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23
October
57-69 : CN Thornton Rail Yard
I’m fairly certain this photo is the CN Thornton Rail Yard in the Port Mann Bridge area of Surrey. The quality of the photo certainly isn’t the best (there’s lots of motion blur), but I love the content : both diesel and steam locomotives and a beautiful roundhouse.
It was taken on May 6, 1957.
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The 57-69 photo shows the CNR Port Mann roundhouse and shops before they were torn down and became the CN Thornton Yard with a greatly expanded yard and modern shop complex. There are MLW yard diesels in the photo as well as one steam switcher, a rotary snowplow and a ditcher. The automobiles are not very clear but they look mostly from 1940s and early to mid 1950s. All CNR steam locomotives were converted to oil-firing in BC by 1949. The photo is probably around circa 1956 to 1958. The absence of any visible road locomotives suggests this shot was taken after the new diesel shop was opened in Vancouver and most steam locomotives had been retired or moved east to Alberta – Manitoba.