Any discussion of C.N.R. 143's must first give credit to an important work done in the early 1970's by R. J. Gauchi and Rollo McDonald of Ontario, Canada. It was an interesting and excellent effort to "sort out" some of the confusion that existed in this area, and I thank them sincerely for their efforts which have certainly enriched the hobby and have made my job a lot easier. I hope that they will approve of my articles and will be pleased to read about the additional varieties which I have found.

(Drawing is by Clay Salzman) 

There is some disagreement as to what C.N.R. stands for, since no one knows for sure when these 143's were produced. The Canadian National Railway was not officially incorporated until 1919, long after its predecessor, the Canadian Northern Railway had first come into being. C.N.R. could stand for either name, and it is this latter possibility that I tend to favor. However, the only thing that I can say for sure is that the order of embossing indicates that C.N.R. 143's were made before those that were embossed C.P.R., because there are many examples of a C.P.R. covering a C.N.R., but no examples of the opposite. 

The Gauchi-McDonald publication also made extensive measurements of C.N.R. 143's and grouped them into four "types". Although I don't use those measurements as guides, my listing tend to fall into the same "types", because the accurate listing of punctuation results in the same thing. A small cnr without any periods is always the same as the Gauchi-McDonald "Type I". The larger C.N.R with only two periods is always the same as their "Type II", and the large C.N.R. with three round periods is always "Type III". If the periods are shaped like prisms, then it is "Type IV". Since I refer to the exact embossing, the use of measurements and types is unnecessary.

Incidentally, I should also mention that although I try to list embossings exactly as they are, including periods, I do not do this with blot-outs. On some blot- outs you can see where periods have been covered up, but in many other instances you cannot tell; so I ignore blotted punctuation, just as I do not try to estimate the exact height of the blotted out lettering. If there is a considerable difference in letter size, however, I will refer to one as "small" or "large". 

In many cases there seems to be no rationale for the blot-outs. I feel that it was simply a matter of part of a mold wearing out or failing, and so another handy mold piece was quickly re-worked in order to continue production. For instance, it seems that CNR was embossed on some molds for a "run", and then later this embossing was blotted out for a subsequent batch, and even later another C.N.R was re-embossed on the same mold half for yet another run. However, analysis of the various types does seem to bear out that C.N.R came before C.P.R, and that the first CNR was the small one with no periods. 

C.N.R.'s come in two mold styles. Most are in mold style #1-D like the C.P.R's and Standards. However, the "prism period" variety is a different item entirely and from a mold which I call mold style #4. 

Mold style #1-D. 

The Gauchi-McDonald varieties mentioned above are listed separately because I have not seen them myself and therefore don't know if they should be listed, or if I have seen them and have called the color something else. If anyone has one, I hope they will let me see it, so that I can include it. 

There are two embossing varieties of CNR which were listed in Gauchi-McDonald, but which I have not been able to find. One has C.N.R on the front and Standard on the back with no blot-outs. They list it in light aqua, steel gray and SCA. Is it possible that this could be my variety #3? They also show a large C N R with extra wide spacing! I would really love to see that one! It sounds very interesting. There are also some other Gauchi-McDonald varieties that will be discussed later on when we deal with the G.P.R., G.N.R., no-name and Standard sections.

Mold style #4. Large wire groove 1-3/4 inches from the base Lettering is heavy and periods are in the shapes of prisms.

Prices: There appear to have been additional discoveries of the "prism period" varieties in the green shades, and as a result they seem to be somewhat overpriced in the book. The aqua and blue, however, are more scarce and seem to be under-priced. 

In the round period types, the aquas are the easiest to find, although they are not common or plentiful, especially varieties number three and five. Those two are tough, particularly number five. The gray and steel tones are even more expensive than the commonest aquas, and the SCA's and purples are very hard to find.