Presenting the Railpictures.ca The Time Machine: A Before and after challenge: Participants can attempt to re-create the same photo taken at least 20 years apart, from the vast database of photos found on railpictures.ca. See our gallery of photos below – click a photo for the detailed description.
Remember folks – the more you have on the site the more likely you’ll get paired. Photographers of the classic era are much more likely to have photos paired and win awards – all you have to do is submit with us and wait for a young lad to go out and find a modern equivalent to your photo. Or if you’re really brave, see if you have a classic photo to pair with a contemporary shot. If you are ready to try, make sure when you submit a pairing, please name the photographer, and link to their photo in your caption or post the ‘share link’. If you do not wish to name the photo until it wins, you can post the link in the ‘note to moderators’ BUT contact us to let us know you’re trying for a time machine. We may miss it – and if we do – reach out to us and remind us. After reviewing the criteria and if we think it’s good we’ll include it after some time has passed (it can be days to weeks to months depending on our mood and how much you push us – hint hint)
Note: That the order of the photos is as follows: the rightmost photo is the original in the database. The photos to the left, (one or two or more) are the re-created photos. Note that Dave Beach brilliantly recognized he had the exact same photo as James Gardiner created 30+ years earlier, which is very hard to do! Well done to all who have participated. If we’ve forgot anyone or anything, don’t hesitate to let us know – we may slip the fracks – and remember, we reward effort and we want the recreated shots to be as exact as possible to the original. Usual photo submission guidelines also apply too.
![The Ted Ellis image showing a single CP Rail F unit on the Soo-Sudbury CP Rail freight prompted me to dig up this Kodak Plus X negative: One unit nine cars. CP Rail train #11 – the Toronto section of 'The Canadian' – works through Palgrave, Ontario. The engineman must have the throttle of CP 1414 placed in notch 8, that FP9-A could be heard for miles! >> How about a single unit contest? >>First generation only single units (where are all those 8921 RSD-17 shots?) <<.[What's interesting: So how did the CP Rail 'The Canadian' become an all season short train?The summer season eight car ( the nine car train in this image is unusual) Toronto section of 'The Canadian ' was common in the 1970's but uncommon prior to that. Let me explain. A comparison of the CPR 1966 passenger train time table to the 1971 time table show a dramatic contraction. Stations served by CPR trains, shown in the company public timetable, contracted from 3 pages to one lone page. Very evident that CP Rail executives had given up on passenger service. I rode 'The Canadian' in August 1970, Toronto to Vancouver (three nights westbound) and return, boarding (entraining) 'The Canadian' in Toronto, Vancouver, Banff, Calgary and Winnipeg. Five different consists. What really impressed me was the professionalism and care of the crew and on board staff – from the Sleeping Car Conductor, Train Conductor, Trainmen, Dining Room Car staff to the Porters. They all had incredible pride in CP Rail's flagship transcontinental train. And quite the train, the only train, given The Dominion's last summer was 1966, replaced by the one summer season Expo Limited (for the Expo 67 Montreal (international ) Exposition. For the 1970 Summer season (August 1970), west of Sudbury The Canadian is a minimum eighteen cars ( I'd like to see someone model this!) : nine sleeping cars (five Toronto (likely 3 Manor, 2 Chateau), four Montreal (likely 2 Manor, 1 Chateau, plus 1 Manor or Chateau), two Dining Room Cars, two 100 series coaches, two 500 series Skyline (coach – coffee shop), two 3000 series Baggage-Dormitory and the Park Observation – Sleeping car (Montreal). ( no tourist sleepers :the fourteen section U series tourist sleepers (22 were re-conditioned for use on The Canadian) may have been retired about the same time the Dominion was discontinued (can some confirm?)). West of Sudbury, normal power is two CP Rail 1400 series FP7A or FP9A plus one 1900 F7B GMD built units, all geared for 89 miles per hour – the latter is important, west of Thunder Bay to Calgary 'The Canadian' is western Canada's 'Rapido', a sharp contrast to the eastern portion of the trip (i.e. east of Fort William (Thunder Bay). [1970 schedules: The CN Rapido, on double 90 m.p.h. track Montreal to Toronto 335 miles average speed with two scheduled stops: 67 mph and that may be not quite fair: so how about CN Tempo train 144 Windsor to Toronto 228 miles with six scheduled stops average speed 52.6 m.p.h. , whereas the CP Rail train #1, 'The Canadian', on single 75 m. p. h. track Calgary to Moose Jaw 433 miles average speed with six scheduled stops: 53.4 mph]. Toronto section power would typically be one CP Rail FP7A or FP9A , either a 1400 or 4000 series plus one MLW RS-10 road switcher. So a typical 1970 summer season Toronto section is five sleepers, one Dining Room Car, one coach (plus one Toronto-Sudbury coach on long weekends), one Skyline, the Park (Toronto-Sudbury only) and one Baggage-Dormitory. Some trips included an Express car (Toronto – Sudbury only). And presumably the 1966 to 1969 summer season consists were similar.Ok, so back to how The Canadian became the mini twelve car train – west of Sudbury - of the 1970's that we are all familiar with. Upon my return from 'The Canadian' adventures, late August 1970, I was riding the Coxwell TTC streetcar to work and on my seat was the daily Globe and Mail folded to the page on an article about the CP hearings in Ottawa by the Canadian Transport Commission (the predecessor to Transport Canada). The CP's position on passengers is straightforward: we want out. The CP Rail 1970 proposal: daily summer service for the 'The Canadian' and for the off season - the October to May eight month period - the proposal is to operate 