From the street that runs to the south behind the Montreal West CP Rail station. Until the 80s, when Amtrak was still running through to New York, and VIA had their Budd RDC runs to Ottawa via Montebello and Quebec City via Trois-Rivieres, those lumbersome baggage carts were a platform fixture.
The original Montreal West station - demolished and replaced by the current structure in the 1990's (maybe late 80's?). The new one occupies roughly the same footprint as the old one. We used to bring big boxes full of Xmas presents there, and "express" them to Vancouver - arriving 3-4 days later.
The CPR Montreal West station was not demolished and replaced with a new one. What is there today, is still the same building as seen in the photo although it was extensively renovated in the mid-1980s after the transit authority took over operation of the commuter trains in 1982.
Although VIA Rail had taken over operation of the CPR's intercity passenger trains in 1978, the railroad continued to run commuter trains to the West Island until October 1, 1982. I was on that very last CPR commuter train.
The last VIA Rail train through there was the usually single Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC) to Quebec City Wayne Dayton mentions. Its last run was in the Fall of 1981 as VIA Rail decided to consolidate all their arrivals and departures at Central Station.
Montreal West had also been a stop for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad's daytime "Laurentian Limited and their nighttime "Montreal Limited" until both were discontinued in the spring of 1971 when Amtrak took over the operation of most U.S. passenger trains.
Amtrak re-introduced a daytime passenger train on the D&H route named the "Adirondack" in 1974. The train's Montreal terminal was changed to Central Station from Windsor Station in January 1986 and so it no longer passes through Montreal West. By then it was no longer stopping at any stations between Windsor Station and the U.S. border. I was also on that last trip through Montreal West.
Montreal West in its heyday was the designated station where passengers could transfer from late inbound trains to outbound trains avoiding a trip all the way to Windsor Station and back out again.
Ironically with the coach servicing yards now at Sortin west of Montreal West, all empty commuter trains starting or ending their service day at Lucien L'Allier now travel through Montreal West. That combined with the increase in commuter trains, means Montreal West is busier than it was in its heyday as a CPR intercity passenger station. Just trying crossing the tracks during rush hour at Westminster Avenue.
Not only had the train station been upgraded, but the residence in view on the left corner (2096-2098 Connaught where Harley and Broughton Avenues meet) has clearly seen some significant renovations since 1952 as well: balconies modernized, greenery added, trees come and gone, etc.
Incidently, on the north side of the tracks, at 7460 Sherbrooke West (the southwest corner with Elmhurst Avenue) there was a Shell service station which was first listed in the 1928-29 Lovell's and last listed in the 1958 edition under proprietor Bill Woods.
7470 Sherbrooke was a Shop & Save supermarket for many years until it too succumbed to closure. Today an apartment condo complex, of course.
We can safely assume that the large lot upon which the Shell station stood and which has remained empty for the past 55 years is owned by the City of Montreal (being as it is adjacent to the Elmhurst MTC bus turnaround); property presumably slated for a future Montreal West Metro station which hopefully will open before most of those reading this have passed into eternity; the day when Quebeckers elect an English premier perhaps?
New walls and windows, new roof, new floor (for the pedestrian tunnel). I would say it was "demolished". (as far as I know) there is nothing left from the original structure (I think an original clock may still be in the "office"). (I was in both many, many times)
During its "heyday" there were also dozens of trains passing through during off-peak hours and weekends (which have very little traffic nowadays).
"future Montreal West metro" - This is an idea whose past came..Line 5 was to continue west from Snowdon with a stop at Cavendish and Somerled, one at Montreal West Station and another in Lachine to hook up with the CPR commuter train (inter-modal station.) Land was indeed reserved at all these places but the reserves were abandoned somewhere around in the late 1980s.
I had a ten cent CPR ticket from Montreal West to Westmount Station which I gave away in 2004. The ticket was from a day in the fifties when I was visiting a friend in Montreal West and decided to return by train. The Boston & Maine train pulled into Montreal West and the B&M Conductor let me ride to Westmount but did not collect the CPR ticket.
Who can forget the great ice cream at the Elmhurst Dairy Ice Cream counter just a short distance away from Montreal West Station.
Speaking of the end of CP operation and the debut of what was then under the CTCUM before the creation of the AMT, I rode a special media train from Windsor Station (900-series gallery cars hauled by a FP7) with Lawrence Hanigan, CTCUM chair; Pierre Des Marais II, MUC chair; Michel Clair, Quebec Transport Minister; and assorted West Island mayors...that went non-stop to Beaconsfield for a ceremonial ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of station infrastructur improvements...the train then returned non-stop to Windsor, where a buffet lunch catered by the Chateau Champlain was served in the station concourse
The Shell station would have closed in the mid to late 1980's. There were what seemed to be years of decontamination before "A Vendre" signs appeared. A couple of attempts were made for condos on the site (and a seniors home) - all of which failed. One rumour (maybe fact) was that the city bought the land in order to expand the bus loop (the 90 would have stopped there). "A Vendre" signs still come and go over the last couple of years.
(since my apartment overlooks the site, I can see any changes that may take place. I would hate to see a highrise block my view).
Lovell's and Criss-Cross Directories list no service station nor any dwelling whatsoever at 7460 Sherbrooke W. from 1959 onwards. In the 1958 edition, only Bill Woods--the station proprietor--is listed.
Researchers take note that Lovell's generally list service stations by their proprietors or owner-operators' names rather than by the oil company's name, although there are exceptions to this rule depending on the directory year.
However, the oil companies might sometimes be identified by cross-referencing them under their business listing (Annuaire Montrealais d'Affaires Classifies) under "Gasoline & Oil Service Stations", which may or not produce results.
For example, I do not recall the name of the service station that used to exist at 5470 Monkland on the southeast corner of Girouard--proprietor Marcel Comeau. It may have been a Sunoco, but surely someone reading this will know immediately.
It is quite possible, of course, that the deserted station at 7460 Sherbrooke stood for decades until the day it was eventually demolished. Further research is needed. Shell HQ ought to shed some light on this.
Decontamination of the former Shell station property following the removal of the sub-surface fuel tanks would have been a certainty.
The supermarket at 7470 had, of course, changed hands over the decades until it too was very recently replaced by tbe condo-apartments. Years ago, across the street at 7475 Sherbrooke were the offices of International Correspondence Schools, Canada Ltd.
As for any potential future plans for the 7460 sight, it would be very unwise for the City of Montreal to lease that land to any potential developers unless it would guarantee the incorporation of a future Metro station--such as what has occurred at other Metros like the one at the northeast corner of de Castelnau and St. Lawrence, for example. The city would certainly have a long-term plan to build a Montreal West Metro at some future point as they did at Vendome.
