RAILROAD DINING, ART, AND CULTURE IN REVIEW BY JAMES D. PORTERFIELD Max Jacquiard Masters the Task


SINCE THE DAY I COMPLETED page 480 of Pierre Berton’s magnificent book The Last Spike: The Great Railway, 1881-1885, the amazing story of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, I have urged anyone who would listen to make it a “must read.” For shear ad- venture alone, it is worthy. The account of surveying the route through British Columbia’s Selkirk range is downright hair-raising — and that’s from a bald guy. That it describes the build- ing of a major railroad is the icing on the cake. Now it has a worthy companion: Train Master: The Railway Art of Max Jacquiard, by the artist’s long-time friend, and NRHS member, Barrie Sanford. Any description of Jac- quiard’s paintings should be in typeset in UPPER CASE. The book provides 100 imag- es by an artist not only ca- pable of rendering detailed depictions of massive steam engines at work — and all but one of these images is of steam — but equally capable of depicting set- tings dominated by rugged mountains, force- ful rivers, and dramatic infrastructure.. An Introduction traces Jacquiard’s evolu-


tion as an artist and a career that includes being inducted into the Railway Association of Canada Hall of Fame (2006). The works are then organized into eight chapters deal- ing — in an east-to-west direction — with the mountain ranges encountered principally by the CPR’s builders: the Rockies, Spiral Tun- nels, Selkirks, Monashees-Shuswaps, Coast Range, and Cascades. A chapter on Greater Vancouver, and another titled Purely Person- al — a reference to both the author’s and the artist’s favorite works — complete the presen- tation. Each chapter includes a brief overview


of the setting and challenges created by the mountain range in question, followed by a dozen or more paintings. Each painting is accompanied by what Sanford describes as “generous captions.” These explain some com- bination of the setting, the equipment, and the artist’s intentions. In his brief history of the evolution of railway art, author Sanford concludes, “Max can stand shoulder-to-shoul- der with the best railway artists this [North America] has produced.” You won’t get an ar- gument from me. Occasionally, the captions include inter-


esting historical notes of related interest. For example, Sanford, after describing the popu- larity of the Canadian National’s 6000-series 4-8-2s with crews, notes that Great Northern engine crews “often asked CNR crews if they could handle the 6000s during transfers of the


locomotives from the CNR station at Vancou- ver to the nearby roundhouse.” The GN’s line into Vancouver had by then converted exclu- sively to diesel power, and some “old heads,” apparently suffering withdrawal symptoms, soothed the pain by operating CNR steam in the Vancouver yard. There are 100 Max Jacquiard images in the


book, including the two repeated on the dust jacket and the one facing the contents page. Some 36 photographs, maps, and other illus- trations that amplify or clarify points made by the author supplement these. The recommended procedure for ordering


a copy of Train Master is to contact Central Hobbies in Vancouver, B.C., by telephone at 604/431-0771, or by email at centralhobbies@ telus.net. The price is “about” $40.00, depend- ing on exchange and postal rates when you place your order. Call or email for details. For more about Max Jacquiard, visit his website at www.railwayartist.com. The author and the artist are contem-


plating a second book, one devoted to works set elsewhere in Canada, and in the United States and Great Britain. Others have sug- gested a soft cover book featuring only the 30-some images of American railroading. My vote: Yes! Did You Hear the One About “CPR Strawberries?” Another of Train Master’s captioned asides may be of special interest to readers of this column. On page 36 you are introduced to “CPR strawberries.” Sanford explains: “Today we take the ready avail- ability of fresh fruits and vegetables all year ’round for granted. But such was not always


the case. And when the Canadian Pacific Railway started passenger service in the mid-1880s mechanical refrigeration was un- known. Prunes were one of the few fruits that had a long shelf life without refrigeration so they became a universal dessert in CPR dining cars and CPR hotel dining rooms. As a consequence prunes entered the Canadian lexicon as ‘CPR Strawberries.’ The expression has now vanished from our vernacular, but I certainly remember adults using it when I was a child.” In follow-up correspondence, Sanford intro-


duced me to what he terms “a sadly under-rec- ognized band based in Penticton called the Kettle Valley Brakemen (www.kvbrakemen. com). Of them, he writes, they “produced a thoroughly delightful song based on this quirk of history.” You’ll find the Brakemen per- forming “C.P.R. Strawberries” on YouTube at www.tinyurl.com/jqkbp88. See minutes 11:00-15:00, but the songs performed before this ditty, “Who Comes Round the House When I’m at the Roundhouse” and “Delicate as a Flower” (subitled “You Can’t be an Engi- neer Young Lady”), are interesting takes on aspects of railroading as well. The 15-min- ute clip includes several interviews with Kettle Valley Brakemen lead singer Jack Godwin. You can (assuming you have passed your 18th birthday), also find the lyrics of an adult-themed, dining car-related Brake- men song called “Just Desserts”


describing


the dilemma faced by a dining car stew- ard when a lonely widow enters his car, at www.tinyurl.com/h8s5gzp. Scroll down to the fifth song.


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