Rare Family Photos: "A second train ride west"

Last spring I hopped aboard a train in Toronto and headed west much like my father had done 68 years earlier as a member of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR). Since then I've posted photos related to the trip and the middle one may look familiar.

[Back row: Art Warrick, Unknown, Don Westbrook of Hamilton

Front row: Joe Watson (Simcoe), Don Linder (Kitchener),

Doug Harrison (Norwich), Unknown]

That being said, this first one is new to me, taken at an older sister's house two weeks ago. But it reminds me of other ones I have of Dad and mates wearing Navy blue, caps and silk scarves in preparation for their trip to a navy base at 'The Spit', Comox, Vancouver Island in January, 1944.

[L to R: Don Linder, Chuck Rose (Chippewa), 

Buryl McIntyre (Norwich), Joe Watson, Don Westbrook]

Because I have a photo of some of the same crew standing on the train platform in Hornepayne, I looked forward with much anticipation toward a stopover in that small Northern Ontario town during my trip. As good fortune would have it I briefly stood upon the very spot the photo had been taken.

[Leading Seaman Coxswain D. Harrison]

The last photo, however, is new to me as well, and I do not recall if the present train station in Jasper has a wooden sign hanging outside or has the same stone foundation. If no one can help me I may just have to take a second train ride west someday. Hmm, maybe next spring!

Photos of old photos by GH  

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Do you have family photos from the 1940s? Where?

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