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Riding CPR Mixed Trains in Quebec

Douglas Leffler

A neat trip that a buddy and I took was to Quebec in August 1964 when I was 17 years old. Rahn Stokes and I rode two CPR mixed trains. We both had earlier that summer purchased Nikon F, 35mm cameras and were still getting used to them when we went on the trip. I had been using a 120-size folding camera for about 2 years and felt it was time to move up. Rahn and I both learned how to develop and print our own photos from high school, as we were both on the yearbook staff and had access to the school darkroom.

First, the Mattawa Mixed from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction. The conductor was named Fields. The crew let us ride in the caboose and we rode most of the way to Kipawa Junction in the cupola of conductor Fields' caboose. The combine was an older, clerestory-roofed car, and the motive power was 8793 an MLW RS-18.

The Mattawa-Temiscaming train ("Fieldsie's train") ran on opposite days from the Temiscaming-Angliers train. The day that Rahn Stokes and I rode Fieldsie's train from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction was likely on a Thursday. Our trip north to Angliers on the Temiscaming-Angliers train would then have been on a Friday and returning to Temiscaming on Saturday. How this assessment came up was the fact that the photo that Rahn forwarded to me of the Mattawa train in Temiscaming showed a different numbered RS-18 than in my photos of Fieldsie's train at Kipawa Junction (Gendreau). The answer then is that Rahn and I saw and photographed that train at Temiscaming after returning from Angliers on Saturday. The sequence of my photos on the 35mm negative strips shows that was what happened. Thus, I must have photographed Fieldsie's train twice. Anyway, nearly 50 years later, I guess precise details of that trip are gone from the brain cells. Suffice it to say however, I'm happy to share my photos

View from the caboose near Kipawa.

Tee Lake

The fellow leaning out of the cupola is my friend Rahn Stokes, who rode with me on the trip. Kipawa Junction, Quebec

436819 in its proper position.

Kipawa, Quebec

8793 switching at Kipawa Jct. August 1964

8793 at Temiscaming a day earlier. Note the wooden water line at left for a mill. Rahn Stokes

8799 (above and below) at Temiscaming, Quebec

Combine xxxx van 437437 Mattawa-Temiscaming Mixed

The next day we rode the CPR mixed train from Temiscaming to Angliers, Quebec. The crew gave us the full run of the train. We rode in the caboose cupola most of the time, but we also got a cab ride. In Angliers, we saved the cost of a hotel, since the crew told us that we could sleep in the combine! I made the mistake of using Agfa film instead of Kodak.

Our conductor on the train was Clemens and Frank Smith was the brakeman (Frank is shown on the footboards of the locomotive in the color photo taken at Temiscaming). I didn't get the names of our engineer, fireman and flagman. All of those guys were extremely nice to us and let us have the run of the train. We rode many miles in the caboose cupola and we also got a cab ride.

Temiscaming-Angliers Mixed train. View from the cab of 8153 backing up.

View looking back from cab of 8153.

6615 MLW S-11 at right. 8153 straight ahead.

8153 at Temiscaming with Frank Smith on footboard.

Switching in the rain (above and below)

Temiscaming-Angliers Mixed with combine xxxx and van 436819.

Crew sitting inside the van.

Switching in Laniel.

Combine and van in front of Laniel station.

View from cupola of van.

Van and combine xxxx backed to deadend at Ville Marie.

I found a couple more negatives of photos that I took on my 1964 trip up to the Temiscaming area. The two photos show the Mattawa-Temiskaming train at Kipawa Junction. I think this junction, which had a wye with one leg which extended a little over a mile to the village of Kipawa, was also called Gendreau. Correct me if I'm wrong. The way the crew explained it to us at the time, the Mattawa-Temiskaming train regularly exchanged some cars with the Temiscaming-Angliers train at Kipawa Junction (Gendreau). The conductor on the train in the photos was Mr. Fields. The Temiscaming-Angliers crew called it "Fieldsie's Train." As mentioned before, Fieldsie's train had the steel CPR caboose with the center cupola. My buddy Rahn and I rode this train from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction and if I remember right, the train backed into Kipawa and dropped us off at the Kipawa station. My parents and aunt and uncle had rented a cabin on Lake Kipawa for the week and they picked us up at the dock after our ride. We coordinated all of this without cell phones!! Can you believe it?? Ha, ha!!

8793 switching at Kipawa Junction

437437 van and combine xxxx at Kipawa Junction.

