Revisiting Bryce's Home Made Bread

What appears to be the business end of a Bryce's Home Made Bread facility

Longtime readers may recall that back around this time in 2014 I posted some pictures of Bryce's Home Made Bread that my uncle, William Henry Wood, took in the 1940s. While on my current dig through family photos I think I may have unearthed some photos of what appears to be another Bryce's facility. 

You might ask why didn't I find these on my first pass through the photos 9 years ago? Because I didn't know what I was looking at, didn't examine them with a magnifying glass, and the photos don't appear to have any organization. They're just scattered here-and-there throughout a variety of albums. I know a bit more now about what I'm looking at in these pictures, so new aspects pop out that I didn't appreciate before.

Cropped version of the opening photo

The connection to Bryce's was clear once I closely looked at the logos on the wagons and truck.

The wagon on blocks (on the right) has written on the side: Bryce's Bread

The wagon on the left doesn't appear to have a company logo, but the one up on blocks to the right does.

'Bryce's Bread' appears on the truck

The same logo that's on the derelict wagon appears on the truck.

A slightly modernized delivery wagon

The deal was sealed when I stumbled across the above photo.

A cropping of the previous photo. That's Mr. Bill Paterson on the right

The other tip off was the presence of Mr. Bill Paterson as he accompanied my uncle on this audit trip.

Outside Bryce's. Left to right: Mr. W. B. Foster, Bill Paterson, William Henry Wood

In the above photo we also saw Mr. W. B. Foster standing for a portrait outside the other Bryce's Facility.

A cleaned up and cropped version of the previous photo

The next 3 photos give an interesting view of an office inside the building. No PCs, laptops, smartphones, or much of anything we'd associated with today's office life.

My uncle with a mountain of paper work

I suspect the two were having a good time staging the next two photos, but if nothing else you get a good idea of what typical office equipment was like in the 1940s.

My uncle again with a lot less paper, and many more office tools. That thing that looks like a tire beside his elbow is likely an ash tray

And here's Mr. Paterson taking his turn at the desk:

Bill Paterson looking concerned

As I've noted before, the puzzling continues.

[21 Nov 2023 update: I discovered another photo album with annotated photographs. It turns out this facility was located in Calgary, not Winnipeg, and the photos were shot on August 4, 1944.]

Pluto Water reefer gets revitalized

As I thought about restoring the Pluto Water refrigerator car* I realized it wouldn't take a lot of work to bring it back to life. New trucks, couplers, and brake wheel, as well as a good dusting would revitalize it. Revitalize, not restore. For a proper restoration job I'd need to track down a lot of original parts, and since I don't even know what company manufactured this kit**, that could be tricky. Also, I thought enhancing the detail to bring it closer to modern standards wouldn't be respecting it or it's builder, my Uncle Bill.

This is how the underside looked at the start: one old cast truck and a static coupler, both held in place with tacks, along with some foot straps that had been bent out of place. Not much in the way of underside detail either. Although, I thought the construction work was clean, accurate, and square.

I had enough parts for a pair of replacement trucks in my scrapbox. The side frames are from some old '70s vintage model boxcar. The trucks' side detail was fairly close to the old truck on the model. The wheels are quite decent metal ones whose provenance is unknown to me. I drilled out the holes in the underside where the old truck tacks went and used #4 x 1/2" screws to hold the new trucks in place. One thing you can't see in the photo are two washers I cut from 0.040" styrene and inserted between the trucks and centre bolster to improve body clearance. I should also note that before installation the trucks were painted with a loose mix of flat black and my rust mix so they didn't look too shiny and new.

I didn't have enough coupler parts on hand, so I had to buy some: #143, Kadee "Standard" Head Metal Whisker Couplers. Unlike the trucks, I used Weld Bond to glue them to the body as there didn't appear to be enough room for a screw to go in without splitting the chassis or body. 

A brake wheel from an old, cheapo livestock car was stuck on the end of brake shaft.

The old foot straps were bent back into place and reglued. There are a couple that are missing, but I'll just live with that until I stumble across more.

