Aboard the Boundless: Cornelius Van Horne

The General Manager of the CPR, Cornelius Van Horne’s job was to make sure the railway got built, pushing it west to meet up with the tracks being built into the mountains from Vancouver.

 

Van Horne's energy and drive were legendary. He joined survey teams and hefted a sixty pound pack  through the wilds of the Rockies. No detail of the railway was too small for him to overlook. He had many and varied interests and hobbies, a restlessly curious mind; he slept very little.

 

Alas, he did not live to see his masterpiece, The Boundless, leave the station on its maiden voyage across the continent.

 

He died just months earlier.

But he's still on the train...