Question from an 'outsider'

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KatVW8

New Member
Hi, folks! I'm not a railway buff myself, but I figured someone here might be able to help me. I've been commissioned to illustrate a book cover that will feature a Canadian Pacific passenger train from the 1980s. I'm a Brit, and I've been scouring a bunch of sites for reference material to make sure I get this right. (It's not going to be a detailed photorealistic painting - more of an impressionistic type of scene - but I still don't want to screw it up!) I'm looking for good sources of imagery of passenger trains from that decade, but one thing I've had more difficulty in finding is pics of the back ends of trains, and from the right era. Most photos show the front. Over here, the fronts and backs of our passenger trains are pretty much the same, but I'm not sure if that was the case in Canada at that time?

I'm definitely not looking to copy anyone's material - I'd just be really grateful of any pointers to good resources for those things specifically, so that I can make sure I don't show something that makes Canadians do a double take!
 
Okay - well, that in itself is worth knowing! Which company would have provided passenger service in Canada in the 1980s? (The author sent me a pic of a Canadian Pacific train, which is why I assumed that would be the right company!) It seems that the trains I was used to in England look quite different from yours.
 
Okay - well, that in itself is worth knowing! Which company would have provided passenger service in Canada in the 1980s? (The author sent me a pic of a Canadian Pacific train, which is why I assumed that would be the right company!) It seems that the trains I was used to in England look quite different from yours.
VIA would be the entity that operated, and still operates passenger trains in Canada. VIa is a Crown corporation charged with operatng passenger trains there.
 
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That is so helpful - thank you! I knew it would be better to ask actual people rather than 'just google it'.
 
When people think of Canadian Pacific passenger trains there are really two premier trains: The Canadian and the Atlantic. They also offered lots of shorter distance corridor type services, but these were their 'named' full service trains. By 1980, as mentioned, they were operated by VIA, a crown corporation. Evidence of the previous operators continued into the 80s, however, with equipment still painted for CP or CN frequently seen. Here's a bit of a photo essay, not mine, from that era about the Canadian. http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2008/10/winnipeg-to-vancouver-on-vias-canadian.html
 
Thank you - that's helpful too! The author sent me one photo, and that was of a Canadian Pacific train, which was why I made the assumption (thinking that he'd know about his own country's trains) - but then I remember that although I'm a Brit, if anyone asked me which year British Rail went private and when the various regional companies came into being, I'd have no idea!
 
Thank you - that's helpful too! The author sent me one photo, and that was of a Canadian Pacific train, which was why I made the assumption (thinking that he'd know about his own country's trains) - but then I remember that although I'm a Brit, if anyone asked me which year British Rail went private and when the various regional companies came into being, I'd have no idea!
For most people that just go about their business, and don't really take an interest to railroads, trains are just "there". Unless the railroad suffers a major catastrophe, goes bankrupt, or abandons a line, they pay no attention. Unless they are stuck at a level crossing, and have to wait for a 150 car freight train to pass them at 15 mph while they're already late for work...
 
That's very true! And kind of like cars (although maybe there are more car enthusiasts than train enthusiasts because lots of people have a car of their own!). Like even if you aren't knowledgeable about cars, you'd notice if a scene had a car from 'the wrong decade'. But also it seems trains don't change so often and so probably don't date as much ...
 




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