By the mid-Fifties, passenger rail in the United States was a mess. The public’s increased use of automobiles and stiff competition from airlines and bus service had sent medium-distance passenger revenues into a tailspin. Despite huge investments in improved equipment and facilities, the railroad industry was losing about $700 million a year on passenger service. There was simply no way they could charge the fares necessary to put them back in the black. It was time to rethink the passenger train.
The plan was to develop a stylish, comfortable, high-speed train (top speed: 100 miles per hour) with low fares to lure passengers back onto the tracks. And with this new train being lightweight and fuel-efficient, the railroads should be able to return to profitable passenger service.
General Motors was approached to create such a train. And its Electro-Motive Division came back with the Aerotrain. One of its chief designers was Charles “Chuck” Jordan. An MIT graduate brought to General Motors by Harley Earl in 1948, Jordan was responsible for Chevrolet’s Cameo Carrier pickup in 1954, would be the primary designer of the 1958 Corvette, and would be named Cadillac’s Chief of Design in 1959.
A futuristic blending of Fifties highway and railway technology (with maybe a little Buck Rogers thrown in for good measure), the Aerotrain fits right in with the GM concept cars of the period. In particular, the 1951 Buick LeSabre (a swanky concept car that became Harley Earl’s daily driver) seems to have been a big influence on the styling of the Aerotrain, which featured a wraparound windshield and multiple headlights.
Called the LWT-12, for “light weight 1,200 horsepower,” each Aerotrain was powered by a single GM 1,200-horsepower Diesel electric propulsion unit. Thanks to its light weight and low center of gravity, it was felt that 1,200 was enough horsepower. It wasn’t. Compared to other trains, it was pitifully underpowered. But the reduction in weight and horsepower meant that the Aerotrain used only 1.3 gallons of fuel per mile at top speed.
Each of the Aerotrain’s 10 passenger cars was basically a modified bus body from GM’s Motor Coach Division. The observation car even had what appear to be taillights and fins, looking much like a Chevy Nomad station wagon. Two of the 40-passenger non-articulated cars weighed less than one standard 80-passenger car. Headroom was drastically cut and aluminum replaced steel whenever possible. It all sat on a steel underframe, with single-axle trucks and an air suspension system very similar to what was found on GM buses. Unfortunately, what made for a nice, comfortable bus ride would not have the same success on rails.
GM’s ads promised “an entirely new concept of speed, comfort, safety and economy.” New York Central’s copywriters weren’t as restrained in their ads for the “dream train,” calling it “a fast, lightweight new train that can revolutionize rail travel, increase employment, and strengthen our national defense.” The hype worked. People were eager to experience the Aerotrain, and they got their first glimpse at the GM Powerama in 1955.
Two Aerotrain prototypes were built. One went to Pennsylvania Railroad; the second became New York Central’s “Great Lakes Aerotrain,” providing nonstop service between Chicago and Detroit. A third LWT-12 was built to pull another attempt at a lightweight passenger train, Rock Island’s Talgo “Jet Rocket.”
Rear car. Looked like the back end of a 1950s station wagon.
Side view of the 4 wheeled coach at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. Image by Jim O'Connor click image to view full size
It didn’t take long for the trouble to start. It quickly became apparent that the Aerotrains were underpowered and prone to mechanical problems. Passengers missed the spacious comfort of standard streamlined trains, finding the downsized Aerotrain “buses” confining. And with the shortened wheelbase and air suspension, the ride was terrible at anything close to top speed. After only a year or so, Pennsy and New York Central returned their Aerotrains to GM. Thanks, but no thanks.
A complete Aerotrain can be seen at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. Image by Jim O'Connor click image to view full size
National Railroad Museum, Green Bay. Photo by Thomas Bloomquist
Next up was Union Pacific, whose “City Of Las Vegas” Aerotrain made the run between L.A. and Las Vegas loaded with gamblers. It needed a helper to surmount Cajon Pass.
Before long, both Aerotrain prototypes were sold to the Rock Island Line. (They’d also end up with that third LWT-12 built for the Talgo.) Condemned to commuter service, where it was felt the slower speeds would ensure a smoother ride, the Aerotrains tooled around the Chicago suburbs until being retired in 1966. After only 10 years, the train of the future had come to the end of the road.
Today, you can pay your respects to the Aerotrains at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay (read article), Wisconsin (they have Number 2) and the Museum Of Transportation in St. Louis. The MOT has an engineless LWT-12 and two cars, which are currently undergoing cosmetic restoration (thanks to a hefty donation from the Gateway Division NMRA).
Written by Toby Roan
National Railroad Museum, Green Bay photo by Thomas Bloomquist Some images by Jim O'Connor
An exploration of Montreal’s former water intake tunnel and its role in the city’s “water famine” of 1913.
Inside the City of Montreal's former water intake conduit
In mylast entryI talked about Montreal’s Aqueduct canal and its role in bringing water to the city of Montreal. In this entry, we’ll begin to go underground, but first, a bit more history…
I mentioned the use of hydraulic machinery and how it was powered by water by the aqueduct. Only a small portion of that water (less than 5%) was actually sent through the pipes and into homes and businesses. By the late 1800s, several problems with this system started to make it less than ideal. The first issue was that demand for water was increasing and more horsepower was required to distribute it. The aqueduct at the turn of the century, roughly a quarter the width it is today, was incapable of providing the hydraulic horsepower necessary to power the pumps.
On top of this, the success of system was often at the whims of mother nature. Low water levels in the summer and ice blockages in the winter frequently reduced pumping capacity. As a result, steam power, which was both cost and labour intensive, would then have to be used as a back-up.
Another problem was that the water was being brought in directly close the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River, which by this time was starting to become less than pure. City officials maintained that the water posed no health risks. However, there was a concern that drainage from properties situated upstream of the entrance to the aqueduct had the potential to cause future problems. Given that there was still no filtration process yet in place (and wouldn’t be until the early 1920s), engineers were starting to become somewhat mindful of what could possibly be entering the city’s water supply.
20th Century Solutions
To address the shortage of available horsepower, in 1907, after two decades worth of proposals and deliberations, it was decided to widen the aqueduct from 40 to 140 feet. Along with upgrades to pumping equipment, the alteration would provide a total of 2,500 HP during the winter months. A rate of 5,000 HP during the summer was achievable when the aqueduct was free of ice, or ‘frazil‘.
To help improve quality of water, a 9’ concrete conduit running underneath the aqueduct’s north shore was built between 1907 and 1909. In addition, the intake for this conduit would extend towards the middle of the St. Lawrence, where the water was less likely to contain sediment. By enclosing the water inside this underground pipe, the risk of further cross-contamination would also be diminished. The conduit would also serve as a continuous water supply while the aqueduct was emptied during its widening.
Rumour Has It.
I first learned of the conduit a couple of years ago, not through the city archives or maps, but from amessage boarddedicated toVerdun. In a bit of oral history, an older member recollected a time during his youth when he and his friends would open a manhole cover near the north side of the Crawford Street Bridge and climb down into a ‘9 foot pipe.’ This was enough to pique my interest. I decided to go have a look for myself.
When I arrived, the only manhole I could find in the area was now in the middle of Blvd De La Verendrye- a rather busy thoroughfare. If it was the same one he entered, then it must have been before the 1960s which was when they built the road . I walked further along the street hoping to find other options, but every single one was situated in the road. Feeling a bit dejected, I filed it under ‘things to look for if ever bored’ and left it at that.
A few months passed before I came across another reference to the conduit, this time in a city planning document from the 1930s. I learned that the pipe was connected to the waterworks system. A few weeks later, when Controleman came back from the City Planning department with a handful of sewer maps, one of which made clear where the conduit ran, that it was no longer in use, and more importantly, where the best point of entry was located.
City planning map detail showing aqueduc and the old water conduit (in red).
In what I consider to be a continuation of underground exploration traditions, our entry point ended up being but a few feet away from the manhole that the older gentleman from Verdun once used. A three foot high drainage pipe within Parc Angrignon, just large enough the crawl through, provides a 21st century means of access.
The conduit itself resembles many of Montreal’s older concrete sewers, but with pronounced horizontal lines from the wooden forms that were used during construction. For a century old tunnel, it’s in excellent. The water is, at times, thigh-deep, but it is slow moving and not that much of an issue assuming you have the stamina to wade through it for long periods of time. Sewage can be detected, but for the most part the water is cleaner than what is usually encountered underground in Montreal. I wouldn’t want to drink it, but I wouldn’t mind falling in it either.
As a testament to its cleanliness, small fish can often be spotted over the course of its length. During one trip, I even came across about a half dozenmud-puppiesthat somehow got swept into the system and have done their best to make this dark tunnel their home.
One of many Mud-puppies spotted inside the conduit. This particular one was close a foot in length.
The Montreal Water Famine of 1913
By the winter of 1913, work had begun to widen the canal an additional 25 feet. This further widening was commenced to help generate electrical power for the city’s lighting systems. Rather than have to expropriate additional land on the south side of the canal, the City decided to make the enlargement on the north shore instead, close to where the conduit ran. It’s here where all sorts of problems began.
