January 4, 2019

Behind the Royal Hudson

Photographer Angus McIntyre has graciously sent along a high-res version of his photo that we recently published.

Plus the fun story around its capture.

Of course, the Royal Hudson is steaming southbound on the old CP Rail land, which has now become a Vancouver treasure — the wonderful Arbutus Greenway.  It’s crossing Broadway.

The Royal Hudson on Arbutus at Broadway (click for full size version)

Says photog McIntyre:

I was pleased to see my Royal Hudson photo appear in your blog; Eve Lazarus has posted it as well as others, and I thought you might enjoy a bit of background to it. I had heard the steam whistle while at my apartment at 10th and Spruce, saw smoke billowing up from the Kits trestle, and hopped into my ’65 Falcon and drove “briskly” to Broadway and Arbutus, did a U turn, jumped out of the car and had no time for composing or anything. It was a true grab shot.

The photo is cropped a bit from the original, and I would like you to have a large file version to see more detail. This is 1.4 MB, and includes a Brill in Hydro colours. Note the 7- DUNBAR is running on Broadway.

Other things I see in this hi-res version:

  • The long-gone David Hunter Garden Centre (now located near Trafalgar on Broadway) — “Time to apply dolomite lime is now”.
  • Railway crossing signs, retained as heritage elements all along the Arbutus Greenway.
  • Fletcher’s Fabricare — family-owned since 1968, and a Nelson’s pick-up location before that.
  • Motor vehicle operator waving at the train engineer.
  • A remnant of the McGavin Toastmaster Limited operation (2091 W Broadway)

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Comments

Leave a Reply to Jim ThorneCancel Reply

  1. Not Royal Hudson-related but I have fond memories of waiting for the 18 Arbutus outside the bakery – the smell was wonderful.

  2. Beautiful train! Apparently the one that actually pulled the royal train survived as well, and is on static display in Montréal.

    1. “The Royal Hudson”, #2850, is on display at ExpoRail (aka the Canadian Railway Museum) in Saint-Constant, QC, near Montreal.

  3. A timely reminder that Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals took this great ambassador for BC out of service and then sold off BC Rail. 16 years of misrule.

  4. Very cool. I once rode the tourist train version with the Royal Hudson to Squamish from North Vancouver. You could hang out on the platform between the passenger cars, hair blowing in the wind, and enjoy the most magnificent views of Howe Sound possible other than by boat.

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