A Faded Glory – Stratford Motive Power Shops – Grand Trunk Railway (1873-1964)

Looming over the edge of the downtown, the old Stratford Motive Shops has been a source of controversy and reminder of the city's rich heritage for many years with the railroad. These are the surviving remains of the largest railroad maintenance yards in Ontario, if not Canada and are now only a shadow of their former glory. Metal siding hangs off the concrete superstructure; empty windows stare out darkly. On one of the first visits I made to Stratford on my own, I was immediately drawn to this ancient giant and was even granted a single glimpse into the darkness but never made it inside (legally or illegally).

While not the most interesting angle it was the only one that I could get easily and safely.
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As I mentioned last week, the railroad arrived in Stratford in 1856 with Grand Trunk and Buffalo & Lake Huron running their lines through the town within a couple of months of each other. Within a decade, Grand Trunk had taken over the entire Buffalo & Lake Huron line. This put Stratford in a unique position as a Junction point between the two lines. As Grand Trunk began looking for space to build a new western maintenance yard, the story goes that Herbert Roberts, the manager for locomotive maintenance in Grand Trunk, attended dinner at T.M. Daily's house, Daily being the mayor of Stratford, was attempting to attract Grand Trunk to the town. Roberts fell for Daily's daughter, and the two were married. In 1871 ground broke on the new Motive Power Shops in Stratford. While there's no concrete connection between Robert's becoming Daily's son-in-law and picking the town for the unique shops, it is a local urban myth. The new shops opened in 1873 on a nineteen-acre site that included a significant rail yard near the new station. The shops had a vast locomotive shop, powerhouse, roundhouse, turntable, machine shops and worker housing. Grand Trunk closed smaller shops, redirecting the personnel to Stratford. The famous overnight jump allowed Stratford incorporation as a city. The first task for the new shops was to begin the long process of regauging the entire locomotive fleet from Provincial to Standard Gauge. The shops provided both jobs and job training, all of them good Union jobs. This influx of workers and good training opened up a new set of skilled artisans many would start the furniture industry in Stratford. Through the 1880s, Grand Trunk began a series of expansions mainly by purchasing competing railways, Great Western, North & North-Western among the largest two purchases. To help cushion the cost of these purchases, Grand Trunk began strategically closing down the larger maintenance shops of these other operators, moving talent and equipment to Stratford. The influx required significant renovations and expansions at Stratford in 1889.

You can see where the metal siding is starting to peel away.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DPart of the older section of the Motive Power Shops.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

When Charles Hayes took over as President in 1896, he kicked off a series of modernisations across the entire network. Grand Trunk targetted their two largest shops, Stratford and the one in Battle Creek, Michigan. At Stratford, the new shops took shape around the existing locomotive shops, other buildings were torn down and replaced. One new building was a Tender Shop which opened in 1903, and in 1909 the new Motive Power Shops were completed. Charles Hayes himself was present for the opening ceremonies. Further expansions took place through the 1910s. In their final form, the locomotive shops alone took up 185,000 square feet. Electric cranes could lift the largest locomotives in the Grand Trunk fleet. Staff on-site could conduct complete rebuilds of even the worst locomotives. The shops continued to employ thousands with solid Union positions, and often these jobs were generational, with three generations of workers being in the employ of the Railroad. When Canadian National took over in 1923, they gained the largest motive power shops in Canada staffed by a highly-skilled workforce. The shops could even support the new Northern type locomotives starting to roll out of the Montreal Locomotive Works and even outstripped the expanded Spadina Yards in Toronto. Workers here would join other Unionized workers in the Stratford General Strik of 1931. By the post-war era, Canadian National had started the long process of diesel-electric as their primary motive power and large shops like Stratford were no longer needed. Through the second half of the 1950s, the shops slowly shut down, and among their final tasks were preparing several Northern locomotives for service as tourist trains. The shops closed in 1964.

Ex-CN 6213 is one of the final Northern Locomotives to receive a full refit at the Stratford Motive Power Shops.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DA peek inside back in 2009 sadly I could not fit through the hole with all my winter gear on.
Nikon D300 - AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm 1:2.8G DX

Following the closure, most of the railway buildings were demolished, including the roundhouse, tender shops, machine shops, and freight sheds. The one building that proved challenging to destroy was the actual locomotive shops. The economic impact on the city was far worse; At the same time, some employees were moved to other maintenance facilities, including the Warren Street Shops in Fort Erie, many were packaged out. Ohio based company Cooper-Bessmer established a Canadian branch of their firm using the old locomotive shops as it provided an excellent spot for the manufacture of industrial compressor engines. Many began referring to the old shops as the Cooper Site, which I initially knew for the site. While the company did bring some jobs back to the city, it remained a far cry from what the site employed. Cooper-Besser pulled out in 1984, closing the area for good. The site became a popular spot for urban explorers. However, 2003 destroyed much of the interior. At this point, the city purchased the area and began to secure the location and entertain adaptive reuse for the white elephant in their inventory. Proposals have ranged from a museum to a parking garage. The University of Waterloo looked at making use of the building but built a new structure nearby. Today the surviving Motive shops remain under constant threat of demolition despite ongoing attempts to preserve the ruins.

#afadedglory #canada #canadiannational #coopersite #crowngraphic #grandtrunk #ilfordhp5 #infrastructure #nikond300 #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #stratford #stratfordmotivepowershops

A Faded Glory – Stratford – Grand Trunk Railway (1913-Present)

The city of Stratford is home to some of my favourite buildings in Ontario, home to a tonne of 19th Century architecture. Still, the city's original growth is not thanks to the tourism industry but rather the railroad. However, you would not know that today, as the city's grand station sits outside the downtown but shows how important the town was to the railroad.

It took me a bit to find the right spot to photograph the station. On the narrow street it was hard to get the best angle.
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In 1856 within two months of each other, two railroads crossed their lines at the seat of Huron County, the town of Stratford. Coming from the east, Grand Trunk's push westward and from the south Buffalo & Lake Huron heading towards Goderich. The idea of a single station to serve both lines didn't even cross the minds of the rail operators—each building their stations. The Grand Trunk station followed the Carpenter Gothic style, which survives at Doon Heritage Village from Petersburg, Ontario. By 1864 the entire Buffalo & Lake Huron line had been absorbed into Grand Trunk, which raised the importance of Stratford as a junction between the two lines. With the construction of a new Motive Power Shops, Grand Trunk planned a new station for the city. Moving over operations to the Buffalo & Lake Huron Station, the second one for the operator was completed in 1861. The new station opened in 1873, a grand wooden station that followed a Gothic Revival style with a two-storey central section with single-storey wings on either side. The new station sat where the parking lot west of the current station is located. The second floor housed the offices for the Station Master and the Yard Master, while the first floor was occupied by the ticket office, telegraph operator bay. One wing houses the ladies and family waiting room along with the men's smoking room. The other wing housed the freight and baggage rooms. As the 19th Century came to a close and Stratford potentially became a stop on the new Canadian Northern Railway, a new Union Station was planned and presented in 1903 as part of the ongoing modernisation program for the operator.

Having the Express Building separate from the main station seemed a popular choice in the 20th Century. Today it houses a commercial lease space.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DOne of the few surviving original doors from the station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The plans changed when in 1906, Canadian Northern chose an alternate route; Grand Trunk planned a far smaller station for Stratford as a result. While disappointed that Stratford would not be housing the western Union Station, the city could have little about the change having no real influence or control over what the railroad decided. A new smaller station was presented in 1910, far from the majestic stations being planned for Guelph and completed in Brantford earlier in the century. The new station followed the Prarie Style coming out of Chicago and popularised by Frank Lloyd Wright. However, a Gothic Revival tower embellished the main entrance. Red bricks were provided by the Milton Brick Works and used on the station's exterior. At two stories, the station looked similar to the 1871 station but lacked the two wings. The first floor included a ticket office and telegraph operator bay, a general waiting room and a separate men's smoking room. There were also separate washrooms for men and women. A small kitchen and lunch counter was installed, and a separate express and baggage office was connected by a breezeway. The second floor contained the station master and yardmaster offices. The public spaces were handsomely decorated. With oak benches and wainscoting. Terrazo floors and electric lighting. The new station opened in 1913, Charles Hayes planned to attend the opening, but he never returned from England, sinking aboard the RMS Titanic. When Canadian National took over operations in 1923, operations at Stratford continued without interruption.

You can still see the shadows of the original Grand Trunk sign behind the modern letters.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DWhile greatly reduced the CN yards behind the station continue to operate. The day I was there I was treated to seeing a pair of GP40-2LW locomotives, CN 9449 and CN 9639.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The 1960s brought a great deal of change to the railroad in Stratford. When the motive power shops closed in 1964, Canadian National also made several changes to the station. The biggest was removing the Gothic tower at the entrance and the exterior painted in a grey colour with new Canadian National signage installed. The first-floor lunchroom and kitchen were closed and converted into offices for the rail yard, and an employee lunchroom and kitchen were installed on the second floor. The entire waiting room was covered in wooden panelling. When Canadian National moved all their passenger services over to VIA, the Stratford Station was among those assets transferred over to VIA in 1978. VIA conducted a significant overhaul of the station's interior in 1989. Gutting the second floor, they transformed it into new offices for the Victorian Order of Nurses, installed a separate staircase and entrance to the outside, removing the smoking room in the process. The women's washrooms were expanded, and new men's washrooms were installed to accommodate handicap access which took over the old yard office on the first floor. The wooden panelling was removed and painted; the oak benches were replaced with modern plastic chairs. Aluminium doors and windows replaced the original wooden doors and windows. The station received local heritage status in 1988 and Federal heritage status in 1993. This allowed the exterior paint stripped and the actual brick restored. Today the station operates as an uncrewed VIA station running four trains daily. While the interior lacks the historic charm, the exterior provides a glimpse at the last-ditch efforts of Grand Trunk to at least show Canada they were still a viable railway operator.

#afadedglory #canada #canadiannational #crowngraphic #grandtrunk #ilfordhp5 #infrastructure #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #stratford #trainstation #viarail

A Faded Glory – Bridge Street Station – Great Western Railway (1879-Present)

I remember the first time I visited the Bridge Street Station in Niagara Falls, not far from the glitz and crowds of the tourist-packed falls area. There sits on a quiet side street off the old downtown of Queen Street surrounded by run-down buildings sits the last remaining train stations in Ontario that is credited to the Great Western Railway.

The beautiful Gothic stylings are clearly on display.
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The importance of the train station in Niagara Falls is thanks to the Niagara Suspension Bridge. The Great Western Railway completed its mainline in 1854 with great fanfare in Hamilton, Ontario, where its main headquarters and rail yard were located. But to cross the Niagara River, trains had to be rerouted down the Niagara Escarpment and loaded onto rail ferries at Queenston to move the cars into the United States. Until 1855 when the world's first railroad suspension bridge, the Niagara Suspension Bridge, saw completion. An engineering marvel of the time, it served a single track on the top deck while pedestrian and horse-drawn traffic on a lower tier. Being on a terminus, Great Western completed a large wooden station known locally as Clifton Depot. In addition to that, Great Western constructed a large marshalling and traffic yard with freight sheds and a roundhouse nearby. The large station was built to a similar station completed in Hamilton, Ontario, with separate men's and ladies waiting rooms. A station master's office, a telegraph operator's bay, and a large baggage room. The station also featured a full-service restaurant and dining room operated by a local family, known as the Great Western. In 1879 disaster struck, and the entire station was destroyed by fire.

Taking a closer look at the center section of the station, which remains the focus of most traffic today.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DWhile these doors probably aren't used, they show off the Gothic Revival styles of the doors and windows of the station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Undaunted and riding high on financial stability Great Western moved quickly to replace the station. Joseph Hobson, the railway's chief engineer and architect, designed a new station to replace the original wooden station. The new station used the Victorian Gothic style with a brick exterior. The new station featured two-storey centre sections with single storey west and east wings. The station's roof used a unique jerkinhead style, a combination of hip and gabled styles. Inside the centre, the section contained a round ticket office with separate mens' and ladies' waiting rooms. The second floor held the telegraph operator's bay and station offices. The east wing contained the new Great Western Restaurant, while the west wing contained the freight offices. It quickly became known as the most prestigious station on the Great Western Railway and earned Joseph Hobson a name. Grand Trunk gladly continued to operate the station when they purchased the entire Great Western Railway in 1882. The only change was renaming the restaurant to The Grand Trunk. The restaurant was forced to close in 1909. Canadian National took over the station in 1923. By this point, the station had started to show its age, and it received restoration work in 1939 in preparation for the Royal Tour. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) disembarked at the Bridge Street Station during the tour.