In the midst of this second enlargement, a two-foot long portion of the conduit was damaged. Workers did their best to try and repair the break, but a few days later, sixty feet worth of the conduit collapsed. The damage left close to 300,000 people in Montreal without a proper water supply. Adding insult to injury, the event occurred on Christmas Day — never a good time for catastrophe to strike.
New York Times headline from Dec 28th, 1913.
City workers scrambled to repair the break while the people of Montreal had to receive water through water carts or from properties fortunate enough to have access to Cartesian wells. In one instance, Ogilvy’s department store, with a 1,200 foot deep artesian well in its basement, was able to provide water for people in the area. Meanwhile, large factories such as the Angus Shops had to be temporarily closed, while streets were patrolled day and night to react quickly to the first sign of fire.
Buckets of water being handed out from a casks during the shortage.
The conduit was eventually repaired four days after its collapse using sections of boiler plate riveted together to form a steel pipe. Wasting no time, the city decided to let water through the length of the conduit as soon as the concrete surrounding the pipe had finished setting.
1913 newspaper clipping showing the repaired section of the conduit as well as the dry aqueduct to the right of it.
The joints held, and close to a century later the steel pipe can still be found. It’s a great deal rustier, but despite this, it’s holding up well.
The steel pipe section today.
While the conduit repair was successful, the city’s confidence in its water supply was severely shaken. An investigative report submitted to the city’s Board of Commissioners blamed the collapse on both the materials used during construction of the conduit as well as the excavation that had been taking place at the time.
More importantly, the report made several recommendations that would help prevent another such calamity from occurring. Based on the report, an emergency supply pipe running from the Lachine Canal to the pumping engines was soon added as a temporary solution. Ensuring a more reliable back-up supply system wouldn’t come until later.
Yesterday and Today.
It’s not clear at this point when the city stopped using the conduit for its drinking water supply. It likely became obsolete by the time the filtration plant was put into operation during the 1920s. Impure water running the length of the open aqueduct was less of an issue after that. Repositioning of the system’s intake pipes probably also ensured a cleaner supply as well. Also unclear is when (and why) the City officially abandoned its plans to use the aqueduct for purposes of power generation.
Fresh water flowing out from underneath a syphon that presumably connects to the Des Baillets water treatment plant. A makeshift ladder sits off to the side.
Today the conduit is still in use, both as a sewer for LaSalle and as an overflow tunnel for the Charles Des Baillets water purification plant which was built during the 1970s. The aforementioned relatively clean water and levels of sand (fare probably attributable to the plant’s filtering system. A walled off section prevents water from the River from entering the conduit directly. Before this, a section of the conduit has been replaced with a junction chamber with one pipe leading towards the discharge tunnel of the plant.
Junction chamber situated near the Des Baillets water treatment plant. Clean water flows in from the right and raw sewage from the left.
Given that there is currently only one known feasible entry point into the conduit, walking its entire length (and back again) would be a formidable task involving a 16 km round trip. To this date, I’ve walked roughly half its length, but I’m going to have to find other ways in if I’m to see the remaining portions.
Questions, comments or corrections regarding this article or anything else found on Under Montreal are always welcome. Write the author atandrew@undermontreal.comor use thecontact sectionof this site.
Offscreen: Do you consider La Mémoire des angesto be a documentary?
Luc Bourdon: In my opinion, La Mémoire des anges is a cinematic essay.
Offscreen: Do you consider yourself a postmodernist filmmaker?
Luc Bourdon: I consider myself a collage artist. I don’t really know what postmodernism means.
Offscreen: I’m interested in the idea of images on film taking on new meaning when placed in a different context. For instance, you use scenes from films that weren’t filmed in Montreal. The ones I spotted were from High Steel and a famous sequence from Lonely Boy, but I assume there are others. Do they become “about” Montreal when placed in a montage with Montreal footage?
Luc Bourdon: The cinema is, among other things, an art of lies. The lies in my film, therefore, aren’t truths. Nothing is real except one simple thing: the desire to tell a story.
Offscreen: There’s also a sequence where a boy in a night club turns his head toward the camera and there is an eyeline match with Paul Anka fromLonely Boy, making it seem like Anka is performing in the night club, instead of an open air concert on Long Island. When you use images from different sources to create a narrative, do you think they lose their original meaning?
Luc Bourdon: No. These images do nothing but live again on the screen . . . in a new context.
Offscreen: In one of the DVD interview segments, you talk about using footage from different movies to create a “musical,” and the scenes of the sailors on leave looking for dates reminded me of On the Town. Did you have that or any other films in mind when creating the narrative for your film?
Luc Bourdon: No. I simply discovered a cinematography, an era, songs and music, forgotten films, images lost in time.
Offscreen: You have a scene from a fiction film featuring a young Geneviève Bujold. Does this fictional scene become non-fictional in this context? Most of the other famous faces in the film (Charles Trenet, Oscar Peterson, Willy Lamothe, etc) appear in a performance context. Even Jean Drapeau is giving a press conference. But Bujold, whose face is at least as recognizable as any of the others, is the only one I can think of who appears as a “citizen.” Was this a deliberate jarring effect or was it simply that the footage of the mountain in that scene was too good not to use?
Luc Bourdon: Citizens are there throughout the film. I would even say this is one of its strengths: we see ordinary people (something we have now forbidden ourselves because of the Duclo case – a judicial decision forbidding us from filming everyday life.
Offscreen: Bruce Connor and Arthur Lipsett (among others) used found footage to juxtapose sharply different images. You have nothing as jarring, of course. But you do have early beautiful shots of Montreal echoed later in the film by similar shots of ugly highrises, and you have Drapeau’s comments about traffic and arteries over shots of overpasses similar to the ones that are now crumbling. Do you think your film has anything in common with Connor’s A Movie or Lipsett’s Very Nice Very Nice?
Luc Bourdon: Yes and no. Lipsett and many others made films using found footage. It’s an idea from experimental cinema well known to a certain type of cinephile. For me, working with collage is related to this tradition (experimental construction), but the final result is completely opposite. Our idea was an open and simple film that offered a portrait of the city. A sort of family album.
Offscreen: Besides juxtaposing opposing images, you often use complementary recurring images from different films in a sequence. The one bit everybody who has seen the film mentions is the crossing the street in winter sequence. I took that and similar sequences as giving the message that while Montreal has changed greatly, some things (like winter!) are always the same. Was that what you had in mind?
Luc Bourdon: In the editing room, Michel Giroux and I made a voyage in time. Ideas, memories, impressions . . . we had them all the time. Notably, on changes in the weather. But, joking aside, how do you make a film about Montreal without dealing with winter?
Offscreen: Have you seen two other recent city portrait films, Of Time and the City and My Winnipeg (and if you have, what did you think of them)?
Luc Bourdon: I haven’t seen these films. And I’m in no hurry to see them. I will get the chance during the next edition of the RIDM to see the titles you mention because they’ll be shown (along with mine) in a programme of city portraits.
Offscreen: In Of Time and the City, Terence Davies uses montages of archival footage, but also provides first person narration. Did you consider a voiceover narration? Both Of Time and the City andMy Winnipeg are autobiographical. Did you consider making an autobiographical film, or was the fact that the 50s and 60s were so much better filmed than the years that your autobiography would deal with rule that out?
Luc Bourdon: I don’t suffer from the auteur syndrome (I have no pretensions at that level). It was out of the question to talk about myself, because it was much more interesting to make a collage, a film which touches each and every one of us. Did you notice the word Montreal isn’t spoken once during the film? There’s a reason for this: we didn’t need it (who cares?). It’s the same thing for my voice . . . my ideas . . . my intentions . . . who cares?
Offscreen: Why do you think that period is so much better filmed? Is it just that crisp black and white photography provides more beautiful images, or is there more to it?
Luc Bourdon: 35 mm is still the best format. It’s a fact. We picked the best images from over 200 films . . . that’s what explains the quality of the images. There are still beautiful images today. For proof, you only have to create the same type of montage using 200 films from the last decade and you will see many beautiful images.
Offscreen: One of the most interesting features of the film is the way the images go against the commonly held view of the 50s and 60s. The way I was taught Quebec history (and from your comments in one of the DVD interview bits, you were too) is that before 1960 was la grand noirceurand the 60s were a time of hope and progress. But when I look at your film, I think it was made by a guy who’s in love with the 50s. The classic lines in architecture and clothing, the glamorous nightlife, just the way people looked and acted and dressed. And in your images from the 60s, you have the ugly buildings, the congested traffic and so on. Is that a fair reading?
Luc Bourdon: It’s a fair reading. Personally, I’m exhausted by always seeing the same images describe my community and, most of the time, only starting with the 1960s . . . In doing this work, I discovered images of a period that was unknown to me . . . And the public reaction has been the same: they have discovered an unknown period. Montreal was a demolition yard from the beginning of the 60s (like many other North American cities) in order to make way for modernism, a new world, a new generation, a new wind sweeping America (JFK, the youth movement, revolution, riots, etc.)