To finish off I used an assortment of old, soft paint brushes to sweep off the caked on dust as much as possible without damaging the surfaces.

Digressions:

*Vince pointed out that I had incorrectly referred to this car as a boxcar when it is clearly a refrigerator car. Those hatches on either end of the roof are for dropping in ice blocks.

**Vince also did some research that suggests this model may have been manufactured by Red Ball. I need to do a little work on corroborating that observation.

Ok, so, enough with the digressions, as I was saying.... Stop the presses! I've just been handed this! We now know the secret ingredient at the HOJPOJ Mfg Plant:

Pluto Water

I looked around for the Wayside Warehouse model, but couldn't find it. I suspect it has been lost to time. However, I did find these two old HO scale boxcars. I think they might have belonged to my Uncle Bill. I'm not certain as I don't recall anything related to when and how I acquired them. I believe they're wood and paper kits from the 1940s. They don't have any trademarks on them, so their manufacturers are unknown. I'd like to try my hand at restoring the Pluto Water boxcar as it would make an interesting addition to any future E. L. Moore dioramas.

Cover story in Feb '23 issue of The Interchange

I collected up the posts I made about my uncle's investigation into an explosion at a Calgary Flour Mill in 1944 and submitted it as a story for the Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders' newsletter. They published it as the lead story in the February 2023 issue.

It was a good exercise as it gave me the opportunity to stitch together all the loose ends in those posts into a complete story. I also hope it will encourage people to write up any old stories they have before they're lost to time.

What makes a model maker?

My uncle in the mid-'30s

I've been leisurely reading my way through some old issues of The Model Craftsman from the '30s and scans of The Model Builder from the '70s and '80s. This kind of trip is always a pleasure, but this time I'm again brought around to the thought lurking in the back of my mind that I'm only a 'real' model maker if I can successfully build a stick-and-tissue, rubber band powered, free-flying model airplane - and by successful I mean it looks good and flies well. I don't think I've ever been successful on those terms. And to drive the point home to me, most recently I parked the Pietenpol Air Camper project last summer when I got to the covering stage.

Look at that photo I recently found. There's my uncle of 1940s Winnipeg railroad photos fame with a stick-and-tissue flying model - one of several of these sorts of photos I've uncovered during my family photo scanning. I suspect he built those things, not just held them up for a photo. He died long before I was old enough to form any solid memories of him, so all this is inference from ancient images. 

Anyway, all this has got me thinking I should get back to the Air Camper to see if I can at least discover why I have mental blocks about stick-and-tissue flyers.

Horse drawn milk wagon, Toronto, 1930s (?) or 1940s (?)

No streetcars or hints of streetcars in this photo, although I was rather surprised by it. It's a Silverwood's horse drawn milk wagon and milkman making their rounds somewhere in 1930s or 1940s Toronto. I speculate the photo was shot by my uncle, near the family home on Leroy Ave., probably in the early 1940s or late 1930s. The milkman appears to be caught mid-stride. The horse looks a bit dejected, or maybe is just resigned to its job. Toronto is looking rather bucolic in this picture.

Just There: Lessons from streetcar scenes in Winnipeg

I'm always impressed by the detail in old black-and-white photos. Scanning them and enlarging the resulting images seems to always yield interesting details and surprises. 

Over the past few days I've posted a few images of Winnipeg's Portage & Main that my uncle shot in the 1940s. Each included a streetcar, so I decided to blow up the streetcar section to see what there was to see. Over there on the left is the intersection of Portage & Main with a streetcar on each thoroughfare.

And here are a couple of streetcars on Portage, obscured by automobiles and pedestrians, but still clearly visible.

And finally, here's a streetcar just peeking out of the left side of the image near The Bank of Hamilton on Main St..

I think what's important in all three is that they include streetcars not by deliberate choice, but because they happened to be there when my uncle was shooting pictures of other things that interested him. They were an everyday part of the world in that era, so naturally they're just there. It's that feeling of 'just there' that I'm looking for in my model photos. Just there if I'm looking out of an office window. Just there if I'm walking across an intersection. Just there if I'm going to the bank. Just there.