Looking out towards the bridge crossing from the Bridge Street Station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DToday the Whirlpool Bridge (1896) stands in replacement of the original Niagara Suspension Bridge and still served by the original lines today.
Mamiya m645 - Mamiya-Sekor C 45mm 1:2.8 N - Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 - Kodak D-23 (Stock) 6:00 @ 20C

With a sharp decline in passenger traffic by the mid-century, Canadian National began cutting passenger services. The separate waiting rooms were combined, and many structures designed to support steam locomotives fell in the 1960s as diesel motive power took over. Surprisingly the station never got a paint job to railroad red. Instead, Canadian National painted it a grey colour in 1967; they also abandoned and closed the second story chopping eighty feet off the western wing. A similar demolition planned for 1976 stayed thanks to a local heritage designation. When Canadian National turned over passenger service to the newly created VIA Rail in 1978, the Bridge Street station was also turned over to the new Crown Corporation. While the station remained untouched, a Federal heritage designation in 1999 freed up funds to completely restore the station's exterior. The grey paint was stripped away, and the original red brick exterior was restored. GO Trains have called on the station since 2009, and VIA removed all staff in 2012. Today the station remains an automated location with no physical staff on site. It still stands as a testament to the Great Western and Joseph Hobson. Make sure to watch your wallet, however, in the area.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #grandtrunkrailway #greatwesternrailway #ilfordfp4 #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #kodakd23 #mamiyam645 #niagarafalls #niagarasuspensionbridge #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #trainstation #viarail

A Faded Glory – Niagara-On-The-Lake – Niagara, St Catharine’s, & Toronto Railway (1913-1960)

But the town's position as a tourist destination is relatively recent in the region's history. While the history of Niagara-On-The-Lake reaches back to the original European settlement of Upper Canada, its connection to the railway also dates back to the early days of the railroad in Ontario. And that is no more shown by a strange-looking coffee shop a little bit off the main street.

Not only does it look good, the coffee they serve is excellent!
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The presence of the Welland Canal had helped intertwine the communities of the Niagara Region. The growth of agriculture and industry combined with marine traffic had created a network of urban communities. A means to move people quickly between their homes and employment came in the form of interurban railways. Since the late 1880s, the primary means of driving these interurban railways was electricity rather than steam. The reason is the abundant hydroelectric generation source from the Second Welland Canal, which had been relegated to small regional canals and electrical generation after the Third Canal opened. In 1899 a group of American investors purchased a series of small and nearly bankrupt interurban lines and combined them into the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway. By 1908 the operator returned to Canadian ownership when noted investors and railway developers William Mackenzie and Donald Mann. Both were the men behind the growing Canadian Northern Railway making a bid at building another transcontinental railway. Mackenzie and Mann envisioned extending the line out to Hamilton and Toronto using hydro right-of-ways to lay their tracks with the blessing of Adam Beck. He had been promoting the use of electricity to drive railways. However, this plan never materialised. But the line did continue to expand. By the end of the first decade of the 20th Century, it served much of the Niagara Region. Lines running along with the significant communities of the Welland Canal with branches out to Niagara Falls and the Short Hills Region.

Detail on the historical designation plaque.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe tower detail is something added on later in the old station's life.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

By 1913 the newest branch line opened, which served communities between St. Catharines and Niagara-On-The-Lake, allowing for passenger and freight services and banked on increased local and tourist traffic. The arrival of the new line was not the first time the railroad had arrived in Niagara-On-The-Lake. The new line ran parallel to the Ontario & Erie Railway line, establishing a small turntable and dock at the river's edge in 1854. Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto would construct their passenger station on King Street at the terminus of their line. The station followed the popular Queen Anne Revival style and was built from wood using a board and batten technique. The station was a small, simple design with a general waiting room, baggage room and a station master's office with a ticket window and telegrapher bay—fine tiled floors with high wooden wainscoting, a single stove to proved heat in the winter. The increase in traffic allowed the operator to purchase 130 new cars for their interurban fleet. Of course, by 1918, Canadian Northern had been absorbed and assigned to manage Canadian Government Railways, which in 1923 became Canadian National Railways. Under Canadian National, all interurban lines that were absorbed were spun off into a separate corporate entity, Canadian National Electric Railway. But the age of the interurban was starting to come to a close with the introduction and availability, especially among the wealthy of personal automobiles and improvements to roads through Ontario. The market crash of 1929 saw Canadian National contract much of its operations, and one of the first lines was that of St. Catharines to Niagara-On-The-Lake, with passenger services ceasing in 1931. However, the old station remained in railway operations to continue using the line for freight services. There's a good chance the station received its railroad red paint job in the 1950s. But by 1957, the entire network stopped operations, and Canadian National Electric Railways was reabsorbed into Canadian National. Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto being the last interurban line to cease operations in Ontario.

A better view showing off the restored colours of the station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DIt's hard to imagine that steam trains once rolled through through this intersection past the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4D

As tourism became the primary economic driver of Niagara-On-The-Lake, the old interurban station did not remain vacant for long as Canadian National had pulled up the tracks and allowed King Street to remain primarily for automobile and pedestrian traffic the station would become a commercial building. While I'm unsure when the first shop opened, the owners would retain the red railroad and raise the station to construct a basement underneath. By the 1980s, the original windows and doors had been replaced with modern fixtures, and a Candy shoppe occupied the structure for much of the late 20th Century. In 2010 a new owner acquired the building; rather than allow it to remain in a modern form, they took it upon themselves to restore the building to as close to the 1913 appearance as they could. The doors and windows were replaced with modern replicas, the exterior repainted to match the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto livery, and the interior refurbished. The effort took two years, but in 2012 the old station reopened as a Balzac's Coffee Shop. While there is little left of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, not even the Halton Radial Railway Museum has rolling stock from the line. All the tracks have been pulled up, the Niagara-On-The-Lake station plus minor surviving artefacts recount this once primary transportation method in the region. And Balzac's serves both excellent coffee and treats and is well worth a stop to admire the restoration effort that went into the station.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalelectricrailway #canadiannationalrailway #commuter #crowngraphic #ilfordhp5 #infrastructure #interurban #niagaratorontorailway #niagaraonthelake #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #stcatharines

A Faded Glory – Ridgeway – Grand Trunk Railway (1900-1975)

Sitting as the main building at the Fort Erie Railway Station, the former station that once served the village of Ridgeway is a prime example of Grand Trunk's plan to modernise the railway at the start of the 20th Century. It is also interesting that a village as small as Ridgeway would warrant such a large station.

The size of the Ridgeway Station certainly surprised me having visited the community of Ridgeway before.
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The railway first came to Ridgeway thanks to Brantford, Hamilton and the Great Western Railway. As a result, the Buffalo, Brantford & Goderich Railway, which eventually became the Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway despite its financial instability through the first half of the 1850s, finally reached Paris, Ontario in 1856, heading further along to Goderich. Buffalo & Lake Huron would start constructing stations in 1855; these were simple wooden structures that were more shelters than a modern train station. While I'm unsure if such a station had been built at Ridgeway, the first station I could confirm was named for the township in which Ridgeway was located and carried the name Bertie Station and was completed in 1864 by Grand Trunk Railway. Grand Trunk by 1864 had taken over the entire Buffalo & Lake Huron network to prevent the line from falling into American hands or disappearing entirely. Again, this first station would be a simple shed or barn-like station built in board and batten construction, located in the downtown of Ridgeway on Ridge Road between Hibberd and Disher. It contained a general waiting room, baggage room and a station master's office with a ticket window and telegrapher bay. The station's only notable point took place in July 1866 when the combined Canadian Militia force arrived before marching north to meet a body of Fenian invaders and was forced to retreat to the station and departed.

Here you can see the art glass decoration on the waiting room windows.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe telegraph tower and semaphor traffic signals.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

By the end of the 19th Century, much of the area had become a popular spot for tourists, especially the draw of the resorts and beaches of Crystal Beach. And under Charles Hayes, starting in 1896, Grand Trunk began a massive modernisation project and replaced many older stations. The Bertie Station would be among the first stations to be replaced. The new 1900 station now carried the name Ridgeway. Constructed in the style of Queen Anne Revival with Picturesque elements. Keeping with the board and batten wooden construction to complete the new more giant station. The station would feature a larger general waiting room and baggage room with an exterior porte-cochère to shelter passengers as they arrived and departed from the station. The interior would be richly ornamented with stained glass windows in the waiting room, along with excellent lighting and heat: a station master's office, ticket window and telegraph operator bay. A tower would also provide better views of the tracks running in either direction. The station again offered assistance to the town in 1913 when a fire threatened the community; a Grand Trunk operator telegraphed for additional water, which arrived in time to save both the town and station from destruction. Canadian National would take over operations in 1923 and continue to run passenger and freight services; the station would receive a railroad red paint job in the mid-century. Passenger services ceased in 1970 as traffic dwindled on the line.

The park Pavillion in Ridgeway where the station originally sat.
Mamiya m645 - Mamiya-Sekor C 35mm 1:3.5 N - Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 - Kodak D-23 (Stock) 6:00 @ 20CMembers of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry XIIIth Battalion Ceremonial Guard who dress and portray as members of the Canadian Militia force that fought at Ridgeway.
Sony a6000 + Sony E PZ 16-50mm 1:3.5-5.6 OSS

When Canadian National began planning to remove the old right-of-way, the town of Fort Erie, wishing to preserve local railway heritage, purchased the station from Canadian National in 1974. Then carefully remove the station from its original location in Ridgeway and moved it several kilometres away to the new Fort Erie Railway Museum. After several years of restoration efforts, the station reopened along with size Canadian National Locomotive 6218, a 4-8-4 "Northern" type locomotive. The restoration saw the removal of the red paint and repaint in a white with green paint colour scheme. The interior and exterior features were cleaned and restored, including a Canadian National era semaphore single tower. Inside the station became the main exhibit space for the museum. By 1985, Canadian National had abandoned and removed the tracks between Fort Erie and Caledonia on the original Buffalo & Lake Huron line; some sections remain in operation today. The line now forms a multi-use trail known as Friendship Trail. In the town of Ridgeway, a pavilion was constructed near where the two original stations once stood.

#afadedglory #battleofridgeway #buffalolakehuronrailway #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #forterierailwaymuseum #grandtrunkrailway #history #ilfordfp4 #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #kodakd23 #mamiyam645 #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroard #railway #ridgeway #sonya6000 #trainstation

A Faded Glory – Warren Street Shops – Canadian National Railway (1964-1982)

Sitting well outside of the two historical downtowns within the community of Fort Erie sits several lonely buildings and overgrown tracks. These small remains are left of what was once a massive railway yard that had existed since the earliest days of the railway in Fort Erie but is today a mere shadow.

The Warren Street shops, I should have moved further back and used a longer lens.
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The Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway saw inception as a means to provide railway access to the people of Buffalo, Brantford and Goderich; the railways two main terminuses were Fort Erie and Goderich, where cars would be loaded onto massive rail ferries to be floating to destinations across bodies of water, at Fort Erie that was Black Rock in Buffalo. But as I mentioned in a previous entry, railway ferries were slow and had limited space, and at Fort Erie, only the International serviced the Buffalo & Lake Huron line. A large marshalling yard had to be purchased and constructed to maintain their trains, manage traffic, conduct maintenance, and store and shunt cars. Located outside the town of Fort Erie, these yards would form the core of the Buffalo & Lake Huron railway yards. Here trains would arrive and road locomotives stored and maintained in engine houses, roundhouses and a turntable, while shunting locomotives moved the cars to and from the ferry docks at the end of Bertie Street. Grand Trunk continued to operate the yards when they took over the entire Buffalo & Lake Huron network in 1864. From these yards, Grand Trunk employees sent out warning messages in July 1866 of the invading Fenians. They ensured that the trains and the International were sent out of reach and used by the Irish-American invaders. In 1873 with the completion of the International Railway Bridge, Grand Trunk saw a resurgence in the use of the Fort Erie Yards. While they had their primary motive power shops in Stratford to maintain their locomotive fleet, Fort Erie's tracks were realigned to serve the new railway bridge and passenger stations in the new community of Bridgeburg. At the Fort Erie yards, more tracks were added to allow for storage and traffic control over the bridge and conduct maintenance on cars and locomotives travelling to and from the United States. By 1903 the Fort Erie or Warren Street Yards were the third-largest railway yards operated by Grand Trunk and directly affected the growth of both Bridgeburg and Fort Erie, providing several jobs for the surrounding area. By 1923 Canadian National had taken over operations at Warren Street.

