contributions, but the con NIAGARA DIVISION James Scott tributer will be given credit for material sub P.O. Box 20311 Grantham Postal Outlet Len Thibeault mitted. Material will be returned to the con St. Catha rines, Onto L2M 7W7 William Thomson tributor if requested. Remember "Knowl CALGARY & SOUTH WESTERN DIVISION Michael Westren c/o Rick Connery, Secretary edge is of little value unless it is shared with 95 Bennett Crescent N.W. others". Calgary. Alberta T2L lR2 LlASON REPRESENTATIVES SELKIRK DIVtSION WESTERN P.O. Box 2561 Revelstoke, B.C. VOE 2S0 D. Walter Edgar As part of its activities, the CRHA operates 4515 Dalhart Road NW. CROWSNEST & KOOTENAY DIVISION the Canadian Railway Museum at Delson / P.O. Box 400 Calgary, AB T3A 1 B9 SI. Constant, Que. which is about 14 miles Cranbrook, B.C. VIC 4H9 Phone: (403) 286-2189 (23 Km.) from downtown Montreal. It is open NELSON ELECTRIC TRAMWAY SOCIETY 123 View Street CENTRAL from late May to early October (daily until Nelson, B.C. VI L 2V8 Christopher Kyle Labour Day). Members, and their immediate PRINCE GEORGE-NECHAKO-FRASER DIVISION 49 - 77 Wellesley SI. East families, are admitted free of charge. P.O. Box 2408 Toronto, ON M4Y 1H7 Prince George, B.C. V2N 2S6 Phone: (416) 962-1880 PACIFIC COAST DIVIStON THE GOAL OF THE ASSOCIATION IS THE P.O. Box 1006, Station "A" MARITIME Vancouver. B.C. V6C 2Pl COLLECTION, PRESERVATION AND DIS Richard E. Viberg ESQUIMAL T AND NANAIMO DIVISION 172 Main SI. SEMINATION OF ITEMS RELATING TO 1148 Balmoral Road Hillsborough, NB EOA 1XO Victoria, B.C. V8T 1Bl THE HISTORY OF CANADIAN RAILWAYS Phone. (506) 734 3467 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1996 119 CANADIAN RAIL - 454 Charles Melville Hays and the C.R.H.A. By Derek Boles One hundred years ago, January 1, 1896 to be exact, Charles M. Hays came from the Wabash Railroad to assume the General Managership of the Grand Trunk. For the next sixteen years, apart from a hiatus in 1901, Mr. Hays controlled the destinies of the G.T.R. and its subsidiaries as they faced the new vicissitudes of the twentieth century. II was during this period that the Grand Trunk went from "absentee control" (from the directors in England) to being run effectively from Canada. It is also the time of the greatest prosperity for the railway. Whether this prosperity would have continued if Mr. Hays had not met an untimely death is a question that railway historians will always debate, and we do not propose to debate the question here. In this issue, we present an article by Derek Boles giving an introduction to Mr. Hays and also explaining the connection to the CRHA, especially the Hays building at the Canadian Railway Museum. We also reprint some contemporary articles about incidents in his career, including a detailed account of his death in the ever-memorable disaster of the sinking of the Titanic. Also included is an 1898 article about Mr. Hays' official car Canada which is now a treasured artifact at the Canadian Railway Museum. We conclude by telling of a place where the name of Charles Melville Hays is not forgotten; in fact he is revered as its founder. Charles Mel ville Hays ranks mini-series. most recently rerun in as one of the most significant railway a rather transparent attempt to executi ves in the history of Canada. encourage national istic fervour in Hays assumed control of the Grand the weeks prior to the constitutional Trunk, Canada's most established referendum. That our public railway, at a time when railways broadcasting system should find no were far more important to society's dramatic potential in the story of economic and social fabric than the Canadian National is ironic, given they are today. the importance of the railway lines Yet, aside from railroad that have gone to form the CNR, historians, few today are even aware including Hays' Grand Trunk and of Hays' existence. Most visitors Grand Trunk Pacific, with the who walk through the doors of the National Transcontinental Railway Hays bllilding at the Canadian thrown in for good measure. Both Railway Museum haven't any idea men, I'm sure, would be vastly as to whom the structure is named amused by this irony. after. The similarities between Admittedly, most nineteenth Hays and Van Horne are startling. century railway executives do not Both men were born in the state of generally enjoy ahigh profile among Illinois, began their railroad careers members of the general public. in the midwestern United States However, high school students who and had assumed senior executive explore Canadian history in any operating positions by the age of depth are probably aware of Sir forty. Both men saw the opportunity William Cornelius Van Horne of for greater challenges in Canada the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and became general managers of and there lies the rub. The CPR has two of the largest Canadian railroads. always captured the public Charles Melville Hays 1856 - 1912 They were bod1 prodigious workers imagination more than the publicly and each, typically, began hi s owned CNR and its numerous Canadian career on New Year'sday, railroad antecedents. Perhaps it has to do with the fact th at the CPR Van Horne in Winnipeg on January I, 1882, and Hays in Montreal has been, in this century at least, a successful corporate entity not on January l, 1896. They both used their drive and energies to requiring financial bailouts from the government. Or, perhaps it's construct truly transcontinental railways, ambitions that would because Pierre Berton has not written one of his best-selling books have been far more difficult if they had remained in the U.S. Each about the CNR. Our publicly-owned [until 1995. Ed.1 railway has was a brilliant railway manager with a complex personality. They certainly never been the subject of a highly-rated CBC television even resembled one another physically as they both had full RAIL CANADIEN - 454 120 SEPTEMBRE - OCTOBRE 1996 beards, a balding pate, and were short but stout men who tended Hays died