Offscreen: On the question of multiple perspectives, you have contrasting views on language. On the one hand, going against the accepted history of the “two solitudes” and of francophones being forced to speak English at work, you include footage of anglos speaking English to francophones speaking back to them in French, and both understanding each other. You also have stockbrokers speaking English-accented French to clients. On the other hand, you include the song sequence of “Bozo-les-Culottes” with the line “Que les Anglais avaient tous les bonnes places” to give the other side. Am I reading too much into this, or was this intentional?
Luc Bourdon: Truth doesn’t exist. Points of view exist. They were inscribed in the films we discovered. Therefore, the increasing assertiveness of French Canadians is inscribed in the film. They became Québécois over these two decades (50s-60s) while the city was dominated by an anglo-saxon elite. The world changes every day and it’s interesting to look back because, for this aspect of the film, there are dates and events which, later, would shake up the province (for example, Bill 101)
Offscreen: One thing I have asked everybody who has seen the film about and have generally received different responses from anglos and francophones is your treatment of nationalism in the 60s. Anglos mostly seem to see the clips of violent demonstrations and the song “Aux armes Quebecois” as part of the other images of decline and dysfunction in the last part of the film, while most francophones link these images to the clips of demonstrations against the Vietnam War, and see the nationalism as separate from the negative images. Do either of these responses match your intentions?
Luc Bourdon: While Québécois sang about taking up arms . . . Anglos protested against injustices to the Vietnamese. . . . That was the reality expressed in this part of the film. Montreal is a cosmopolitan city – and has been for a long time – and most world disputes are still expressed today. Jews demonstrate while Palestinians do the same . . . opposing interpretations, a plural discourse – that was what was behind that sequence.
Offscreen: Why did you use the song “Aux armes Québécois”? I’m sure there must have been less sharp nationalist songs on film (Gilles Vigneault singing “Mon pays” or “Gens du pays,” for instance). Or were you looking for a sharp song as something that captured the time better? And why no Gilles Vigneault or similar iconic 60s figures to match the iconic 50s figures like Oscar Peterson? Or footage from Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen? Was it a deliberate decision to give the 60s scenes a different flavour by avoiding these types of “still cool” figures? One you do use, Willy Lamothe, is certainly iconic, but my impression is he’s not thought of today (or then) in the same way as Vigneault or Cohen. What was your intention in ending the film with him?
Luc Bourdon: “Aux armes Québécois,” sung by Tex Lecor, is a song that is patriotic, racist and representative of the violent era of FLQ bombs and the frustration of a section of the population who were fed up with being treated as second class citizens. It was sung in a setting (a young people’s coffee house of that era) that represented Montreal life (the film for this sequence was taken from the portrait of a young Torontonian who came to study in Montreal and becomes aware of the reality that the city’s francophones are in full revolution over identity in 1966). Not treating the rise of nationalism would have been a mistake. I had long discussions with the producer (Christian Medawar) who was against including this sequence. I replied that it wasn’t my decision, but the film’s . . . Also, Gilles Vigneault sings about the sea, Quebec, his part of the province (the North Shore) while the images of Cohen were too recent. That’s why they weren’t in the film.
Offscreen: You seem to make a point of showing as wide a variety of ethnic groups as possible. Besides French and English, you have Irish, Jews, African Americans (from Golden Gloves) and other ethnic groups. You have old and young, you have working class francophones at home, but also a middle class Jewish home at Passover. You have lots of shots of people working, but also people shopping, going out at night, taking part in political demonstrations, etc. Was it always your intention to have such a wide cross section of the city? Did you know starting the project there was so much great and varied footage?
Luc Bourdon: How could I not look for images of the city’s Chinese (impossible to find), Jews, Italians, Greeks? They all took part in the life of the city. They were part of it and the film we put together tried to take that into account.
Offscreen: There are a lot of images of Catholic clergy. Some seem negative, such as a St Jean Baptiste parade with Lionel Groulx that looks somewhat militaristic and a scene of nuns at mass shot through a grille that makes them look imprisoned. Did you have an attitude toward the Church you wanted to express?
Luc Bourdon: The sequence with the young St Jean Baptiste carried by a man at the end of the parade can’t help echoing all the pedophile cases we’re aware of today . . . This montage was essential in order to express the fanaticism of the whole Catholic establishment of that era. Aren’t the cloistered women with their hidden faces reminiscent of the burqa we condemn today? What we consider inhuman and intolerable was commonplace in our city . . . 50 years, that’s enough to forget it all and lose our memory.
Offscreen: One of the key characteristics of postmodernism is skepticism about modernity and progress. From the very beginning, with the vocal group singing about “the walls come tumbling down” and then the shot of the tramline dissolving into the same tramline covered in grass, I got the sense the film is about a golden age and the decline from it. You also use a song from À Saint Henri le 5 septembre that includes a line about “victims of modernity.” Above all, you follow about an hour of beautiful images (even the shots of poverty look beautiful) with 15-20 minutes of images of discord, dysfunction, congested traffic, ugly buildings (even the skyscrapers that have a certain sleek beauty are somehow impersonal and characterless compared to the baroque and art deco styles of some of the earlier buildings on show). Is this what you intended?
Luc Bourdon: The 1960s – with Mayor Drapeau running the city – were years of transition, revolution and change. This is undeniable. However, instead of apologizing – which we are so used to doing – the idea of the film was also to see the other side (such as, to show certain decisions which were regrettable – notably concerning urban planning). The 60s saw the beginning of urban sprawl and expressways. Everywhere, in North America, we made these mistakes. The restoration and renewal of buildings were not the order of the day . . . while construction (without demolition permits, by the way) were in the hands of megalomaniac developers. Architects fought these frankly deplorable tendencies, which were a series of architectural mistakes. Heritage Montreal was born the day after the demolition of the Van Horne mansion at the beginning of the 70s in the middle of the night and without permission. It was the last straw. Fortunately, because otherwise Carré-St Louis, the McGill ghetto, the Square Mile and even the Plateau Mont Royal would have been torn down to make way for neighbourhoods consisting only of apartments and office buildings. It also has to be said that the city administration (see Arcand’s film Réjeanne Padovani) took part in this movement (it foresaw building a city of 8 million inhabitants . . . that partly explains their actions which, thankfully, were fought against and blocked by citizen groups). In this sense, the NFB collection contains many films documenting and critiquing this period (notably Michel Regnier’s Urbanose series or La P’tite Bourgogne).
We must not forget we destroyed neighbourhoods, houses, lives . . . to make autoroutes cutting across downtown. Is it postmodernist sarcasm to look at our mistakes?
Offscreen: And then, over the credits, you have shots of Expo ’67. What was your intention here? That the 60s had their upside too?
Luc Bourdon: Usually, history begins with Expo ’67. I wanted to finish with singing images – “Cheri, je t’aime” . . . ending with images that say je me souviens in a more open, more enlightened way. Therefore, ending with well known, overused images that underline our absence of a collective memory. To wrap things up with images that, in general, speak to us about the beginning of our civilization (as if we hadn’t existed before). The public’s response – taking this film as an enormous family album – allows me to believe that History is neither a marginal subject nor one impossible to engage with. We all need points of reference and La Mémoire des anges is doing the job for this chapter.
This interview with Luc Bourdon as conducted by e-mail, July 20, 2009 by David Hanley; translated from French by David Hanley
THE MONTREAL STREETCAR AND TROLLEY BUS PHOTO GALLERY
(Last Modified on December 1, 2009 1:50 AM)
Special thanks to Art Mayoff, Marc Dufour and Michael Di Mambro for identifying many of the locations of the photos shown here and providing interesting anecdotes. Some of what is written here is quoted verbatim from Art. Thanks also to Julian Bernard, for catching a few mistakes on these captions, and clarifying who took what photographs.
Montreal boasted an Interurban operation called the Montreal and Southern Counties, which connected with the Montreal streetcar system and used city streets to access the downtown. Here, we see M&SC car #8. Photo by Julian Bernard, donated by Curt Frey.
M&SC car 326 picks up passengers in Downtown Montreal. This track was shared with the streetcars of the MTC, including the PCCs. Photo by Julian Bernard, donated by Curt Frey.
M&SC freight car 502 in the McGill Street terminus loading (or unloading) express parcels. Photographer Julian Bernard noted "the terminus had about four tracks stub ending at the south wall of the terminal building but 502 was the only active car I ever saw in that little yard which was usually stuffed with old CN equipment - all other cars used the street trackage which circled the yard and station."