You can still see the years of neglect in the Warren Shops.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DOne of the smaller doors, probably to house a small switcher or maintenance vehicle.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

One of the earliest uses of diesel-electric power on Canadian rails came in the form of yard switchers in the 1930s; these were small and less powerful than the massive Northern, Mountain, and Pacific type steam locomotives that drove the trains across the main road lines. These early switchers would have found a great deal of work at the Warren Street Yards, but by the 1950s, road-switchers were starting to take over the work of steam locomotives. Desiel motive power required a different type of maintenance facility. By the end of the 1950s, Canadian National began constructing new garages at Warren Street to support their diesel locomotives that now operated across the International Railway Bridge. Rather than keep all the original Grand Trunk buildings, Canadian National would, in the 1960s, begin the demolition of older steam-centred maintenance and storage buildings at Warren Street. Instead, Canadian National would open a new diesel maintenance garage in 1964, known as the Warren Street Shops. Many of the employees would arrive from Stratford as the Motive Power shops there closed that same year. The new shops were far smaller than previous maintenance buildings, with most of the yard continuing to be used as a traffic marshalling yard. Thankfully, the new shops maintained a workforce of four hundred and could conduction regular repairs and overhauls of most diesel-electric locomotives and switchers being used by Canadian National. These include the GP7 and GP9 road-switchers, SW1200 switchers, and many others. However, a decade after opening, Canadian National announced in 1977 that it would begin to move operations across the river to Black Rock. Operations would slowly wind down starting in 1978, and some employees were relocated to larger Canadian National Yards out in Western Canada. The final train would roll out of Warren Street in 1989, and the location shut its doors.

Refueling towers for the D-E locomotives that operated here.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DOne of the museum's rolling stock, a small locomotive that once served at the INCO facitilies in the area, probably Welland.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Canadian National would begin a systematic demolition of all but two buildings and start pulling up tracks. They also parcelled off the yard and sold it to local businesses, one of the largest being a scrapyard. The once large yard was cut to a fraction of its original size as some trackage was required for cross-bridge traffic. Because the railroad had been a huge employer, many soon found themselves out of work and drove the area into a depression, but it also drove many to seek a way to preserve the area's rich railway heritage. The Niagara Railway Museum was the brainchild of Ken Jones Jr, who started collecting pieces of local railway history in 1994 and incorporated the museum two years later. Like any museum, first starting, they did not have a permanent home, and the collection was spread out across the member's homes and storage units. And it was not small pieces; they had also acquired rolling stock from boxcars to switcher units, even a snowplough. They would need to locate a home quickly or risk losing their work. In 2010 they signed a lease agreement on the Warren Street Shop, but it had sat unused for near four decades. During that time, even I had attempted to gain access to the building, but it had been recently resealed, but I had seen photos from inside from other urban explorers. Although today, near two decades later, the museum remains in operation and offers limited access to the Warren Street Shops. The folks behind the museum have done an amazing job and are still looking for any artefacts related to the railroad in Fort Erie items before the closure of the shops. You can check the location out; it is best to go on a weekend with volunteers present, and always make sure to ask before going onto the property.

#afadedglory #bridgeburg #buffalolakehuronrailway #canada #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #grandtrunkrailway #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #repair #shops #warrenstreetshops

A Faded Glory – International Railway Bridge – Grand Trunk Railway (1873-Present)

The Niagara River has never been the easiest obstacle to navigate in Ontario, the main reasons being the current, the falls, and the gorge. Bridges were neither cheap nor easy to build but possible. The easiest means to get trains across the river were through the use of rail ferries. Steamships were designed to carry large numbers of cars, but the process was slow, bottlenecked the line, and there was also the tendency for ships to sink or get caught in the current and swept away.

While the decking and trusses are not original, the piers date back to 1873.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

All major operators initially used rail ferries, while Buffalo & Lake Huron had the easiest route between Fort Erie and Buffalo. With their line's terminus at Niagara Falls, Great Western Railway required rerouting the train to Queenston for loading and unloading. So they were one of the first to start planning a railway bridge. But Great Western wasn't planning any railway bridge; they aimed to build a suspension bridge. Working with William Hamilton Merritt, the bridge opened to traffic in 1855, supporting two levels, one for a single railway track and a second for foot and carriage traffic. When it opened, it was not only Canada's first but the world's first railway suspension bridge. The suspension wires were supported by four twenty-seven meter tall Egyptian inspired pillars, work being done by a young Scottish stonemason William Henderson. But above the falls, the Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway continued to use the rail ferry International but had planned by 1856 for their own bridge between Fort Erie and Black Rock. But having no real financial stability, the plans remained on paper. As Grand Trunk began to take on more operational control over Buffalo & Lake Huron, the new operator furthered plans. Grand Trunk had completed their first rail bridge over the Grafraxa River in Port Hope and their biggest bridge, the Victoria Bridge in Montreal, over the St. Lawerence River in 1860. By 1864 representatives of New York State and the Province of Canada signed an agreement to have a bridge completed between Fort Erie and Black Rock. When the American Civil War opened, the plans were shelved and remained that way in the serious dip in Anglo-American relations during and following the war. The Fenian Raids of 1866 did not help matters either. The International being requested by the Canadian Militia as an armed gunboat and a means to move troops by the Fenians. It remained safely in the middle of the river, refusing to move, having been ordered to stay put by Grand Trunk employees.

A bit more closer detail on the 1873 piers.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4DA memorial to Light Vessel 82, lost in a storm in 1913 showing the power of the Great Lakes and the Niagara River.
Nikon D300 - AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G

Thankfully the relations warmed by the end of the decade, and plans were again coming together. In 1870, the Canadian Bridge Company and American Bridge Company chartered the International Bridge Company to construct the proposed bridge. C.S. Gzowski & Co. won the contract from International Bridge to complete the main piers and final assembly construction. At the same time, the bridge steel and sections went to Phoenix Iron Works in Pennsylvania. The bridge would span the shortest section of the river but far from ideal. At this point, the river depth stood at fourteen meters, and the current flowed at nineteen kilometres per hour. The continued damage from ice broke away from Lake Erie and flowed down to Niagara Falls that could prove dangerous to the piers. Construction began in 1871 with dredging three metres of gravel from the river bed. The eight piers that secured the bridge across the river were constructed from locally quarried limestone and designed to break up ice flows rather than have them dashed against them. Phoenix Ironworks constructed the bridge portions in twelve sections using a standard Baldwin Truss pattern. Each section was floating in, raised on special pontoons and secured in place. While the Canadian side of the bridge was fixed, the American side featured two swing sections. The sections were around Unity Island, allowing ships to still access the harbours at Black Rock and Buffalo. A single railway track crossed the bridge, and a separate section allowed for pedestrian traffic. During the construction, not a single life was lost, or the accident delayed the effort. When the bridge was completed, it had cost 1.5 million dollars and spanned 1113 metres. And railway traffic stood ready to make use of the new bridge when it opened on the 3rd of November 1873; present at the ceremony were Grand Trunk President Richard Potter and Internation Bridge Co-President Matthew Brydges. While Grand Trunk trains used the bridge without trouble, all other operators had to pay a fee at a dollar per car. While most operators had no issues paying the toll rather than spend the money needed to build their own bridge, Canadian Southern sued Grand Trunk.

To the left the Whirlpool Bridge and the right the MCR bridge, today only the Whirlpool bridge operates as it replaced the original Niagara Suspension Bridge.
Mamiya m645 - Mamiya-Sekor C 45mm 1:2.8 N - Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 - Kodak D-23 (Stock) 6:00 @ 20CThe ruins of the Curtis-Wright Factory, once a major part of the industrial hotbed of Black Rock where the Bridge terminated.
Pentax 645 - SMC Pentax A 645 35mm 1:3.5 - Kodak Tri-X 400 @ ASA-400 - Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 7:30 @ 20C

As the popularity of the railway increased, the need for larger bridges became obvious, and bridges with a single track across them were becoming obsolete. Grand Trunk completed a new bridge in 1897, the Whirlpool Bridge, to replace the original Niagara Suspension Bridge. And in 1900, the International Railway Bridge was revamped, removing the original bridge sections and replacing them with one that supported two tracks at the cost of the pedestrian walkway. Three years later, baseball player Ed Delany who had been removed from a train for being drunk, attempted to cross the bridge on foot, dying. While always a busy crossing, the busiest day of the bridge took place on the 10th of July 1916 when 264 trains crossed the bridge. Canadian National took over operations on the bridge in 1923 when Grand Trunk Railway was absorbed into the new company. In 1929, Michigan Central, which was now in complete control of Canadian Southern, completed their own bridge at Niagara Falls. Passenger services across the bridge dwindled with the final Canadian National Passenger train crossing in 1934. The Americans disabled one of the swing sections on their bridge in 1941. The bridge had spent a great deal of its operational life without closure, at least until 1993. Canadian National was forced to close the bridge due to emergency repairs to several of the support piers, which were still original to 1873; the repairs cost two million but ensured the continued use of the bridge. Further updates to the bridge decking took place in 2000. Today, the International Railway Bridge remains the oldest operational railway bridge in Ontario, far from the original. Its construction pre-dates many of the original bridges constructed by the Canadian Pacific through the Rockies. Many of the older Grand Trunk Bridges have been either totally replaced or modified far beyond the original to be considered original. It is also one of two operational railway bridges across the Niagara River, the 1897 Whirlpool Bridge as the Michigan Central bridge shut down in 2001. On average, the bridge sees fifteen trains daily crossing.

#afadedglory #blackrock #bridgeburg #buffalo #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #grandtrunkrailway #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #internationalrailwaybridge #kodakhc110 #kodaktrix400 #newyork #nikond750 #ontario #pentax645 #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #usa

A Faded Glory – Bridgeburg B-1 – Grand Trunk Railway (1873-1975)

While there are certain stations out there with more interesting histories and stories that go along with them, others have simply done their job and then been disposed of. Oftentimes, that is with a demolition, which has resulted in the loss of many stations across Ontario. And the small community of Bridgeburg has lost a great many stations.

It is great to see that at least one station from the Bridgeburg area was salvaged.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

Do not worry if you haven't heard of the community of Bridgeburg. The community owes its existence to the International Railway Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1873. The community's name has changed a few times before being absorbed into Fort Erie by the 1970s; it has been Victoria, International Bridge, and finally Bridgeburg. The small community flourished and would overtake nearby Fort Erie, with the railroad being the main focus for the community's economy. With three railroad operators using the International Railway Bridge, the town had three railway stations in the town proper to serve passengers. Grand Trunk having the main passenger station with Canadian Southern and eventually Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, both operating stations in Bridgeburg. These three stations were all located along Courtwright Street. Over the course of the history of passenger services across the bridge, these stations were replaced at least once, especially in the massive efforts to modernize railway services in Ontario that took place in the early 20th Century. Sadly none of these stations survived in any form, and most were demolished by the 1970s and 1980s.

In case you did not know what the station was for.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe beautiful buff brick is something that many stations stopped using in the 20th Century.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

But one station did survive, known as B-1, or Bridgeburg B-1. The B-1 station opened at the same time as the International Railway Bridge in 1873. The station is located next to the bridge's Canadian entrance sitting on the berm above Niagara Blvd. It is unique in several ways for a railway station of its day. First of all, it did little in passenger service for the first part of its life, mainly for traffic and customs control along with toll collection for non-Grand Trunk trains driving over the bridge. Combined with its partner station in Black Rock, known as B-2, it acted to control traffic over the bridge in the early days with only a single track on the bridge that could ensure that trains would not fatally collide head-on. The second unique part of B-1 is that it is constructed in the Gothic Revival architectural style. At the same time, Grand Trunk did not use the Gothic Revival much in their station designs, having only built one in Woodstock under the Great Western name. Internally the station featured a station master and telegraph operator office, a small waiting area, and a ticket window. Canadian National would take over operations at the B-1 and B-2 stations in 1923, seeing the advantage of having dedicated traffic control points for either side of the bridge. B-1 would receive a railroad red paint job in the mid-century like many other Canadian National Stations.

The International Railway bridge, the sole reason for the B-1 station.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4DCN 6218 a Class U-2-g 4-8-4 Locomotive may have passed by B-1 many times.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

By 1980 most stations in Bridgeburg were gone, with only B-1 sitting next to the bridge and looking worse for wear. By this point, most yard operations had been moved from the Warren Street Yard to Black Rock. The need for keeping B-1 staffed was no longer important. The station itself was looking much worse for wear giving it was now over one hundred years old. The Fort Erie Railway Museum expressed an interest in saving the station rather than seeing the last surviving Bridgeburg station fall to the wrecking ball as all the other ones had. The old Michigan Central Station was last to fall in 1981. Canadian National was more than happy to sell the old station to Fort Erie for 1.25. Using extreme caution, the station was separated from its original foundation, then used a series of jacks and cribs to lift the station onto a railway flatbed, taken down the tracks to Central Avenue, loaded onto a truck and placed on a prepared foundation at the museum. The station was then repaired and restored. The architectural details were repaired and replaced with the red paint stripped to reveal the original yellow brick. Today the station remains at the museum along with a CN Locomotive, the Ridgeway Station and is used as the museum's gift shop. It should be noted that B-1's partner, B-2 remains in place as is a part of the still-active CN yard at Black Rock in Buffalo, New York.

