This is a brief history of the birth, life and death of an early trucking company, as told by one of the sons of the founders, Douglas Macfie.

           BEGINNING IN DORVAL, (MONTREAL) QUEBEC. CANADA.         

THE THREE LIVES OF SPEEDWAY

Speedway Transport Reg'd (1950 - 1951)

Speedway Transport Ltd. (1951 - 1952)
        
 Speedway Express Ltd. (1952 - 1997)

MONTREAL, PQ. - ST. JOHN, NB

In 1950, Murray Macfie was working as a salesman for Hart Motors Ltd, located at 531 Cote de Liesse Road, in Dorval Quebec. From what is understood Douglas Morrison, would have been working as a mechanic and the Renwick guy was another salesman. Sitting in this location, Murray and his friends would have had ample occasion to watch the trucks rolling along highway # 20 going to and coming from Ontario. At that time we find Smith Bros. Transport, Kingsway Transport and most probably Direct Transport being the pioneers in the trucking industry.

Murray and his two friends, decided then to join the business of  trucking, and formed Speedway Transport Reg'd in  August of 1950. At first they borrowed the power units from Hart Motors, the trailer units would have been rented from Trailmobile no doubt, and they began transporting good between Montreal and Toronto. By Jan 31 1951 if we rely on Murray's income tax report, the company had a gross revenue of  $ 13,194.77 , with a net profit of $1,294.77 which was split evenly between Murray and Doug.

The company moved from the original Cote de Liesse office, which was right beside the Dorval Veterinary building to 1685 Sanginet St. Montreal, which is in the neighbourhood of Place des Arts, providing them with larger facilities.

Eventually there were 10 tractor trailer units running between Montreal and Toronto. Speedway was doing good business and was taking lots of freight away from  the major carriers Smith and Kingsway. It was not until late in 1952 that these two major carrier reacted, once they had found that this newly created upstart was taking business from them they began to ask many questions. Finding however that Speedway Transport Reg'd had never sought a transport permit to carry on business, they became intent on stopping them. One August morning, when the Speedway units passed the offices of both Smith and Kingsway, empty units were sent out from both these companies to follow them. One on the main King's highway, the old number 2 along the river, Speedway's units were overtaken and made to run off the road and come to a halt.

To Murray and Doug's surprise, they did not know that they had need a transport permit to haul freight, they thought all they needed was a company and licenses for their trucks. Immediately they took themselves before the authorities in order to procure the necessary freight hauling permits, however both Smith and Kingsway Transports presented themselves also and in opposition to issuing any new permits for freight hauling between Toronto and Montreal ( their territory) . With Speedway's units sitting off the road, the drivers held up with out being able to do anything,  the shipper's calling continually requesting that the freight be delivered, Murray and Doug were forced to declare bankruptcy. Doug Morrison sought out an old acquaintance John Ewasew who was a lawyer at the time seeking his advice. With John Ewasew on board, the pair managed to bring this venture to a close with out losing their personal effects, ( house , car etc.).

At this point Speedway Transport Reg'd became a failed dream of fortunes.............

The taste for trucking however remained, Doug and Murray began looking for a new venue, unfortunately, they could not obtain a transport permit between Montreal and Toronto, as few were for sale, and all new permits were being vigorously opposed by the few carriers that were traveling this route. ( at this time there was no deregulation, but very heavy regulation, this very heavy regulation on trucking was political in nature, as two major railways of the time were not interested in letting their business go to this new wave of truck transport.).

The pair heard about a small permit that Motorways Transport had, (this is unconfirmed information), that they were not using and for the right price could be purchased. This permit however was for transporting merchandise between Montreal and the Maritime Province of New Brunswick. After many discussions at Murray's home on Curzon St.  in St. Lambert, with Doug Morrison, John Ewasew, Charlie Palmer, and the Clowes brothers it is decided that the purchase of this trucking permit would provide and avenue to solidify their futures.  Needing a good contact person in New Brunswick, Murray and Doug had called upon Charles T Palmer, a well known figure in the transportation field of the day. Mr. Palmer, being an opportunist, requested that he be given the title of President, and that the head office of the company be located in the Maritimes. This being agreed to, much to Murray's dislike, the three players set off to give this Montreal-Maritime  line a run for its money. There was very little opposition against the granting of this permit, one reason being that the permit already existed, the second was that the only real trucking line running in this area was Smith Transport, thus there was practically a monopoly situation, and thirdly the rail lines did not think trucks were going to be competitive on long runs such as between Montreal, Quebec and St. John and Moncton New Brunswick.

Thus Speedway Express Ltd was given life in May 15th 1952.-  Incorporators - Joseph Seldon Hewson, General Contractor, John Ewasew, Advocate and Robert Inglesby Morton, Accountant, all of Montreal , 5,000 common shares without nominal or par value

 ( Interesting enough North American Van Lines Canada Ltd was incorporated at precisely the same time)

While the lucrative business between Montreal and Toronto developed as astronomical speed, the economy in the Maritime provinces dragged on and on. A terminal was first established at 1685 Sanginuet St., right in  downtown Montreal  between Ste Catherine and Ontario (de Maisonneuve of today) and Park and St. Laurent . There they had offices in a sort of refurbished green house, you had to walk outside and up a set of stairs to get into the warehouse part  where the loading and unloading of the trucks was done. Doug and Murray found themselves scrapping the bottom for every cent of freight they could handle. From Montreal is was relatively easy to locate goods going out to the Maritimes, it was very difficult to get a load back to Montreal. Handicapped by the fact that Speedway was considered more or less a firm from outside the area, Speedway had to prove its interests in the growth of the Maritimes and not just in the growth of their own profits.