M&SC car 604 passes a CN switcher at Marieville. Photo by Julian Bernard, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC Car 1695 in the carbarn, ready to enter service onto the Cartierville line. This was the streetcar that took Montreal residents to it's Coney Island - Belmont Park on the North Shore of the island of Montreal. A major feature of this route was that it had it own right of way. It was like taking a ride out to the country with few stops as it "flew" along this private right of way. Everyone riding this line really knew that the seventeen was a prelude of more exciting things to come once they arrived at the the end of the line.... Belmont Park with its rollercoaster, ferris wheel, house of mirrors and dozens of other exciting rides. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC Car 1864 in service on THE Cartierville #17 line, near it's northern terminus in the city of Cartierville. It is on a relatively short run where it's northern route departed from its private right of way and traversed the city streets. This car appears to be heading north towards Cartierville in southbound traffic. As this is a single direction car, The date that this photograph was taken would have to be after the turn around loop was added at the north end. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC Car 1864 at the Jean Talon carbarn, about five minutes east of Decarie Blvd and the Garland Terminal. This facility still exists in 1999 and was converted to a bus maintenance garage in the 1960's. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC Car 1864 1864 in Cartierville, south of it's most northern terminal. This picture is on D�carie, right at the CN St-Laurent subdivision, in Saint-Laurent. The picture is obviously taken from the railroad crossing watch tower (the tower shadow is visible in the picture). Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Another shot of Car 1864 leaving the Cartierville right of way, turning west and re-entering normal southbound traffic on Decarie Boulvard between Jean Talon Blvd and Van Horne Ave in front of the Capri Hotel. Once traversing Decarie Blvd, the 17 car will continue south for a short distance and then enter the Garland terminal. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
This slightly blurry image of a northbound 1868 is taken from the west side of Decarie Blvd looking east, about 500 meters south of the transition to the east side right of way. This car has just departed Garland and is heading to Cartierville. The Capri Hotel and the northbound lane of Decarie Blvd are quite visible allowing the viewer to have a mental picture when combined with the prior photo - of an "S" curved track that goes from the center median of Decarie to the east side of Decarie and the "High Tracks.". Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC 2000 in operation. This is either a line 54 or 44 streetcar going north on Papineau, immediately north of the CPR viaduct, from which the picture is taken. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
MTC 2007 along with comrades in storage. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
2187 appears possibly eastbound on Mt Royal St near Rachel St. about 1 km from "The Mountain." This line's western end was at a turn around the bottom of "The Mountain" on a small parcel of land at the Southwest corner of Park Ave and Mt Royal. A public restroom now sits on this site. Joseph Testagrose caught this shot during the last days of streetcar operation in Montreal.
PCC 3500 rolls out onto the ladder track beside Canadian Car & Foundry cousins. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Two PCCs on 25th Avenue in the Rosemont district of Montreal. This was the eastern loop of the 54-Rosemont line which saw cars turn off of Rosemont Boulevard north on to 26th Avenue, west on Bellechasse, and then south on 25th Avenue. The street is now one way north. Route 54 was one of the last surviving tram lines within the limits of the City of Montreal (closed at the same time as the closure of the streetcar system as a whole: August 30, 1959) as evidanced by the use of PCCs. The development of this now heavily populated neighbourhood is due in part, no doubt, to the original expansion of the tramway system outside of the downtown core. The loop was opened in 1933. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Another shot of PCC 3501. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
A route 54-Rosemont car, PCC 3510, departs it's 25th Avenue terminus and moves westbound onto Rosemont Boulevard for service. As was the case with many Montreal street car routes, service was provided directly to the city centre: cars on this line originally operated to Place D'Armes. With the demise of street car service in the 1950s, service was prgressively cut back and unltimately replaced by buses. Route 197-Rosemont now replaces the number 54. Service ended on routes 54-Rosemont and 45-Papineau on August 30th, 1959, the last day of street car service in Montreal and suburbs. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Two PCCs on McGill Street at Youville Street in the old Montreal Financial District. The streetcar in the forefront is heading south on McGill street to it's terminal at the Port of Montreal and Place Youville. The foot of McGill Street was the interchange point with inter-urbans of the Montreal and Southern Counties Railway. The PCC in the background is heading north on McGill Street to Victoria Square and it's trip through mid-town Montreal and Mount Royal.
PCCs were a familiar site on the 29 Outremont-Youville line and often were referred to as the "Outremont Cars". The line operated on McGill Street at the Port of Montreal and headed north on McGill through Victoria Square, east on St. Antoine (Craig), north on Bleury Street and Park Avenue, west on Laurier, west on Cote Ste. Catherine Road, south on Vincent d'Indy (Bellingham Road), west on Edouard Montpetit Boulevard (Maplewood Avenue), south on Decelles, west on Queen Mary Road to Decarie Boulevard and Snowdon Junction. Cars turned at Victoria Square instead of Youville Square after 1.10 a.m. Note that former street names are shown in (brackets).
Sections of the 29 Outremont line are currently operated by bus routes 129 Cote Ste. Catherine and 51 Edouard Montpetit. Joseph Testagrose caught this shot during the last days of streetcar operation in Montreal.
PCC 3517 was the last streetcar to be purchased by Montreal. As a result, it was used as the ceremonial Last Car when streetcar operations came to an end on August 31, 1959. Here, PCC 3517 waits at a carhouse beside an older Canadian Car & Foundary model. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Here's a shot of MTC PCC 3517 in service on the streets of Montreal. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Montreal also operated a good fleet of trolley coaches. Here, a number of trolley coaches appear to lock trolleys as they share a single set of wires. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Montreal trolley coach 4058 in service. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
Montreal trolley coach 4103 in service. Photo by P. Lambert, donated by Curt Frey.
REFERENCES
Binns, Richard M., Montreal's Electric Streetcars: An Illustrated History of the Tramway Era: 1892 to 1959, Railfare Enterprises Limited, Montreal (Québec), 197
There’ll be sand, Adirondack chairs, a boardwalk, a bar and showers and mist stations to cool off. Work on it started in the fall, including the installation of large blue parasols now covered in snow in ice.
The Plage urbaine au Vieux-Port will open in mid-June and run until Labour Day, Julie Mailhot, a spokesperson for the Quais du Vieux-Port, told me.
It will not be free but the entry fee has not been set yet, Mailhot said..
I poked around the Quais du Vieux-Port website and found a document (PDF)suggesting a season pass for a family will cost $58 plus taxes.
Claude Benoît, president of the Old Port of Montreal Corp., said in a speech last Maythat the federal agency wants to spend $180 million revamping the Old Port by 2017, the year Canada celebrates its 150th birthday and Montreal turns 375. The agency is spending $3 million on the beach and another $400,000 for “reception and service pavilions” for the beach.
Here’s the official video:
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Below are some photos from Claude Cormier + Associés Inc., the urban design company that developed the beach project. (More on the project, including more photos, on this page of Claude Cormier’s site).
In winter, the Quai de l’horloge is a nice (though desolate) place for a walk on a cold, snowy day, with views of the icy St. Lawrence River, the Jacques Cartier Bridge, Old Montreal and the 1920s cold- storage facility turned luxury condo complex at 1000 de la Commune St.
I took a few panorama photos on Thursday (hereand here and here).
Some more photos from my walk:
And a bonus video:
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Our new beach was inspired by the beach on the Seine in Paris:
Old Ideas was preceded by 11 other studio albums by Leonard Cohen. It’s a body of work so strong that no album can be dismissed altogether. Some of them struggle to survive questionable choices in production or arrangement, but each disc includes at least one song everyone should hear.
Here’s the Cohen catalogue to date, with our ratings and commentary. For each album, we have selected a canonical song, one that always elicits a gasp of joyful recognition, and a lesser-discussed classic.
All of the albums – except the new disc, Old Ideas – were recently issued in an essential, reasonably-priced box set titled Leonard Cohen: The Complete Studio Albums. The presentation is bare-bones: an unadorned cardboard sleeve, featuring original artwork, for each release, with all recording details squeezed into a single booklet covering the entire oeuvre. Spartan packaging aside, it should be in every home.
The many live Cohen albums are not included here, but the best are Field Commander Cohen – Tour of 1979 (2001) and Live In London (2009).
Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1967, Five stars: The astonishing debut, which introduced all Cohen obsessions – love, faith, betrayal and despair among them – through inventively-arranged songs that became instant classics.
Songs From a Room, 1969, Three and a half stars: Nothing wrong with the songs, although the performance and production sound a bit clunky. And that Jew’s Harp on half the album? Really bad idea.
Canonical: Bird on the Wire
Also indispensable: Story of Isaac
Songs of Love and Hate, 1971, Four and a half stars:
Almost as stunning as the debut, with tastefully subdued string arrangements that bring warmth even to the sad songs.
New Skin For the Old Ceremony, 1974, Four stars: The arrangements are more full-bodied and what was the LP’s second side is a tour de force, but when Cohen tries yelling as a vocal approach, it’s hard not to wince.
Canonical: Take This Longing
Also indispensable: Who By Fire
Death of a Ladies’ Man, 1977, Two and a half stars: The ill-advised collaboration with Phil Spector, the king of sonic clutter, makes it the odd album out in the Cohen oeuvre, but it’s not quite as bad as conventional wisdom would have it.