#afadedglory #bridgeburg #bridgeburgb1 #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #forterierailwaymuseum #grandtrunkrailway #ilfordhp5 #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway

A Faded Glory – Bridgeburg B-1 – Grand Trunk Railway (1873-1975)

While there are certain stations out there with more interesting histories and stories that go along with them, others have simply done their job and then been disposed of. Oftentimes, that is with a demolition, which has resulted in the loss of many stations across Ontario. And the small community of Bridgeburg has lost a great many stations.

It is great to see that at least one station from the Bridgeburg area was salvaged.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

Do not worry if you haven't heard of the community of Bridgeburg. The community owes its existence to the International Railway Bridge, which opened to traffic in 1873. The community's name has changed a few times before being absorbed into Fort Erie by the 1970s; it has been Victoria, International Bridge, and finally Bridgeburg. The small community flourished and would overtake nearby Fort Erie, with the railroad being the main focus for the community's economy. With three railroad operators using the International Railway Bridge, the town had three railway stations in the town proper to serve passengers. Grand Trunk having the main passenger station with Canadian Southern and eventually Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, both operating stations in Bridgeburg. These three stations were all located along Courtwright Street. Over the course of the history of passenger services across the bridge, these stations were replaced at least once, especially in the massive efforts to modernize railway services in Ontario that took place in the early 20th Century. Sadly none of these stations survived in any form, and most were demolished by the 1970s and 1980s.

In case you did not know what the station was for.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe beautiful buff brick is something that many stations stopped using in the 20th Century.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

But one station did survive, known as B-1, or Bridgeburg B-1. The B-1 station opened at the same time as the International Railway Bridge in 1873. The station is located next to the bridge's Canadian entrance sitting on the berm above Niagara Blvd. It is unique in several ways for a railway station of its day. First of all, it did little in passenger service for the first part of its life, mainly for traffic and customs control along with toll collection for non-Grand Trunk trains driving over the bridge. Combined with its partner station in Black Rock, known as B-2, it acted to control traffic over the bridge in the early days with only a single track on the bridge that could ensure that trains would not fatally collide head-on. The second unique part of B-1 is that it is constructed in the Gothic Revival architectural style. At the same time, Grand Trunk did not use the Gothic Revival much in their station designs, having only built one in Woodstock under the Great Western name. Internally the station featured a station master and telegraph operator office, a small waiting area, and a ticket window. Canadian National would take over operations at the B-1 and B-2 stations in 1923, seeing the advantage of having dedicated traffic control points for either side of the bridge. B-1 would receive a railroad red paint job in the mid-century like many other Canadian National Stations.

The International Railway bridge, the sole reason for the B-1 station.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4DCN 6218 a Class U-2-g 4-8-4 Locomotive may have passed by B-1 many times.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

By 1980 most stations in Bridgeburg were gone, with only B-1 sitting next to the bridge and looking worse for wear. By this point, most yard operations had been moved from the Warren Street Yard to Black Rock. The need for keeping B-1 staffed was no longer important. The station itself was looking much worse for wear giving it was now over one hundred years old. The Fort Erie Railway Museum expressed an interest in saving the station rather than seeing the last surviving Bridgeburg station fall to the wrecking ball as all the other ones had. The old Michigan Central Station was last to fall in 1981. Canadian National was more than happy to sell the old station to Fort Erie for 1.25. Using extreme caution, the station was separated from its original foundation, then used a series of jacks and cribs to lift the station onto a railway flatbed, taken down the tracks to Central Avenue, loaded onto a truck and placed on a prepared foundation at the museum. The station was then repaired and restored. The architectural details were repaired and replaced with the red paint stripped to reveal the original yellow brick. Today the station remains at the museum along with a CN Locomotive, the Ridgeway Station and is used as the museum's gift shop. It should be noted that B-1's partner, B-2 remains in place as is a part of the still-active CN yard at Black Rock in Buffalo, New York.

#afadedglory #bridgeburg #bridgeburgb1 #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #forterierailwaymuseum #grandtrunkrailway #ilfordhp5 #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway

A Faded Glory – International Railway Bridge – Grand Trunk Railway (1873-Present)

The Niagara River has never been the easiest obstacle to navigate in Ontario, the main reasons being the current, the falls, and the gorge. Bridges were neither cheap nor easy to build but possible. The easiest means to get trains across the river were through the use of rail ferries. Steamships were designed to carry large numbers of cars, but the process was slow, bottlenecked the line, and there was also the tendency for ships to sink or get caught in the current and swept away.

While the decking and trusses are not original, the piers date back to 1873.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

All major operators initially used rail ferries, while Buffalo & Lake Huron had the easiest route between Fort Erie and Buffalo. With their line's terminus at Niagara Falls, Great Western Railway required rerouting the train to Queenston for loading and unloading. So they were one of the first to start planning a railway bridge. But Great Western wasn't planning any railway bridge; they aimed to build a suspension bridge. Working with William Hamilton Merritt, the bridge opened to traffic in 1855, supporting two levels, one for a single railway track and a second for foot and carriage traffic. When it opened, it was not only Canada's first but the world's first railway suspension bridge. The suspension wires were supported by four twenty-seven meter tall Egyptian inspired pillars, work being done by a young Scottish stonemason William Henderson. But above the falls, the Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway continued to use the rail ferry International but had planned by 1856 for their own bridge between Fort Erie and Black Rock. But having no real financial stability, the plans remained on paper. As Grand Trunk began to take on more operational control over Buffalo & Lake Huron, the new operator furthered plans. Grand Trunk had completed their first rail bridge over the Grafraxa River in Port Hope and their biggest bridge, the Victoria Bridge in Montreal, over the St. Lawerence River in 1860. By 1864 representatives of New York State and the Province of Canada signed an agreement to have a bridge completed between Fort Erie and Black Rock. When the American Civil War opened, the plans were shelved and remained that way in the serious dip in Anglo-American relations during and following the war. The Fenian Raids of 1866 did not help matters either. The International being requested by the Canadian Militia as an armed gunboat and a means to move troops by the Fenians. It remained safely in the middle of the river, refusing to move, having been ordered to stay put by Grand Trunk employees.

A bit more closer detail on the 1873 piers.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4DA memorial to Light Vessel 82, lost in a storm in 1913 showing the power of the Great Lakes and the Niagara River.
Nikon D300 - AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G

Thankfully the relations warmed by the end of the decade, and plans were again coming together. In 1870, the Canadian Bridge Company and American Bridge Company chartered the International Bridge Company to construct the proposed bridge. C.S. Gzowski & Co. won the contract from International Bridge to complete the main piers and final assembly construction. At the same time, the bridge steel and sections went to Phoenix Iron Works in Pennsylvania. The bridge would span the shortest section of the river but far from ideal. At this point, the river depth stood at fourteen meters, and the current flowed at nineteen kilometres per hour. The continued damage from ice broke away from Lake Erie and flowed down to Niagara Falls that could prove dangerous to the piers. Construction began in 1871 with dredging three metres of gravel from the river bed. The eight piers that secured the bridge across the river were constructed from locally quarried limestone and designed to break up ice flows rather than have them dashed against them. Phoenix Ironworks constructed the bridge portions in twelve sections using a standard Baldwin Truss pattern. Each section was floating in, raised on special pontoons and secured in place. While the Canadian side of the bridge was fixed, the American side featured two swing sections. The sections were around Unity Island, allowing ships to still access the harbours at Black Rock and Buffalo. A single railway track crossed the bridge, and a separate section allowed for pedestrian traffic. During the construction, not a single life was lost, or the accident delayed the effort. When the bridge was completed, it had cost 1.5 million dollars and spanned 1113 metres. And railway traffic stood ready to make use of the new bridge when it opened on the 3rd of November 1873; present at the ceremony were Grand Trunk President Richard Potter and Internation Bridge Co-President Matthew Brydges. While Grand Trunk trains used the bridge without trouble, all other operators had to pay a fee at a dollar per car. While most operators had no issues paying the toll rather than spend the money needed to build their own bridge, Canadian Southern sued Grand Trunk.

To the left the Whirlpool Bridge and the right the MCR bridge, today only the Whirlpool bridge operates as it replaced the original Niagara Suspension Bridge.
Mamiya m645 - Mamiya-Sekor C 45mm 1:2.8 N - Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 - Kodak D-23 (Stock) 6:00 @ 20CThe ruins of the Curtis-Wright Factory, once a major part of the industrial hotbed of Black Rock where the Bridge terminated.
Pentax 645 - SMC Pentax A 645 35mm 1:3.5 - Kodak Tri-X 400 @ ASA-400 - Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 7:30 @ 20C

As the popularity of the railway increased, the need for larger bridges became obvious, and bridges with a single track across them were becoming obsolete. Grand Trunk completed a new bridge in 1897, the Whirlpool Bridge, to replace the original Niagara Suspension Bridge. And in 1900, the International Railway Bridge was revamped, removing the original bridge sections and replacing them with one that supported two tracks at the cost of the pedestrian walkway. Three years later, baseball player Ed Delany who had been removed from a train for being drunk, attempted to cross the bridge on foot, dying. While always a busy crossing, the busiest day of the bridge took place on the 10th of July 1916 when 264 trains crossed the bridge. Canadian National took over operations on the bridge in 1923 when Grand Trunk Railway was absorbed into the new company. In 1929, Michigan Central, which was now in complete control of Canadian Southern, completed their own bridge at Niagara Falls. Passenger services across the bridge dwindled with the final Canadian National Passenger train crossing in 1934. The Americans disabled one of the swing sections on their bridge in 1941. The bridge had spent a great deal of its operational life without closure, at least until 1993. Canadian National was forced to close the bridge due to emergency repairs to several of the support piers, which were still original to 1873; the repairs cost two million but ensured the continued use of the bridge. Further updates to the bridge decking took place in 2000. Today, the International Railway Bridge remains the oldest operational railway bridge in Ontario, far from the original. Its construction pre-dates many of the original bridges constructed by the Canadian Pacific through the Rockies. Many of the older Grand Trunk Bridges have been either totally replaced or modified far beyond the original to be considered original. It is also one of two operational railway bridges across the Niagara River, the 1897 Whirlpool Bridge as the Michigan Central bridge shut down in 2001. On average, the bridge sees fifteen trains daily crossing.

#afadedglory #blackrock #bridgeburg #buffalo #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #forterie #grandtrunkrailway #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #internationalrailwaybridge #kodakhc110 #kodaktrix400 #newyork #nikond750 #ontario #pentax645 #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #usa

A Faded Glory – Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo No. 103 – Montreal Locomotive Works (1913-1954)

One of the jewels in the collection of Westfield Heritage Village is plenty of memorabilia and buildings related to the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway. They probably have the second largest collection next to the museum on the second floor of the Hamilton GO Centre. But they do have one thing that the GO Centre does not have, an original locomotive that once served on the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo line, Locomotive 103.

Probably my favourite item at Westfield to photograph and this isn't the first time I've seen the locomotive through my ground glass.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

The first example of a 2-8-0 saw construction in 1865, an improvement of the 0-8-0 design and completed by John P. Laird for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Originally known as the Bedford, Consolidation quickly became the common class name for future 2-8-0 locomotives. The new Consolidation locomotives were a marked improvement over the older 2-6-0 Mougles and could pull heavier trains and achieve higher speeds. The Consolidation design proved popular, and many locomotive makers began adding these to their product lines, including the American Locomotive Company and Montreal Locomotive Works, who classified them as G-1 locomotives. In 1910, Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo ordered G-1 locomotives to update their rolling stock. These new engines would be constructed between 1910 through 1913. In total, the operator ordered eleven G-1 locomotives.