As for any Metro plans presumably later "abandoned", all is not lost, for a Metro station could easily be built at the northeast corner of Cavendish and Monkland, being as it is park property. Likewise in Ville St. Pierre (since merged with Lachine), and the final one at the edge of LaSalle Park in Lachine itself.
For Montreal to take the cheap way out by re-installing climactically-vulnerable tram lines on city streets instead of continuing Metro expansion would be a backward move.
A priority should be placed on the decades-old promise of extending the Blue Line through the existing high population density districts east to Ville d'Anjou and west to Lachine within the next ten to twenty years, and later the Orange Line from Cote Vertu north to Montmorency to complete the "orange circle line".
However, as I've suggested elsewhere, exclusive-right-of-way tram lines which do not interfere with vehicular traffic are acceptible.
The service station at 5470 Monkland, southeast corner of Girouard, was an Esso.
It was last listed in the 1978-79 Lovell's, after which it was eventually demolished following demands from local residents to turn the land into a green space.
The one-time Shell service station on the southwest corner of Sherbrooke Elmhurst is indeed listed in Lovell's. The address is shown as 2500 Elmhurst with J. Sanaam listed as the proprietor of a Shell service station in 1976. The reason it might not be listed on Sherbrooke after 1959 is probably because a new service station building went up and the building now faced Elmhurst.
I was visiting Montreal this summer and passed the old Elmhurst streetcar and now bus loop. I noted the old brick and glass heated shelter was gone. I also noticed they were repaving the loop. Taking a closer look, I saw the old pavement had been shaved off in the loop exposing the streetcar tracks underneath. I took several photos before the tracks were again paved over.
They simply changed the civic address from Sherbrooke West to being on Elmhurst...that's why you couldn't find it. For example, the 1982 Lovell's Directory lists at 2500 Elmhurst, south of Sherbrooke, "J.Samaan Shell Service Station".
Aha...so the Shell station was hiding in plain sight all along.
For the record then, the 2500 Elmhurst Avenue Shell is first listed in Lovell's 1967-68 edition (Samaan J Shell), and last listed in the 1990-91 when Shell must have pulled the plug.
Granted that the new station building shifted its front entrance civic number, exactly why the decision was made to change a 30-year-long established address for this particular station is puzzling to say the least. It would be like changing the Orange Julep's address from 7700 Decarie to 5355 Pare by moving it's front door facing south instead of east.
I'll wager that there are probably very few such service stations which would have done this, unless of course another oil company had taken it over, but even then, when BP stations were bought out by Petro-Canada and Ultramar absorbed Gulf, their addresses remained the same--unless they too moved the front door on a brand new structure.
I am beginning to suspect that the ulterior motive for closing so many local neighbourhood service stations is for safety concerns following pressure by the city, due to the risk of lawsuits resulting from potentially fractured underground fuel tanks too close to residences and other businesses. Such paranoia may indeed be building within upper management, what with all of the recent oil-related disasters and ongoing environmental issues. We may eventually find ourselves driving to the suburbs for gas and diesel.
I purchased most of my gas at the Shell at Elmhurst and Sherbrooke thru 1967.
( When my Father purchased his first car, he took it to this Shell as it was the closest to our home. Gas was about 25 cents a gallon?
The attendant congratulated my Father on his new vehicle, and gave him a bimetal Shellzone thermometer on a rubber suction cup for the dashboard.
The suction cup perished and my Father made a clip for the thermometer which then rode in every car he owned until he stopped driving in his nineties. )
Back then, many motorists were 'loyal' to one brand of fuel.
If I was going the other way, I purchased gas at the Shell at Cavendish and Somerled on SE corner.
The Royal Bank was on the SW corner.
Woolworths was on the NE Corner at Cav.
Another Bell story.
'My' Bell truck, then almost brand new, Ford, 12D61320 was T-boned at Somerled and Cavendish just AFTER I was transferred to Coin Collectors on Jean Talon, later back to 5757 U L., their trucks having the requisite Pay Telephone coin box safes.
( My Aunt who lived near Benny Farm on Monkland was down shopping on Somerled and saw the Bell truck on it's side, wrote down the number, 1320, ( the 12D6 part was in a lower-size 'case' ) and telephoned my Mother. My Mother said the 1320 number was 'My' truck, but I had just been transferred to Jean Talon Garage and now had another truck.
Both were Fords, 1964 and 1966, 6 Cyl. 3-on-the-tree shift. )
A photo of the truck on it's side by the Shell was in the paper. Star?? Monitor????
( Someone who has access to newspaper files might look for the photo, summer 1967? )
I had a newspaper copy, but lost it in a move.
For the Bell nitpickers, 12D61320 was one of the last trucks to get the classic bell emblems. Gold on Blue, Bell Telephone Company of Canada around the circumference, Blue Bell with Service on yellow background within.
The next order of trucks received the Bell Canada logo in plain circle.
Bell trucks were finished off at Westeel in St. Henri and could be seen from the CPR trains above.
The two Shells aforementioned were originally the concrete version similar to the one shown here.
In the Fifties, regular Shell customers could obtain a stiff glossy hard paper??? 'Shell Card' embossed with client number and other info which purchases could be made, and you were billed later.
The card being placed in a card machine with ink ribbon to print embossed data onto a slip,
( Some of the big department stores on Ste Catherine had a metal 'card' called a Charga Plate to accomplish the same thing. Some of these plates were dark red, some gold, and were also inserted in a hand operated machine with an ink ribbon to emboss client's name onto data slip with carbons and so forth.
Back in the Fifties we were always trying to make mischief, not yet having cars, nor jobs nor money.
In winter we would hang around inside Montreal West Station as it was warm and would sometimes buy a cheap ticket for a train into Windsor Street just to stay inside.
We always said we were waiting for a train into Windsor Street, and had the ticket to prove it.
We never got on, tho'.
Remember those yellow Indicateur B foldable suburban time tables??
Anyway, there used to be this Taxi Stand at the West end of the station, Montreal West Taxi, just down the little hill towards Westminster with a dial-less Bell Taxi Telephone on the post on the station.
A sign WITH the taxi telephone number above.
Some taxi telephones were direct-connected to a Taxi switchboard and rung by a Taxi dispatcher when a cab was required, the client telephoning the Taxi outfit on an Island-wide Number, usually on the Taxi roof light.
The Dispatcher would then dial the nearest cab stand telephone and send a taxi.
HOWEVER! Montreal West Taxi had only one taxi stand, the one at Mtl. West Stn. and only a hand full of cabs.
In this case, the client's call went DIRECT to the telephone on the platform at the station, the client then speaking directly to the cab driver.
In the left corner of the station inside facing Westminster was a standard Bell Pay Phone, Green, on a metal desk with the directories hinged beneath.
