Dad's Navy Days: January 1944 - Heading West (25)

Dressed to the nines, Navy boys headed west to Vancouver Island in January, 1944. My father wrote several pages about his time on the island, but not one line about the train rides from Halifax to SW Ontario and then finally to Vancouver.

When I took the train to Vancouver in 2012 I was glued to window, took hundreds of photographs and wrote extensively about the large number of miles covered. Father took only three photos as far as I know, and without commentary.

[Don Linder, Chuck Rose, Buryl McIntyre (back) Joe Watson,

Don Westbrook: Photo from Doug Harrison's wee collection]

When the boys reached Hornepayne, 572.4 Mi. west of Toronto and 635.4 Mi. east of Winnipeg, several hopped off the train to stretch their legs and light up a smoke. Snow covered the ground and the surrounding forests that stretched for miles beyond their limited vision. If they'd been stopping for any length of time they would have placed their canvas packs upon the wooden carts that stood outside the doors on the north end of the two-storey, red-brick train station and then stomped inside to the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Today, the station lies abandoned. Colourful paintings on plywood cover the once stately windows and the welcoming platform and its roof (snow covered in the photograph) are gone. Some thoughts about the five Navy boys remain, however, including warms ones for the young man who snapped the picture with an old box camera.

[Don Westbrook at Edson station, northern Alberta]

The boys didn't likely stay long in Hornepayne, likely just long enough for supplies to be loaded on board.

Then it was 'westward ho' with many more miles to go. (For example, 534.9 Mi. to go after Jasper.)

["Doug Harrison, braving the cold for a minute"]

Digital Photos by GH of Doug's collection

More Dad's Navy Days: January 1944 - Heading West (24)