A long weekend in Montreal in May 1989. CN's Mount Royal electrification is featured, along with CP near St. Luc and Hochelaga as well as VIA trains on the CN mainline.
The Mount Royal/ Deux-Montagnes line was always interesting. Using 1917 electric boxcabs and heavyweight coaches well into the 90s (in addition to a trio of centercabs and some eMUs), being replaced by unique Bombardier MR90s and supplemented by ALP45DPs. This line will be replaced by the automated REM system similar to the Sydney Metro which opened in 2019 over a brand new route
Great shots! I go back in these things to the mid-60s and stood where you are on several occasions then, taking 35mm slides. I lived on rue (now Ave) Grenet, by Val Royal CN, while stationed at Canadair while in the RCAF, during the 70s, but was born in Ahuntsic and have liked rail since age 4, 80 years ago, but no foamer.
Thanks for the video, especially for the variety of locations. And also for including shots of the EMUs and not just the boxcabs and heavyweights. Although the latter are iconic for this line, the EMUs were actually more common in that they ran throughout the day upholding traffic during off-peak hours.
Great video! Thanks for sharing it! I've always wanted to find some footage of the old electric trains used on the Deux-Montagnes before being rebuilt in the 1990's.
That’s how it should be. None of those VIA cars of the late period, mainly videoed by framers before CN exited the Deux-Montagne line. Thanks for some really good stuff as I remember it as a Montreal fan back then and since the early 60s. I spent a lot of time riding and photographing the electrics back then and shortly will have 3 videos I shot in the early 80s, which are now on camcorder tape and soon to be digitized and edited.
I rode those commuters a thousand times. As a kid I played on that bridge shown in the beginning. I worked in the switching yard shown in the middle of the video, I remember having 6 engines pull the train to Sherbrook. The scenes at the end with the mountain, however, are not Montreal.
Jacques Paquin, look grrat, but were gettin very out of date though by 1989. Oh well, in mid 1995, they were replaced with the current trains on the Deux Montagnes line. By the way, why is the town, Deux Montagnes named after 2 mountains (2 Montagnes) ?
This is by far one of the absolute best videos I have ever seen...great shots and sounds...love those whining traction motors on the electrics. I only expected commuter shots and ended up with great bonuses featuring MLWs (ALCOs) and VIA trains scorching their rails!! Great quality stuff and no corny music accompaniment with dumb distracting flashy graphics and camera tricks. This is from 1989??!! You had great equipment. Thank you sooo much!!
I lived in Deux Montagnes as a child, until my family moved to Winnipeg in 1975. My dad took the commuter train to work and home for decades. He would also take my sister and me for rides into Montreal, just for fun. I loved this old train. Please don’t ever take this video down...
Salut, je suis tellement fier de revoir les trains du temps que j,allais aux études. bonnes idées de Nous ramener dans le temps , j"aime bien ca les trains, Merci beaucoup, amicalement Jacques
I love the fact there are people like YOU who took the initiative to capture these videos so long ago, well before the elementary thought a website like UA-cam would exist 20 years later. Cruising your channel never fails to impress what and where you have traveled the globe to capture some pretty rare oddities to say the least. Click on the link below to tigh in some critical information regarding the Mount Royal Tunnel as well the Deux-Montagnes train line. www.railways.incanada.net/candate/tunnel.htm Looking forward to your continued contributions! Cheers!!
The trains shown in the first seconds (0:00 to 0:15) were also on the Chilean railways and ran from the central area of the country to the south, now only a few remain but most were scrapped
I remember riding those electric cowboy trains! Fascinating Americana, they were. Cigar aroma was the only absence riding that OLD fleet, although smelling smoky cigars still always reminds me of the Parisian metro.
Speaking of cowboys, in 1989, I think the Canadian train's eastern termini were Toronto and Montreal. You see, they departed at suitable times as 2 trains. At at Sudbury they would join up into 1 train!