( There was ANOTHER Black dial-less Pay Telephone in the right corner for Telegrams, a sign saying Canadian Pacific Telegrams above. )
We could sit on the bench at right angles to the track and look towards Westminster and the cab stand.
If a steam engine showed up, we'd go look at it, hating Diesels.
There was this one taxi driver who was a real prick and he hated everything, and, especially Teens.
He yelled at us 'loafers,' he was right, to some degree, and we hated him too, like the Diesels.
We wanted to 'fix' him and plotted many ideas.
One quiet day his was the only Taxi outside, him inside, hating, sign with the taxi number off to right.
BINGO!! the light came on in a cranium.
LETS CALL THE TAXI NUMBER ON THE PAY PHONE AND LET IT RING UNTIL HE GETS OUT OF HIS TAXI AND JUST ABOUT REACHES FOR THE RECEIVER.
Then hang up!
One of us edged to the telephone, put in a dime, Ding-Ding said the phone, and dialed the number outside the window.
The Taxi phone rang. The car door opened, Mr. Hate climbed the steps and reached for the receiver.
The guy inside hung up, Ka-chunk-a went the coin relay, and got the dime back.
Slam! went the receiver on the phone outside.
Slam! went the door on the taxi in echo.
Five minutes later did it again.
Ding-Ding, dial, ring, Hang up. Slam-Slam! Back came the dime.
A few minutes later, again. Then again.
Finally a REAL taxi call came thru and he came raging up the steps and ripped the receiver off the hook.
Surprise!!, there was a customer on the line, this time.
He peeled out, driving like a maniac.
Poor guy!
So, the next time you are sitting in Mtl. West Stn looking out the window at the Westminster end, think of the three telephones.
The one on the left, green. the one on the right, black, and the one outside for the taxis.
However, as Mr. Holmes would surely say, "Elementary, My dear Watson!
MP&I,
That great photo of steam loco 2816 at the Montreal West station reveals a lot more than you probably realize, because it is crystal clear now why the original Shell station (circa 1928-58 and shown in the right rear background) would have had its civic address at 7460 Sherbrooke (its front office entrance) facing north, since the garage doors are facing east toward Elmhurst.
Logically then, the successor station (circa 1967-91) must have done the opposite with its garage doors facing Sherbrooke and the office entrance at 2500 Elmhurst.
The Flickr photo's Wisconsin Shell station clearly shows an office entrance to the left of its two garage doors, and is of a different design than the one at 7460 Sherbrooke, but then I had always been amazed at just how quickly service stations would transform themselves virtually overnight with entirely different signage--especially when changing brand ownership. Yesterday evening a B/A; tomorrow morning a Gulf!
* * *
Charga-plates!
Coincidentally, I had recently done some research into those early credit cards because I do remember my mother being the proud owner of one back in the day. It must have been a Simpson's Charga-plate because of its distinctly pink colour. Indeed, there is a photo of one shown on Google Images. I don't remember its little vinyl holder, though. Perhaps she had lost it.
Apparently, "Charga-Plate" was a registered trade mark: see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charge-a-plate whereas in the U.S. they were called "Charge Plate".
I also remember the first plastic Chargex credit cards, which was in fact Visa card's original name. I still possess an old Chargex card as a souvenir.
* * *
Regarding bus and tram shelters, there are many old photos of those wooden "shacks with a bench" alongside tram lines, which were pretty dismal affairs (as they sometimes are TODAY, of course!). Such relics can still be seen in Australia on certain routes.
But now, I have a complaint about the Elmhurst Loop bus depot: for some inexplicable reason, route 123 passengers must disembark at the designated "final stop" a little below the southeast corner of Sherbrooke and Elmhurst. Then, if they need to transfer to the 51 or 105, they have two choices:
1) they must wait for the green light and then run westward to where the 51 is hopefully still waiting to pick up passengers, or
2) they must walk or run eastward on Sherbrooke (an even further distance) to the next stop in front of the Pharmaprix if they don't want to miss their bus. Thankfully, most drivers seem to realize this dilemma and do wait for stragglers.
This, in spite of the fact that the 123 CONTINUES WEST EMPTY to make the turnaround in the loop itself RIGHT NEXT TO THE 51 and 105!
Isn't it a no-brainer to let passengers remain on the 123 if they wish, and then allow them to disembark alongside the 51 or 105 in the loop itself, particularly since the MTC/STM makes a point of placing warning signs discouraging would-be bus passengers not to run after a bus or dash across busy depot lanes, so why force us to do exactly that--especially in inclement weather?! I have lost count of the times I've just missed a bus connection at the Elmhurst Loop because of the distance needed to reach it from the 123.
Hopefully, when I am on my last legs as an aging fossil, there will someday be an ultra-modern bus/Metro station at that spot where dozens of kindly youngsters will generously shove me and my wheelchair aboard! Bus fare at $5.00 a crack, no doubt!
Just think: that hapless taxi driver probably arrived home that night to kick his dog and beat his wife after what you juvenile deliquents had done to him! LOL!
Now, please dig back into the dark reached of your memory and tell me (and all of us) in what year a payphone local call went from 5 cents to 10 cents. Thank you!
I recently saw a film noir (I think it was with veteran actor Richard Conte) who, in the plot had just gotten out of jail and, placing a nickel in a phone booth to call up an old crony, kept getting his nickel returning back from the slot.
He then shouts over to the nearby shopkeeper, "Hey, what's wrong with this phone? It won't take my nickel!", to which the shopkeeper replies, "A Nickel?! Where YOU been, pal? It's a DIME!"
Incomplete research has thus far revealed that payphone calls in Canada, as well as many locations in the U.S., increased from 5 cents to 10 cents in 1952--exact date yet to be determined.
If come of us believed that "NIMBYism" is a "recent phenomenon", not so, because back in the early 1950s, the residents of Verdun enclave Crawford Park were adamant that plans to install an Esso station at the corner of Crawford Street and Champlain Blvd. not be allowed to proceed, but I have yet to investigate further to see if their petition achieved their goal.
In any event, there is currently no station at that intersection. Indeed, another Esso at the corner of LaSalle Blvd. and de l'Eglise was recently closed.
I wonder if the local residents there were also responsible for having the formerly vehicular Crawford Bridge transformed into a pedestrian and cyclist-only bridge? Apparently this previously long-established, vehicular access over the aqueduct had been crumbling for years.
By the way, MP&I, I finally located the Gazette article concerning the Atwater Tunnel's opening day. See June 2, 1954, page 3 with photos. Not sure how far back in this blog we discussed it, so I'm plonking it down right here.
