The CP transcontinentals stir up young dreams in the 1950s

After hearing so many stories of life in rural Northern Ontario from my father, you'd think I'd get sick of them. But I don't. He told me a story the other day of growing up in Chapleau, Ont., where his father (my grandfather) worked as a rolling stock mechanic for the Canadian Pacific. My dad recently took the Canadian across Canada, allowing him to fulfill a childhood dream. He relayed to me a story after his trip, saying he used to enjoy watching the passenger trains go through his town when he was young, including the transcontinentals.He recalls my grandmother telling him: "Those trains are for rich people." I think it might have been her gentle way of tempering his young dreams a bit, as my father was one of six children who grew up in a modest working-class household. Even though my grandfather had an employee's rail pass for the Canadian Pacific system, I doubt it would have been accepted for the premier transcontinental trains.Above is a scanned image of a postcard I have in…