A close up of the locomotive cab.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe original MLW plaque, showing the manufacture date of 1910, though it wasn't accepted into TH&B service until 1913.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

In 1910, the locomotive with the serial number 48837 rolled out of the Montreal Locomotive Works. It was accepted into the service of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway and received engine number 52. It was assigned to haul heavy freight between Hamilton and Welland and points beyond. It was then renumbered to 72 in 1918 and a year later received the number 103. As a locomotive, 103 served well on the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo lines maintained and operated safely. It never once had an accident or failure during its service life. While it did spend most of its time in the Hamilton area, it would travel to points beyond including Toronto and New York but on Canadian Pacific and New York Central tracks. Having proved itself, 103 served until the final days of steam for Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo. The operator had started switching motive power from steam to diesel-electric on their main lines in 1946 and by 1954 had taken the last steam locomotives out of service. The first operator in Ontario to complete the switch, a good decade before Canadian Pacific and Canadian National. Most of the former Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo locomotives were sold off to industrial customers, mainly in Hamilton, such as National Steel Car, International Harvester, Steel Company of Canada, and Coke By-Products. Others continued in railway service but for American operators. And many of these ended up getting scrapped. However, 103 giving its excellent record, met a different fate.

Locomotive 103's tender.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DAn old caboose makes up the trainset, sadly this isn't painted in TH&B colours appropriate to the era.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Giving the close ties between Hamilton and the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway, instead of selling 103, they decided to donate it to the city in 1954. The city council gladly accepted the gift but took two years to find a new home for 103. Eventually, it was settled to have the locomotive located in Gage Park near the Roselawn Lawn Bowling Club. The location was well known to rail enthusiasts who watched the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo trains that drove past the park. The locomotive got a refresh at the nearby shops, and a set of tracks were laid to allow the engine to be moved from the shops to the prepared concrete pad and tracks. In October 1956, the engine was carefully moved into the park. In a grand ceremony, Hamilton Mayor Lloyd D. Jackson and Fire Chief Reg Swanborough formally accepted the locomotive from Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo General Manager Percy Hankson. The presence of Chief Swanborough was notable as he had previously worked as a fireman aboard 103. The old steel horse became a local and beloved landmark and was cared for, at least at first. But as the years went on and the city suffered an economic downturn, the financial support for maintaining 103 dried up. It aged under the weather and became a target for vandalism. By the 1970s, the engine seemed doomed to the scrap yard like many before. But before that could happen, the Westfield Pioneer Village expressed an interest in saving the locomotive; they did have at that point the largest collection of Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo artefacts at their museum and 103 would be an excellent addition next to the Jerseyville Station. The city gladly sold the locomotive for a dollar. The locomotive was moved in two parts, the main engine and the tender; in January 1977, the trip up the Claremont Access taking two hours alone. The locomotive underwent restoration throughout the winter and early spring and was revealed to the public in May. Present at the ceremony was a former engineer of 103, Herb March. After Westfield closed in 1987, the city planned to have 103 moved to the Museum of Steam and Technology. Ironically, that was the same year Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo ceased to exist. Thankfully, the movie did not have to happen as the museum reopened intact with 103 in place by 1990. In 1997 under the careful direction of Charles Douborough, 103 underwent 1500 hours of restoration work, all completed by Volunteers and reopened refreshed in 2005. Today the engine is again in serious need of help; if you are willing to donate either time or money, you can visit the Westfield fundraising site. Saving 103 is important as it is one of the few surviving Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo locomotives. Number 42, 0-6-0 B-2 is located in Lindsay, Ontario, and the third, a 4-6-4, is at Steam Town in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

#afadedglory #280 #canada #canadianhistory #consolidation #crowngraphic #g1 #hamilton #hamiltonbuffalorailway #ilfordhp5 #locomotive #locomotive103 #montreallocomotiveworks #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #rockton #steammotivepower #toronto #westfieldheritagevillage

A Faded Glory – Jerseyville – Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway (1895-1954)

If you're a fan of the show Murdoch Mysteries and are a sharp-eyed viewer, then the station featured today will be recognizable, having appeared in the episode The Annoying Red Planet, where the titular character visits the community of Jerseyville. Jerseyville is no work of fiction but is a rural community between Brantford and Hamilton and was only ever served by the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway.

The station is a difficult location to photograph at Westfield, but I had no time to do a proper walk around as a filming crew was inbound.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

The Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway saw its original charter in 1884 to construct a second line between the three cities mentioned in the name as an alternative to Grand Trunk, which by 1884 had full control over Buffalo & Lake Huron and Great Western Railway. But the charter put some serious restrictions on the construction of the line. Under the terms of the charter, they would be unable to enter into a traffic sharing agreement with any other railway operator or purchase an incomplete line to integrate into their network. These two reasons were enough to keep the charter on paper only, and it eventually lapsed. In 1892 new investors revised the charter and removed the restrictive sections of the charter to allow the line to be completed. One of the first things the new railway operator did to kick start the construction was absorb the incomplete Brantford, Waterloo & Lake Erie Railway. By 1892 this line had been completed between Waterford and Brantford. Rather than continue that line out to Waterloo, the route was realigned to take the railway to Hamilton, passing through Jerseyville and south towards Fort Erie and the International Railway Bridge. From Hamilton, the line would continue onto Toronto. Hamilton would be reached in 1894 and a year later would hit Welland. Stations would start construction in 1895, communities like Brantford and Hamilton received large ornate stations, especially the one in Hamilton. But for rural communities, simpler stations were completed. And for even more remote stops, little more than a shelter shed saw construction. But by this point, Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo's line saw no further construction. A joint effort between New York Central and Canadian Pacific Railway purchased the entire network jointly. Not an even split but enough that instead of a dedicated Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Line, points to Toronto and Buffalo were completed on either CP or CASO tracks.

The beautiful black & yellow painted station sign board.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DA bit of a closer and wider look at the station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The Jerseyville Station is an excellent example of a rural station for Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo. Constructed to the Queen Anne Revival style but far more subdued with little ornamentation or architectural features. Wooden construction using board and batten. The station looks similar to the earliest stations constructed on Ontario railways for Ontario, Simcoe & Huron. Inside, the station features a small general passenger waiting room with large baggage and freight room. A station master's office with a ticket window and telegraph bay separated the two larger areas. The telegrapher bay jutted out onto the platform to keep track of trains coming and going. The station opened to traffic in 1895, sitting on the north side of Jerseyville road, west of the centre of the village. Like many rural villages, Jerseyville remained isolated until the railroad arrived. Trains would allow residents to go into the city, and goods could come in and out by freight trains. And the station remained untouched during the first part of the 20th Century and never saw a replacement. Steam locomotives served the station initially, but Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo were the first to start running diesel-electric locomotives. In the final years of service, diesel-powered trains visited Jerseyville. By 1954, with improved highways and readily available personal automobiles, passenger service through Jerseyville had ceased.

Close up detail of the Telegraph operator bay, inside is plenty of equipment original to the era. Sadly I don't have an interior shot.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DLocomotive 103 is a far more visible part of the Jerseyville Station display.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The station stayed in place and maintained some railway operations regarding freight services. Still, by the 1960s, Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo were looking to divest themselves of underused stations, Jerseyville among them. A local farmer expressed interest in purchasing the old station for use on his farm. But another group, the Westfield Pioneer Association, purchased historically significant buildings to build a living history museum. Thankfully the Westfield group won the bidding war and moved the station near Rockton as one of the original buildings that formed the Westfield Pioneer village, which opened to the public in 1963. While I'm unsure if Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo ever painted their stations a railroad red, the Jerseyville Station underwent some restoration work to its original appearance at Westfield. The station began home to a large collection of Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo memorabilia. Westfield also acquired a maintenance shed and shelter type station both from Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo. Westfield was the first to take a serious interest in preserving the history of Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo. That station came under threat in the 1980s when financial difficulties forced Westfield to close; thankfully, the interest in film and television production gave the village a second life. In 1985 the station appeared in the CBC Anne of Green Gables TV movie and was also included in Road to Avonlea. Today, the station is one of only a few preserved examples of Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo stations, Hamilton's GO Centre and Smithville. The Brantford Station is still standing but is long abandoned, having been a restaurant in various forms. Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo would come under full Canadian Pacific Control in 1985, and the reporting mark dropped in 1987. The original line from Brantford to Hamilton was torn up in the 1990s, and today is a walking trail and still crosses through Jerseyville. At Westfield, Jerseyville remains a fine example of the early passenger stations for the rail operator and a popular spot for TV and film production. In fact, the day I was photographing the station, I got in before a crew arrived to film a scene.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #crowngraphic #hamilton #hamiltonbuffalorailway #ilfordhp5 #jerseyville #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #rockton #toronto #westfieldheritagevillage

A Faded Glory – Uxbridge – Grand Trunk Railway (1904-1996)

When it comes to unique station styles in Canada, the one that stands out the most is the Witch's Hat; these were popular among all major railway operators through the early 20th Century. Sadly, there is only a handful left standing, but the only one still operates as a train station, which is the station at Uxbridge.

The Uxbridge station is one of many examples of a Witch's Hat style station and remains in railway use unlike the others.
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The first railway to arrive in Uxbridge was the Toronto & Nipissing Railway. A narrow-gauge line chartered and supported by George Laidlaw to access the agricultural and timber resources in northern Ontario and access a potential transcontinental railway at Lake Nippissing. The line originating in Cannington started construction in 1869 but faced construction troubles heading south towards Toronto. Being situated on the second wedge of the Oak Ridges Moran, Uxbridge caused many ground quality issues for the railroad, but it would reach the small community in 1871. One of the biggest projects was a wooden timber bridge over the creek running through the town. A simple carpenter gothic shed style station was completed in 1869 along the rail right-of-way running near the town's core. The station is similar to those found in Unionville and Markham, both of which survive today. In addition to the station, Toronto & Nipissing established their headquarters in Uxbridge and constructed small maintenance and switchyard, although their primary roundhouse remained in Toronto. Operations started in 1871, with the line reaching its northernmost point at Coboconk a year later. Finances and lack of interest saw the line extend beyond Coboconk instead of branching at Stouffville to Jackson Point at Lake Simcoe that opened in 1875. Toronto & Nipissing in 1882 became a part of Midland Railway which in turn became part of Grand Trunk in 1893.

Close Up details of the hand-painted Uxbridge sign under the Witch's Hat.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DA prime example of what Insulbrick looks like, ugly eh?
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

During Grand Trunk's modernization project of the early 20th Century, while diminished, the railway yard at Uxbridge saw continued use by Grand Trunk. To recognize the importance and the status of Uxbridge as the area's major urban centre, Grand Trunk decided to replace the old Toronto & Nippissing Station. The new station would feature a large baggage room along with a freight shed and express office. A single general waiting room with a station master's office and telegraph bay. The master's office and telegraph bay sat in a round front section with a witch's hat styling with the station carrying the Queen Anne Revival architectural style. The station began operations in 1904, with the original station being demolished shortly after. While constructed primarily of wooden board & batten, the foundation was of pressed red brick. Canadian National continued to operate the station and yard when they took over in 1923. In the 1950s, Canadian National covered the station's exterior walls and painted it a railroad red. Passenger service ceased in 1978, although Canadian National continued to operate the line for freight services and used the old station as an office. But the line had become redundant, and in 1987, operations ceased on both the line and the yard. Rather than let the station meet a wrecking ball, the town of Uxbridge purchased both the yard and station from Canadian National for a dollar in 1988.

Passenger Car 1462, acquired in 1992 by YDHR is a Montreal built passenger car from 1926, it is one of the earliest passenger cars acquired by the YDHR.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DYDHR Locomotives 22 and 1310 are a pair of ALCO RS-3 road-switchers. Locomotive 1310 was completed in 1951 and Locomotive 22 dates to 1955.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

But the town did little for the station, and in 1992 Canadian National tore up the tracks north of Uxbridge to Coboconk and selling the rail line south to GO Transit in 1993, who retained the possibility of extending their line to Uxbridge from Stouffville. GO had started operating a commuter train to Stouffville in 1982 and ran buses to Uxbridge. Since 1987 a small group of railroad enthusiasts had been growing in Uxbridge with the desire to preserve the local rail heritage. The opening of the Port Stanley Terminal Railway encouraged the group to start their own short-run heritage railway. The York-Durham Heritage Railway received its own charter in 1993 and two years later took possession of its first functioning locomotive. Numbered 1310, a Montreal Locomotive Works built RS-3. Locomotive 1310 had originally rolled onto the tracks in 1954 for Ontario Northland before serving Abitibi-Price, who sold it to York-Durham. GO Transit agreed to lease the line between Uxbridge and Stouffville, allowing the group to run tourist trains after a dedicated station was completed at Stouffville in 1997. The group used the Uxbridge Grand Trunk station after restoration efforts. The station again was in jeopardy in 2013. Thankfully, the community rallied, and repair work again preserved the station. In 2015, extensive repair work preserved the 1872 wooden trestle bridge, which continues to be used as part of the Uxbridge rail trail. The York-Durham Heritage Railway operates its short line from Uxbridge to Stouffville, operating several mid-century road-switcher locomotives and various historic passenger cars. The old yard operates as the main maintenance and storage yard for the railway. The 1872 bridge is also still standing in near original condition, which is one of the many walking trails through the community of Uxbridge.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #grandtrunk #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastructure #midland #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #torontonipissing #uxbridge #yorkdurhamheritagerailway

A Faded Glory – Unionville – Toronto & Nipissing Railway (1871-1991)

Amazingly, many historic railway stations still exist in Ontario. And while many still operate, some of the oldest stations no longer operate as railway stations and are no longer in their original location. And then there's the Unionville Station. While it no longer operates as a railway station, it remains in its original location and is only one of two surviving stations from Toronto & Nippissing.