Canonical: nothing
Indispensable: that would be generous, but Memories is a cool track
Recent Songs, 1979, Four stars : Some of the strongest melodies and most intriguing arrangements to date (Mariachi horns?) make this a spectacular return to form. Three cheers for Raffi Hakopian’s violin.
Canonical: Came So Far For Beauty
Also indispensable: The Gypsy’s Wife
Various Positions, 1984, Five Stars: The one Columbia initially refused to release (it finally did so in 1990 after it had been out on an indie label). The fact that this was a masterpiece, with robust melodies and a generosity of spirit, didn’t seem to matter to the suits. “Look, Leonard, we know you’re great,” Cohen later quoted label president Walter Yetnikoff as saying, “But we don’t know if you’re any good.”
I’m Your Man, 1988, Four stars: Unfortunate ‘‘80s production values can’t capsize what is almost a greatest-hits album in itself. The deep, deep voice surfaces here.
Canonical: I’m Your Man
Also indispensable: Tower of Song
The Future, 1992, Three stars: Some brilliant songs, but Cohen’s fascination with synthesizers deepens, to the album’s detriment. For the first time, some tracks are actually throwaways.
Ten New Songs, 2001, Three stars: Collaborator Sharon Robinson becomes Cohen’s right-hand woman and the mechanical keyboard sound threatens to sink some excellent material. Cohen’s voice is now a heavily-mic’ed whisper.
Canonical: In My Secret Life
Also indispensable: The Land of Plenty
Dear Heather, 2004, Two and a half stars: Uneven, at times even forgettable, this rambling meditation on aging found Cohen’s voice in even rougher shape, and the synths continued to dominate. But even lesser Cohen albums have their sweet spots.
For you aircraft history buffs (Good history lesson)
End of an Era
1944? No - it's the year 2010
Early Saturday morning in a rainy
Seattle. 0300 hrs local time. The location: Boeing's historic plant II - about to be torn down after three quarters of a century producing thousands of the most significant and historic airplanes ever built. In preparation for demolition, three airplanes that have been undergoing MuseumofFlightrestoration in the factory's assembly bays will have to be moved. Just as in days past, with lights and images reflecting off the wet pavement, the last three airplanes are rolled out. The giant hangar doors are raised, the tugs and towbars are hooked up, and with lights flashing, they are moved out of the factory and onto the historic ramp. Where so many have gone before. Then acrossEast Marginal Wayand out onto Boeing Field.
They are the last airplanes to roll out of these doors. => Ever.
First out isn't even a Boeing airplane - but rather a Lockheed Super G Constellation that flew for Trans-Canada Air Lines. The Connie is destined for theAirPark
, next to Air Force One, after a Plant II stay of 1 year and three days.
Next is a Boeing B-17 - especially heart-tugging as she is the last B-17 to roll out of these doors. Boeing built 6981 B-17s in this factory during WW II, at a peak rate of 16 per day. I guess you could say they built 6981 and rolled out 6982 - including this last ship - 45 years after her last sister.
A poignant moment in time
Finally, a Boeing B-29 rolls under the raised hangar doors and out into the dark and wet night. The very last airplane that will ever roll from this factory.
This Boeing B-29 is the "last of the last."
The now empty factory bays sit - silently awaiting their fate.
Everyone present knew they were witnessing history unfolding in front of their eyes. More than a few tears ran down more than a few cheeks, to mingle with the softSeattle
A Boeing Plant II Primer
The ramp that these three historic airplanes roll across, and the building they leave is one of the most historic aviation sites in the world.
Here, in April 1944, are the 16 B-17 Flying fortress bombers produced in this building - that day, and every day!
In October 1944, the first Boeing XC-97 rolled out of these doors - later to become the C-97 transport, KC-97 Tanker, and B-377 commercial Stratocruiser. (See the camouflage on the roof?)
During WW II, the plant was completely camouflaged to look like a residential area as protection against possible Japanese air attack.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, myriad B-50 bombers and C-97 Transports are being produced in this factory.
On 12 Sept 1947, a radical new airplane - the Boeing B-47 six-jet bomber Prototype is rolled out. This airplane is the direct lineal matriarch for all the jet airplanes Boeing has produced since.
In 1952, in the darkness and wet of aSeattleEast Marginal Way. she's shrouded in secrecy and covered by canvas and tarps. This amazing airplane is still in front-line combat service to this day.
Here 277 B-52s are being produced where the earlier airplanes once were assembled.
And, in 1966, the first Prototype Boeing twin-jet 737 was manufactured in this building and rolled out of these doors on to this ramp. This airplane is in the Museum's collection. She's the first of more than 8000 737s built or ordered since then. And to, today - History meets History as the last three airplanes roll out of these doors. Boeing's Plant II is truly aviation Hallowed Groud
Montréal-Trudeau has grown from its modest beginnings as a military base during the Second World War into a world-class gateway for North America and Europe.
Seventy years ago, the Nazis were multiplying air strikes against Great Britain. The Royal Air Force was desperate for aircraft after losing hundreds of planes in air battles over Europe. Its essential supply of US aircraft, sent on ship convoys, was being sunk in the icy Atlantic by relentless German U-boat attacks. The only, and daunting, alternative was to fly the planes across the Atlantic, even though transatlantic flight was still in its infancy.
Enter the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, established to deliver US-made warplanes to Great Britain. Its main base of operations: a new airport built by the Canadian government on the site of the former Dorval Race Track on the outskirts of Montréal. Officially inaugurated on September 1, 1941, Montréal Airport (Dorval) would go on to help ferry 10,000 aircraft, playing an instrumental role in the Allied victory and paving the way for mass postwar transatlantic air travel.
Today, the airport, renamed Montréal-Trudeau, is Canada's third largest, welcoming about 13 million passengers this year and served by some 30 airlines offering nonstop service to more than 130 destinations in Canada, the US and internationally.
Rapid ascent
Montréal Airport grew rapidly when it switched to civil transportation after the end of the Second World War. In 1945, it was already served by four airlines offering 22 scheduled flights and handling 500 passengers a day. A year later, BOAC (now British Airways) established the first transatlantic passenger service between Montréal and the UK and passenger traffic jumped to 250,000 a year.
By 1952, Dorval was serving 590,000 passengers a year and many other airlines started using the airport, including KLM and Air France. Two of its three runways were lengthened to meet demand. In 1955, it became Canada's biggest airport, with 1 million passengers.
Two years later, construction began on Canada's first cargo terminal, at Dorval, allowing it to become the main Canadian entry point for cargo from Europe. In November 1960, the airport was renamed Aéroport international Dorval de Montréal/Montréal-Dorval International Airport and a month later Canada's Minister of Transport inaugurated a new $30 million terminal. It was the largest terminal in Canada and one of the biggest in the world. The original terminal was demolished.
1938 The Dorval Race Track land was chosen as the site for construction of the new airport.
1941 Airport site during the Royal Air Force Ferry Command. National Archives of Canada
1950 The original terminal at Dorval during the 1950's. National Archives of Canada
1956 A Transport Department weather officer gives a pre-flight briefing to two pilots.
1970 A Royal Canadian Mounted Police dog master. Aircraft: Air Canada
Boom times
In the 1960s, Montréal experienced a tremendous economic boom. Massive construction projects, such as the Montréal Metro, coupled with the hosting of Expo 67, brought the city international status. More and more visitors were arriving to the city, especially by air: the federal government required that European airlines make Montréal their port of entry into Canada. This resulted in annual growth of 15-20% in passenger traffic at Dorval. By 1968, the airport was handling 4.5 million passengers.
The Canadian government predicted that Dorval would be completely saturated in less than 20 years and decided to build a new airport that would be more than able to absorb increasing passenger traffic well into the 21st century. However, by the time Mirabel Airport opened in 1975, Toronto had become Canada's number one gateway and passenger volume fell well below forecasts. Mirabel's development was therefore halted and only the first phase of six projects was completed.
Scheduled international passenger flights, which had been transferred to Mirabel in 1975, were repatriated to Dorval in September 1997 and the last passenger charters followed in October 2004. Mirabel now specializes in cargo operations and is also an important industrial site for such aerospace companies as Bombardier Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada, L3 MAS, Avianor Group and others.
In the meantime, responsibility for the operation and development of Montréal's airports had been passed, under the terms of a lease, from Transport Canada to a new local airport authority called Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), which started operations in 1992. The transfer was part of the Government of Canada's new national policy of divesting itself of the country's major airports.
1970 A view of the terminal building interior, showing check-in counters in the U.S. departures area as it looked in the 1970's.
ADM faced many challenges when it was established. The sharing of Montréal's air traffic between two distant airports was adversely affecting the industry's development and complicating connections between the international sector and the domestic and transborder sectors. Moreover, Dorval's airport facilities were suffering from many years of under-investment.