Hello Mr FAIRBANKS how did you manage time money and energy to put this together? LOTTO jackpot? best representation for North Amercan / South America Mexico. archives by far the best on UA-cam. THANK YOU ..OLD STORMY..
Nope, just a regular job. I tried to make every week of vacation time count over the last 30 years. Also lots of off-duty weekends spent on local trips. Thanks for your comments.
What is the model of the locomotives that appear at the beginning of the video? They look like ge 44 tonnes but they are diesel and the ones in the video are electric
There is no real model designation. They were General Electric 87 ton, 1200 HP locomotives built in 1950 that used many components in common with contemporary GE heavy industrial locos (80 tons and up). There were 3 in total. Similar looking 77 ton locos were built for Chile.
To justify the capital cost of electrification you need traffic density. The Tumbler Ridge line was electrified on projected traffic that never really materialized, and was subsequently abandoned. For passenger electrification you need population density. There weren't many places in Canada historically that had that. Nowadays the capital cost is just too high for extensive new electrification in Canada, even with Government support.
Really liked those bell sounds, but a couple are not associated with the EMUs; take it from a Montrealer who has seen and ridden on them hundreds of times. Otherwise, see my comment below. Been railfanning for well over 60 years.
Not sure what you mean by that comment. Are you assuming that I added sound to the video with different bell sounds for the MU's? I assure you all sounds were recorded at the time the video was shot, no enhancements or substitutions. Whatever you hear is what was heard at the time on the ground.
CN must have changed the bells on some units. I rode either inside EMUs or (rarely) behind boxcabs, from the early 50s to the late 80s and photographed most of the units in 35mm slides, at one time or another. While stationed at Canadair with the Canadian Forces in the 60s, I lived on Grenet, a couple of blocks from Val Royal, and used the train to get downtown, instead of the bus or métro. I would say positively, that I spent well over 300 hours trackside, photographing these relics.
I took another long look at the video and it occurred to me that CN put the MUs through an overhaul (they were getting fairly decrepit) and that’s very likely when they changed the bell also, from the rapid “ding”, which they had for years and years, to the more pleasant sounds, here. As credential for my Montreal railfanning, it started in the mid 60s, ands I was on personal friendly terms with rail icons, such as Omer Lavallée, Guy Chartrand, the Dauphinsis brothers annd many others of the 60s and 70s era. Now, I live in Alberta, where Istill stand trackside, photographing big trains and light rail transit at 88.
There are on static display along the line at some station and parc and on the side of cicle line. Really bieutiful. Unfortunetly, some bastard broke the windows and painted on them. Theyre aren't in nice shape :(. But you can still see them.
Man, Canada ran some cool stuff back then. I am really diggin' them box cabs and EMUs. Thank you for posting!
The Mount Royal/ Deux-Montagnes line was always interesting. Using 1917 electric boxcabs and heavyweight coaches well into the 90s (in addition to a trio of centercabs and some eMUs), being replaced by unique Bombardier MR90s and supplemented by ALP45DPs. This line will be replaced by the automated REM system similar to the Sydney Metro which opened in 2019 over a brand new route
To this day I regret not pestering my dad to take me for a ride on one of the CN electrics when we were visiting Montreal. Great video!
If not for your love for these trains, folks like myself would NEVER have known what they looked like. GREAT video.
Great shots! I go back in these things to the mid-60s and stood where you are on several occasions then, taking 35mm slides. I lived on rue (now Ave) Grenet, by Val Royal CN, while stationed at Canadair while in the RCAF, during the 70s, but was born in Ahuntsic and have liked rail since age 4, 80 years ago, but no foamer.
Thanks for the video, especially for the variety of locations. And also for including shots of the EMUs and not just the boxcabs and heavyweights. Although the latter are iconic for this line, the EMUs were actually more common in that they ran throughout the day upholding traffic during off-peak hours.
Great video! Thanks for sharing it! I've always wanted to find some footage of the old electric trains used on the Deux-Montagnes before being rebuilt in the 1990's.