I remember a couple of old wooden bus shelters along Dollard in Lasalle in the late 1960's. I had friends that moved into a new development just to the southwest of Dollard and Newman - nothing but fields everywhere, and maybe a bus every hour or so (the 111 from Elmhurst, if I recall correctly, and the rush hour only 110 which ran along Newman from the 78 terminus in Ville-Emard).
The Elmhust shelter (demolished within the last two years) used to have an operating heater, and a large MTC/STM map on the wall. Vandals put an end to both of the above.
Residents near the loop have been getting upset at the number of buses parking outside their apt. bldgs. on Sherbrooke St., and often put of home-made "No Parking" signs (which usually work for a while). There is space in the loop for at least 7-8 buses - why don't they park there?
That IS interesting about the Opening Date of the Atwater Tunnel!!
I do NOT remember the Atwater Bridge, nor can recall ever seeing a photograph of same.
I DO remember crossing Cote St. Paul bridge on a streetcar way back when as we went down that way for some reason I have now long forgotten.
The years Do things to memory I am finding.
I cannot even remember my FIRST Pay Phone call, but presume they went from a nickle to a dime somewhere in the Fifties. I do NOT remember a nickle phone myself.
When we went to the South Shore, if we did not use the Mercier, we usually used Victoria Bridge. The 'Toll Plaza' was on Bridge St. and ONLY the upstream side was used for vehicular traffic as the M&SC was still on the Downstream side.
NOW, was that ever narrow and rough on pavement, especially in poor weather.
When they modified the Victoria to include the branch loop to upstream for trains and roadways around the St. Lambert Lock it was a mess.
Tickets were used for tolls, as I recall.
I thought the Atwater Tunnel a real marvel when we first drove thru it. Ditto the St. Remi with it's long run out on the South side of the canal.
I never liked Pont Champlain, and still don't. It's long slope coming North is annoying, BUMP bump bump, BUMP bump bump, and the rat's nest of roads between it and Turcot/Decarie, the West Island and East are terrible.
Had the Autoroute and the bridges STAYED with small tolls, say 25 or 50 cents, there might be enough in the kitty to fix some of the spalling wonders.
If it was not stolen, first.
Think a doggerel tune such as 'The Champlain Bridge/Metropolitan/Gardner is Spalling down, Spalling down, Spalling down' sung to the lyrics of 'London Bridge is falling down' etc.
I have sung this, but, not everyone knows the word 'Spalling'
Glad I got rid of my car.
Anyway. I'm going to think about Montreal Tramways, and the steel trestle near Vezina for a while, then have a bowl of milk and go lie by the fire.
Apparently, it took much wrangling (so, what else is new?!) to get the St. Remi Tunnel built, with other locations suggested but finally dismissed. See the link below and note also the artcle about the 8000 series of locomotives Angus Shops was building back then:
When I owned car, I never liked the Champlain Bridge either for the same reasons you didn't, much less the Victoria Bridge with its try-not-to-look-down narrow lanes and distracting trains which sometimes thundered alongside me! I think my heart-rate must have doubled every time I crossed the damned thing!
If "trestle dreams" indeed soothe the savage beast within you, type "Goodwood Tram Overpass" into Google Images, and feast your eyes on a very similar structure to which someday you owe yourself a visit before the Old Conductor in the Sky hands you your "final transfer".
Streetcars on right are in dead zone where cars normally did not run, the track connecting North and South routes and back to car barns in St. Henri at the Glen via Girouard/St. Jacques.
Sherbrooke and Patricia. Shell station to left out of frame. Ford car turning left to get ice cream at Elmhurst Dairy on Avon.
http://davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc23.htm
Sherbrook and Walkley.
http://www.davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc24.htm
Streetcar Westbound to Elmhurst. ( The caption is WRONG. ) Meldrum the Mover, ex BTCo Echange, building w/ivy on NE corner beyond Ford. Apartments beyond still face Sherbrooke, Benny Farm behind, the two huge eyesores now opposite on South side of Sherbrooke.
St. Remi Tunnel killed this route, or so it says. Car just out of paint shop at Youville with then almost new MTC arrow crest.
http://www.davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc68.htm
Northbound 17 Cartierville car has just left Garland. Device in track to right is for expansion and contraction outside paved areas.
http://dewi.ca/trains/montreal/pix/a005_12.jpg
City of Montreal Sicard dump truck to left on Decarie. These had low sides so shovelers walking along side cleaning winter sand, etc. out of gutters, or soil from catch basins before sucker trucks did not have to throw it so high.
Just to tie up a few loose ends, since this seems the best place to do it...
On December 19, 1951, the Quebec government--then headed by Maurice Duplessis--approved a bill submitted by the City of Montreal to build a road up Mount Royal, essentially replacing the already existing streetcar tracks--itself generating controversy in that era.
Reference: the Montreal Gazette for December 20, 1951, page 13.
Included was a plan to allow a 3000-car parking space next the Chalet.
The actually conversion from streetcar trackage to vehicular roadway, however, was only to become a reality in the late 1950s during the Drapeau regime. Thankfully, the proposed parking spaces were made available not near the Chalet, but closer to Smith House and alongside Remembrance Road near Beaver Lake. Ironically, the city has recently limited cross-mountain road traffic by reducing lanes.
The St. Remi Tunnel opened on December 15, 1951 during a snowstorm, thus delaying the planned "official" inauguration by government delegates. The $5 million project, begun in 1949, was one-third financed by the city and 2-thirds by the federal government.
Reference: the Gazette for December 17, 1951, page 10.
25 comments:
From the street that runs to the south behind the Montreal West CP Rail station. Until the 80s, when Amtrak was still running through to New York, and VIA had their Budd RDC runs to Ottawa via Montebello and Quebec City via Trois-Rivieres, those lumbersome baggage carts were a platform fixture.
The original Montreal West station - demolished and replaced by the current structure in the 1990's (maybe late 80's?). The new one occupies roughly the same footprint as the old one. We used to bring big boxes full of Xmas presents there, and "express" them to Vancouver - arriving 3-4 days later.
The CPR Montreal West station was not demolished and replaced with a new one. What is there today, is still the same building as seen in the photo although it was extensively renovated in the mid-1980s after the transit authority took over operation of the commuter trains in 1982.
Although VIA Rail had taken over operation of the CPR's intercity passenger trains in 1978, the railroad continued to run commuter trains to the West Island until October 1, 1982. I was on that very last CPR commuter train.
The last VIA Rail train through there was the usually single Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC) to Quebec City Wayne Dayton mentions. Its last run was in the Fall of 1981 as VIA Rail decided to consolidate all their arrivals and departures at Central Station.
Montreal West had also been a stop for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad's daytime "Laurentian Limited and their nighttime "Montreal Limited" until both were discontinued in the spring of 1971 when Amtrak took over the operation of most U.S. passenger trains.
