1920s CN Passenger Trains

[dbhtrains]

I am looking for information on passenger trains as I research my mothers 1928 childhood  train journey from Manitoba to New Brunswick.  

[SD70Dude]

Your mother could have travelled on either Canadian Pacific or Canadian National, as both companies had lines going to New Brunswick at that time.  The CP line ran through southern Quebec, cutting across Maine on its way to Saint John.  CN's lines were and are entirely within Canada. 

She would have had to change trains in Montreal, as neither railway's passenger trains ran through from coast to coast. 

At the time the premier Vancouver-Montreal trains were CP's Imperial Limited and CN's Continental Limited.  CN had multiple routes across northern Ontario and Quebec at the time, including through Thunder Bay and the former National Transcontinental line through Cochrane and Senneterre, but in 1928 most through passenger trains ran via Sioux Lookout, Hornepayne and Capreol (near Sudbury).  CP's line runs via Kenora, Thunder Bay and White River on the way to Sudbury.

East of Montreal, CN's main passenger route was the former Intercolonial Railway line, running via Riviere Du Loup, Campbellton and Moncton on the way to Halifax.  Some trains did take the former National Transcontinental line through Edmundston.  CP's International of Maine line ran through Sherbrooke, Lac Megantic, Mattawamkeag, and McAdam on its way to Saint John.  

In 1928 the premier trains of both railroads would have been composed of relatively new all-steel cars, but a large number of older wooden cars were still in service, and would remain in operation until well after the Second World War.  Car heating was provided by low pressure steam from the locomotive, and electricity by belt-driven axle generators on each car (some older cars likely still had gas lighting, a excellent and very safe combination with their wooden construction.....).