See my video elsewhere, looking down the track between Val Royal and Gare Centrale both ways, plus a view of a CN doodlebug at Cartierville
That’s how it should be. None of those VIA cars of the late period, mainly videoed by framers before CN exited the Deux-Montagne line. Thanks for some really good stuff as I remember it as a Montreal fan back then and since the early 60s. I spent a lot of time riding and photographing the electrics back then and shortly will have 3 videos I shot in the early 80s, which are now on camcorder tape and soon to be digitized and edited.
I rode those commuters a thousand times. As a kid I played on that bridge shown in the beginning. I worked in the switching yard shown in the middle of the video, I remember having 6 engines pull the train to Sherbrook. The scenes at the end with the mountain, however, are not Montreal.
Correct about the scenes at the end, but they were taken on the same trip so I included them. Thx for watching.
Wow can't believe that you have a footage that was taken way before the AMT was created.
Thank's, a good remembered film, I was travelling at school by those nices trains Friendly Jacques.
Jacques Paquin, look grrat, but were gettin very out of date though by 1989. Oh well, in mid 1995, they were replaced with the current trains on the Deux Montagnes line.
By the way, why is the town, Deux Montagnes named after 2 mountains (2 Montagnes) ?
Very first time I have ever heard the steeple cabs, sound the horn in all the years I used the commuter line,,
Me & my friends loved this! Thanks for posting!
This is by far one of the absolute best videos I have ever seen...great shots and sounds...love those whining traction motors on the electrics. I only expected commuter shots and ended up with great bonuses featuring MLWs (ALCOs) and VIA trains scorching their rails!! Great quality stuff and no corny music accompaniment with dumb distracting flashy graphics and camera tricks. This is from 1989??!! You had great equipment. Thank you sooo much!!
I lived in Deux Montagnes as a child, until my family moved to Winnipeg in 1975. My dad took the commuter train to work and home for decades. He would also take my sister and me for rides into Montreal, just for fun. I loved this old train. Please don’t ever take this video down...
Great to see pre-digital video being uploaded. Thx.
Salut, je suis tellement fier de revoir les trains du temps que j,allais aux études. bonnes idées de Nous ramener dans le temps , j"aime bien ca les trains, Merci beaucoup, amicalement Jacques
I love the fact there are people like YOU who took the initiative to capture these videos so long ago, well before the elementary thought a website like UA-cam would exist 20 years later. Cruising your channel never fails to impress what and where you have traveled the globe to capture some pretty rare oddities to say the least. Click on the link below to tigh in some critical information regarding the Mount Royal Tunnel as well the Deux-Montagnes train line.
www.railways.incanada.net/candate/tunnel.htm
Looking forward to your continued contributions!
Cheers!!
Thanks for your comment. I just wish back then we had the quality of cameras we have now.
Love CN Passenger livery pre VIA Rail Canada!
Great film. Thanks for posting.
SWEET OLD CN AND CP AND VIA
I love these classic CN Passenger trains! And Classic CPs!
Insane, amazing, incredible, fantastic video. Thank you for posting it. Now keep'em coming please, thank you.
Thank you for this! I always wished I'd gotten a chance to see these units in action...
The trains shown in the first seconds (0:00 to 0:15) were also on the Chilean railways and ran from the central area of the country to the south, now only a few remain but most were scrapped
I remember riding those electric cowboy trains! Fascinating Americana, they were. Cigar aroma was the only absence riding that OLD fleet, although smelling smoky cigars still always reminds me of the Parisian metro.
These are Canadian locomotives, not american
Canada only knows how to copy .. Canadien/nes included ;)
What do you mean we only know how to copy?
TheBrantfordRailfan Technically the electric locos are American and British. The diesels are US designs.
Speaking of cowboys, in 1989, I think the Canadian train's eastern termini were Toronto and Montreal. You see, they departed at suitable times as 2 trains. At at Sudbury they would join up into 1 train!