Amtrak re-introduced a daytime passenger train on the D&H route named the "Adirondack" in 1974. The train's Montreal terminal was changed to Central Station from Windsor Station in January 1986 and so it no longer passes through Montreal West. By then it was no longer stopping at any stations between Windsor Station and the U.S. border. I was also on that last trip through Montreal West.
Montreal West in its heyday was the designated station where passengers could transfer from late inbound trains to outbound trains avoiding a trip all the way to Windsor Station and back out again.
Ironically with the coach servicing yards now at Sortin west of Montreal West, all empty commuter trains starting or ending their service day at Lucien L'Allier now travel through Montreal West. That combined with the increase in commuter trains, means Montreal West is busier than it was in its heyday as a CPR intercity passenger station. Just trying crossing the tracks during rush hour at Westminster Avenue.
Not only had the train station been upgraded, but the residence in view on the left corner (2096-2098 Connaught where Harley and Broughton Avenues meet) has clearly seen some significant renovations since 1952 as well: balconies modernized, greenery added, trees come and gone, etc.
See link:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=45.453479,-73.641007&spn=0.000015,0.009645&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.453479,-73.641007&panoid=D424emo2CGrovmQ4BM5LEQ&cbp=12,260.92,,1,-0.71
Incidently, on the north side of the tracks, at 7460 Sherbrooke West (the southwest corner with Elmhurst Avenue) there was a Shell service station which was first listed in the 1928-29 Lovell's and last listed in the 1958 edition under proprietor Bill Woods.
7470 Sherbrooke was a Shop & Save supermarket for many years until it too succumbed to closure. Today an apartment condo complex, of course.
We can safely assume that the large lot upon which the Shell station stood and which has remained empty for the past 55 years is owned by the City of Montreal (being as it is adjacent to the Elmhurst MTC bus turnaround); property presumably slated for a future Montreal West Metro station which hopefully will open before most of those reading this have passed into eternity; the day when Quebeckers elect an English premier perhaps?
See:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=45.454524,-73.641819&spn=0.000015,0.009645&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=45.454607,-73.641754&panoid=1gAe4ebXSQrOWhaP8kW7iw&cbp=12,77.04,,0,1
New walls and windows, new roof, new floor (for the pedestrian tunnel). I would say it was "demolished". (as far as I know) there is nothing left from the original structure (I think an original clock may still be in the "office"). (I was in both many, many times)
During its "heyday" there were also dozens of trains passing through during off-peak hours and weekends (which have very little traffic nowadays).
"future Montreal West metro" - This is an idea whose past came..Line 5 was to continue west from Snowdon with a stop at Cavendish and Somerled, one at Montreal West Station and another in Lachine to hook up with the CPR commuter train (inter-modal station.) Land was indeed reserved at all these places but the reserves were abandoned somewhere around in the late 1980s.
The location is Montreal West Station.
I had a ten cent CPR ticket from Montreal West to Westmount Station which I gave away in 2004. The ticket was from a day in the fifties when I was visiting a friend in Montreal West and decided to return by train. The Boston & Maine train pulled into Montreal West and the B&M Conductor let me ride to Westmount but did not collect the CPR ticket.
Who can forget the great ice cream at the Elmhurst Dairy Ice Cream counter just a short distance away from Montreal West Station.
Speaking of the end of CP operation and the debut of what was then under the CTCUM before the creation of the AMT, I rode a special media train from Windsor Station (900-series gallery cars hauled by a FP7) with Lawrence Hanigan, CTCUM chair; Pierre Des Marais II, MUC chair; Michel Clair, Quebec Transport Minister; and assorted West Island mayors...that went non-stop to Beaconsfield for a ceremonial ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of station infrastructur improvements...the train then returned non-stop to Windsor, where a buffet lunch catered by the Chateau Champlain was served in the station concourse
The Shell station would have closed in the mid to late 1980's. There were what seemed to be years of decontamination before "A Vendre" signs appeared. A couple of attempts were made for condos on the site (and a seniors home) - all of which failed. One rumour (maybe fact) was that the city bought the land in order to expand the bus loop (the 90 would have stopped there). "A Vendre" signs still come and go over the last couple of years.
(since my apartment overlooks the site, I can see any changes that may take place. I would hate to see a highrise block my view).
Lovell's and Criss-Cross Directories list no service station nor any dwelling whatsoever at 7460 Sherbrooke W. from 1959 onwards. In the 1958 edition, only Bill Woods--the station proprietor--is listed.
Researchers take note that Lovell's generally list service stations by their proprietors or owner-operators' names
rather than by the oil company's name, although there are exceptions to this rule depending on the directory year.
However, the oil companies might sometimes be identified by cross-referencing them under their business listing (Annuaire Montrealais d'Affaires Classifies) under "Gasoline & Oil Service Stations", which may or not produce results.
For example, I do not recall the name of the service station that used to exist at 5470 Monkland on the southeast corner of Girouard--proprietor Marcel Comeau. It may have been a Sunoco, but surely someone reading this will know immediately.
It is quite possible, of course, that the deserted station at 7460 Sherbrooke stood for decades until the day it was eventually demolished. Further research is needed. Shell HQ ought to shed some light on this.
Decontamination of the former Shell station property following the removal of the sub-surface fuel tanks would have been a certainty.
The supermarket at 7470 had, of course, changed hands over the decades until it too was very recently replaced by tbe condo-apartments. Years ago, across the street at 7475 Sherbrooke were the offices of International Correspondence Schools, Canada Ltd.
As for any potential future plans for the 7460 sight, it would be very unwise for the City of Montreal to lease that land to any potential developers unless it would guarantee the incorporation of a future Metro station--such as what has occurred at other Metros like the one at the northeast corner of de Castelnau and St. Lawrence, for example. The city would certainly have a long-term plan to build a Montreal West Metro at some future point as they did at Vendome.
As for any Metro plans presumably later "abandoned", all is not lost, for a Metro station could easily be built at the northeast corner of Cavendish and Monkland, being as it is park property. Likewise in Ville St. Pierre (since merged with Lachine), and the final one at the edge of LaSalle Park in Lachine itself.
For Montreal to take the cheap way out by re-installing climactically-vulnerable tram lines on city streets instead of continuing Metro expansion would be a backward move.
A priority should be placed on the decades-old promise of extending the Blue Line through the existing high population density districts east to Ville d'Anjou and west to Lachine within the next ten to twenty years, and later the Orange Line from Cote Vertu north to Montmorency to complete the "orange circle line".
However, as I've suggested elsewhere, exclusive-right-of-way tram lines which do not interfere with vehicular traffic are acceptible.
