THE SHIP OF THE PRAIRIE
"All aboard!" Such is the commanding cry which rings out in a Canadian
railway-station when a train is quite ready to start. "All aboard!"
shouts the conductor as he walks briskly alongside the train. In climb
the waiting passengers, and without further warning the big, ponderous
engine begins to move; and as it moves, the big bell which it carries
begins to toll, and keeps on tolling until the train is well clear of
the station. There is no string of guards and porters crying, "Take
your seats, please!" and no ringing of a station bell, as in England.
The conductor is the master of the train. Indeed, he is more like the
captain of a ship, and wields almost as much authority over his
passengers as does the captain of a big Atlantic liner. You will
notice that his cry when the train is ready to start is one that would
be appropriate to use to people intending to embark on a vessel. The
camel in tropical countries is called the "ship of the desert." It
would be just as suitable to call the Canadian train the "ship of the
prairie," especially as many phrases are used with regard to trains
that we are more accustomed to associate with travelling by sea. For
instance, when a Canadian merchant sends away by train a quantity of
timber or of potatoes, or even groceries, he always speaks of
"shipping" them. Again, the men who are in charge of a train--namely,
the engine-driver, the stoker, the conductor, the luggage-clerk
(baggage-man), the post-office officials (mail-clerks), and the parcels
official (express agent), are spoken of collectively as the "train
crew."
The Canadian engine, which is a big, heavy thing, generally painted
black, so that it has not the smart look of an English railway
locomotive, carries a huge acetylene lamp fixed high up on the front of
the funnel, and with this it can light up the track for many yards in
front of it as it puffs along at night. When it wants to give a
warning, it does not whistle in the shrill way an English railway
locomotive does: it gives out an ear-splitting, hoarse, hollow-sounding
scream or roar that can be heard a long way off, and also rings the big
"chapel" bell. And when it is entering a station, it keeps on clanging
its bell until it comes to a dead standstill at the platform.
The through trains on the transcontinental railways carry three classes
of passengers--colonist, tourist, and first-class, or "Pullman," as
they are called, from the name of the great American firm which long
made the Pullman or palace cars for all the railways in America. Those
who travel by the latter live as luxuriously as if they were at an
hotel; a dining-car accompanies them in which a full-course dinner is
served; there are libraries, shower-baths, even barber's shops, on some
of these trains, and each train is fitted with observation-cars with
glass sides, from which one can view the scenery at fifty miles an
hour. Besides this, the railways maintain fine hotels at all the
places of interest, just as is done at home.
The conductor of the train not only does what the guard on an English
train does, but he also performs the duties of ticket-examiner and
booking- or ticket-clerk as well. Whilst the train is still travelling
he walks through the cars, one after the other, and examines and
punches the passengers' tickets; and if a passenger has not got a
ticket, the conductor will give him one and take the money for it.
This saves the railway company the expense of having ticket-collectors
at every station. Another reason why the conductor performs these
duties is that at many of the small stations there is no station-master
and no booking-clerk. Except in certain of the largest towns, there
are no porters at the railway-stations. In consequence of this,
railway-travellers generally carry only a small portmanteau or valise
in their hands. The general name for a handbag, portmanteau, or valise
is "grip." Before setting out on a journey the traveller hands his
heavy baggage over to the "baggage-master," who ties a strong cardboard
label to it bearing a number and a letter of the alphabet and the name
of the town the traveller is going to, and at the same time he gives a
similar piece of cardboard, bearing exactly the same number and the
same letter and the name of the town, to the passenger. When the
passenger reaches the town he is going to, he goes to the
baggage-office and presents his cardboard ticket, and the official
gives up to him the trunk or box which bears the corresponding number
and letter. This is called "checking baggage through."
The passenger coaches, known as "cars," on the Canadian railways are
very different from the passenger carriages in England. You do not
enter at doors in the sides, but you climb up to a platform at the end
and enter from the platform. A gangway runs through the middle of the
car from the one end to the other. In this way, even when the engine
is running at full speed, you are able to travel all through the train,
crossing from one car to the other by means of the platforms at the end
of each. On each side of the gangway of the car are the seats, facing
each other, and affording room for four passengers in each recess. At
night the seats can be pulled out until they meet one another, and in
that way they make a bed, on which the porter places mattresses and
bedclothes and around which he hangs curtains. About one-half of the
passengers generally sleep, however, above the heads of those who lie
on the seats. High up, all along the sides of each gangway, there are
big, broad shelves, which can be let down at night, and pushed up again
out of the way in the daytime. It is on these shelves that many of the
passengers sleep. Each "shelf" will hold two people.
At each end of each car there are dressing and washing rooms, and on
emigrant sleeping-cars a recess holds a small stove for cooking. In
the early morning, on an emigrant or colonist train, quite a crowd of
people gather round the door of their little dressing-room, waiting
their turns to get in, for the room is very tiny, and will not hold
more than three persons at a time, especially when one is a man trying
to shave without cutting his chin, for very often the cars shake and
rattle, and even lurch and jump. Every man comes in his shirt-sleeves,
and carries his towel and hair-brush, his soap or his comb; and whilst
they stand about waiting their turns, there is generally a good deal of
good-natured gossiping and jesting, especially if the train shakes
much, and they stumble against one another. On a Pullman, or
first-class sleeping-car, however, the accommodation is much better,
and one can wash and dress almost as comfortably as in a good hotel.
