No doubt these trains did operate across Canada during World War I, but
the description you give of the photo of one of these trains simply does
not compute. If the loco. visible in the photo is indeed a CPR heavy
Pacific with Elesco Feed Water Heater and 12 wheeled tender, then the
photo was taken many years after WW I ended and would have had nothing
to do with this particular event.
This is just another example of a photo being supplied from the
archives by someone who knows nothing about the subject, or it is
captioned incorrectly. Unfortunately, the author receiving such
material often also has only limited knowledge of these technical
matters.
The worst part is readers tend to accept such information as being
correct simply because it originated from a national archive.
Ray Matthews