1975 A nighttime view of the terminal airside, with an Air Canada DC-8 in the foreground.
1980 The façade of the terminal building during the 1980's.
2010 The new transborder departures area and Marriott Hotel, both inaugurated in 2009.
With the consolidation of passenger traffic back at Dorval, ADM began planning a major redevelopment of the airport's aging terminal complex. Between 2000 and 2005, it built a new jetty for flights to the US, a new international jetty, an international arrivals complex featuring a new Canadian customs hall and baggage claim area, and expanded parking lots. Additionally, sections of the domestic area were renovated and expanded, with more space available for commercial services. In the midst of the expansion, on January 1, 2004, Dorval Airport was renamed in honour of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Between 2006 and 2009, Montréal-Trudeau saw the construction of a new four-star Marriott hotel and a modernized and user-friendly transborder departures sector. It includes a US pre-Customs clearance centre and one of the world's most advanced outbound baggage systems, which significantly increases handling capacity and speed.
The expansion and modernization program has also leveraged high-tech solutions to facilitate the processing of passengers and their luggage while meeting stringent safety requirements imposed since 9/11. Today, Montréal-Trudeau is a world leader in airport self-serve technologies, such as self-serve check-in. Moreover, in keeping with a firm commitment to sustainable development, ADM took advantage of the program to incorporate new technologies to boost energy efficiency and reduce the airport's environmental footprint.
By the end of 2010, more than $1.6 billion had been spent to upgrade Montréal-Trudeau—on time and on budget without any government grants—to the point where it can now serve more than 15 million passengers a year. Thanks to Montréal-Trudeau's major modernization and expansion program, the airport is well positioned for continued growth, to serve the community, and to write new chapters in aviation history.
Did you know?
Montréal's first airport opened in St. Hubert on the South Shore in 1927, just two years after Canada's first airport was established in Long Branch, Toronto. St. Hubert was used mainly for postal services and passenger flights operated by Canadian Colonial Airlines and Trans Canada Airlines (later Air Canada), as well as to accommodate dirigibles (airships), a popular mode of transportation at the time.
When Montréal-Trudeau Airport's terminal opened at the end of 1941, the airport had more employees than Dorval had residents.
CN Rail's Tea Wing Restaurant at Dorval became Canada's first airport restaurant, in 1941.
Murray Hill began offering the first airport limo service in 1941.
Tilden Drive Yourself became the first airport car rental service in 1951.
In November 1960, the airport was renamed Aéroport international Dorval de Montréal/Montréal-Dorval International Airport and a month later Canada's Minister of Transport inaugurated a new $30 million terminal. It was the largest terminal in Canada and one of the biggest in the world. The original terminal was demolished.
Monviso North Face – Coolidge Couloir 05.05.2011 – 1st Snowboard Descent
3841m (skied from 3785m) ; 1100m, 500m 50°-55°, 600m 40°-45° ; North ; TD+ ; 5.4/ E4
Known as the “Re di Pietra” (the King of Stone) in the Southern Alps, with its 3841metres, Monviso is a spectacular isolated stone pyramid dominating the entire Alpine region of Southern Piedmont and the plains below. Taking its name from the latin Mon Vesulus (the Visible Mountain) Monviso is, on a clear day, visible from the spires of the Cathedral of Milan. Aside from its imposing height, it is famous for its shape, remoteness and the fact that the River Po, Italy’s longest river, has its origin and source from the glaciers of Monviso. Spending my childhood up in the hills of Asti, my birthplace, fifty miles southeast of Turin, Viso always attracted my attention on clearer days. Back then, adventure and exploration were not yet part of my everyday life and I would later learn that when I was 2 years old, a brave ski instructor from Limone Piemonte, a certain Nino Viale, climbed the North face by the Coolidge Couloir and made a ski descent wearing jeans (22/07/1975). Growing up and increasingly turning my attention to the mountains, I was quickly galvanized by the stories surrounding the ‘King of Stone’ and its legends of folklore being told in the neighbouring valleys. As a teenager and in my early 20’s I was passionate about skiing initially with snowboarding to follow but any huge descents on skis or board captivated me, and the Coolidge Couloir soon became part of my morbid dreams. The vicissitudes of life led me along other paths but dreams remained, albeit buried in the back of my mind. Sometimes when we least expect, our dreams flood back into reality and suddenly materialize before our eyes. I believe it is the highest bliss that we can be given, the potential to experiment in achieving things that once were just dreams and seemed far out of reach. Now I could see it was a possibility that I could live my dream. The atypically dry winter locally meant that it felt like we’d had no winter at all, thus allowing me to travel and learn about new places. The beautiful Dolomites, the Dents du Midi, the Eiger in Switzerland and finally Monviso in the Cozie Alpes, all had enjoyed abundant winters, unlike Chamonix. Looking for new lines that could make me dream, I started to turn my attention out of the Chamonix valley where now there is a daily rush to ski the Mallory with 3 or 4 rappels. Thanks to the internet, exchanges of vital information bounce quickly to and from one valley to another and within a few weeks I had communicated my interest in the North face of Monviso, particularly the first snowboard descent of the Coolidge couloir to some of the locals and friends in the Cuneo-Turin area. The responses were always the same; “there is ice below the Corda Molla” (the name of the saddle on the left of the middle part of the upper couloir ). Considered the most difficult snow and ice route in the Southern Alps, is not even mentioned in the guidebooks or on internet sites due to the difficulty it has getting into condition. This being the reason why apparently, up until this month, it had not been skied from above the Corda Molla for more than ten years and never in its history by a snowboarder. The latest snowfall in recent days had finally changed something and when you live for certain runs, your sixth sense begins to tickle…. To be in the right place at the right time is a unique sensation in life. Fundamental to the achievement of these “perfect moments” are the local friends that give the green light. In a world where everything is moving faster and faster, exchanging information seems necessary and governs every moment of our lives…texts, phone calls, unexpected emails… it was time for me to disconnect from this reality and live the dream. I will always be indebted to Enzo Cardonatti for giving me the best gift, his knowledge, “Go and see … I think it’s the right time. ” I suggest a trip to the Monviso to my partners Ben and Cedric, Ben accepted straight away while Cedric was not so convinced, especially after I sent him a picture of the line! Following a quick check over several contrasting weather reports on Tuesday night, we all agreed and decided it was worth a try. When we reached the tunnel we were stopped by French border police asking us where we were going; we told them “We’re going skiing on Monte Viso” the policeman answers us “ah c’est une tres belle montagne le Viso!” (ah Monviso it’s a really nice mountain!). This provoked laughing from our van where a still sceptical Cedric had earlier revealed his perplexity about this mountain of which even the name he was unfamiliar with! They let us leave with a smile and pretended not to see the stash of beer stored in the front compartment of the van … we would be glad for them on our return. After roughly three hours of driving we arrived in Crissolo Pian Regina where the road ends and where we met Mattia arriving from Milan
C’est partì…
Crissolo (Italy)…I want a house like that
Walking time…
We walked along a path for about 250m of vertical difference and then put skins and snowshoes on. This time I opted for a bit more sacrifice on the way up and a bit more safety and fun on the way down so I left the splitboard at home. I came to regret this choice in the three and a half hours it took to reach the bivouac, sinking every two steps up to the knee and being swallowed in huge gulfs by the rocks
The scary north face of Monviso…at the top under the rocks is visible the upper part of the line
The bivy, eagle nest at the base of the couloir
I arrived at the six-place bivy at sunset thinking we would be home alone but I discovered it was a full house with 2 other Italian skiers spending the night in this eagle’s nest perched at the foot of the couloir. I knew one of the two, we’d spoken a couple of times on the phone and despite the lack of space we spent a good evening chatting and joking, finally in my native language
Sunset
It’s a 6 place bivy and we were..??…..6 !!!…could have been worse
Sunrise
We awoke at five am, had breakfast and prepared to leave. Cedric, who spent the night in the luxury “penthouse suite” part of the bivy, powered off ahead and by the time the rest of us left the bivy he had already opened nearly one hundred meters of track. We caught up fast, passing the two sections of mixed ground and reached the “Ghiacciaio Pensile”, the hanging glacier
Mattia Varchetti
First crux
The snow was cold and deep and as I hit the track towards the superior Coolidge, I heard Beo, one of the other two guys telling me “There are too many of us, you guys came from afar, I know that you took care to make sure you got the first line, we will go to Perotti (from the hanging glacier begins two other shorter couloirs that do not exit onto the summit, the Central and the Perotti). I felt sorry for them although at the same time very grateful for this gesture, I am glad we can still meet such kind hearted people in the mountains. Beo, I owe you one!
