Norris Roy ("Buck") Crump, CC (July 30, 1904 – December 26, 1989) was a Canadian businessman, who was chairman and president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). He was primarily responsible for converting the railroad to diesel locomotives,[1] and expanded the company into non-transportation sectors.
Norris Roy ("Buck") Crump | |
|---|---|
 Crump (centre right) in Amsterdam (1966) | |
| Born | July 30, 1904 Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada |
| Died | December 26, 1989 (aged 85) |
| Known for | President of Canadian Pacific Railway Limited |
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Early life and education
editCrump was born in Revelstoke, British Columbia. His father was a railway superintendent.[2] Crump joined the CPR as an apprentice machinist in 1920, when he was sixteen years old.[3] In between working for the railway, he earned a bachelors and in 1936 a master's degree at Purdue University.[1]
Career
editAfter working as a track labourer and then in the machine shop, Crump was transferred to Winnipeg, where he continued to work while completing high school at night. After time off to complete a university degree, he took a position as a night foreman. He was transferred to Montreal as an assistant to the vice president, and in 1943 became superintendent of the Ontario district.[4] In 1948 Crump was a vice president at CPR; to counter lower numbers of passengers, he advocated increasing advertising and spending more money to make train travel attractive.[5]
Crump was elected president in 1955;[6] the company was severely in debt at the time.[7] At the time the company was mainly using diesel locomotives only in the railyards; during the following twelve years, Crump oversaw the dieselisation of the railroad. He ordered the purchase of new equipment to commence operation of a new trans-continental train The Canadian which began operation in April 1955.[8]
To improve profit margins Crump initiated a reorganization and expansion of the company's non-rail business.[7][9]
An admirer of Samuel de Champlain, founder of Quebec City and New France, it was Crump who proposed naming the company's Montreal hotel Château Champlain after him.[10]
In 1971 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada[11] and in 1974 Crump retired.[12]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Tom Murray (7 March 2011). Rails Across Canada: The History of Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways. MBI Publishing Company. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-61060-139-9.
- ^ David Twiston-Davies (25 July 1996). Canada from Afar: The Daily Telegraph Book of Canadian Obituaries. Dundurn. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-55488-116-1.
- ^ Robert Chodos (1973). The CPR: A Century of Corporate Welfare. James Lorimer & Company. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-88862-047-7.
- ^ "Retirement?" Archived 2020-07-25 at the Wayback Machine Canadian Rail, No. 252, November, 1972. p. 356.
- ^ Nicholas Morant; John F. Garden (1991). Nicholas Morant's Canadian Pacific. Footprint Pub. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-9691621-3-1.
- ^ "Takes Throttle at Canadian Pacific," New York Times. May 5, 1955.
- ^ a b Max Foran (1 November 2013). Development Derailed: Calgary and the CPR, 1962–64. Athabasca University Press. pp. 6, 159. ISBN 978-1-927356-08-1.
- ^ Railroad History. Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. 2005. p. 27.
- ^ Virginia Byfield; Paul Bunner (2002). The sixties revolution & the fall of Social Credit. United Western Communications. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-9730760-0-4.
- ^ Ferguson, Susan (2017-01-12). "Château Champlain Hotel turns 50". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
- ^ Office of the Governor General of Canada. Order of Canada citation. Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 26 May 2010
- ^ The Dock and Harbour Authority. Vol. 53. Foxlow Publications, Limited. 1972. p. 104.