Canadian Dredge & Dock, 1980's

In the spring of 1980, my Dad and I were driving around the waterfront. Seeing some Canadian Coast Guard vessels under construction, out came the Instamatic! The Gull Isle and Cove Isle were 80-ton tugs. This photo looks north. The large crane is the one of the only remnants still on the site!

Helen McAllister, registered in Montreal. Note the bulk oil tanks and that intriguing large-bore pipe in the foreground, skirting the shore:

 I bet Work Boat No. 11 could tell some stories!

 CCGS Spray and Spindrift were here for refurbishing in mid-1979.

In November, 1980 the CD&D tug Bagotville was in the drydock on another of our visits:

 CD&D tug G. W. Rogers:

The dredge Primrose on a peaceful morning:

 ...and from a distance...

Then the dredge Primrose had a misadventure:

Ships on Kingston's Waterfront

An important part of the allure of modelling Kingston's waterfront trackage is just that - the waterfront and the vessels, both large and small that could be glimpsed. Some brought cargo, some carried passengers, some were built here, some were stored here and some came to be repaired. But all of them were working boats. These newspaper clippings were carefully clipped by my Dad. Queen's University heating plant received coal shipments at what is now the Gordon Edgar Downie Pier near the water purification plant on King Street (top photo).

Captioned 1924:

The Wolfe Island Ferry was, and still is, a fixture. Originally docking at the foot of Brock Street, the ferry is prominent in many waterfront photos - with the Richardson elevator (above) and Shoal Tower (below):

 Before the bubble system was introduced, tugs were used to keep the ferry route ice-free:

A 1963 ferry schedule contained timing of Kingston-Wolfe Island and Wolfe Island-Cape Vincent passage:

'Semi-turret' CSL vessel Acadian shown at the CSL grain elevator:

Tugs aided in many roles - docking, barging, berthing, even rescues and salvage:

 The larger of Kingston's two drydocks:

In later years, an 'unsightly' part of the waterfront. Apparently, both the shipyards and the grain elevator here were rail-served. The shipyard had its own travelling rail-crane:

The eighties saw a final decline in shipping in Kingston. 

Was this photo one of the last?

Four former Halco canallers spent the years 1970-1973 near the LaSalle Causeway - the Coniscliffe Hall, Eaglescliffe Hall, Northcliffe Hall and Westcliffe Hall. Note Esso sign at Knapp's Boats, far right:

The last to depart was Coniscliffe Hall which become a drilling barge, in 1973:

Tugboat Frontenac at the Kingston Shipyards drydock. Note the Forwarders elevator in the background:

A 1900 Whig clipping of shipping through Kingston:

CP Wayfreight in HO Scale

My HO-scale layout represents Kingston's Hanley Spur - a term I use to refer to CN and CP trackage on Kingston's waterfront. Kingston was served by CP wayfreights that originated on their Belleville Subdivision from Smiths Falls, ON. In the diesel era - usually powered by a single S-3, RS-23 or RS-18. On this day, the power du jour was this Baby Train-Master H16-44 8552. Let's follow the wayfreight from its arrival in Kingston until it's ready to return, having switched the local industries. You'll notice the same trainman in most of the photos. We'll call him 'Dave'. Section forces have some S&C hardware in their truck as the wayfreight arrives. 

In this case, my CP trains originate in the CN-CP interchange on Queens. Technically, this interchange north of the CN was a result of the CP Kingston Subdivision being truncated at the CN Kingston Subdivision realignment in the early 1970's. It's just a handy spot to make up the train and handle some cars to/from the CN. A short run over CN to reach the downtown trackage, here along Montreal Street as 'Dave' flags a crossing:

Stopped along Montreal Street near the CN Outer Station, Gus' Railway Restaurant is in foreground, with a stand-in structure for Presland Iton & Metal in background:

Interestingly, Presland is served by CN and CP joint trackage. Along with Frontenac Wall & Floor Tile, this bit of CP trackage was a remnant of their earlier crossing at grade with the CN. A BN gondola of steel joins a CP gon already spotted there now being removed as an empty. (The V.I.E.W. lettering is also a remnant - of my earlier Vancouver-based layout!) Dave is making the joint:

Moving down the spur, along Division Street, Dave gets ready to cut off two CN hoppers of gravel received in interchange for Gus Marker Cement. The wayfreight, marked by the CP gon from Presland, remains on the spur lead:

Three customers along Railway Street are served by CP: Weston's Bakery, MacCosham Van Lines and Gamble & Robinson. All are modern warehouses, the latter receiving shipments of building materials. Cars of flour are swapped at Weston's, with basic scenicking and stand-in structures still in evidence:

The near-end of the CP Kingston Subdivision is marked by a runaround track. Due to the down-and-back nature of the wayfreight's run, it was essential to have such an arrangement to prepare the train for its return northward journey. Some industries are switched off the runaround, such as Sowards Coal and I. Cohen, which are along the waterfront and south of the runaround. Dave is coupling en empty boxcar from Gamble & Robinson to the train;

