Previously in Part 6, we were just docking in Montreal. The long sea voyage is now officially over, and it is time to get back on to dry land. But there is still one more mode of transport to get to our destination of Kitchener, Ontario from Montreal, Quebec. We will be taking the train!
Not my first train trip by far. Back in Lichfield, we would take the steam train many times (yes, steam!), to visit relatives in the city of Walsall. Actually the main line ran very close to the old bungalow and I remember just watching them from my bedroom window. (This will affect me in later years which will be addressed in future posts...).
Three hours previous before we docked, Dad had a telegram sent from the ship to his sister in Kitchener. We would be bunking at their home for a few weeks until we got a place of our own. If you don't know what a (traditional) telegram was, Google it. Very basic message; no filler and just the facts:
There is the 6"x8" very well aged (and slightly redacted) telegram my Auntie would have received that day. It would have been personally delivered to her doorstep. Not like this mind you, but in an inconspicuous 3.5"x6" envelope of the same paper.
The address would have been in that window; I have no idea what the "phoned" stamp means. And of course, the back of same. (Too bad we never got the hat-trick for this trip... Oh well, two out of three ain't bad).
So as the message read, we will be departing on the 4:30 train. There won't be much down time as we will have to disembark the ship, get our luggage, and make way to the station. Dad had planned the journey well as he had already purchased the tickets in Birmingham before we left. There were three tickets still intact. As none had specific names, I suspect it was one for each adult, plus Angie, who was 10 years old. Guess my younger sister and I travelled for free, or were smuggled in one of the suitcases... The train ticket came in these very bright and graphic 3.5"x7" envelopes.
This is not the train we will be taking. Too bad; would have liked to see the mountains. Back of the envelope shows Canadian Pacific's then World Wide Web.
The train ticket itself is 2.75"x6". Done in the same bright yellow and using the same graphics as the envelope, but more monochromatic.
The black border is the binding edge. It opens up to this first page:
Got the official stamp from ship and a few other details plus other does & don'ts. Opposite has more specific information as it pertains to this trip. This page also has carbon underneath so there are two copies of this page on the ticket.
So Dad had purchased these tickets two months ahead of departure, costing him 8 pounds and 40 per ticket. Times three would have been 25 pounds and 20 in total for the rail journey. The same today would be 438 pounds ($755.00 CAD).
As you can see, we will be changing trains in Toronto. The last part of the trip will be not will CP, but now Canadian National. All this running around; must have been very stressful for Mum and Dad managing all this; the itinerary, the baggage, and three kids who are probably very confused and sleep deprived by now. But before "All Aboard", the back of the ticket.
More on the Canadian Pacific empire that was. I have no idea what time we finally arrived in Kitchener. Today it is roughly eight to nine hours, but I suspect it took a little longer as this was 57 years ago. Either way it would have been sometime after midnight on June 10. Was Auntie there to meet us? I have vague recollections of the train trip, but since it was mostly dark, not much to remember. I guess I woke up in a strange house in a new country. What's for breakfast? Got any Weetabix...?
Now temporarily settled, we bunked with my Auntie, her husband and two kids close to our ages. I reckon it was not long and acquired an apartment in the area. Dad was a UK trained (by apprenticeship) fine woodworker, and had sent ahead CVs to various plants in the area; he had a job within the week. It was only a few weeks before we moved to our own 2 bedroom apartment, not far from Auntie. Lucky me I got to start school that first September! But it was only temporary yet again. A few months later the family now had a house nearby in a new subdivision, but a different school district, so Kindergarten was split that year.
My parents worked their assess off to give us all a good life. Dad actually had three jobs going, and Mum would work part time as well as caring for the kiddies. School for the rest of us and dealing with this new thing called "snow" for about half a year.
The only evidence of our crossing in later years (besides the period slide shows with the good ole Carousel projector), was the only actual souvenir purchased on the trip. This banner hung on the rec room wall for many years, near the bar with the awesome cedar shingled roof.
Made of some plastic canvas, it is 5" wide and 11" long. I think it originally had a dowel through the upper sleeve and then some tassels or ornate twine to hang it. Perhaps one of the cats took care of that...
So there we have it. In closing I would like to dedicate and remember all the original family members from the trip who are no longer with us.
Dad passed away in 2014 from Alzheimer's after a seven year battle with the disease. Not a very fair or honourable way to go after working so hard for many years. I will be addressing his legacy in a future post.
We lost Mum four years later on (ironically) Father's Day in 2018, and then as mentioned previously, Angie in 2020 due to cancer.
As for myself, I am still in Ontario rather close to the original "landing site". But Sister "M" moved to the Bahamas Group of islands over twenty years ago, leaving me all alone in the Great White North.
And so ends the tale. Next time, as hinted, the scars left by British Rail...
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