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About Julian Bernard

My first train ride was in 1938, on CN, from Windsor to Toronto. Obviously I wasn’t instantly captivated because the only lingering memory of that journey is of seeing a gantry crane just as we left Windsor which, immediately on arriving home, I rushed to model in Meccano, a nuts, bolts and metal strips building toy. But a July 1943 journey from Toronto to Gaspé, Quebec, which took 24 hours longer than scheduled, turned out to be my awakening, instilling in me a fondness both for trains and for CN’s 1100 series of ten-wheelers beginning with 1134, the first number recorded in the notebook which I kept for years. Joining the Upper Canada Railway Society in 1947 introduced me to many people sharing similar interests and afforded an opportunity to become aware of and ride much of the dense network of CN and CP branch lines which then covered southern Ontario as well as the last of the electric interurban operations. Subsequently, career and family diverted my attention but I always tried to stay abreast of the railway world. Since that early start I have ridden on rails, long distance, local and urban, throughout Canada and in many different parts of the world but, except for the very occasional trip on VIA Rail, those days are now well behind me. Photography was never one of my strengths and most of my photos have been given away to others. However a number of Canadian electric line photos dating from the 1940s and 50s have survived and, as worthy ones are identified, they will be posted. Now thoroughly retired, I live in Guelph, Ontario.

Julian Bernard's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 23
Total gold: 268
Number of comments recieved : 70
Number of comments posted : 11
Total views: 117665

Julian Bernard has won Editors Choice 1 time

Julian Bernard has 1 image in the Time Machine

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Julian Bernard's 23 photos on Railpictures.ca:

Former Newfoundland Railway sleeping car "Twillingate" is seen at St. John's, Newfoundland on July 29, 1952. It continued to carry NR colours until 1955 at which time it was repainted in CN livery. Built in 1938 by National Steel Car, it was of all-steel construction, and was fitted out with 8 sections and 1 drawing room. Converted to work service in 1970 (as CN 5011), it was retired and moved to Corner Brook where it joined the Railway Society of Newfoundland museum at Humbermouth station. For many years it bore the name "Humber" but in 1999 its original name was restored. <br><br>In retrospect, I wish now that I had also paid attention to the elderly coach to the right wearing faded NR paint.<br><br><i>[Note: geotagged location not exact]</i>

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Newfoundland Railw…
Date:	07/29/1952
Location:	St. John's
Province:	Newfoundland and …

3 Comments | 8 Favourites

CN ten-wheeler 1135 is seen at Oxford Junction, Nova Scotia on June 20, 1955. Bound for Pictou, NS, 69.2 miles to the east, the run was usually served by a gas-electric car but their diminishing reliability or, perhaps on this day, a heavy head-end load of parcels and packages accounted for the substitution of regular locomotive-hauled equipment. Connection was made at Oxford Junction with Montreal - Halifax main line and local trains.

Name:	Juilan Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	06/20/1955
Location:	Oxford Junction
Province:	Nova Scotia

5 Comments | 28 Favourites

A succession of elderly pieces of passenger rolling stock were utilized by the Thousand Islands Railway over the years. Canadian National combination car 7145 served from 1952 to 1959 when it was retired. It had been built in 1911 by the Preston Car & Coach Company for the Canadian Northern Quebec Railway. It's seen here after arriving at Gananoque station with diesel-electric 500, after making the 4.5 mile trip from Gananoque Junction (another view of the train in front of the station from a different angle: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=24039><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=24039</b></a>).

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Thousand Islands R…
Date:	05/13/1956
Location:	Gananoque
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 12 Favourites

Thousand Islands Railway diesel-electric 500 has just brought its one-car train down the 4.5 mile spur from Gananoque Junction, where it connected with a CN passenger train, to the station in Gananoque. 500 was built in 1930 by the Oshawa Electric Railway using parts from an electric locomotive to which was added a gas-powered (later replaced by a diesel-powered) generator. It operated on the TIR from 1931 to 1960 and, in later years, was placed on display in front of the station where both the locomotive and station remain to this day. Passenger service on the railway ended in 1962 and freight service in 1995 after which what remained of the Thousand Islands Railway was removed.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Thousand Islands R…
Date:	05/13/1956
Location:	Gananoque
Province:	Ontario

