Postcards showing CNR subjects between Vancouver and Edmonton, circa 1920s
by Al Lill
Postcard collection of the late Andrew Hamilton Donat, donated to the CNRHA by his son John.
About 16 years ago, John Donat of Toronto was cleaning out his mother’s home and came across 35 old
3″ by 5″ postcards showing CNR trackage and scenic subjects between Vancouver and Edmonton. Before
his parents were married, his father lived in Australia for eight years. On his way back home in early 1930
to his parents’ home in Hamilton, Andrew Donat took the train from Vancouver to Hamilton and acquired
this postcard collection. John has donated the cards to the CNRHA as he feels that they have some
historical significance. We have reproduced several of them here. I have sought advice from the
Vancouver Postcard Club and Dave Emmington, Roger Burrows, Les Kozma and Ray Matthews on
same.
These particular unused postcards are lithographs reproduced in large numbers from original black and
white photographs and have only limited caption information as seen on the scanned images. They
were produced by two Vancouver, B.C., companies – Gowen Sutton and B.C. Printing and Litho, Ltd. The
latter cards were likely printed in 1929, according to Ron Souch from the Vancouver Postcard Club.
Click on a photo to enlarge it and start the viewer.