Canadian Northern Society

The Order of Mount Robson

In 2014, the Canadian Northern Society introduced “The Order of Mount Robson.” In addition to the preservation of our heritage railway stations, there have historically been several members of the Canadian Northern Society who have been active for many years in researching the corporate and operating history of our namesake railway—the Canadian Northern. Further, several of our members have family ties to the old Canadian Northern—something the society executive felt should be recognized. Thanks to the design work of the late Lorrie Tiegs, we were proud to introduce a special way to honour those individuals with a special connection to the Canadian Northern Railway through our “Order of Mount Robson.” Mount Robson, of course, located some 50 miles west of Jasper along the original Canadian Northern Railway main line, is a fitting symbol in many ways for the order.

We were honoured to announce the first two inductees in 2014 to the Order of Mount Robson. The first was founding member and railway historian Leslie S. Kozma. Les has spent years researching and documenting many facets of the history and operation of the Canadian Northern, as well as other CN predecessor lines. His research work has been featured in several books and publications and has been invaluable in our preservation efforts.

The second honouree was Harry R.J. Home, a career CN locomotive engineer from Jasper. Harry was born in 1933 and followed his boyhood passion to become a locomotive engineer. Harry was well-known for his work in the preservation of ex-CN locomotive 6060 for over 40 years and always maintained a special place in his heart for the Canadian Northern. Harry’s father, John Cameron (Jack) Home, was a locomotive engineer who hired out on the Canadian Northern in 1913— and it was a privilege to honour Harry for this special family connection. Harry is also a member of the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame. Harry passed away on March 30, 2020 and is lovingly remembered by family and many friends from the railroad and community at large.

In 2015 the Order of Mount Robson was awarded to Ronald M. Bailey, P. Eng. Ron began his railway career as a surveyor under Major J.L. Charles – a veteran railway builder who was engaged in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific and the survey of the Hudson Bay Railway. After serving his country in the Royal Canadian Navy aboard the HMCS Mantane during the Second World War, Ron had a distinguished career at CN throughout western Canada as a senior member of the railway’s engineering department. He retired in 1984 as Regional Chief Engineer on the CN’s Mountain Region. After his retirement he was active in documenting and writing about the history of the Canadian Northern and was a committed volunteer and supporter of the Canadian Northern Society and the Alberta Railway Museum. He was also an inductee into the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame. A second-generation railroader - Ron’s father, Mr. W.R. (“Bill”) Bailey was from Wakopa, Manitoba – where he started as a tower man on the Canadian Northern Railway – later moving on to Rainy River, Ontario, where he began an exemplary career as a fireman and later locomotive engineer. He retired in Saskatoon in 1955. Ron passed away on October 15, 2015, in Edmonton and is remembered lovingly by family, friends, and the Canadian Northern Society with several of his original survey instruments preserved at the Camrose Heritage Railway station.

In 2018, we were pleased to announce inductee Charles W. (“Chuck”) Bohi of White River Jct., Vermont. “Chuck” is a railway historian and author who has a definitive love for the Canadian prairies, its railways, and in particular the Canadian Northern and its depots. A latent interest in Western Canadian depots was awakened in the summer of 1969 when Chuck made the first of a series of trips to the Prairie Provinces. Since that first visit Chuck and his wife Lynn travelled extensively in the West, photographing hundreds of depots, rail operations, and writing articles and books including the original and now classic Canadian National’s Western Depots, published in 1977. Together with fellow author Leslie S. Kozma the pair wrote a second edition to the original volume plus a similar book on the Canadian Pacific. In total, across North America, Chuck has photographed over 3000 depots from coast to coast. His favourite depot design is the standard Canadian Northern Third Class station with its distinctive high pitched pyramid roof, an example being our Meeting Creek depot. Chuck is a charter member of our Society and has kindly provided permission for use of his depot photo collection for many of our efforts including the Chronicle.