The Bank of Hamilton building, Winnipeg, 1940s (?)

This magnificent structure is The Bank of Hamilton building on Winnipeg's Main St., along Banker's Row. The Heritage Winnipeg blog has this to say about the building: Started in 1916 at a cost of $400,000 and completed two years later, the building was the most lavish branch in Canada constructed by the Hamilton company.

And is now standard with these Winnipeg photos, there's a streetcar peeking out of the lower left. I don't think my uncle was particularly interested in streetcars, but I think they show up in all these photos simply because the city was busy and there were a lot of them on the streets. They were just another mundane feature of everyday life.

Another view of Portage & Main, Winnipeg, 1940s (?)

Another view of the intersection of Portage & Main in Winnipeg. Over on the right side of the image is a better view of the facade of the Canadian National Railway building. Over on the left - somewhat obscured by automobiles and pedestrians - are a couple of streetcars.

Portage & Main, Winnipeg, 1940s (?)

A photo taken from high above Main St in Winnipeg looking towards Portage Ave. circa sometime in the 1940s, although I can't be certain about the date. 

That large dark building originating on the right is The McIntyre Block. Towering above the block, near the centre of the photo, is The McArthur Building on Portage. Near the intersection is the Canadian National Railways building, which looks rather modern compared to its neighbours.

And in this photo, unlike a few others I've posted, you can see streetcars on both Portage and Main, and not just track and overhead wire :-)

Creed Furs, Bloor St., Toronto, 1940s

I believe this is Creed Furs on Toronto's Bloor Street circa the 1940s. I think my mother worked there as a seamstress for awhile although I can't put any dates on it.

Usually with these old Toronto photos I say something like, "and here you can see the streetcar track and the overhead wire", but they're nowhere in sight in this photo :-)

Bloor & Yonge, Toronto, 1940s

A view of the northwest corner of Toronto's Bloor & Yonge in the 1940s.

I speculate that there was something about that overloaded truck in the middle of the intersection that caught my uncle's eye - I think this photo was taken by my uncle, William Henry Wood. It looks like there are people hanging off the truck - one looks like he's wearing a soldier's uniform - and many others are stuffed in the back. The commotion seems to have also caught the attention of a fellow crossing the street. As well as the speeding truck, you can also see the old Pilot restaurant, and just make out the streetcar track and overhead wire.

Recently Updated: Explosion at a grain mill

Reader Christian Cassidy has done some great work and figured out where the exploded grain mill was located that my uncle went out to investigate in the winter of 1944. Scroll down to the bottom of the Explosion at a grain mill post for all the details.

Bryce's Home Made Bread

[Bryce Bakeries LTD, Winnipeg, Man. Photo and caption by William Henry Wood.]

This is the end of William Henry Wood photo series for now. There are more stacks of old family photo albums in the crawlspace. I have no idea what else they might contain, but this is it for the two I've been looking through. 

[Plant of Bryce Bakeries LTD, Wpg, at 320 Burnell St. Wpg. on Sept 15, 1943. Photo and caption by William Henry Wood.]

My uncle may have shot other railway related photos during his relatively brief career at Purity Flour. If I find any, I’ll post them.

[When I typed '320 Burnell St. Winnipeg' into Google Streetviews this is what I got. The modestly elegant Bryce Bakeries building is long gone. Over on the left is a building of the Grey Goose Bus Line, which according to various internet references, is a subsidiary of Greyhound Canada that operates in Manitoba.]

[Office staff of Bryce Bakeries LTD, Winnipeg, Man., on Sept 16, 1943. Photo and caption by William Henry Wood.]

[Mr. W. B. Foster, outside the office of Bryce Bakeries LTD Winnipeg, on Sept 16/43. Photo and caption by William Henry Wood.]

[I couldn't end this series without a photo of the photographer, William Henry Wood. According to various captions, this picture was taken on Mar 5, 1944 (within the time period the various photos I've posted so far were taken) on or near Sawback Mountain in Alberta]

The photos I've posted this year were taken during WWII, and at that time grain production in Canada was a strategic industry in the allied war effort; as Napoleon Bonaparte said, “An army marches on its stomach.” And for a partially disabled man, auditing grain production was a good job.