Update:
The service station at 5470 Monkland, southeast corner of Girouard, was an Esso.
It was last listed in the 1978-79 Lovell's, after which it was eventually demolished following demands from local residents to turn the land into a green space.
A small park exists there today.
The one-time Shell service station on the southwest corner of Sherbrooke Elmhurst is indeed listed in Lovell's. The address is shown as 2500 Elmhurst with J. Sanaam listed as the proprietor of a Shell service station in 1976. The reason it might not be listed on Sherbrooke after 1959 is probably because a new service station building went up and the building now faced Elmhurst.
I was visiting Montreal this summer and passed the old Elmhurst streetcar and now bus loop. I noted the old brick and glass heated shelter was gone. I also noticed they were repaving the loop. Taking a closer look, I saw the old pavement had been shaved off in the loop exposing the streetcar tracks underneath. I took several photos before the tracks were again paved over.
They simply changed the civic address from Sherbrooke West to being on Elmhurst...that's why you couldn't find it. For example, the 1982 Lovell's Directory lists at 2500 Elmhurst, south of Sherbrooke, "J.Samaan Shell Service Station".
Aha...so the Shell station was hiding in plain sight all along.
For the record then, the 2500 Elmhurst Avenue Shell is first listed in Lovell's 1967-68 edition (Samaan J Shell), and last listed in the 1990-91 when Shell must have pulled the plug.
Granted that the new station building shifted its front entrance civic number, exactly why the decision was made to change a 30-year-long established address for this particular station is puzzling to say the least. It would be like changing the Orange Julep's address from 7700 Decarie to 5355 Pare by moving it's front door facing south instead of east.
I'll wager that there are probably very few such service stations which would have done this, unless of course another oil company had taken it over, but even then, when BP stations were bought out by Petro-Canada and Ultramar absorbed Gulf, their addresses remained the same--unless they too moved the front door on a brand new structure.
I am beginning to suspect that the ulterior motive for closing so many local neighbourhood service stations is for safety concerns following pressure by the city, due to the risk of lawsuits resulting from potentially fractured underground fuel tanks too close to residences and other businesses. Such paranoia may indeed be building within upper management, what with all of the recent oil-related disasters and ongoing environmental issues. We may eventually find ourselves driving to the suburbs for gas and diesel.
I purchased most of my gas at the Shell at Elmhurst and Sherbrooke thru 1967.
( When my Father purchased his first car, he took it to this Shell as it was the closest to our home. Gas was about 25 cents a gallon?
The attendant congratulated my Father on his new vehicle, and gave him a bimetal Shellzone thermometer on a rubber suction cup for the dashboard.
The suction cup perished and my Father made a clip for the thermometer which then rode in every car he owned until he stopped driving in his nineties. )
Back then, many motorists were 'loyal' to one brand of fuel.
If I was going the other way, I purchased gas at the Shell at Cavendish and Somerled on SE corner.
The Royal Bank was on the SW corner.
Woolworths was on the NE Corner at Cav.
Another Bell story.
'My' Bell truck, then almost brand new, Ford, 12D61320 was T-boned at Somerled and Cavendish just AFTER I was transferred to Coin Collectors on Jean Talon, later back to 5757 U L., their trucks having the requisite Pay Telephone coin box safes.
( My Aunt who lived near Benny Farm on Monkland was down shopping on Somerled and saw the Bell truck on it's side, wrote down the number, 1320, ( the 12D6 part was in a lower-size 'case' ) and telephoned my Mother. My Mother said the 1320 number was 'My' truck, but I had just been transferred to Jean Talon Garage and now had another truck.
Both were Fords, 1964 and 1966, 6 Cyl. 3-on-the-tree shift. )
A photo of the truck on it's side by the Shell was in the paper. Star?? Monitor????
( Someone who has access to newspaper files might look for the photo, summer 1967? )
I had a newspaper copy, but lost it in a move.
For the Bell nitpickers, 12D61320 was one of the last trucks to get the classic bell emblems. Gold on Blue, Bell Telephone Company of Canada around the circumference, Blue Bell with Service on yellow background within.
The next order of trucks received the Bell Canada logo in plain circle.
Bell trucks were finished off at Westeel in St. Henri and could be seen from the CPR trains above.
The two Shells aforementioned were originally the concrete version similar to the one shown here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whsimages/4206751982/
When I was a child 'Shellubrication' was the longest word I knew.
The Shell at Elmhurst received a more-modern upgrade in the Fifties looking like this as mentioned before.
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/7/1/7/9717.1253640194.jpg
In the Fifties, regular Shell customers could obtain a stiff glossy hard paper??? 'Shell Card' embossed with client number and other info which purchases could be made, and you were billed later.
The card being placed in a card machine with ink ribbon to print embossed data onto a slip,
( Some of the big department stores on Ste Catherine had a metal 'card' called a Charga Plate to accomplish the same thing. Some of these plates were dark red, some gold, and were also inserted in a hand operated machine with an ink ribbon to emboss client's name onto data slip with carbons and so forth.
Charga Plate.
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/small-items/charga-plate/index.html
Chargex and Master Card et al came later. )
I recently gave my fibre Shell 'card' and the Shellzone thermometer to a car nut, and he was ecstatic.
The small glass bus shelters came in around 1962. As I remember, there was another at Glen and Ste. Catherine on NE corner??
The one at Elmhurst was in terrible shape when I last looked at it in Feb. 2008.
There used to be a curious structure on the east side of the Elmhurst Loop with it's back against the fence with the Shell.
Possibly a washroom for Motormen and Conductors and, later, Autobus Chauffeurs??
In the Sixties, several of the 'poles' at Elmhurst still were those made from streetcar 'Girder Rail' painted Tramways Green.
Thank You.
A Mean Teen Story.
Back in the Fifties we were always trying to make mischief, not yet having cars, nor jobs nor money.
In winter we would hang around inside Montreal West Station as it was warm and would sometimes buy a cheap ticket for a train into Windsor Street just to stay inside.
We always said we were waiting for a train into Windsor Street, and had the ticket to prove it.
We never got on, tho'.
Remember those yellow Indicateur B foldable suburban time tables??
Anyway, there used to be this Taxi Stand at the West end of the station, Montreal West Taxi, just down the little hill towards Westminster with a dial-less Bell Taxi Telephone on the post on the station.
A sign WITH the taxi telephone number above.
Some taxi telephones were direct-connected to a Taxi switchboard and rung by a Taxi dispatcher when a cab was required, the client telephoning the Taxi outfit on an Island-wide Number, usually on the Taxi roof light.
The Dispatcher would then dial the nearest cab stand telephone and send a taxi.