'The Canadian' three times per week. H'mmm, wonder where....Remember, this is 1970. What was going against the CPR was that the CNR was still actively pushing passenger service, but the CN really did not have a choice being a ward of the federal government. For some reason the CTC Commissioners did not seem to be able to grasp the full difference between reporting to shareholders (CP Limited shares being a publicly traded) verses being a ward of the government (ie CN). (perhaps some viewers may have better recall on the details of the CP Rail CTC hearing/ proposal). In the end CP Rail was compelled by the CTC to continue operating 'The Canadian' daily all year round - after all the CNR was not asking to reduce its transcon service to tri-weekly - irregardless of the strong evidence that transcontinental train travel had become (and remains today) a summer tourist operation. The CTC did allow CP Rail to 'rationalized' the service - to limit costs hence limiting revenues during peak travel periods – a death knell for the service. Hence commencing 1971 CP Rail limited the size of the rationalized 'The Canadian' to twelve cars west of Sudbury. (presumably in part that limit was set do to what two F's could handle). One can only wonder what would have transpired if CP Rail was allowed to match the service to demand. Certainly the experience of the Southern Railroad (The Southern Crescent) comes to mind – that company declined to join Amtrak. Perhaps CP may have declined to join Via? We may never know. The view here is some service is better than none at all - and what do we have today on the CPR route? NO SERVICE. And it appears we (the public) are now stuck with the CN route (& four nights) on a SUMMER tri-weekly basis, and further off season reduction in services forthcoming for 2012-13. Not knowing at the time, but it appears that my August 1970 rides on The Canadian were the final month of an eighteen car CP Rail “The Canadian” ! ]And for all those modelers out there: here is proof only one CP Rail F unit is needed for "The Canadian" !Summer 1978 negative by S.Danko.](http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/36970005-2-200x150.jpg)
This page is now a permanent fixture on the site. Winners will receive one award on their profile page, for each photo that wins, and an award displayed on the photo page itself.
For a photo to be added it MUST be nominated by someone. After a nomination, we will consider it and periodically add what we think meets the following criteria w – it could take days to weeks to months to do it so please remind us if we missed you or did not respond (We’re sorry if we forgot to respond, we don’t have a formal process for this!). Both the classic photographer and the modern photographer will win their photo award when chosen. How do you win? We will consider the following – keep in mind you have an artistic license of interpretation but look at the existing entries for a comparison:
- How exact is the re-created photo to the original?
- How close are the fine details lined up between both photos? Always overlay to make sure they are darn close
- How many favourites, comments, or views did you achieve once uploaded?
- What effort was put into the affair – was it difficult to achieve?
- Was it re-created in-situ? Or in a museum setting?
- How much time has elapsed between photos
- Photographic difficulty – did one re-create a shot that took great photographic skill?
- Artistic creativity – for those who wish to express themselves
For re-creationists – find a photographer you wish to emulate and search their work on this site. If you need to look by location, our map page would be a very handy tool.
For classic photographers – the more you have on here, the better your chances of being replicated. Send a few and do not hesitate to challenge viewers to re-create a shot if you think it’s worth asking for.
Do you know a photographer with a great photo you want to re-create, but the photo is not in our database? Kindly ask the photographer to join us, submit the photo and contribute to the challenge.
Have you taken the challenge? Announce it on social media, share your photo once approved and spread the word – the more favourites you receive the better your chances of being selected.
Contest rules:
- For those who are recreating a classic: A photo must be at least 20 years old for it to qualify for a re-creation, or the minimum spread between photos SHOULD be 20 years. For example, any photo in 1996 qualifies as of 2016 – we won’t worry too much about exact dates. Similarly, if you upload a pair from 1991 and 1995, the spread is too thin.
- You can go both ways: We allow you to either re-create a classic photo, or consider a current (contemporary) photo and upload an older classic that you have already taken. As long as the photos meet the guidelines of what constitutes a valid time machine photo.
- IMPORTANT: To qualify, once you think you’ve re-created a photo pair, you must add the photo page link to the re-created photo, name the photographer, and mention the time machine, all in your caption. If you are not comfortable with this unless you ‘win’ – then add it to note to moderators then *contact us to remind us* or we may miss it.
- All are welcome to either re-create the patina of the original photo or interpret in some other fashion. Aka: Black and white conversions are permitted if desired.
- Yes – you have artistic license to visually interpret this as you see fit – but the same Railpictures.ca rules for acceptance apply for single pictures!
- The photographer of the original and re-created photo can be the same person.
- We could add a third or fourth photo to an existing pair, but it has to be from a different era. For example: A time machine pair could exist for photos taken in 2014 and 1985. A third submission from a feller in 1965 could be added, creating a photo trio.
- We understand that there are probably a few before/after photos already in some peoples collections – and we don’t want to exclude you – please feel free to upload them, your work will be rewarded here.