Purity Flour employees, Toronto, 1945

[Bill Paterson (left) and Nick Hurrezey (right)]

As with anything in life, it's the people that matter, so as well as photos of trains and Purity Flour's railroad operations, my uncle shot some photos of the people that made Purity Flour run.

[Joan Dewhurst]

His annotations accompanying these photos note that they were taken "Opposite 287 MacPherson Avenue, Toronto. February, 1945."

[From left to right, Nick Hurrezey, Wilber Sexton, and Bill Paterson]

This being the age of Google Streetviews, here's what that street scene looks like circa June 2013.

That building on the left is the one my uncle used as the background for these photos. It looks much the same as it did back then.

C.P.R No. 1: Countess of Dufferin

Another unannotated photo from the William Henry Wood collection; however, this one has clues that make it a little easier to place than the rest. The lettering on the loco tells that it's C.P.R No. 1, Countess of Dufferin. Wikipedia has a full account of the loco's history, but this snippet explains how this American 4-4-0 wound up in Canada,

The Countess of Dufferin was the first steam locomotive to operate in the Canadian prairie provinces and is named after Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Countess of Dufferin (later Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava), the wife of the Earl of Dufferin, a Governor General of Canada. The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (builder's plate No. 2660) and delivered to Northern Pacific Railway as No. 21 in 1872. It was used in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory until 1877 when it was sold for $9,700 to Joseph Whitehead, a contractor for Canadian Pacific Railway. The locomotive, along with six flatcars and a caboose, was loaded onto barges at Fisher's Landing, Minnesota, and propelled by the SS Selkirk, they were shipped down the Red River to St. Boniface, now an electoral district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, arriving October 9, 1877, at a cost of $440.

[Mr. Bill Paterson sits atop the loco. From photos, Mr. Paterson was a tall man - likely well over six feet - so you can get an idea of the scale of the machine. From the Winnipeg Railway Museum notes below, these photos were likely shot in the forecourt between the railway depot and the Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg. Other indications in the collection suggest that these photos were taken in 1944.]

The Winnipeg Railway Museum explains what happened to the loco when its service years were over,

The reassembled locomotive [JDL: turns out it was "found by accident in 1909 disassembled in the yards of the Columbia River Lumber Company" - follow the museum link for the full story] was placed in Sir William Whyte Park across from the CPR depot on Higgins Ave. in 1910, later to be dressed up with flower planters, etc., until 1944. She was then moved across the street to a small forecourt between the Depot and the Royal Alexandra Hotel.

On the platform

Another unannotated photo taken by my uncle, William Henry Wood. Those two gentlemen on the car's platform are members of the Purity Flour audit team. The tall gentleman on the right is Mr. Bill Paterson, but I don't know who the other fellow is. This picture was likely taken between September 1943 and September 1944. I don't know where it was shot.

On this second image, I pushed the contrast and brightness to see if the railroad employee on the left, and detail in the shadows, would become clearer. It sort of worked.

I always amazes me that modern tools can help unearth hidden information.

A Purity Flour Mill

I have a number of photos taken by my uncle, William Henry Wood, that have no notes indicating when or where they were taken. With these I've had to make some guesses based on where they appear in his collection, and from what little I know of his travels as an auditor with Purity Flour.

My guess about this Purity Flour facility is that it was located somewhere between Winnipeg and Calgary, and these photos were taken sometime between September 1943 and September 1944.

Needless to say, this is a huge operation.

The Marlborough Hotel Then and Now

I think my uncle, William Henry Wood, shot this photo of Winnipeg's Marlborough hotel either in September or October 1943, or during the fall of 1944. This photo didn't have any accompanying annotation. The photo below - sourced from the Marlborough hotel website - shows what it looks like today. If one ignores the modern building to the left, and the Prii parked outside, not a lot has changed on the outside.

In the dining car

I have a few pictures that have no annotations or other indications about when or where they taken. All I can say about this one is it was probably shot sometime in the winter of '43 or '44.