Charlie Palmer as he was called, in the mean time hired Eldon Shorey, Charles Parkinson and Errol Laskey to help run the office from St. John.  Frank Donavan was enlisted to delivery freight that would be left at Fredericton and Dick Cook was hired at first to run line haul into Moncton  and return back to St. John. They began with one International tractor and a trailer and by the end of the first year of business had acquired two more tractors and three trailers. They were off and running , by 1954 new premises were  needed , land was purchased and a  Montreal terminal was opened at 8855 Park Ave., Dupont 1-6262 home of Speedway Express Ltd, running from Montreal to Fredericton, St. John Moncton and beyond. The warehouse had three doors, office space and a heated room for fragile goods, in about all some 2,000 square feet. When the trucks began arriving at night, there was no room to move, often during the summer months when Doug Macfie, Murray's son, was there he would be asked to watch for the trailers coming around the corner, and was asked to wave them around the block until an open door was made. This averted getting tickets for blocking the road, while they waited for a free door. In the winter months, the trucks were parked down at the end of the street and sent for as the doors were available.  Murray's time was now taken more with selling and operations, so Mr. Leslie Mowat was hired on as the company accountant. A need for more funding brought the boys to contact  Mr. Parker a well known financier in the Maritimes who joined  with the three executives of the company in 1956, Mr. Parker remained as a silent partner until he was bought out in 1966. 

Records show that by 1955 the company had attained a  gross revenue of some $329,000.00 and were operating a fleet of  21 Units. A new warehouse had been acquired in St. John West at 314 Molson Ave., four loading dock doors and a large four door garage for maintenance of the fleet.

In 1957 it was decided that the time consuming reloading and separating of goods at St. John was costing money, so Dick Cook was asked to become  manager of a separate Moncton  warehouse, a couple of doors were rented from Eastern Transport to whom most of the

Speedway now had those three old international tractors in Montreal, and had bought B-61 Macks to do the line haul, several newer trucks were purchased for the head office operation and those that were in St. John were transferred to Moncton. Doug Morrison had become fleet manager, using his knowledge that he had gained from his years with Hart Motors to ensure that Speedway's equipment could meet their needs.

In 1958 the first Piggy Back service to the Maritimes was inaugurated, Trailer on Flat Car , Speedway took full advantage of this service, now more trailers could be sent back and forth with out requiring  more drivers and tractors which were an expensive commodity to this small business. Competition from Smith Transport and D'Anjou Transport, while very strong was now being over taken by Day & Ross Ltd, an upstart gravel and potato hauling firm which eventually became the transportation arm of McCain Foods Ltd of Florence NB., and who is today the only remaining player of the times.

Another transport company named Highland Transport that was running during those years had been owned by the MacDonald Bros in Moncton, NB. The firm was purchased by the CPR when it purchased Smith Transport.

Over the years Highland Transport has changed many hands, however  there is still a trucking firm many times modified from its origins however, presently running on the Canadian highways) . Competition at those times was fierce, as there were very few major shippers of supplies to the Maritimes and fewer shippers for return loads,
Speedway would attempt to win over a client that had been one of Smith's and Day & Ross, would follow behind and try to take the shipper from Speedway. The shipper's were courted with all means at hand, Speedway it was rumored supplied a new car to one shipper each year or two, in order to keep the business. At Christmas all shippers were supplied with a vast array of products, trips and of course Hockey tickets. Speedway had as representatives in the off season Dickie More and Doug Harvey, they accompanied the shippers to games of golf, fishing, and when baseball began in Montreal to those games also, after all Jarry Park was located just down the street from Speedway's terminal.

Business was booming, the nights were long, the days even longer, Saturday was a day when the office work could be caught up with, the last parts of the Friday freight could be shipped off, and plans could be review for the next best initiative. Speedway needed a direct line into Halifax and the rest of Nova Scotia. At present they were transferring all the freight to Eastern Transport, a company owned by the CNR, (CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILROAD) while their service was not on the whole bad, each shipping revenue had to be split with them and there was constant haggling about how much each would pay if their was a loss or damage. Speedway knew that they would not be able to purchase  Eastern from the CNR, even at a reasonable price, as the CNR were missing only the Montreal  Maritime line to complete their truck line and they were always testing the waters with Speedway, who were not interested in selling at CN's offered price. Speedway did some inter line connecting with a fair sized company in St. John NB, named M&D, so Murray began to assemble his figures to see if anything could be done with this enterprise.

In 1959 we find a note to the Auditors written by Murray giving instructions on incentive bonuses
 

(Murray got $2,885.66) ( Company profits $36,489 for 1959)
 

THE BALANCE OF THIS STORY, IS STILL IN RESEARCH, and will carry on in DOUGLAS MACFIE'S home page. Click on, --- SPEEDWAY TRANSPORT, a history, and go direct.

                      --------- Willam (Diesel Gypsy) Weatherstone. 

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