Looking out along some active tracks towards the historic station with the saved Stiver Mill which are both community buildings today.
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Following Confederation, in 1867, a second railway boom was starting. Scottish businessman, George Laidlaw who worked for the Gooderham & Worts distillery in Toronto, began chartering new railways. But unlike most railways in Ontario that stuck to Provincial Gauge or Standard Gauge, Laidlaw championed Narrow Gauge. Laidlaw would charter three narrow gauge lines out of Toronto, with only two built to that gauge. The biggest of the two are the Toronto, Grey & Bruce Railway and the Toronto & Nippissing Railway. While Toronto, Grey & Bruce proved a far more popular line, Toronto & Nippissing is an equally important attempt to reach a potential transcontinental line. The construction of the Toronto & Nippissing line started in 1869 in the community of Cannington, Ontario. From Cannington, the line extended north towards Coboconk and south to Toronto. The line constructed a station and small roundhouse near the Gooderham & Worts distillery on Mill Street in Toronto. The original line never planned to run through the small village of Unionville. Still, like many communities before, the business owners of the village saw the railroad as a way to improve their economic standings. Together they purchased 500$ in shares in Toronto & Nippissing to have the line run through Unionville and construct a station. Resident A.T. Button undertook the construction of the station that opened before the line saw completion. The Unionville station followed the Carpenter Gothic Style and was a simple shed type station. There was a general waiting room and baggage and freight room; there was also a station master's office with a ticket window and telegrapher bay. Being located in a town, the Unionville station lacked a second storey that would have served as living space for the station master in a more rural station. Sadly, none of those stations left, the one in Coboconk having burned down in the early 20th Century. Operations on the Toronto & Nipissing line opened in 1871 and would reach Coboconk in 1872.

A preserved freight and baggage door that opens up to be a window today.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe Station platform offers little in the way of shelter.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Unforntantly the line would not reach the desired goal of Lake Nippissing. Instead, they opted to complete a branch line Jackson Point from Stouffville that opened in 1875. And the Unionville station operated well, and the community was pleased to have access. Despite being a narrow-gauge line, Toronto & Nippsissing reached a track sharing agreement with Grand Trunk Railway to lay a third rail and access the newly opened Second Union Station in downtown Toronto. One of the more unique locomotives for Toronto & Nipissing is the Shedden Locomotive, an articulated 0-6-6-0 wheel configuration locomotive. Sadly that is lost to the scrap yard. But the narrow gauge never took off as Laidlaw had hoped. As more and more operators moved towards the Standard Gauge to improve interfacing with American lines, Toronto & Nippissing lagged, having little cash. While they were not financially rocky, they managed to get by without pulling a profit. In 1882 Midland Railroad purchased the entire Toronto & Nipissing network and began converting all its holdings to Standard Gauge. They did continue to operate both freight and passenger service through Unionville. Midland, like many small operators, fell under the Grand Trunk banner in 1893. There is a good chance that under Grand Trunk, the station received a repaint to the early 20th Century colour scheme but never saw replacement under the major renovation efforts conducted by Grand Trunk during the Hayes years. This is not surprising considering that several low traffic stations remained original in the area. Under Canadian National operations continued in 1923. In the 1950s, Canadian National covered the station in insulbrick and painted it that railroad red colour.

Silly tree blocking the town name. That wouldn't go over well when the station was active.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DCloseup detail on the carpentry of the station's overhang.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The station's fate seemed sealed in 1971 when a fire caused minor damage to the historic station. And with passenger service on the line winding down, Canadian National aimed to demolish the old station. But the community of Unionville, despite being swallowed up in Markham, had a certain view of their historic buildings. They rallied around the old station and raised funds to repair and restore the station for continued railroad use, which ended in 1978 when Canadian National ended passenger services. However, the line saw continued use, and in 1982 GO Transit began operating out of the old station. But showing its age, Unionville again undertook a major renovation and restoration project in 1989. The station was stripped to the original wood and repainted to original colours. GO Transit ceased operations in 1991 after constructing a new station further south with more parking. Remember, the original station had been constructed in the days before widespread commuter traffic and personal automobiles. Instead of demolishing the station, it was sold to Unionville. The village converted the station and nearby Stiver Mill into a community centre which it still operates as today. The nearby rail line remains in active use by Metrolinx that operates as far north as Stouffville. Oddly enough, the Markham GO station remains the only active Toronto & Nippissing Station in Ontario.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #gotransit #grandtrunk #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #markham #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #torontonipissing #unionville

A Faded Glory – Aurora – Grand Trunk Railway (1900-Present)

When it comes to Aurora, Ontario, unless you take public transit regularly, the old train station may not even be in your mind. Even then, you may not realise the importance of this small community regarding the impact the community had on Ontario railway development, as in 1853, it was the first destination for the first steam train in the province.

With all the additional pillers and displays and security eyeing me this was the safest vantage point for the Aurora station.
Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

As I spoke of last week, Ontario, Simcoe & Huron faced plenty of problems in getting their line constructed. The biggest problem that came after securing the needed funding came to construction. Starting in October put them already at a disadvantage, running north from their railhead at Toronto's harbour at Front Street, the going was slow. The cold and frozen ground quickly gave way to the even poorer ground quality of the Oak Ridges Moran. But Ontario, Simcoe & Huron had another trick up their sleeves. Rather than import a locomotive from England, they contracted a Canadian firm to complete their first locomotive. The Toronto Locomotive Works would receive the contract to build that first engine. First opening in 1840 by Irish immigrant James Good, the foundry started constructing household goods before moving onto boilers and stationary steam engines. The jump to a railway locomotive was no easy feat, but the Toronto Locomotive Works completed the appropriately named "Toronto" with hundreds of workers on 16 April 1853. The Toronto was a 4-4-0 locomotive known as an American or Bogie class. For two days, the locomotive was displayed with pride outside the works for the public. Among those who came to see this was former Toronto Mayor and Rebel leader William Lyon MacKenzie. MacKenzie went on to say that the Toronto was a "Truly beautiful piece of machinery powerful and handsomely finished." It took five days to move the locomotive from the works at Queen and Yonge to the railhead on Front Street. And in May of 1853, with the Toronto in the lead, the first steam train, a mixed passenger and freight run, left the Toronto station and arrived a few hours later in the small community of Machell's Corners to cheering crowds and fireworks. The community had constructed a simple wooden station that same year following the standard design of F.W. Cumberland, who favoured function over form. While there are no surviving photographs or images of the first station, it is safe to assume it looked similar to the surviving King City Station. The railroad's arrival gave the community of Machell's Corner an economic boost, and soon a lot of businesses formed around the station, located a short distance from the village centre. And a year later, in 1854, the community took the modern name of Aurora. The station continued to serve under the banners of Northern Railway of Canada and North & North-Western Railway until coming under the control of Grand Trunk Railway in 1888 with little change.

The station name sign under the Porte-Coche.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DExcellent cornice details along the station's exterior.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

But Grand Trunk, like Ontario, Simcoe & Huron, did not have the best financial track record, at least until the arrival of Charles Hayes in 1896. As Grand Trunk began to turn a profit, Hayes undertook a major modernization and standardization project at the turn of the century. One thing that was done is updating many older stations. Grand Trunk spoke poorly of the early Cumberland stations, one executive mentioning that the person who designed the stations should be jailed. The station followed the Queen Anne Revival architectural design, being off a major branch of the Grand Trunk network and in a smaller community, the station's footprint would be small. Construction was of board and batten with elegant wooden trim with a distinctive porte-cochere. Inside the station was a baggage and freight room, station master's office with a telegrapher bay that jutted onto the station platform with a ticket window and a single general waiting room. The station was painted in the traditional grey, green, and mauve colour scheme. The new station opened in 1900 and was among the first updated stations completed by Grand Trunk. The new station was completed right near the old station, which was quickly torn down. In 1923, Canadian National took over the Grand Trunk network. They continued to operate the Aurora station with little change. Canadian National covered over the original wood station with insulation material and painted the station a railroad red through the mid-century. Given Aurora's status, in 1953, Canadian National pulled two former GTR steam locomotives from their mothballs. It ran a special 100th Anniversary train from Toronto's Union Station to the Aurora Station, installing a plaque at both points to commemorate the occasion. The town also installed a former steam locomotive bell in a small parkette near the station. In 1971, with the possibility of ending passenger service, the station received a Provincial Heritage status. Canadian National passenger service slowly declined through the 1960s, and the final passenger train passed through in 1978.

Looks like the station could use a new coat of paint.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe historic steam locomotive bell memorializing the first steam train through in 1853.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Canadian National, however, continued to use the line for freight operations and continued to use the station for that purpose. When GO Transit decided to expand its commuter service, they leased a station section from Canadian National in 1982. When Canadian National ceased operations, the station fell under GO Transit in 1992. It received a Federal Heritage Status and through the mid-1990s underwent full restoration and renovation. Today most of the station is a general waiting room with a small ticket and security office. The outside was stripped of the coating and painted historic colours. Additionally, external screens allow for easy viewing of trains and buses. While the station has survived and still functions as a GO station, the locomotive Toronto met its end in 1881 and hit the scrap heap. The small parkette is also nearby the station that houses a provincial historic plaque and the steam bell memorial to that first railway trip.

#afadedglory #aurora #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #gotransit #grandtrunk #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #simcoehuron

A Faded Glory – King City – Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Union Railroad (1853-1967)

It's hard to believe that a single station would provide the same service for over a century by a decade. But when it comes to the King City train station, that is the absolute truth. While its railway days are over, it is also surprising that the station survived this long in near original condition and without demolition at any point through the three railway operators that used the station. Still, King City survives as the oldest train station in Ontario.

It's amazing that the King City station remained in operations for over 100 years before closure and still survives today.
Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

It is amazing that a railway even saw completion. The concept of a railway between Toronto and Georgian Bay can trace itself to the pre-rebellion days of the 1830s, imagined by Frank C. Capreol. But like anything, the line was delayed due to the civil and political turmoil of the 1830s and 1840s. In 1848 Capreol would form the Toronto, Simcoe & Huron Railway but be forced early to recharter. The reason being that the City of Toronto was not happy with the lottery method to raise startup capital. Capreol would form the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Union Railroad. As a result, using standard investment methods and money from the Provincial government. But a few days before construction started in 1851, Capreol was ousted from the company. The grand ceremony took place in October of that same year with the wife of the Governor-General, Lady Elgin turned the ceremony first dirt. Also present was chief engineer Sir Sandford Flemming (who would go on for a long, rich career in Canadian Rail). Entertainment took place that night at Toronto's St. Lawerence Hall, with P.T. Barnum putting on a show. Progress was slow, as winter set in frozen ground and the Oak Ridges Moran proved slow going. While Ontario, Simcoe & Huron focused on building the rail line, communities along the planned routes put up cash bonuses for the railway to establish a stop in their town. Recognising the value of a railroad station, the small community of Spring Hill put up the cash. Local hotel proprietor Issac Dennis donated a section of land to build the station. The plot was, of course, right next to his hotel. F.W. Cumberland, the chief architect for Ontario, Simcoe, & Huron, provided the simple station design and contracted the work out to local labour. The new station opened in 1853 in time to see the first steam train roll through in May.

Showing the squared off telegraph operator bay that was added at the turn of the century.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe faded name sign, and yes, the line did reach North Bay.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The station design is a simple design for a small rural community. Constructed wood using board and batten methods. Inside the station had a small station master's office that doubled as a ticket office and telegrapher bay. A baggage office and general waiting room took up a majority of the space. The station followed a simple design of early Victorian architecture with little ornamentation or embellishment. A single stove heated the station, and big windows provide plenty of natural light. A simple white and green colour scheme was applied. Being a rural and low traffic station, it continued its life unnoticed. Trains would roll through under the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron name, then Northern Railway of Canada and after 1879 North & North-Western Railway. By 1888 Grand Trunk had taken over the line and built a separate freight shed for the location. By the turn of the century, the station had a new Grand Trunk colour scheme, and a renovation added the square telegrapher bay. Despite the move to build a new station, Grand Trunk never replaced the King City Station, and it served even into the Canadian National after 1923. In 1950, Canadian National painted the station the typical railroad red. But by this point, the station had become underused, having only four trains daily on Monday through Friday and a single southbound train on Sunday. Passenger service ceased in 1967. Rather than demolish the station, the local conservation authority moved the station to the Boyd Conservation Area.