Overhead view: cars to be left at the south end of the run are on the siding, with the train ready to return on the lead. Dave prepares to board the power for the final moves:

An empty CP Rail gon is spotted at the I. Cohen scrap metal yard for loading. Once again, Dave is right where he needs to be to complete the set-out:

Dave creatively yet unsafely climbs a concrete support to oversee the lifting of a Boston & Maine empty at Sowards coal trestle, with the CPR hopper of coal about to be spotted. I made those coalpiles out of plasticene on plastic lids, painted and with black sand poured on the wet paint. Do they look like ziggurats to you?? CN's line to the waterfront and eventually Canadian Locomotive Co. is at left, with its Imperial Oil bulk oil facility at the top left:

Two workers at the S. Anglin lumberyard watch as the load is spotted, safely using idler cars:

Newest customer on the CP line: Canadian Dredge & Dock. I'm still deciding whether or not to add a drydock here - I think the answer is going to be a yes.

A peek at the competition. Canadian Dredge & Dock is at left, facing CN's former Grand Trunk freight shed and team track. Serving downtown Kingston's freight needs from 1912 to the late 1960's, this facility dates my Hanley Spur layout to 1970 or earlier, the year it was demolished. But so far, I've resisted the temptation to model a year and/or month. With early diesels and occasional steam power, this layout will represent the 1950's to 1970's. I'm modelling an era.

Here's the current list of customers served by CN and CP with commodities and car types:

CN:
CN Express - express shipments in/out - boxcars/reefers
National Grocers - food/produce in - boxcars/reefers
Imperial Oil - oil in - tankcars, lubricants in - boxcars
Freight Shed/Team Track - merchandise in/out - boxcars/reefers/various
Presland Iron and Metal - steel in - gondolas
Canadian Locomotive Co. - steel/misc. in - gondolas/boxcars, locomotives out -  flatcars

CP:
Presland Iron and Metal - steel in - gondolas
Gus Marker Cement - cement, gravel in - covered hoppers/hoppers
Quattrocchi Specialty Foods - produce in - reefers
Weston's Bakeries - flour in - covered hoppers
MacCosham Van Lines - household effects in/out - boxcars
Gamble & Robinson - lumber in - boxcars
C.E. MacPherson - coal, steel in - hoppers/gondolas
Sowards Coal - coal in - hoppers
Canadian Dredge & Dock - materials in - various
S. Anglin Co. - lumber in - boxcars
I. Cohen Steel - scrap out - gondolas

Modelling Canadian Dredge & Dock

Located on Kingston's Inner Harbour, just past the causeway on the Hanley Spur/west side, Canadian Dredge & Dock was a longtime resident of the area. The dry dock that anchored the site (pun intended) was built in the late 19th century, changing ownership from Davis to CD&D in the 1930's. The site's heyday was a centre of operations during the dredging and construction of the St Lawrence Seaway which opened in 1959. CD&D built many vessels, and remarkably, the site remains in use by fabricator MetalCraft Marine! These two photos, by CD&D employee Stefan Nybom, include one taken from the Imperial Oil tanks (above) and from a dredge (below). Remarkable!

Both photos above include the Coast Guard vessel Kenoki in the dry dock. The 1963 insurance map (below) shows a CPR spur serving the Stores building, which is seen just behind the tugboat-on-barge in the above photo.

Initially, I had lots of space for the 'inner harbour' part of my layout, which is centred on a peninsula. So far, the freight shed and unloading ramp, through track to Canadian Locomotive Co., Sowards Coal, S. Anglin and now CD&D are sharing this peninsula. Seeing that spur in Stefan's photo, I definitely wanted to make room for CD&D to receive loads, which I would imagine was the purpose of the spur, though it also reached the yard. Until, of course, I find a photo to prove otherwise! More inspiration...the brigantine St Lawrence II in the dry dock, mid-70's: 

Fun fact - when searching online for a proper CD&D logo for modelling purposes, Google wants to show me many, more references for the dredging scandal and the landmark legal case involving CD&D.

To get started, I wanted a tugboat. Some of the vessels were small enough to be lifted out of the water by crane so could be modelled on dry land. I'm no expert in epoxy water modelling! But modelling a dry dock isn't really water modelling. In fact, I'd have to cut a 'hole' in the benchwork to show a vessel in drydock. Hmmm...

But after seeing HO scale tugboat models starting at $85, I wanted to try something new. So, a $2 block of plasticene from the dollar store was a starting point. Nurse, scalpel! The surgery was a success, with CD&D colours and details applied. This closeup photo is less than flattering, but wait until I get the tug 'on stage' in the scene....

Heavy equipment, work buildings, scratchbuilt tug and barge are now in the scene. I'm still considering the idea of cutting a drydock into the benchwork!

Just to the left of these photos, a single spur now serves three industries: CD&D, Shell Oil and S. Anglin Co.