HOWEVER! Montreal West Taxi had only one taxi stand, the one at Mtl. West Stn. and only a hand full of cabs.
In this case, the client's call went DIRECT to the telephone on the platform at the station, the client then speaking directly to the cab driver.
In the left corner of the station inside facing Westminster was a standard Bell Pay Phone, Green, on a metal desk with the directories hinged beneath.
( There was ANOTHER Black dial-less Pay Telephone in the right corner for Telegrams, a sign saying Canadian Pacific Telegrams above. )
We could sit on the bench at right angles to the track and look towards Westminster and the cab stand.
If a steam engine showed up, we'd go look at it, hating Diesels.
There was this one taxi driver who was a real prick and he hated everything, and, especially Teens.
He yelled at us 'loafers,' he was right, to some degree, and we hated him too, like the Diesels.
We wanted to 'fix' him and plotted many ideas.
One quiet day his was the only Taxi outside, him inside, hating, sign with the taxi number off to right.
BINGO!! the light came on in a cranium.
LETS CALL THE TAXI NUMBER ON THE PAY PHONE AND LET IT RING UNTIL HE GETS OUT OF HIS TAXI AND JUST ABOUT REACHES FOR THE RECEIVER.
Then hang up!
One of us edged to the telephone, put in a dime, Ding-Ding said the phone, and dialed the number outside the window.
The Taxi phone rang. The car door opened, Mr. Hate climbed the steps and reached for the receiver.
The guy inside hung up, Ka-chunk-a went the coin relay, and got the dime back.
Slam! went the receiver on the phone outside.
Slam! went the door on the taxi in echo.
Five minutes later did it again.
Ding-Ding, dial, ring, Hang up. Slam-Slam! Back came the dime.
A few minutes later, again. Then again.
Finally a REAL taxi call came thru and he came raging up the steps and ripped the receiver off the hook.
Surprise!!, there was a customer on the line, this time.
He peeled out, driving like a maniac.
Poor guy!
So, the next time you are sitting in Mtl. West Stn looking out the window at the Westminster end, think of the three telephones.
The one on the left, green. the one on the right, black, and the one outside for the taxis.
Thank You.
I SEE...said the blind man!
However, as Mr. Holmes would surely say, "Elementary, My dear Watson!
MP&I,
That great photo of steam loco 2816 at the Montreal West station reveals a lot more than you probably realize, because it is crystal clear now why the original Shell station (circa 1928-58 and shown in the right rear background) would have had its civic address at 7460 Sherbrooke (its front office entrance) facing north, since the garage doors are facing east toward Elmhurst.
Logically then, the successor station (circa 1967-91) must have done the opposite with its garage doors facing Sherbrooke and the office entrance at 2500 Elmhurst.
The Flickr photo's Wisconsin Shell station clearly shows an office entrance to the left of its two garage doors, and is of a different design than the one at 7460 Sherbrooke, but then I had always been amazed at just how quickly service stations would transform themselves virtually overnight with entirely different signage--especially when changing brand ownership. Yesterday evening a B/A; tomorrow morning a Gulf!
* * *
Charga-plates!
Coincidentally, I had recently done some research into those early credit cards because I do remember my mother being the proud owner of one back in the day. It must have been a Simpson's Charga-plate because of its distinctly pink colour. Indeed, there is a photo of one shown on Google Images. I don't remember its little vinyl holder, though. Perhaps she had lost it.
Apparently, "Charga-Plate" was a registered trade mark: see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charge-a-plate
whereas in the U.S. they were called "Charge Plate".
I also remember the first plastic Chargex credit cards, which was in fact Visa card's original name. I still possess an old Chargex card as a souvenir.
* * *
Regarding bus and tram shelters, there are many old photos of those wooden "shacks with a bench" alongside tram lines, which were pretty dismal affairs (as they sometimes are TODAY, of course!). Such relics can still be seen in Australia on certain routes.
But now, I have a complaint about the Elmhurst Loop bus depot: for some inexplicable reason, route 123 passengers must disembark at the designated "final stop" a little below the southeast corner of Sherbrooke and Elmhurst. Then, if they need to transfer to the 51 or 105, they have two choices:
1) they must wait for the green light and then run westward to where the 51 is hopefully still waiting to pick up passengers, or
2) they must walk or run eastward on Sherbrooke (an even further distance) to the next stop in front of the Pharmaprix if they don't want to miss their bus. Thankfully, most drivers seem to realize this dilemma and do wait for stragglers.
This, in spite of the fact that the 123 CONTINUES WEST EMPTY to make the turnaround in the loop itself RIGHT NEXT TO THE 51 and 105!
Isn't it a no-brainer to let passengers remain on the 123 if they wish, and then allow them to disembark alongside the 51 or 105 in the loop itself, particularly since the MTC/STM makes a point of placing warning signs discouraging would-be bus passengers not to run after a bus or dash across busy depot lanes, so why force us to do exactly that--especially in inclement weather?! I have lost count of the times I've just missed a bus connection at the Elmhurst Loop because of the distance needed to reach it from the 123.
Hopefully, when I am on my last legs as an aging fossil, there will someday be an ultra-modern bus/Metro station at that spot where dozens of kindly youngsters will generously shove me and my wheelchair aboard! Bus fare at $5.00 a crack, no doubt!
MP&I,
Just think: that hapless taxi driver probably arrived home that night to kick his dog and beat his wife after what you juvenile deliquents had done to him! LOL!
Now, please dig back into the dark reached of your memory and tell me (and all of us) in what year a payphone local call went from 5 cents to 10 cents. Thank you!
I recently saw a film noir (I think it was with veteran actor Richard Conte) who, in the plot had just gotten out of jail and, placing a nickel in a phone booth to call up an old crony, kept getting his nickel returning back from the slot.
He then shouts over to the nearby shopkeeper, "Hey, what's wrong with this phone? It won't take my nickel!", to which the shopkeeper replies, "A Nickel?! Where YOU been, pal? It's a DIME!"
Incomplete research has thus far revealed that payphone calls in Canada, as well as many locations in the U.S., increased from 5 cents to 10 cents in 1952--exact date yet to be determined.
See:
http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=b25b1e27-e2e8-4949-9074-3aeebcad8d53
New York State evidently increased the rate in January 1951.
If come of us believed that "NIMBYism" is a "recent phenomenon", not so, because back in the early 1950s, the residents of Verdun enclave Crawford Park were adamant that plans to install an Esso station at the corner of Crawford Street and Champlain Blvd. not be allowed to proceed, but I have yet to investigate further to see if their petition achieved their goal.
In any event, there is currently no station at that intersection. Indeed, another Esso at the corner of LaSalle Blvd. and de l'Eglise was recently closed.