The Local Heritage designation plaque.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D These doors seemed a little narrow to me.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

In Boyd, the station sat exposed to the elements without any efforts to restore the station. Only the bare minimum to keep the station from falling apart; it was at this point over one hundred years old. Passenger service returned to King City in 1982 when GO Transit extended their line north and constructed a modern station near the location of the first one. By this point, Black Creek Pioneer Village, a living history museum in Toronto, began expressing interest in the old station wanting to add it to its growing village as an example of an early railroad station. But the community rallied around and had the station moved to King Heritage and Cultural Centre and secured local heritage status. At the King Heritage and Cultural Centre, the station was restored to its original colour scheme and is one of several buildings on-site and can be visited by those experiencing the museum. Today, the station needs a fresh coat of paint and some interior work but remains in excellent condition. The museum is off the beaten path, and you do need to know it is there to visit it, but even when the site is closed, the building is easily seen from the road and is a proud part of the early days of Ontario Railway heritage. In a strange twist, the new GO Station completed in 1982 is similar to the original station that once served the city and is located on the opposite side of station road where the original train station sat.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #grandtrunk #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #kingcity #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #simcoehuron

A Faded Glory – Burlington Junction – Grand Trunk Railway (1906-1982)

It's easy to miss the Freeman Station, tucked in next to a fire station and below a burn. It also seems a bit out of place, with the railroad a good distance from the station proper, almost as if the line itself was moved. But in reality, the station itself has been moved from its original station like so many before. And despite its look, Burlington Junction, as it was officially called, was once a hub of railroad activity in Burlington.

The 2015 restoration of the station shows its true glory and good to see the place saved.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

During the first railway boom in Ontario, Burlington, as we know it today, did not exist; the modern downtown of Burlington was the village of Centre Wellington. Nelson Township was a small collection of villages. The first railway to arrive in Nelson passed through Freeman, located at the modern intersection of Brant Street and Plains Road. The railway to pass through was a short line running from Hamilton to Toronto and quickly attracted the attention of the Great Western Railway. Great Western purchased and eventually completed access into Toronto gave them an advantage by now having access to Ontario's two major urban centres, Hamilton and Toronto. At Freeman, Great Western built a simple two-storey station in 1855 located near the modern Burlington GO station sits today. While there are no visual depictions of the original station, the layout potentially had a waiting room, station office, baggage room. At the same time, the second storey housed an apartment for the station master. A typical arrangement, especially in rural settings. The station provided the village with access to wider markets for agriculture and timber resources. Freeman became a part of the town of Burlington in 1874, and two years later, the Hamilton & North-Western Railway arrived, building their station in the downtown of the new town. Freeman station found itself at a junction between the Great Western Line and the Hamilton & North-Western Line. It also proved an important station for the growing fruit and canning business that now formed a core of its economy. In 1882 Grand Trunk acquired Great Western and in 1888 took over North & North-Western (formed in 1879 as a merger between Northern Railway of Canada and Hamilton & North-Western Railway). The Freeman Junction quickly became a far busier junction station on the Grand Trunk network. Not only for freight services but also for passenger services. From Freeman, one could go as far east as Montreal and west to Chicago.

How the station would have appeared as a train arrived on the platform, showing the telegraph operator bay and waiting room windows.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2DYes, from this station you could reach Chicago or Montreal.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D

In 1904 the old station burned down. Having no choice, Grand Trunk, who probably would have replaced the station, eventually completed a new station in 1906, renaming the stop to Burlington Junction. The new station followed the popular Queen Anne Revival and Picturesque style and was constructed of wood in a board and batten style with a limestone foundation. Larger than other stations due to it being a junction, the station was only a single-storey. There is a single general waiting room and a large freight and baggage office. A station master's office, ticket window and telegrapher bay. Like other stations of the era, it was painting in a typical green, mauve, and grey colour scheme. While passenger service remained popular, the proximity to Biggs Fruit, Alymer Canning, and Tip Top Cannery ensured that freight remained a major driver of train traffic. Volumes stayed high throughout the Grand Trunk years and well into Canadian National operations starting in 1923. Even through the depression years and into the war years, the station continued to operate. In the mid-century, Canadian National repainted the station a typical railroad red. GO Transit reached a sharing agreement with Canadian National in 1967 to allow its passengers to use the station during morning and evening rush hours. Passenger service continued under VIA rail in 1977 while Canadian National continued to use the station for freight operations. Operations out of the old Burlington Junction station continued until 1988; GO has opened a new station in 1982 and VIA in 1988. Canadian National had also ceased use of the station as much of the freight traffic from Burlington had ceased.

An old baggage cart, one of two on display outside the station. The interior has way more artefacts on display.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2DBurlington's downtown station, the 1875 Hamilton & North-Western Station. It has since been moved and renovated but sits next to Sunshine Doughnuts on Brock Street.
Nikon D750 - AF Nikkor 35mm 1:2D

By 1990 the station was abandoned, sitting sadly next to the modern GO and VIA Stations. A local group known as Save Our Station had formed to save the old junction station from demolition. But it was mainly talking, and demolition seemed the station's future. And so the station sat doing nothing for another decade when in 2005, Canadian National was ready to begin expansion of their right-of-way. Either the station had to be moved, or it would be demolished. When Canadian National offered up the station at no cost, the city footed the bill to move the station. While the city did find space to move the station temporarily, it quickly became a hot potato; no one group wanted responsibility for the restoration and upkeep. Nor could a permanent spot be found. It looked like the station would again face demolition. It would take another five years before any action was taken, and in 2011 the city council found space next to the fire station on Plains Road. A second group that had been lobbying for action, Friends of Freeman Station, took charge of the old station and, after a lengthy fundraising campaign, started restoration efforts in 2015. The red was replaced by a simple two-toned green colour. Inside was converted into a museum with plenty of artefacts from Burlington's railway days. The station reopened with great fanfare in 2017. Today the station remains a little known museum with a big presence. And is certainly on my list of places to visit and check out the interior. The museum is operated by a crack team of volunteers who carry forward the passion many railway museums have, especially the small ones. They have recently acquired some new rolling stock to display outside.

#afadedglory #burlington #burlingtonjunction #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannationalrailway #crowngraphic #freeman #freemanstation #grandtrunkrailway #greatwesternrailway #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway

A Faded Glory – Palmerston – Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway (1871-1996)

If you haven't heard of Palmerston, Ontario, that is perfectly understandable. It is a small historic town tucked away in the rural areas of Wellington County. But the town owes its existence in a major form thanks to the railroad and is one of a few communities that can claim that. At the railroad's height, Palmerston was a major centre for Grand Trunk and later Canadian National during the golden age of rail and also found a place in history as the location of one of Canada's first vaccine farms because of the railroad.

Given the station's age, location, and passing through four operators it is amazing that it has survived to this day!
Graflex Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

The Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway starts during the waning days of the first railroad boom in the pre-confederation years. The original charter stated that the mainline would run from Toronto to Southampton with options for branch lines to Owen Sound and Guelph. While originally chartered in the colonial era, it would lapse in 1861 before being picked up by a new group of investors in 1864. The new investors decided on a shorter run starting in Guelph, terminating in Southampton, and accessing Toronto through a traffic sharing agreement with Great Western. Construction would start in 1867, with Great Western taking over the incomplete network in 1869. Right away, Great Western would decide to build a branch line from Harriston to Kincardine with a route running through the small farming settlement. The branch line would start construction in 1871 and settle in 1874. The sudden arrival resulted in the quick growth of the community, thanks mainly to the donation of land by the area's two prominent landowners. The name Palmerston was chosen and, in 1875, incorporated as a town. A station had been completed in 1871, a simple board-and-batten one-storey building. The station featured a single general waiting room, station master's office, and baggage room as a branch line. There was also a ticket window and telegrapher bay. The mainline from Guelph to Southampton saw completion in 1872 and the branch to Kincardine in 1873. The same year, Great Western purchased a majority share in the company. The geographical placement of Palmerston proved that the town was to become a major railway hub. By 1876, the station had a second floor added, the first-floor waiting for the area, telegrapher bay, and ticket window expanded. At the same time, the station master's office and other administrative functions of the new yard moved to the second floor. A roundhouse, coal and freight sheds and a turntable were added. Palmerston proved a major junction in the Great Western network but always remained a financial burden. When Grand Trunk Railways purchased Great Western in 1882, they gained the Wellington, Grey & Bruce network at the same time. And while the operation of Wellington, Grey & Bruce proved a financial burden, the importance of Palmerston was truly realized by Grand Trunk, who had extensive western holdings and found itself a key division point with sixty-five divisions. Grand Trunk would drop the Wellington, Grey & Bruce name in 1896.

Close Up details that show off the early 20th Century colours of the Grand Trunk Railway.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DA beautiful rounded section that was a part of the station's function as both a passenger station and rail yard traffic controller.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

The dawn of the twentieth century saw a great deal of work done at Palmerston. Grand Trunk would repaint the station in its own colours of grey, green, and mauve and build a tower to provide better traffic direction for the yard. The tower would burn down in 1912, but the station itself was saved. To prevent injury and death, Grand Trunk completed a pedestrian bridge over the massive rail yards. The reason being that the fastest route for students to get from their homes to school was through the rail yards. In 1895 the first Vaccine farm in Ontario opened in Palmerston; the rural setting and the divisional crossroads allowed smallpox vaccines to reach every point in Ontario and some even in the US quickly to help control the deadly virus. Even when Canadian National absorbed Grand Trunk in 1923, Palmerston remained an important junction in their massive network. The large station proved expensive to heat, and drop ceilings were installed in 1936 to save money during the great depression. The 1950s brought further changes with the station getting a new railroad red paint job. The end of steam motive power in 1960 saw many of the support buildings at Palmerston demolished, the coal sheds and roundhouse were demolished, and the turntable removed. Canadian National would donate the last steam locomotive to operate at Palmerston, Old 81, a 2-6-0 Mogul locomotive for display downtown. All that remained were kilometres of tracks, the pedestrian bridge and the station. The final passenger train to roll through Palmerston was in 1970. Canadian National began abandoning unused or duplicated lines in 1982; the old Kincardine branch was among those, and the last parts of the tracks were torn up by 1996.

Old 81, a 2-6-0 "Mougel" originally operated by Grand Trunk then used by Canadian National. It was donated to the town in 1959 after it was retired.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DWhile hard to notice, this war memorial was installed by Grand Trunk Railway in 1920 dedicated to those from the railway who died in the Great War.
Nikon FM - AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 - Fomapan 100 @ ASA-100 - Rollei Supergrain (1+15) 7:30 @ 20C

Canadian National maintained ownership of the old station but left it closed and abandoned in all but name. Rather than attempt to sway Canadian National, the community rallied around the old station central to the town's development. Roof repairs were needed by 1998, and the community raised the required funds to complete the job. And in a twist, Canadian National offered the station to the community and the sale was completed that same year. But it was not only the station but the entire railyard. Palmerston's historical society and the municipal government began the long process of rumination. The station itself was restored to early 20th century colours and some tracks and out-buildings preserved. Most of the land became green space, known as CNR Park, with one entrance still flanked by the preserved Old 81 locomotive. The pedestrian bridge also underwent repairs and remains open to the public, with the station becoming home to a railway museum that seeks to preserve and tell the area's history related to the railroad. The Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum is the only surviving Wellington, Grey & Bruce Railway station in Ontario. Many were demolished during the abandonment of the branch line in 1982, although some sections have been turned into walking trails. The museum boasts some examples of rolling stock, and of course, Engine 81 remains on display. The park offers up much needed green space, and the pedestrian bridge offers one of the best views of the entire park and surviving tracks. It's not hard to imagine the space once crammed with cars and locomotives at the height of railroad usage.

#afadedglory #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #fomapan100 #grandtrunk #greatwestern #greybruce #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #minto #nikond750 #nikonfm #ontario #palmerston #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #rolleisupergrain #wellington

A Faded Glory – Canadian National 6167 – Montreal Locomotive Works (1940-1964)

The year was 2005; I was in my last semester of college and starting to explore my photography seriously. My grandfather, on a lengthy trip, had asked me to housesit for him in Guelph. Having nothing much to do, I would often take long walks in the city's downtown. And looming giant next to the central train station is a rusting hulk of a steam locomotive. While I paid little attention to the engine, CN 6167 was among the luckiest and most photographed locomotives in Canada.

