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Friday, July 10, 2026
History lessons with Helen: The Silk train
By Helen Drysdale
Photo info: Full steam ahead! In years gone by, trains such as this one were loaded with raw silk. A top priority, they travelled at high speeds.
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Have you ever heard of silk trains? They were trains loaded with raw silk from the Orient that ran from the port of Vancouver through the Rockies, across the prairies, through the Canadian Shield to Montreal and on to the Silk Exchange in New York. Most of the silk was processed by the multiple firms around New York City. Silk was a beautiful material afforded only to the wealthy as it was highly priced. The silk was used to make luxury items like scarves, ties, shirts and dresses. The first shipment of raw silk arrived out of Vancouver in 1887 soon after the last spike of the cross-Canada rail line was pounded in.
The “Silker”, as it was known, used locomotives that were fast and had been designed for high speeds. At Vancouver, waiting for the ship to unload the silk, the train was readied ahead of time with the cars coupled to an engine that was fired up to full steam, ready to go. Locomotives were changed along the route. It took approximately four to seven minutes to service these trains and replace the locomotive with a new one at each designated point. From each station, the departure time of the special was wired to the next stop and further up the line. Armed guards were the only passengers and situated in the last car. There was never a silk train robbery on Canadian soil. Despite high speeds of the trains there were few recorded accidents.
The silk trains had the right of way over all railway traffic with no exceptions, even the Royal trains. The telegraph keys clicked out steadily to ensure the message was out that the silk train was coming through, get out of the way and onto siding. A train carrying Prince Albert, later to become King George VI, was held on a siding while a silk train went through. Many people thought that the hurry was because that silkworm cocoons were being transported spinning their little hearts out as the silk train sped across Canada. This story was not true as the cargo being carried was raw silk, not a perishable product. Why the speed? The rush was all about the exorbitant cost of insurance. Insurance companies started the clock as soon as the bales were unloaded from the ship to until it was unloaded at its eastern destination. For the rail companies the revenue from silk transportation was much higher than for transporting other goods thus worth the extra effort.
The first years it was the Canadian Pacific Railway that had the silk trains but by the early 1920s the Canadian National Railway had the opportunity of competing for this prestigious train shipment. To get their shipments across the country every minute counted. Special cars were built that were shorter than normal boxcars, to take curves at higher speeds.
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Want to learn more? See the full story on Page 11 of this week's paper!
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