On the “ghiacciaio pensile”…towards the second crux
Above the second crux
Almost at the icy pitch…will there be a way through?…
After the second mixed ground section, we get into the heart of the upper Coolidge, approaching the part of the line that we were unsure about, approx 50m of blue ice on which we had hoped (after the last snowfall) a thin strip of snow would be attached that would allow us to pass without taking off our skis and board. We had heard of two who had skied from above “La Corda Molla” the previous weekend but had no news about this passage. I was leading when, close to the sea of blue ice, I saw a white strip on the right and break the silence … “yeah we can go through!” The morale shot back up, Cedric, ’bootpacker of the day’ in supershape, took turns with Mattia and Ben in opening tracks in the snow slopes above the corda molla with two more mixed ground passages. We quickly arrive at the rocks below the summit, behind us the clouds are coming up fast forcing us to make a painful choice. Summit ?…(with 70-80m vertical difference of easy mixed ground separating us) or Super ski with great visibility and make beautiful images? It does not take long to decide, in the end we are junkies of steep big turns rather than alpinists and summit collectors so we start to dig a footing in the sugar snow allowing us a bit of balance to be able to put board and skis on
Yeah there’s a way through, some snow of the the last snowfall stuck on the ice…above ” la Corda Molla”
On the final exposed snowfield
End of the snow
Time to put skis and board on…
…Rock ‘n Roll
Here we go! … Not even time to do the first three turns required for a proper psychological adjustment and one of our worst nightmares began unfolding in front our eyes. Traversing left to the sunny exposed slope, Cedric is pulled down by a rotten snow slide. … I see him trying to make his skis grip to no avail. Everything runs fast before our eyes but the moments passing become an eternity. Bumping up against a stone, he stopped for a moment, trying to resist but the mass of snow is too heavy and it forces him to jump about a metre off the rock….we are on a slope at 55°superexposed!!! The idea of a tragedy hits us like a dart of lightning hurled from nowhere … then, thankfully but incredibly, he stops a few meters away from the abyss separating him from the void. Silence reined for a few moments; perhaps as a sort of prayer and recognition that something or a number of things coincided at that moment to avert almost certain death. He traversed to the right where the snow is colder and indulged in his moment of inner reflection. Now it was our turn to negotiate the passage where the snow slid leaving uncovered rocks
Exposed…and full of sharks
The descent of my dreams did not start in the best way … or perhaps, yes it did… all depends from which perspective we look at things
Cedric meditating about how lucky he has just been…
After the first steps of mixed we are on the slopes above “la corda molla” (we used the rope on two meters of rock step, because after what we had just witnessed we do not want to risk more on this exposed passage).
Here I lived one of the best experiences of my life. We skied an airy ridge that leads to the lower slope with a feeling of being in the void, as if to be skiing in the sky. Below us is a sea of clouds covering the Pianura Padana (the big flat that runs to the far northeast Italian corner) and a constant spindrift, saturated air filled with billions of tiny crystals of cold snow, our sluffs slipping fast on that sea of blue ice to our right, thus creating unique visual effects. We look at each other awhile to share this magic moment, intoxicated and in awe of the experience that we are living together
Magic Place
Mattia
Ben
Flying…was like riding in the sky
Next crux is waiting for us, the narrow passage between ice and rocks, a strip of snow 20-25cm deep and 4-5m wide. I go first trying to be light and not cut the thin layer of snow; the first two turns slide fast then the front edge touches the ice, slightly bouncing. Fear pushes me to stop but I know that this is just question of a few meters, I leave the board to slide and I stop just a few meters below on the left, away from the sluff of the others
One of the highest moments of my life
Cedric
Freeride style in the Coolidge
The section that follows is one of the reasons why life is worth living. We link fast turns on perfect snow heading a bit right and a bit left to avoid the sluff and soon we are at the narrow exit. We place a rappel to pass the few meters of mixed ground separating us from five or six turns at mc12 on the Pensile…what conditions!!!
In the core of the couloir, below the “Corda Molla”
The Flagship…the best big mountain board ever!
On the ” Pensile”
We rappel another twenty meters to pass the rocky step and enter into the lower Coolidge after which we side step, traverse and jump little rocky steps for about thirty meters before using the rope again to pass the last un-skiable twenty meters (someone down-climbed all this pitch…we prefer starting and finishing with skis and boards on our feet). Still a small rocky step jump and we are finally out of trouble
Skiing the mixed section after the rappel
Last small obstacle to jump and we are out
We ski, with that usual warm pleasure that comes from the release of tension, the last part of the couloir and in the fog we reach the bivy to collect our belongings
More relaxed turns
Soon after (and this always seems to be in a thick fog) we try to find the quickest way to the valley where beers fit for giants are awaiting us.
I wish to warmly thank my team mates Cedric Bernardini, Ben Briggs and Mattia Varchetti for sharing one of the most beautiful and satisfying experiences of my life. To Enzo Cardonatti a huge thank you for your information and invaluable advice ensuring that this dream became a reality.
This line has everything you could look for in a big mountain line: a beautiful mountain, great length of line, constant steepness, exposure, technical mountaineering passages … and on top of that we were lucky enough to find a variant increasingly rare in recent winters, the cherry on the cake on this kind of line … the high mountain compressed powder!
From the grand opening of CFCF 12 to some of our famous faces that you’ve welcomed into your home. Click the video player to the right to watch these short clips from yesteryear.
CFCF went on the air in 1961, with a song and dance, next up was the first of many news magazine shows, Carte Blanche, featuring an interview with Mayor Jean Drapeau.
During the 1960s we brought you lots of live programming geared towards children and young adults with famous hosts like Magic Tom and Johnny Jellybean.
One man who personified CFCF 12 was Don McGowan, who did everything from hosting talk shows and game shows to predicting the weather and travelling around the world.
Bill Haugland was our main news anchor from 1977 to 2006 and he offers a brief retrospective on growing up English in Montreal
How many of us have similar memories of growing up in our towns and cities? When I was just a boy growing up in Montreal, I lived in some interesting areas of the city. This picture of a boy crossing the street could have been me, this is the exact way the flats and streets looked in my time growing up in Point St Charles. We used to play kick the can, street hockey, hide and seek, buck-buck how many fingers up, throwing a ball against the brick exteriors and bouncing it to see how high we could make it go. The girls would have colored chalk and they would draw hopscotch patterns and skip on the sidewalks.
Then there was the water truck that would come by spraying and using their huge circular electric brushes to clean the dirty streets. We would all run alongside the truck and try to jump over the spray without getting our feet and legs wet. But on hot summer days, that spray felt so good. We played street hockey all year round and the girls would join in as well. Many of us would ask our moms to sew a number 9 on the back of our sweaters so that we could pretend we were the late great Maurice 'the Rocket' Richard.
Another fun thing we did was in the winter, when we had a heavy snowfall, we would build tunnels through the banks and play inside them. It could be dangerous , if we heard the loud rolling noise of the snow truck coming down our street we would run for cover because we didn't want to be sucked into those snow shoots with the sharp blades that choped up the snow and dumped into the truck that was alongside. There were a few horrific stories of kids losing their lives to this monster.
It was fun to watch the street when the sun went down.The people would open their windows, stick a pillow out to rest their elbows on, smoke cigarettes and talk and yell to each other from their flats. Sometimes the conversations would go on for hours. We never locked our doors at night and had no fear of being vandalized. Everyone knew each other and watched each others' backs.
The picture of the back lanes of the Point today are still exactly the way they looked years ago - a mess of telephone and electrical wires crisscrossing the alleyway. Clothes out on the lines. Garbage piled up along the fences waiting for the garbage man to pick up. Apart from cats and dogs running loose, we also had rats the size of some cats darting here and there. Tenants put out poison mixed in strawberry jam on small squares of white bread, hoping to attract the rats and kill them. I had a few encounters with those ugly vermin when I was a boy but never got bitten, thank goodness.
We had to call in the local rat catcher sometimes because once in awhile, when I brought in an empty garbage can, there may have been one hiding at the bottom and would jump out in the flat and scare the daylights out of us. It didn't happen too often, thank goodness. My chores back then were to empty the ashes from our coal burning stove, take out the garbage, shovel the coal into our coal bin when it was poured down a chute by the coalman and to put the ice in our icebox when the iceman dropped it at the top of our stairs. Damn, it was cold! Many a time we would distract the iceman and run to the back of his icetruck and chip off some ice to suck on. I bet not too many of you ever broke off pieces of slightly hardened black tar and chewed on it? I did, they say it helped keep our teeth white.
This photo of Mount Royal was taken from an apartment on Guy Street. My friends and I used to hop on a bus from the Point and take it up Guy Street and get off at the corner of Sherbrooke and Cote des Neiges and walk the rest of the way to the mount. It may have been a half hour walk from the last bus stop. Once we were on Mount Royal, our play commenced. We would pretend to be explorers and mountain climbers. We would try to find a steep side of the mountain and work our way up to the top. The things I did back then I couldn't even imagine today. There were stables of riding horses available and we would pool our money to rent one horse for all of us to ride for half an hour. We would get a share of the ride for ten or 15 minutes each. Afterwards, we would scoot on over to Beaver Lake and walk barefoot in the shallow parts and chase the ducks. Being boys, we would find as much mischief to get into as we could so we could tempt the officials to scold us or chase us off the mount.
Montreal was a great city to grow up in. I had too many experiences and fun to write in one blog, I hope to share more of them with my readers as time goes by.