I wonder if the local residents there were also responsible for having the formerly vehicular Crawford Bridge transformed into a pedestrian and cyclist-only bridge? Apparently this previously long-established, vehicular access over the aqueduct had been crumbling for years.
By the way, MP&I, I finally located the Gazette article concerning the Atwater Tunnel's opening day. See June 2, 1954, page 3 with photos. Not sure how far back in this blog we discussed it, so I'm plonking it down right here.
I remember a couple of old wooden bus shelters along Dollard in Lasalle in the late 1960's. I had friends that moved into a new development just to the southwest of Dollard and Newman - nothing but fields everywhere, and maybe a bus every hour or so (the 111 from Elmhurst, if I recall correctly, and the rush hour only 110 which ran along Newman from the 78 terminus in Ville-Emard).
The Elmhust shelter (demolished within the last two years) used to have an operating heater, and a large MTC/STM map on the wall. Vandals put an end to both of the above.
Residents near the loop have been getting upset at the number of buses parking outside their apt. bldgs. on Sherbrooke St., and often put of home-made "No Parking" signs (which usually work for a while). There is space in the loop for at least 7-8 buses - why don't they park there?
That IS interesting about the Opening Date of the Atwater Tunnel!!
I do NOT remember the Atwater Bridge, nor can recall ever seeing a photograph of same.
I DO remember crossing Cote St. Paul bridge on a streetcar way back when as we went down that way for some reason I have now long forgotten.
The years Do things to memory I am finding.
I cannot even remember my FIRST Pay Phone call, but presume they went from a nickle to a dime somewhere in the Fifties. I do NOT remember a nickle phone myself.
When we went to the South Shore, if we did not use the Mercier, we usually used Victoria Bridge. The 'Toll Plaza' was on Bridge St. and ONLY the upstream side was used for vehicular traffic as the M&SC was still on the Downstream side.
NOW, was that ever narrow and rough on pavement, especially in poor weather.
When they modified the Victoria to include the branch loop to upstream for trains and roadways around the St. Lambert Lock it was a mess.
Tickets were used for tolls, as I recall.
I thought the Atwater Tunnel a real marvel when we first drove thru it. Ditto the St. Remi with it's long run out on the South side of the canal.
I never liked Pont Champlain, and still don't. It's long slope coming North is annoying, BUMP bump bump, BUMP bump bump, and the rat's nest of roads between it and Turcot/Decarie, the West Island and East are terrible.
Had the Autoroute and the bridges STAYED with small tolls, say 25 or 50 cents, there might be enough in the kitty to fix some of the spalling wonders.
If it was not stolen, first.
Think a doggerel tune such as 'The Champlain Bridge/Metropolitan/Gardner is Spalling down, Spalling down, Spalling down' sung to the lyrics of 'London Bridge is falling down' etc.
I have sung this, but, not everyone knows the word 'Spalling'
Glad I got rid of my car.
Anyway. I'm going to think about Montreal Tramways, and the steel trestle near Vezina for a while, then have a bowl of milk and go lie by the fire.
Thank You.
MP&I,
Apparently, it took much wrangling (so, what else is new?!) to get the St. Remi Tunnel built, with other locations suggested but finally dismissed. See the link below and note also the artcle about the 8000 series of locomotives Angus Shops was building back then:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BplNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v0IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2358,919555&dq=briand+street+tunnel&hl=en
When I owned car, I never liked the Champlain Bridge either for the same reasons you didn't, much less the Victoria Bridge with its try-not-to-look-down narrow lanes and distracting trains which sometimes thundered alongside me! I think my heart-rate must have doubled every time I crossed the damned thing!
If "trestle dreams" indeed soothe the savage beast within you, type "Goodwood Tram Overpass" into Google Images, and feast your eyes on a very similar structure to which someday you owe yourself a visit before the Old Conductor in the Sky hands you your "final transfer".
From the past.
Southbound 17 Cartierville car approaching Vezina after crossing CPR on steel trestle. Decarie to right.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/tramways/images/S61112/S611123_13.jpg
Little Decarie on left. Track curving left enters North side Terminus Garland where 17 Cartierville cars looped around to platform.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/tramways/images/diapos/S61112D10.jpg
Note Miron et Freres dump truck in classic Red/Orange.
Garland Terminus to left. 17 Cartierville car w/headlight ready to leave North to Gouin and Belmont Park.
http://www.stm.info/en-bref/tramways/images/S61112/S611123_14.jpg
Streetcars on right are in dead zone where cars normally did not run, the track connecting North and South routes and back to car barns in St. Henri at the Glen via Girouard/St. Jacques.
Sherbrooke and Patricia. Shell station to left out of frame. Ford car turning left to get ice cream at Elmhurst Dairy on Avon.
http://davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc23.htm
Sherbrook and Walkley.
http://www.davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc24.htm
Streetcar Westbound to Elmhurst. ( The caption is WRONG. ) Meldrum the Mover, ex BTCo Echange, building w/ivy on NE corner beyond Ford.
Apartments beyond still face Sherbrooke, Benny Farm behind, the two huge eyesores now opposite on South side of Sherbrooke.
St. Remi Tunnel killed this route, or so it says. Car just out of paint shop at Youville with then almost new MTC arrow crest.
http://www.davesrailpix.com/mtc/htm/mtc68.htm
Northbound 17 Cartierville car has just left Garland. Device in track to right is for expansion and contraction outside paved areas.
http://dewi.ca/trains/montreal/pix/a005_12.jpg
City of Montreal Sicard dump truck to left on Decarie. These had low sides so shovelers walking along side cleaning winter sand, etc. out of gutters, or soil from catch basins before sucker trucks did not have to throw it so high.
Blah, Blah, Blah.
Thank You.
MP&I,
Just to tie up a few loose ends, since this seems the best place to do it...
On December 19, 1951, the Quebec government--then headed by Maurice Duplessis--approved a bill submitted by the City of Montreal to build a road up Mount Royal, essentially replacing the already existing streetcar tracks--itself generating controversy in that era.
Reference: the Montreal Gazette for December 20, 1951, page 13.
Included was a plan to allow a 3000-car parking space next the Chalet.
The actually conversion from streetcar trackage to vehicular roadway, however, was only to become a reality in the late 1950s during the Drapeau regime. Thankfully, the proposed parking spaces were made available not near the Chalet, but closer to Smith House and alongside Remembrance Road near Beaver Lake.
Ironically, the city has recently limited cross-mountain road traffic by reducing lanes.
The St. Remi Tunnel opened on December 15, 1951 during a snowstorm, thus delaying the planned "official" inauguration by government delegates. The $5 million project, begun in 1949, was one-third financed by the city and 2-thirds by the federal government.
Reference: the Gazette for December 17, 1951, page 10.
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