CN 6167 despite all the odds, continues to survive to this day, ironically its new home is where Canadian Pacific once operated a rail yard.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

Locomotives are classified under many different means, name, class, motive power, and most common wheel configuration. The wheel configuration is known as the Whyte notation, and 6167 is a 4-8-4 or, better known, the Northern or Confederation type. Like other locomotives, the 4-8-4 is the next step up from three older configurations, the 4-8-2 "Mountain", 2-8-4 "Berkshire" and 4-6-4 "Hudson". It carries on the idea of a super-power concept with a larger firebox supported by the four trailing wheels; these earliest examples came from the Lima Locomotive Works. But the first 4-8-4 would be produced in 1926 by the American Locomotive Company for the Northern Pacific Railway and earned the name "Northern" as a result. The resulting locomotive could power high-speed passenger and fast freight trains with ease in almost any condition. And the design of the firebox and boiler allowed the burning of even low-grade coal and produced the same amount of power. Canadian locomotive makers, mainly Montreal Locomotive Works, a subsidiary of American Locomotive Company, picked up the design in 1927. These first 4-8-4 locomotives produced on the 60th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation were given the name Confederation, although Northern proved more popular. Both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific made use of the Northern type locomotive. Canadian Pacific ended up not picking up the model, producing only two but not building additional units. Canadian National, on the other hand, ordered 160 Northern Locomotives producing several different variants. Within Canadian National, the Northerns were classified as U-2, save for one particular built unit. The U-4a selected five highly streamlined Northerns, one of which, Number 6400, pulled the Royal Train during the 1939 tour.

A Close-Up of two of the eight main driving wheels.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DWhile many early versions went by the name "Confederation" by the 1940s the more common "Northern" was used to describe these locomotives.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

Number 6167 rolled out of the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1940, a Class U-2-e, one of fourteen class locomotives. Canadian National assigned 6167 to the east coast. Locomotive 6167 found its home in Moncton, New Brunswick. For Canada, the Second World was starting to heat up, and 6167 pulled troop and supply trains towards waiting for ships at Halifax to support the ongoing war in Europe. And the battle is the primary reason why 6167 survives today. On 6 July 1943, 6167 collided head-on with her sister locomotive 6166 at full speed near Montmagny, Quebec. The resulting crash saw both locomotives thrown fifteen feet into the air before crashing back down. Canadian troops from the nearby training camp were enlisted to guard the wreck site while the cleanup and investigations occurred. The first thought for the cause was sabotage by Nazi agents, thankfully no signs of sabotage were found, and the accident was caused by human error. The collision resulted in the death of three, one instantly, and two more succumbed to injury. Under peace conditions, both locomotives would have been scrapped and replacements produced. But with most industrials pivoted to the war effort, both 6167 and 6166 were repaired and returned to service. Locomotive 6167 continued to serve through the war and into the post-war period. But as diesel-electric, which for many years had been relegated to yard switching duty, the arrival of new road and road-switcher engines, the days of steam were starting to come to a close. Starting in 1953, Canadian National began the long road to the retirement of their steam fleet. Many Northern locomotives were sent to the scrapyards, but 6167's luck had not yet run out. After an overhaul at Stratford's Motive Power shops in 1959, Canadian National began using 6167 in Ontario as a tourist train. Many still wanted to experience the romance of a steam locomotive powered train. And 6167 proved popular and quickly found its way onto many tourist's vacation slides. But age quickly caught up to 6167, and by 1964 the locomotive required extensive boiler repair. Canadian National had no choice but to retire 6167 as the Motive Power Shops in Stratford had closed. 6167 would be put in mothballs at CN's Spadina Roundhouse in Toronto.

You don't truly appreciate the scale of these locomotives until you're next to them.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DI couldn't resist taking a self-portrait on 6167.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

For the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Confederation in 1967 and to reduce its mothball fleet in preparation for disposal of property in Toronto's Railway Lands, Canadian National began donating their old Northerns to cities around Canada shared some connection to the railway. For 6167, the contest was between Guelph and Stratford, with Guelph winning out. 6167 arrived in Guelph with great fanfare and took up residence next to Guelph Central Station. But like any donation, the city was happy for a free piece of railway history but did the bare minimum to keep the locomotive in good condition. And no one in the city was willing to accept this responsibility. At least the locomotive got a paint job once a year from inmates at the Guelph Reformatory. But when prison labour was shut down in the 1990s under a series of reforms. It began a target for vandalism and even had the cab set on fire, thankfully causing little major damage. But 6167 was a lucky locomotive, and even as the years and elements turned her into a rusting hulk, it did not do anything for the engine's luck. In 2002 as part of its downtown renewal plan, the Guelph City Council began investigating the restoration of 6167. A consultant was brought on to assess the condition, and surprisingly and despite the amount of decay, the locomotive was in better shape than was expected. The restoration would not be a difficult one. But restoration took both time and money, and efforts would not be complete until 2014. Further troubles came during renovations and expansion of Guelph Central Station and the bus terminal, 6167 would need to find a new home. Thankfully though, the efforts of Guelph Museums, who had taken over the care of 6167, arranged for a new concrete pad at nearby John Galt Park as a new home for the locomotive. Efforts to move her took place in November 2020, with the work being completed by PNR Railworks. Ironically, the engine now sits near where Canadian Pacific once operated its station and a railway yard. Thankfully there are many examples of Northern locomotives that were saved from the scrap yards. Six locomotives are on display in Canada; in addition to 6167, you can find two at the Canadian Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa, including the sleek 6400 from the Royal Tour. 6167's replacement on the tourist circuit is located in Fort Erie, and Toronto's Roundhouse Park is home to 6213. Two that served on Grand Trunk West are saved in the United States. And two Northern's that were built for Canadian Pacific are also preserved, one in Ottawa and the other in Saskatchewan.

#afadedglory #6167 #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #cnlocomotive6167 #crowngraphic #guelph #ilfordhp5 #locomotive #montreallocomotiveworks #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #steamlocomotive #transport

A Faded Glory – Guelph Central Station – Grand Trunk Railway (1911-Present)

The interesting thing about the Guelph Central Station is that I have walked past it many times but have never been drawn to the structure. I'm more likely to walk past it to get a better angle on the armoury or move past towards the old city hall turned courthouse. But Central Station is one of only a few surviving propaganda stations built to instil confidence in the railway operator in the second decade of the new century.

The beautiful Central Station show's Grand Trunk's last ditch efforts to show off their (false) prosperity in the final days of their operation.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Nikon Nikkor-W 1:5.6/180 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200 - Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C

Guelph and the railroad share an interesting relationship since the first Grand Trunk Railway line rolled through 1855. Having acquired the Toronto & Guelph Railway, Grand Trunk recognizing a line from Toronto to Guelph will provide access to the West. The line was immediately extended from Guelph out to Sarnia by way of Stratford and St. Marys. While the railroad offered up several economic perks and the local population enjoyed the easier means of transportation and businesses the capacity to bring in materials and send out goods, there was always a disconnect; Grand Trunk put the right-of-way right through the downtown, cutting through the carefully planned out public green space which had been set aside by John Galt the founder and planner of Guelph. But Grand Trunk usually got its way. The company at least provided a single storey brick station, located where the bus depot sits today. The original 1855 station was designed by Francis Thompson and followed an initial Italianate design with five bays, five large windows. A single waiting room, station master's office, and baggage room. A separate freight shed was also constructed. The station was then updated in 1870 to a more Second-Empire style roof similar to what happened in Kingston before a fire destroyed much of that station. But by the 1880s, the city and residents were started to feel the pinch. The city had grown, and despite some piece-meal efforts by Grand Trunk, they felt it was unnecessary to build a new station or expand their line. There was also the matter of safety; the level crossing downtown proved a bit of a hazard. It also didn't help that Grand Trunk was the only major operator for freight. In 1884 the City established the Guelph Junction Railway to build a short line from the city to the Credit Valley (Canadian Pacific) mainline at Campbellville then promptly invited Canadian Pacific to operate on the short line and use the Priory as their station only a few blocks away from the Grand Trunk Station. Now having some clout, the city's businesses again approached Grand Trunk in 1887 to built a new station. Grand Trunk, still financially unsound, responded by doing minor repair work. When Canadian Pacific began the process of building new stations across its network starting in 1890, Grand Trunk was shaken into action; it also helped that Charles Hayes, now installed as President, saw this as a chance to modernize and unify the entire Grand Trunk Railway starting in 1896. At Guelph, they decided to reuse the old station as a freight office and build a new fitting station for the city in a new location and offered up 5,000$ for a small piece of land, the last public park in the downtown. The city refused the offer, and Grand Trunk went instead to the Federal Government. In 1905 they were granted permission to expropriate the land, and the city had no choice.

A Closer look at the Central Station.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DDetails of the brick and limestone work that were well preserved during the station's restoration.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8D

With the matter of land settled, there remained the matter of design and cost splitting. The city had already launched a lawsuit against Grand Trunk in 1908 for hazards and noise complaints. And the city looked towards the new station at Brantford as a shining example of grand railway architecture. The early 20th Century favoured a blend of Italianate and Romanesque design, which was seen clearly in the 1905 Brantford Station, with towering passenger waiting room and simple baggage space; it was everything that Guelph wanted in their station. The city did win the lawsuit, and Grand Trunk was required to build above grade crossings in a couple of places to ensure a safer downtown. But it also allowed them to reduce the size of the new station. The city was less than pleased when the new plans were published; the look of the Brantford Station was there, but not the size. Construction began that same year; the new station featured a limestone foundation and a buff brick exterior. Ironically, Grand Trunk tore down the old station, using its limestone to form the new station's foundation. Architectural details included the traditional Romanesque building with a grand Italianate tower and a large porte-cochere. Inside was a general waiting area and a separate lady's parlour. Spacious baggage and express room were included. A station master's office, ticket office, and a telegrapher's bay that jutted out onto the platform finished off the interior. Wooden wainscoting and terrazzo floor with attention to details on the ceiling provided a touch of class. The Guelph Mercury went so far as to describe the new station as handsome, but most in the community saw it as underwhelming. The new station opened with little fanfare in November 1911. Only a handful of Grand Trunk brass was on hand to watch the 1 pm train roll through the new station for the first time. Despite the mixed response, the new above grade rail bridges did improve traffic flow through downtown and reduce accidents and injury. The station continued under Canadian National in 1923 and only saw minor renovations completed, notably the installation of a drop ceiling during the depression to save on heat and elimination of the ladies parlour in favour of washrooms.

The station's primary detail the Italinate styled tower above the main entrance.
Nikon D750 - AF-S Nikkor 28-70mm 1:2.8DThe MacDonnel Street bridge, the support pillars date to the late 1850s, while the deck is from the 1930s.
Mamiya m645 - Mamiya-Sekor C 35mm 1:3.5 N (Yellow-12) - Fuji Neopan Acros 100 @ ASA-100 - Adox FX-39 II (1+9) 6:30 @ 20C

When Canadian National eliminated passenger services in 1978, the station was placed under VIA Rail, taking over passenger services across Canada. Being on the main route between Toronto and the United States, the station hosted the International Limited from 1982 to 2004, a jointly operated VIA/Amtrak train running between Toronto and Chicago. GO Transit began operating trains from Toronto to Guelph in 1990, but budget cuts saw the service end after only three years but would see restoration in 2011 and Extention to Kitchener. In 1992 the station received heritage status under the Federal Heritage Railway Station Protection Act. Since the 21st Century, the Station has become a major transit hub in downtown Guelph, a focal point for GO Services (bus and train), VIA Trains, and local transit buses, with an expanded bus depot being completed in 2012. The old station underwent extensive restoration and renovations in 2016 to ensure full accessibility and restoration of key architectural elements; this work saw completion in 2017. Guelph Central remains one of several significant historic buildings in the downtown of Guelph. And it looks like its service to the railroad is not done yet. Metrolinx is planning to improve GO Train service into and out of Guelph. While these improvements will see little effect on the historic train station, the historic railway bridge originally completed in 1857 remains under threat. The bridge decking dates to 1948; however, the bridge supports remain original and could be demolished to build an improved railway bridge. Today, despite having different names and banners, Guelph remains a city rooted in railroad heritage; many rail lines criss-cross the downtown and outskirts of Guelph, although the wealth of structures is greatly diminished, thankfully Guelph Central is not one of them.

#afadedglory #adoxfx39ii #canada #canadianhistory #canadiannational #crowngraphic #fujiacros100 #grandtrunk #guelph #guelphcentralstation #guelphtransit #history #ilfordhp5 #infrastruture #mamiyam645 #nikond750 #ontario #pyrocathd #railroad #railway #viarail