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ARCHIVED - Framing Canada:
A Photographic Memory

Archived Content

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Essays

Commercial Photography

Gallery - The Railway Industry

Professional photographers were hired to document all aspects of the railway industry, including construction, completion and enjoyment by passengers. Dominion Bridge Company photographers were interested in capturing the company's engineering marvels, while the railways themselves commissioned photographers to showcase technological innovations, their expansive role in Canadian development and the pleasures that could be derived from railway travel.

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Photograph of a railway porter, a cook and a man in a suit standing near the entrance of a railway car, 1914

Dining staff and porter, Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
Unknown location, 1914
Photographer: Ascribed to William James Topley
PA-011186
Source

Photograph of the TREVITHICK railway engine under construction

Locomotive 209, Trevithick, railway engine under construction in the Grand Trunk Railway erecting shops
Pointe St. Charles, Quebec, 1858
Photographer: William Notman
PA-181359
Source

Photograph of a railway bridge under construction, Cisco, British Columbia, 1914

Canadian Northern Pacific Railway bridge number one
Cisco, British Columbia, August 29, 1914
Photographer: unknown
PA-109213
Source

Photograph of a bridge section being towed into place by tugboats, Québec, Quebec, 1917

Québec Bridge, span floating out, tugs taking position
Québec, Quebec, September 17, 1917
Photographer: unknown
PA-108723
Source

Photograph of a bright railway observation car with people sitting in comfortable seats along the windows on either side, circa 1920s

New solarium car, observation lounge, Canadian Pacific Railway
Unknown location, ca. 1920s
Photographer: Department of the Interior
PA-048389
Source