Read More about my journey's of growing up in Montreal:
I hope you enjoyed the adventures of my growing up in Montreal.The first 23 years of my life were definitely challenges that with help and guidance I managed to survive.and keep my spirit in tact
St. Patrick's Day quiz: Answers 1. Provincial employees in this province get the day off work for St. Patrick's Day: St. Patrick's Day is a provincial holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador but it hasn't been observed as a statutory holiday there since 1992. Provincial government employees get the Monday closest to St. Patrick's Day off work to commemorate the day.
The province is home to Canada's oldest connection to Irish migration, dating back to 1675 as part of transatlantic fishery. Today, it's estimated that at least 80 per cent of Newfoundlanders are of at least partial Irish descent.
2. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that this event happened on March 17. It is believed that St. Patrick died on Mar. 17 in 461 A.D. and is buried at Downpatrick in northern Ireland.
He was born on the west coast of Britain (report suggest Wales or Scotland) and at 16, was abducted by Irish raiders, taken to Ireland and sold as a slave to a sheep farmer.
At 22, he escaped, returned to Britain and then spent 12 years in a monastery before returning to Ireland as a Christian missionary.
St. Patrick is credited with growing Ireland's Christian population.
3. What's the capital of Ireland? Dublin is the capital city of Ireland. Its population of 1.66 million is larger than, but comparable to, Montreal's population. At about 115 square km, it's about the same size as Fredericton.
4 St. Patrick drove snakes out of Ireland False. It's a popular myth that St. Patrick drove the slithery reptiles out of Ireland but climate and habitat are responsible for Ireland's lack of snakes. The icy waters that surround the island nation are inhospitable to snakes.
Scholars suggest that St. Patrick's association with driving snakes out of Ireland likely comes from a symbolic reference of banishing paganism from the land.
5. The shamrock grows only in Ireland False. Shamrocks are clovers and they grow all over Europe and North America.
In Ireland, people traditionally wear a bunch of shamrocks pinned to their jackets on St. Patrick's Day. According to legend, St. Patrick used a three-leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit; each represented in a leaf but part of one stem.
In Ireland, the shamrock symbolizes a holy flower and a talisman. You can still find it tucked into a bride's bouquet or groom's boutonniere for good luck.
6. St. Patrick is credited for starting this custom: Back in the 15th century, when the rules of courtship were strict, St. Patrick declared that a woman was allowed to propose to man on Feb. 29, a date that only comes around every four years in a Leap Year.
St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about the injustice women have to endure when waiting around for their suitors to propose marriage. St. Patrick refused at first but eventually gave women to propose to men once every four years.
7. This is the national emblem of Ireland: The shamrock, Celtic cross and knot are unofficial symbols of Ireland. But Ireland is the only country in the world with a musical instrument as an official national symbol. The Celtic harp, also known as the clairseach, heraldic harp or Gaelic harp, is inseparable from Irish culture and has been for centuries.
The harp is a symbol of national pride, stamped into Ireland's currency and chiseled into carvings dating back to the 11th century. Today, you'll find it on the presidential flag, state seals, coins and on bottles of Guinness.
Whether played on a harp or an electric guitar, Ireland is home to some of the world's most loved musical artists including U2, Enya, Van Morrison, The Cranberries, The Corrs and Snow Patrol.
8. According to legend, leprechauns are skilled in this: You might find it hard to get a full pair from one but legend says that leprechauns, Ireland's mischievous male fairies, are skilled at shoe-making.
Folklore says it's tricky to catch a leprechaun but if you're able to do so by capturing him in a fixed stare, he'll lead you to his pot of gold. But be wary of a leprechaun's promises as these little cobblers are reputed to enjoy trickery and will vanish if you take your eyes off them for a second.
9. The colours of Ireland's national flag represent this: The flag of Ireland (also known as the Irish tricolour) depicts three equal-sized vertical bands of colour.
Green aligns on the left and represents the Irish nationalist tradition, a group that's supports Irish patriotism. Orange aligns on the right and represents the Orange Institution, a protestant organization. White represents the hope for peace between the two parties.
10. It's said that an Irishman invented this word: In 1791, an Irish theatre owner named Richard Daly made a bet that he could get the people in his city talking about a new, nonsense word he made up in just 48 hours.
According to legend, with the marketing/vandalizing help of Daly's employees, Dubliners would soon find Daly's nonsense word "quiz" written on walls all over the city and they were talking about it, just like he'd planned.
Historians argue that the word was already in use before Daly's scheme but its definition described "an odd or eccentric person." Most agree that it didn't get its current meaning "to question or interrogate" until after Daly's plan was in place. Could it be that the people of Dublin shaped its 19th century meaning: A type of entertainment that tests a person's knowledge?
Montreal is thinking about electrifying its bus system and bringing electric tramways back, both of which would require overhead wires on city streets.
It was 100 years ago this month -- June 27, 1910, to be exact -- that an organization, the Commission des services électriques de Montréal (CSEM), was created to rid Montreal of its tangle of overhead electric, telephone and telegraph wires. They were an eyesore and a fire hazard.
The CSEM's first customers: 17 electric companies, six telephone and telegraph companies, and four tramway companies.
The first task was to bury wires on Ste. Catherine St., between Atwater and Papineau, a project it completed in October 1915.
Within 20 years of CSEM's creation, it had installed underground conduits for wires under most of downtown and Old Montreal, as well as five major thoroughfares (Sherbrooke, Mont Royal, Rachel, St. Laurent and St. Denis).
These days, the CSEM, a public-private agency, manages the island's undergroundelectric, cable-TV, telephone and optical cable network. It works for about 80 companies and its network of underground conduits is 21,000 kilometres long.
To mark its 100th anniversary, the Pointe à Callière museum is presenting an exhibit, 100 ans sous terre, that will run from Jun 29 to Aug. 29.
The museum has dug through the archives of the CSEM, which has a wealth of photos of Montreal streets from the early 20th century. At the time, the CSEM hired professional photographers to take shots before and after it buried the wires.
BP says NALCO Corexit 9500 is not harmful. It does not take a rocket scientist to READ the warning label. So to perpetuate the lie that NALCO Corexit is safe, NALCO's PR machine sends out a press release...
BP's dispersant Corexit is harmful & dangerous: READ THE LABEL
.So to perpetuate the lie that NALCO Corexit is safe, NALCO's PR machine sends out a press release that says the following: (P.S. the bolded sentences are my editorial commentary.)
"One ingredient is used as a wetting agent in dry gelatin, beverage mixtures, and fruit juice drinks." I would like BP COO Doug Suttles take a cocktail of rum and Corexit.
"A second ingredient is used in a brand-name dry skin cream and also in a body shampoo." Maybe Tony Hayward can shampoo his hair in Corexit?
"A third ingredient is found in a popular brand of baby bath liquid."
"A fourth ingredient is found extensively in cosmetics and is also used as a surface-active agent and emulsifier for agents used in food contact." How about a shrimp barbeque marinated in Corexit for the entire NALCO board?
"A fifth ingredient is used by a major supplier of brand name household cleaning products for 'soap scum' removal." Scum removal? That sounds good for something!!!
"A sixth ingredient is used in hand creams and lotions, odorless paints and stain blockers."
If NALCO Corexit is non-toxic then why does the warning label have severe warnings?
I wonder if we can get some BP volunteers to serve as lab rats and spray an aerosol cloud of Corexit and have them breathe it in. We can also try asking them to take a bath in Corexit.
It's amazing how there are still people who act as apologists for BP and NALCO who claim that Corexit 9500's ingredients are not kept as proprietary secrets. As I said, read the label. In tech-talk, it's RTFM!!!
Dear BP, you may want to begin to be transparent and truthful to the public. It's never too late.
FREE SMART PHONE APPS TO HELP DOCUMENT THE DAMAGE OF THE "OIL SPILL"
If you live in the Gulf Coast, please take pictures or videos of the oil slicks. We just wrote some iPhone, Android and Blackberry software that will help you document the damage. It is specially useful if you're a boat owner or clean-up volunteer to take pictures and video. Please note time and place. Some smart phone cameras' GPS chip will record location even when there is no cell signal.
Documentation of the damages is going to be critical to the people of the gulf coast. Before and after pictures and videos will be particularly helpful.
We now have a special Twitter client to help organize all the tweets and other social network information on the spill. You can also try the special twitter app at Tweeb.us
Share this article with your friends by sending this URL: http://foo.am/fRP
The site is an all-volunteer effort and a work-in-progress and we'll be installing search image capabilities soon. DO NOT SEND US MONEY at the Gulf Coast Spill Coalition! Donate to the Sierra Club, Greenpeace,Mobile Bay Keeper,SaveOurGulf.org or some other reputable charity of your choice. We are archiving all the pictures and video for full public use. We will soon have full search capabilities on all relevant pictures and video care of our friends at EdgeCase.
St. Patrick's Day quiz: Answers 