5 Comments | 8 Favourites

On a Friday morning in October 1987, CN 5501 is ready to leave Waterways, Alberta, the station for Fort McMurray, a short distance to the north and long before that community became associated in the minds of most of us with oil sands. Train 289, the northbound counterpart of train 290, known locally as the “Muskeg Mixed”, took two days, with a overnight stopover in Lac La Biche, for the 294 mile journey which explains why our group of three chose a Red Arrow bus for the northbound leg and the CN mixed train for the southbound trip scheduled to take just under 11 hours. Coupled immediately ahead of the caboose is coach 5099, built for CN in 1937 as 5209, transferred to VIA Rail in 1978, and reacquired and renumbered in 1982 by CN which fitted it with a diesel generator to provide power for lighting and cooling. Imagine, an air-conditioned coach on a lowly mixed train!. In another respect the train was unusual because it was at the time the only passenger train still operated by CN in its own name, all others having been discontinued or turned over to VIA Rail. After several false starts going back as far as 1909, the line had been completed in 1925 by the Alberta & Great Waterways Railway and subsequently became a part of the Northern Alberta Railways. . <br><br>The schedule, which called for departure at 11:00 and arrival at 21:45, was adhered to somewhat casually for most of the southward trip which saw a few passengers embark and disembark along the way. There was little switching in or out of freight cars. As we neared Edmonton, now with only our group of three intrepid riders remaining, progress became very much stop-and-go. The conductor’s repeated calls to the dispatcher asking for permission to enter North Edmonton yard because he had passengers on board made us realize that, quite possibly, we were a rarity and that few actually rode the entire length of the line. Finally, some time after midnight, about three hours late, we were able to leave the train. A patient friend, who had offered to drive us to Calgary that night was still waiting for us.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	10/00/1987
Location:	Waterways
Province:	Alberta

1 Comments | 13 Favourites

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Canada & Gulf …
Date:	06/25/1955
Location:	Matane
Province:	Quebec

3 Comments | 9 Favourites

Canadian National Railways sleeping car "Grand Falls". still wearing its Newfoundland Railway colours three years after Newfoundland became Canada’s 10th province, is seen in St. John’s July 29, 1952. Built by National Steel Car in 1928, it was one of the three oldest sleeping cars in the fleet. It was fitted with 8 sections and 1 drawing room and, like all Newfoundland Railway passenger cars, was not air-conditioned. Passengers in a lower berth could open the lower sash a few inches exposing a fine mesh screen which kept out most, but not all, of the smells and sounds of steam-powered railroading.
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<i>[Note: geotagged location not exact]</i>

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/29/1952
Location:	St. John's
Province:	Newfoundland and …

6 Comments | 7 Favourites

It's August 3rd, 1952 and Quebec Central Railway G-2 Pacific 2588 has just brought Train 1, which originated in Newport, Vermont, to a halt in Thetford Mines. The train and its afternoon counterpart, Train 6, were the only Quebec Central trains to use Palais Station in Quebec City; other trains dropped their passengers off in Lévis from where they were ferried across the St. Lawrence. Between Sherbrooke and Quebec a Café Parlor car was part of the consist of Trains 1 and 6. And it is obvious from the locomotive's gleaming exterior that shop crews took pride in their work. G-2 class 4-6-2 Pacific 2588 was built by parent Canadian Pacific in 1912, transferred to the Quebec Central in 1930, and was retired in 1959.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Quebec Central
Date:	08/03/1952
Location:	Thetford Mines
Province:	Quebec

8 Comments | 10 Favourites

This unusual car, CN 15006, was photographed on July 12, 1954 in Cochrane, Ontario where it was being used as an Instruction Car. It was built about 1912 by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad as a steam-powered, coal-fired self propelled passenger car. A few years later it was acquired by the Grand Trunk and numbered 3 but how the GT used it is unknown. It was off the CN roster by 1961.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/12/1954
Location:	Cochrane
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 12 Favourites

CN Train M264 which set out from Parry Sound almost four hours ago on its day long journey to Algonquin Park is seen on 10 August, 1953 a few minutes west of Scotia. Running eastbound on Mondays and Fridays, and westbound a day later, the train took 10 hours for the 94.6 mile journey including a three hour layover at Scotia making connections with north and southbound Toronto - North Bay trains. Originally part of lumber baron J. R. Booth’s busy Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway, traffic diminished over the years and the Parry Sound to Scotia segment was closed not long after the photo was taken, on the promise that the communities would be linked by a provincially built paved road.
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<i>[General location geotagged, not exact]</i>

Name:	Juilan Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/10/1953
Location:	Scotia
Province:	Ontario

12 Comments | 24 Favourites

Canadian National Railway 594, a Pacific built by Baldwin in 1920 for the Newfoundland Railway, awaits its next assignment in St. John's, Newfoundland on July 29, 1952.
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<i>[General location geotagged, not exact]</i>

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/29/1952
Location:	St. John's
Province:	Newfoundland and …

6 Comments | 22 Favourites

Grand River Railway 828 was built locally, by the Preston Car & Coach Company, in 1912. Employed in its later years primarily on the short run between Preston and Hespeler, it was converted to a work service car soon after this photo was taken at Preston yard. 828 was broken up in 1953.