Nearly all Canadians are great travellers. The large towns are mostly
situated wide apart, and to get from the one to the other you generally
have to make long journeys. In all countries railways are important
features; but in Canada, owing to the vast distances and the way in
which the population live scattered over the immense territory, the
railways are of especial importance. Frequently the railway is the
first pioneer in opening up a district for settlement, being built to
reach a wealthy mine or a petroleum-field, and as the railway
penetrates mile after mile into the unoccupied valley, little towns
spring up alongside it. In this way the hoarse bray of the
railway-engine awakens the sleeping echoes of mountain glen or river
valley before the sound of the settler's axe is heard or the smoke of
the emigrant's camp-fire seen. The two biggest railways in Canada are
the Canadian Pacific Railroad, known in short form as the C.P.R., and
the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, or the G.T.R. Both these form a
link, and a very important link, in the route between England on the
one side and Japan, China, and Australia on the other.
In the Rocky Mountains and in the other ranges the gradients on the
railways are necessarily very steep, one at the Kicking Horse Pass (so
called from the figure of a great horse which can be seen in the rock
on the side of the mountain) is 6 in 100. In rainy weather, and in the
spring, when the frost loosens the soil, huge boulders may come sliding
down and cover the track. As the track curves in all directions (near
Glacier one can see four tracks side by side as it loops round to climb
the mountain-side), it would be impossible for the engineer to see
these obstructions in time to save his train, so the track is patrolled
constantly by men night and day. On the steep gradients there are
switches which lead off from the main line and run up the
mountain-side, so that a train rushing down the slope and running up on
to one of these tracks soon loses its impetus and slows down. These
traps are used to stop the train when there is danger ahead, the patrol
opens the switch, which automatically sets a signal, so that the
engineer knows what is coming, and the train loses its force up the
steep switch instead of plunging into the abyss below. As you lie in
your berth at night and watch the great shining spot of the searchlight
on the front of the engine as it lights up mountain, crag, and deep
defile 1,000 yards ahead, the clear whistle rings out in the night;
anxiously you count one, two, three, four, and sink back relieved.
"All right on the main line!" and you know that the lonely patrol man
is faithful in the humble task on which the life of hundreds may depend.
In many parts of Canada the snowfall is very heavy, and causes the
railways constant trouble, for if the wind blows it soon piles up, so
that the trains cannot force their way through it. Of course it would
take too long to shovel it out by hand, so gigantic snow-ploughs are
used. These are pushed ahead of the engine, and send the snow flying
to the fences on both sides of the track. Where it is very deep and
frozen hard, a "rotatory low" is used, with a large boring machine
attached to the front of it to cut its way into the drifts, and often
from two to four engines may be needed to force it through the deepest
cuts. In the mountain districts, where the track is exposed to snow
slides, the tracks are covered by great sheds of strong timber, over
which the white avalanche can slide into the cañon below.
[Illustration: "THE SHIP OF THE PRAIRIE." _Allan Stewart_]
The history of the Canadian railways has thus been very different from
that of the English railways, for these last were mostly built to
connect the big towns together, and the towns existed before the
railways were built.
There is also another great difference between the English and the
Canadian railways. In the former country the men who built the
railways were obliged to buy all the land they wanted to build them on.
In the latter country--Canada--the land was given by the Government to
those who constructed the railways; and not only that, but the
Government paid them to build their lines by granting them many acres
of land on each side of the track all the way through. This was
because there were not enough people in the regions through which the
railways were made to provide sufficient passengers and traffic to pay
the expenses of running trains.
In the mountainous districts, especially in the Far West, the railways
are often the principal highways. There are no other roads, and so
people walk along the railway-lines. When a man tramps a long distance
in this way he is said to "count the ties," for the cross-beams of wood
on which the steel rails are laid are not called "sleepers," as they
are in England, but they are called "ties." And it is usual for these
ties to be looked after, over a distance of several miles, by a small
gang of men called "section men." It is their duty to keep the
railway-track safe by cutting out old and worn-out ties, and putting
new ones in their places. In lonely parts of the country the
section-men's house, or "shack," is sometimes the only human dwelling
to be found for many miles. The section-men generally go to and from
their work on a machine called a "trolley," or hand-car, a sort of
square wooden platform running on four wheels. The men stand on the
platform and work two big handles up and down, very much as a man works
a pump-handle, and by that means turn the cranks which make the wheels
go round. "The speeder" is the name given to a smaller vehicle or
machine, which runs on three wheels, one of them running at the end of
a couple of iron rods, something like the outrigger on a surf-boat of
Madras. The speeder is worked by one man, who propels it after the
manner of one riding a bicycle. This is a very useful means of
travelling when a doctor is summoned into the country and there is no
train to be had for several hours; for on some of the Canadian lines
there is only one train a day each way, the same set of engine and cars
running up and down the line every day.
The goods trains are known as freight trains. The "cars" which run on
them are very much bigger and heavier than the trucks on an English
goods train, and can carry 20 to 50 tons each. When the cars are sent
back empty, they are generally made up into trains of enormous length.
As many as fifty-six have been counted in one train, so that the train
itself is often more than a quarter of a mile long, and in the
mountainous parts looks like a gigantic snake, as it winds, let us say,
alongside a lake, following every curve and indentation of its shore.
"Through the gorge that gives the stars at noon-day clear--
Up the pass that packs the scud beneath our wheel--
Round the bluff that sinks her thousand fathom sheer--
Down the valley with our guttering brakes asqueal:
Where the trestle groans and quivers in the snow,
Where the many-shedded levels loop and twine,
Hear me lead my reckless children from below
Till we sing the song of Roland to the pine.
"So we ride the iron stallions down to drink,
Through the cañons to the waters of the west!"
KIPLING: _The Song of the Banjo_.