Wow! It’s the old time trains!
Look at all those heavyweights!!
I remember taking the 6 car trains downtown on weekends, and the boxcab engine trains to school. I always thought it looked like a smiling face
Love old CN & CP & Via
Back when Cote St Luc had all the engines
Wow! Thanks!
Great video
That was awesome!
They are like our VL22M, old but gold.
The title of the video needs to be better - there is good stuff in here mate
Amazing
Hello Mr FAIRBANKS how did you manage time money and energy to put this together? LOTTO jackpot? best representation for North Amercan / South America Mexico. archives by far the best on UA-cam. THANK YOU ..OLD STORMY..
Nope, just a regular job. I tried to make every week of vacation time count over the last 30 years. Also lots of off-duty weekends spent on local trips. Thanks for your comments.
lovely gems late lately
What is the model of the locomotives that appear at the beginning of the video? They look like ge 44 tonnes but they are diesel and the ones in the video are electric
There is no real model designation. They were General Electric 87 ton, 1200 HP locomotives built in 1950 that used many components in common with contemporary GE heavy industrial locos (80 tons and up). There were 3 in total. Similar looking 77 ton locos were built for Chile.
@@fmnut Thanks for the information, what happens is that I am from Chile and it caught my attention to see those locomotives also in Canada
Those were Z5a Steeple cab locomotives
How many of boxcabs in this video have been restored?
See the preservation section of the Wikipedia article
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Boxcab_Electric
I thought CN only had the boxcabs?
when the harbour railway catenary was wholly scrapped (before WWII?), CN bought the port authority's 4 camelbackish locomotives
It’s too bad Canada hasn’t built more electric rail lines.
To justify the capital cost of electrification you need traffic density. The Tumbler Ridge line was electrified on projected traffic that never really materialized, and was subsequently abandoned. For passenger electrification you need population density. There weren't many places in Canada historically that had that. Nowadays the capital cost is just too high for extensive new electrification in Canada, even with Government support.
13:03 is that Mont Orford?
No, it's Mont Saint-Hilaire. I was about 2 miles west of McMasterville when I took the video. Mont Orford is much further east along the CP.
What are those EMU?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_electric_multiple_unit
Really liked those bell sounds, but a couple are not associated with the EMUs; take it from a Montrealer who has seen and ridden on them hundreds of times. Otherwise, see my comment below. Been railfanning for well over 60 years.
Not sure what you mean by that comment. Are you assuming that I added sound to the video with different bell sounds for the MU's? I assure you all sounds were recorded at the time the video was shot, no enhancements or substitutions. Whatever you hear is what was heard at the time on the ground.
CN must have changed the bells on some units. I rode either inside EMUs or (rarely) behind boxcabs, from the early 50s to the late 80s and photographed most of the units in 35mm slides, at one time or another.
While stationed at Canadair with the Canadian Forces in the 60s, I lived on Grenet, a couple of blocks from Val Royal, and used the train to get downtown, instead of the bus or métro.
I would say positively, that I spent well over 300 hours trackside, photographing these relics.
I took another long look at the video and it occurred to me that CN put the MUs through an overhaul (they were getting fairly decrepit) and that’s very likely when they changed the bell also, from the rapid “ding”, which they had for years and years, to the more pleasant sounds, here.
As credential for my Montreal railfanning, it started in the mid 60s, ands I was on personal friendly terms with rail icons, such as Omer Lavallée, Guy Chartrand, the Dauphinsis brothers annd many others of the 60s and 70s era.
Now, I live in Alberta, where Istill stand trackside, photographing big trains and light rail transit at 88.
do they still have those electric locomotives
Douglas Perry, are you taking the piss Douglas man. The electric locos were retired in mid 1995.
There are on static display along the line at some station and parc and on the side of cicle line. Really bieutiful. Unfortunetly, some bastard broke the windows and painted on them. Theyre aren't in nice shape :(. But you can still see them.
Canada killed its last electric railway.