train song

H C Denkelberg photo c1918

Toronto. Leslie Feist sang the Train Song a few years ago. She became famous when Apple picked her 1234  song for an ad.

The photographer of this photo, H C Denkelberg, was an American photographer who crossed over to Sarnia from time to time which is where he took this photo c1918.

George Dunbar writes to Bob Lansdale, “My son bought this photo at a thrift shop. Shows the name “Great Grampa Corby, engineer” and a Sarnia photographer, who’s name is unclear…Dukelberg? (see verso pic) [actually Denkelberg]. Are you interested? Do you recognize the name of the photographer?”

Bob asked his contacts for help and Dave Tinder tracked down the details . Dave found this info in the Michigan Photographers list he has.

One expert on trains (Mr Harlow) wrote back as follows, ” Greetings from your neighbor in Dearborn, MI! Recently the image as captioned above found its way into my e-mail, courtesy of Ms Motzenbecker, for ID as far as I could tell. I have been a railroad “buff” and historian since my days in jr. high school (mid-1960s). The following is what I can tell and what is my opinion about this image from many years of experience studying RR history.

“After searching the i-net and finding a couple photos of steam locos of the Grand Trunk Ry. (of Canada), I conclude the steam loco in this photo (as attached) is one of their engines.  I base this on the following: The horizontally-slatted cowcatcher; the locomotive’s headlight mounted at the top of same; the round number plate mounted at the front of the loco’s smokebox (this was probably a base of red, framed and with the number in gold). Furthermore, I can tell from the flat top of the steam chest (this is the compartment the pistons are contained in) that this locomotive was manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Co. of Philadelphia, PA. They may have had a Canadian subsidiary which manufactured engines to their design.

“I note the photographer signed his name and noted he is located in Sarnia. The Grand Trunk Ry. had a terminal in Sarnia which was on the mainline which extended into Michigan via a tunnel between that point and Port Huron. GT Ry. crews and engines would have been changed there before or after going to or from Port Huron.This locomotive is standing right next to a roundhouse – and apparently a rather large one, judging from the little of it’s construction I can see in the image.  This indicates to me that this image was taken at a rather large terminal facility, such as the GT Ry. would have had at Sarnia.

“As to the ID of the men in this image, from left to right:
“The man on the far left is holding a coal scoop; this is the tool of his trade.  Therefore he is the fireman.
“The man second-from-left is holding an oil can; this is the tool of his trade; oil cans of this nature were used to oil the bearings of the steam engines (some of those were fairly far back from the outside of the engines); it was the job of the engineer to keep and ensure these bearings were oiled – and oiled frequently. This man is also wearing a vest and pocket watch.  Pocket watches were a critical piece of equipment carried by the engineer to ensure that schedules were kept, and to ensure that trains kept off the mainline when other trains were due! Therefore, this man is “Great Grandpa Corby”, the engineer.
“The man on the far right is wearing a vest, therefore I conclude he must be the conductor – the “captain” of the train crew.
“The men standing between the engineer and conductor, therefore, must be brakemen. At the time this image was taken, brakemen didn’t actually work the brakes unless cars were picked up or set off at a particular point. They were mostly involved in the switching of cars, under the direction of the conductor.

“FYI when train crews of this era had their photos taken, they frequently displayed the “tools of their trade” when posing for a photo.

“Since the photo was taken by a photographer in Sarnia, I therefore conclude that this is the image of a train crew and engine at Sarnia, ON, at the Sarnia terminal of the Grand Trunk Ry.”

As a side note, my grandfather’s brother lived in Detroit at one point and his wife and daughter once rode the railway from Toronto to Port Huron on  the way to Detroit. Another grandfather joined the railway just before joining the army in WW1 . The railway was Grand Trunk RR at the time but later became the CNR when our government took over all the small railways to compete with the mighty Canadian Pacific. My father also worked on the CNR during the second war.

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