Saturday, July 01, 2017

150 Canadian Railfans That Inspire Me



In celebration of today, Canada's 150th birthday, I've assembled a list of 150 Canadian rail fans that inspire me.

These people are or were photographers, authors, activists, preservationists, modelers, historians, business people, or some combination of the above. Some even work with the railways. Most are alive today but unfortunately some have passed on.

They are on this list because I have been impressed and/or inspired by their work. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all Canadian railfans, nor the 150 "best", whatever that means. I've tried to only include Canadians, even though there are some American and other photographers / authors / etc. who have done important work on Canadian railways. Today is Canada's day.

It's a list of 150 people that came to mind when I started thinking about Canada's 150th a few weeks ago. I'm sure as soon as I click publish, I'll think of others that should have been on the list, and I'm sure there are many very inspiring Canadian rail fans that I have never met or heard of. C'est la vie.

Without further ado...
  • Fred Angus 
  • Matt Arnott 
  • Rob Arsenault 
  • Justin Babcock 
  • Bernard Babin 
  • William Baird 
  • Brian Barchard 
  • Luke Bellefleur 
  • Anthony Bernard Prince
  • Michael Berry 
  • Pierre Berton 
  • Martin Boston 
  • Tom Box 
  • Bill Brillinger 
  • Jim Brown 
  • Ron Brown 
  • Tim Burridge 
  • Jon Calon 
  • Carroll Cameron 
  • Andy Cassidy 
  • Andrew Castle 
  • Clayton Chaloner 
  • Bruce Chapman 
  • Ken Chivers 
  • Colin Churcher 
  • Chris City 
  • Samuel Clark 
  • Art Clowes 
  • David Collenette 
  • Dan Conlin 
  • Charles Cooper 
  • Raymond Corley 
  • Michael Cormier 
  • Doug Courtney 
  • Glenn Courtney 
  • Peter Cox 
  • Ian Cranstone 
  • Romet CZ Vilenski
  • Steve Dickie 
  • Dave Dineen 
  • Dan Dl'Uo 
  • Geoff Doane 
  • Chris Doering 
  • Luc Doiron 
  • Duncan du Fresne
  • Nick Eh 
  • Bob Fallowfield 
  • Pierre Fournier 
  • Francois Gagné Audet
  • David Gagnon 
  • Eric Gagnon 
  • Patrick Gagnon 
  • Marcus Garnet 
  • Kevin Gaudet 
  • Brian Gilhuly 
  • Ken Goslett 
  • Peter Gough 
  • Harry Gow 
  • Allan Graham 
  • David Guay 
  • Bruce Harvey 
  • Tim Hayman 
  • Fred Headon 
  • Joshua Hoffarth 
  • Nicolas Houde 
  • Steve Hunter 
  • Jack Hykaway 
  • Manny Jacob 
  • Philip Jago 
  • Scott Jay 
  • David Jeanes 
  • Francois Jolin 
  • Ken King 
  • John Knowles 
  • Peter Lacey 
  • Matthieu Lachance 
  • Matt Landry 
  • Barbara Lange 
  • Owen Laukkanen 
  • Omer Lavallee 
  • Will Lawrence 
  • Gary Lee 
  • Jimmy LeFrense 
  • Wendell Lemon 
  • Bill Linley 
  • John Longhurst 
  • Steve Lucas 
  • Ken MacDonald 
  • Louis MacIsaac 
  • Taylor Main 
  • Trevor Marshall 
  • David McCormack 
  • Ken McCutcheon 
  • Greg McDonnell 
  • Joe McMillan 
  • Chris Mears 
  • Steve Meredith 
  • David Morris 
  • Raymond Morrissette 
  • Douglas N.W. Smith
  • Gary Ness 
  • David Othen 
  • Pat Othen 
  • Jason Paul Sailer
  • Ron Pelletier 
  • Lorne Perry 
  • Mark Perry 
  • John Peter Cowan
  • Kenneth Pieroway 
  • Duane Porter 
  • Ted Rafuse 
  • Isaac Raymond 
  • Ron Ritchie 
  • C. Robert Craig
  • Earl Roberts 
  • Mike Robin 
  • Jody Robinson 
  • Matthew Robson 
  • Phil Ross 
  • Mark Rushton 
  • Mark Sampson 
  • Brian Schuff 
  • Jason Shron 
  • Trevor Sokolan 
  • Andre St-Amant 
  • Adam Steele 
  • Sean Steele 
  • Conrad Steeves 
  • Brett Stevens 
  • Tim Stevens 
  • Ken Storey 
  • Hugues St-Pierre 
  • David Stremes 
  • Lawrence A. Stuckey
  • John Sutherland 
  • Stafford Swain 
  • Bill Taylor 
  • Lorence Toutant 
  • Blake Trafford 
  • Michel Tremblay 
  • Robert Turner 
  • Morgan Turney 
  • Stephen Vallis 
  • Malcolm Vant 
  • Christian Vazzaz 
  • Caleb Wentzell 
  • Mike White 
  • Douglas Wilson 
  • Ian Wilson 
  • Michael @ Beachburg Sub blog (sorry, don't know your last name!)
To everyone on the list, and those who I accidentally omitted, thank you for inspiring me to continue photographing trains, writing about trains, and supporting trains where I can. You've inspired me and others more than you know.


Aside: Eric Gagnon compiled a list of 150 Great Things about Canadian Railways. I purposely didn't look at it until I finished compiling my list. Now I see at least 7 people in common between our lists!
My daughter...
quite a while ago
I've finally stopped calling this day Dominion Day... it's only taken me a 35 years. The last Dominion Day (July 1, 1982) was very memorable for an impressionable teenager, so it stuck with me. But it's (finally) time to move on.

Happy Canada Day, everyone. Maybe I'll see you trackside some day.

Other Canada Day posts:


8 comments:

Eric said...

Happy Canada Day, Steve! Great to be in such august company and to know that we thought of seven of the same folks! So far, my Canada Day railway highlight was a westbound two-unit freight with intermodal, grain and oh yes, four CN business cars behind the power!

We used to shop at Dominion.
Eric

Canadian Train Geek said...

Thanks, Eric!

Four business cars! Bonus!

I vaguely remember Dominion...

Michael said...

Thanks, Steve. It's always good to know that I am also providing some value for my fellow railfans. I don't often mention my last name on my blog but it's Hammond. Keep up the good work.

Chris BIGDoer Doering said...

I made a list! I made a list! And great goodness, that made my day. Not sure I deserve to be lumped in with such royalty, but I'll take it! Such a great honour. Down this way sometime? We have to hang.

Craig said...

Wow more than a few familiar names in THAT list! Nice idea. --Craig

Unknown said...

I'm glad I have provided some inspiration for you Steve. Of course, it goes both ways! An honor to be included on the list. Lot's of familiar and great people on your list. Good job!

Cheers
Andy Cassidy

Brian Gilhuly said...

Thanks, Steve; it's flattering to be included in such august company. It would be even more so with a small correction to the spelling of my name. TIA.
Brian Gilhuly

Canadian Train Geek said...

My apologies, Brian! I have corrected the spelling of your name. Mea culpa!