Name:	William C. Bailey
Railway:	Grand River Railwa…
Date:	05/03/1947
Location:	Preston (Cambridge…
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

Grand River Railway 626, a combined passenger and baggage/express car was only two years old when this photo was taken having been built in 1947 by National Steel Car in Hamilton. Pictured here at Preston yard awaiting its next assignment, it turned out to be the last electric interurban car built in Canada. It was scrapped in 1947.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Grand River Railwa…
Date:	11/06/1949
Location:	Preston (now Cambr…
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 6 Favourites

Although they were two distinct entities on paper, the Grand River and the Lake Erie & Northern functioned as a single system under the direction of Canadian Pacific with all equipment regularly operating anywhere on either line. Apart from the letter boards, the only distinguishing feature was that Grand River equipment carried even numbers while Lake Erie & Northern’s numbers were odd. Parcels and small packages were a significant source of revenue. In this scene, GRR 842 has paused at the LE&N station in Brantford on its northbound trip to Galt to load such express shipments through the rear door while passengers board at the front. Since 842 did not have a separate baggage or express section, packages were simply piled in the vestibule or on seats at one end of the car. The station waiting area is in the brick section above the train shed while the track curving to the right in the foreground is a remnant of the Brantford & Hamilton Electric Railway which joined those two cities and which closed in 1931. The Lorne (Colborne Street) Bridge is in the background.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Grand River Railwa…
Date:	04/29/1950
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 11 Favourites

Street car operations in Cornwall ended in July 1949 and most passenger carrying equipment was scrapped shortly thereafter. This car, 29, which had started its working life in Fort Worth, Texas and arrived in Cornwall in 1939, survived somewhat longer and was made available by a cooperative management for fantrips over the remaining and still extensive network of track, with electric overhead intact, devoted to the CSR’s freight operations. This scene illustrates one of the risks of operating such an excursion on a Sunday when freight movements normally took the day off. After some delay the impasse was resolved and 29 completed its left turn from Marlborough Street onto William Street.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Cornwall Street Ra…
Date:	09/24/1950
Location:	Cornwall
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

Having left Churchill Saturday evening, it is now mid-day on Sunday. VIA #92, led by FP9A 6300, has left the Thicket sub at Sipiwesk (Thompson Jct.) and is headed north-west to Thompson where the three flatcars and their accompanying trailers will be cut out of the train. The train will then be backed the 30 miles to the junction from where the onward journey to Winnipeg will continue. Because Churchill has no road access, the trailers carry for the most part consumer goods of all kinds, include perishables, to Churchill.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	04/1990
Location:	Heller
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 4 Favourites

VIA Rail FP9A 6300 awaits the 9 pm departure on a Saturday evening late in April 1990 of #92 for Winnipeg, 1000 miles and 35 hours to the south. Trailing 6300 is another FP9A, two steam generators, three flat cars each equipped with steam pass-through lines and each carrying a highway trailer, one baggage car, one coach, one dining car and one E-class sleeping car. 6300, which was badly damaged in the 1986 Hinton collision, ended its working days as the shop switcher at VIA's Vancouver Maintenance Centre. It is now in the possession of the BC Chapter of the National Railway Historical Association, in New Westminster, BC.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	04/1990
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 16 Favourites

While primarily a passenger carrier, freight was an important source of revenue in the early days of the LPS, particularly coal which was brought across Lake Erie from Ashtabula, Ohio and then conveyed to London on the LPS where it was widely used as fuel in steam locomotives and as home heating fuel. As diesel locomotives replaced steam as natural gas and electricity replaced coal, freight traffic declined in relative importance. Freight trains were, for the most part, hauled by locomotives such as L1 pictured here in London but now preserved at the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas. Having said that, the writer recalls riding a single LPS car from London to St. Thomas not long before passenger service ended. A loaded box car in London was urgently needed in St. Thomas. Rather than wait for the next freight run, the passenger car paused in London, coupled to the box car and off we went. With the added weight, performance was a bit sluggish and arrival in St. Thomas was a few minutes late. But I had ridden on an electric interurban railway mixed passenger and freight train. Priceless!

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	London and Port St…
Date:	06/20/1954
Location:	London
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 12 Favourites

London and Port Stanley Railway cars 16 (closest to the camera) and 23 pause to have their picture taken on the Kettle Creek bridge in St. Thomas. The occasion was a railfans' excursion from London to Port Stanley Beach and return. Such outings were frequent in the line's later years in anticipation of the end of regular passenger service which came in 1957. Both of the cars pictured were acquired from The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company during the second world war. 16 is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	London and Port St…
Date:	06/20/1954
Location:	St. Thomas
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

In this bucolic scene TTC 412, with its headlight lens swinging in the breeze, is southbound for Toronto immediately north of Centre Street in Thornhill. Motor car traffic does not seem to be a problem on this Wednesday afternoon. Down in the valley behind 412 two golf courses were, and still are, located on either side of Yonge Street. Apart from the widening of the road to four clogged lanes, this scene is not all that different today. Closure of the North Yonge line came only four days after the photo was taken.

Name:	Julian Bernard
Railway:	Toronto Transporta…
Date:	10/06/1948
Location:	Thornhill
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 16 Favourites

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