Doug Leffler
Jackson, Michigan

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Riding CPR Mixed Trains in Quebec

Douglas Leffler

A neat trip that a buddy and I took was to Quebec in August 1964 when I was 17 years old. Rahn Stokes and I rode two CPR mixed trains. We both had earlier that summer purchased Nikon F, 35mm cameras and were still getting used to them when we went on the trip. I had been using a 120-size folding camera for about 2 years and felt it was time to move up. Rahn and I both learned how to develop and print our own photos from high school, as we were both on the yearbook staff and had access to the school darkroom.

First, the Mattawa Mixed from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction. The conductor was named Fields. The crew let us ride in the caboose and we rode most of the way to Kipawa Junction in the cupola of conductor Fields' caboose. The combine was an older, clerestory-roofed car, and the motive power was 8793 an MLW RS-18.

The Mattawa-Temiscaming train ("Fieldsie's train") ran on opposite days from the Temiscaming-Angliers train. The day that Rahn Stokes and I rode Fieldsie's train from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction was likely on a Thursday. Our trip north to Angliers on the Temiscaming-Angliers train would then have been on a Friday and returning to Temiscaming on Saturday. How this assessment came up was the fact that the photo that Rahn forwarded to me of the Mattawa train in Temiscaming showed a different numbered RS-18 than in my photos of Fieldsie's train at Kipawa Junction (Gendreau). The answer then is that Rahn and I saw and photographed that train at Temiscaming after returning from Angliers on Saturday. The sequence of my photos on the 35mm negative strips shows that was what happened. Thus, I must have photographed Fieldsie's train twice. Anyway, nearly 50 years later, I guess precise details of that trip are gone from the brain cells. Suffice it to say however, I'm happy to share my photos

View from the caboose near Kipawa.

Tee Lake

The fellow leaning out of the cupola is my friend Rahn Stokes, who rode with me on the trip. Kipawa Junction, Quebec

436819 in its proper position.

Kipawa, Quebec

8793 switching at Kipawa Jct. August 1964

8793 at Temiscaming a day earlier. Note the wooden water line at left for a mill. Rahn Stokes

8799 (above and below) at Temiscaming, Quebec

Combine xxxx van 437437 Mattawa-Temiscaming Mixed

The next day we rode the CPR mixed train from Temiscaming to Angliers, Quebec. The crew gave us the full run of the train. We rode in the caboose cupola most of the time, but we also got a cab ride. In Angliers, we saved the cost of a hotel, since the crew told us that we could sleep in the combine! I made the mistake of using Agfa film instead of Kodak.

Our conductor on the train was Clemens and Frank Smith was the brakeman (Frank is shown on the footboards of the locomotive in the color photo taken at Temiscaming). I didn't get the names of our engineer, fireman and flagman. All of those guys were extremely nice to us and let us have the run of the train. We rode many miles in the caboose cupola and we also got a cab ride.

Temiscaming-Angliers Mixed train. View from the cab of 8153 backing up.

View looking back from cab of 8153.

6615 MLW S-11 at right. 8153 straight ahead.

8153 at Temiscaming with Frank Smith on footboard.

Switching in the rain (above and below)

Temiscaming-Angliers Mixed with combine xxxx and van 436819.

Crew sitting inside the van.

Switching in Laniel.

Combine and van in front of Laniel station.

View from cupola of van.

Van and combine xxxx backed to deadend at Ville Marie.

I found a couple more negatives of photos that I took on my 1964 trip up to the Temiscaming area. The two photos show the Mattawa-Temiskaming train at Kipawa Junction. I think this junction, which had a wye with one leg which extended a little over a mile to the village of Kipawa, was also called Gendreau. Correct me if I'm wrong. The way the crew explained it to us at the time, the Mattawa-Temiskaming train regularly exchanged some cars with the Temiscaming-Angliers train at Kipawa Junction (Gendreau). The conductor on the train in the photos was Mr. Fields. The Temiscaming-Angliers crew called it "Fieldsie's Train." As mentioned before, Fieldsie's train had the steel CPR caboose with the center cupola. My buddy Rahn and I rode this train from Temiscaming to Kipawa Junction and if I remember right, the train backed into Kipawa and dropped us off at the Kipawa station. My parents and aunt and uncle had rented a cabin on Lake Kipawa for the week and they picked us up at the dock after our ride. We coordinated all of this without cell phones!! Can you believe it?? Ha, ha!!

8793 switching at Kipawa Junction

437437 van and combine xxxx at Kipawa Junction.

Doug Leffler
Jackson, Michigan