Pictou County Postcards
Vintage Postcards from Pictou County, Nova Scotia

The sender's comments sum things up rather nicely. "New Glasgow claims the honour of the first railway in America. It was built by the Acadia Coal Co. to carry coal from the Albion Mine to deep watter following the west side of the East River a distance of six miles. They also carried passengers, see car at back of locom. It was coaled in front. It is now in museum in Chicago. I mean the engine not the railway. "

This card was addressed to Miss M. C. Thurston, Sandford, Yarmouth County, NS.

The NSARM Photo Collection has a photo negative # N-9876 that matches this image. Notes on their website (with this image) state that the "Driver G. Davidson and Fireman J. Fraser" are "pictured on the Samson between the passenger car and the coal tender. Date unknown, but possibly pre-dating the removal of the Samson to the United States, 1880s for exhibition purposes."

Another image at their site, http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/meninmines/archives.asp?ID=138, identifies this photograph as being copyrighted by J.E. Taylor in 1920. This date and the information shown with that image is confusing, especially when you consider that this postcard with the identical photo on it, was mailed in 1911 and that the postcard PC00570 below was mailed in August of 1905. Perhaps Mr. Taylor took the photograph years earlier but renewed the copyright in 1920?

This very rare postcard has the words Private Post Card on back and they match exactly, the titles found on other Real Photo postcards that we believe were produced by the Torry family.

The image on this card is much sharper and clearer than on the subsequently printed versions, and the facial features on the man on the right are very clear. The driver (left) has been identified as G. Davidson and the fireman (right) as J. Fraser.

Mailed to Miss Hilda Euisenheur, Box 125, Lunenburg, NS, the sender says simply, "This is where we get a move on." One can only guess at the meaning of this statement.

It is not known who the original photographer was. JE. Taylor claimed copyright to the image in 1920, but it is unclear when the photo was originally taken. The locomotive was sent to Chicago for an exhibition in 1883 and remained in the US until it was finally returned to Nova Scotia in 1927. The photo therefore had to have been taken prior to 1883 and it remains a mystery as to how this image resurfaced and ended up on a real photo postcard some 22 years later.

The text "Private Post Card" on the back of the card matches other real photo postcards that are likely attibutable to the Torry family.

This postcard is very similar to PC00557 above. It has the letter S added to the card # on front, and the positioning of the title is different. There are many versions of this postcard printed by Warwick. Card #PC 00488 is nearly identical other than the cropping.

A rare early PECO card.