The people of the Hanley Spur

As rail enthusiasts and model railroaders, we fixate on details. Details of motive power, track arrangements, dates and locations, trains and track, bolts and boxcars. But what about the people? Here are some photos of people at locations along the Hanley Spur. Frontenac Floor & Wall Tile jocular staff at their plant opposite the Outer Station (top photo) and a group of businessmen at the Outer Station dated 1932:

Who were these people? What were they doing? And why was the Hanley Spur and the wider rail system important to them. For travel, for jobs, for daily life.

Wartime brought servicemen to Kingston, and many were photographed at the Outer Station. Dated 1945:                                     

In 1948, a group of HMCS Cataraqui tars are at the station parking lot:

 And those crazy Queen's kids definitely post-war!

No frivolity here! Waiting for the train in 1963 (Arlie Robb fonds, Queen's University Archives):

More frivolity, looks like Hallowe'en at the Anglin facilities on the Inner Harbour:

Speaking of the harbour, in 1959 it was chainsaws to free the Wolfe Islander from ice, with coalpiles in the background: 

Folkie music groups even gathered along the Hanley Spur for album photos. In 1970, it was Rideau and River Streets:

Note to self: remember the people that lived around the tracks, ran and rode the trains on the tracks, and even those who sat (!) on the tracks.

CLC Diesel Day, 1951

August 1, 1951 was christened Diesel Day at the CLC plant. This subsequent post gives an indication,  from the local newspaper, how big this day was to Kingston!

The release of the two new CLC locomotives was witnessed by huge crowds, and both units were acquired by CP: 7006 as their 4065. Lorraine Snider shared this photo on Facebook, showing her husband, who worked at Frontenac Tile, posing with 7006. Lorraine's father apparently worked at CLC. Occasionally visible in photos of CP's freight-handling capabilities at their Ontario Street facilities, the gantry crane is visible at right in the photo below.

K&P Memories of Robert Curry

Views of the Kingston & Pembroke/CPR in steam days are much easier to come by than the diesel era. Two books have profiled the line. But to see personal photos is a real treat.

On the Old Time Trains website, memories shared by Robert Curry give us several new views from 1953. The above photo is dated August 22, 1953 and is taken along the waterfront at what looks like the Canadian Locmotive Co. trackage, or more likely the foot of Brock Street.

For the full series of photos, click here. 

Walking the Hanley Spur, er, Urban K&P Trail

Before the City of Kingston's Urban K&P Trail was officially opened, we parked at Douglas Fluhrer Park and headed up the trail in spring, 2017. Though it wasn't on this walk, but a future walk in summer 2018, it was at this spot that I had the blinding realization that I had to model the Hanley Spur on my basement layout. There was a pretty powerful sense of living history as we walked. The Imperial Oil warehouse at North Street:

As we walked along the shore of the Inner Harbour, we got away from the former roadbed, but nearer to the remains of wooden ships still visible on the harbour bed!

While I decried the lack of proper signage, I needed to have some patience. The signage now in place is really good! From the waterside, the mill looks as good or better than it may have in its working days. And the site of some pretty nice dinners for the two of us, at the River Mill restaurant!

One of the few vestiges of the area's industrial heritage is this truck-loading superstructure that formerly served the Rosen Fuels tank farm. The Woolen Mill is visible in background as we approach Rideau Street.

Both CN and CP lines were parallel here. The spur to the C E McPherson plant (the plant is visible at middle left) would have diverged here. The city has done a nice job of planting trees and bushes along the trail here.

Where Rideau meets Montreal, we approach Quattrocchi's. The trail is obviously not complete here, but one still takes one's life in one's hands to cross Montreal Street here, and Division Street farther along!

Imagine produce-bearing house cars being spotted here:

I believe that this spot marks the crossing of K&P and the Grand Trunk lines. A short stretch of track was preserved, but I didn't see it on our next walk! Looking north:

And looking south. The Outer Station would have been straight ahead. Imagine a double-track mainline here!

We stopped around Counter Street. On our next walk, we made it to the northwest part of the Division Street and John Counter Boulevard intersection. From there, the trail is not too photogenic, following the original K&P alignment diverging from the CN and heading toward Sydenham Road. From the Binnington Court trail access, it is a nice, rural stroll up to the Highway 401.

Of course, I'd much rather see photos of the Hanley Spur in its heyday, but it's good to know we can still walk where once the mighty limiteds trod!

Bonus! The City of Kingston provides this video view of the Urban K&P Trail.

Hanley Spur, Harbour Views

CP 445 skirts the Inner Harbour in the shadow of oil storage tanks

The trackage of the Hanley Spur was inextricably woven into Kingston's waterfront scene. Industries that received supplies by water, or just needed nearby water supplies were built along the water. Some of these included Imperial Oil, the Canadian Locomotive Co., and the many coal dealers that received coal shipments from US coal mines via lake freighter. Crossing Ontario Street, undated:

CPR 437 is shown in the winter of 1953 at the foot of Brock Street (CSTM collection photo):

Below, CPR D4g 417 is at the throat of CP's North Street roundhouse and yard trackage, with the inner harbour in the area of the Woolen Mill visible at right in the background:

 CPR 417 along Inner Harbour from Mattingly collection

CPR 1092 near the station with PFE 40210 on the pin, 1958

Winter view, 1943

Len Poole photo dated 1971 with crossbucks still in place

From 'Block D', dated 1915.

A nice clear view from the Marsden Kemp Fonds of the Archives of Ontario, thanks to Ann Prince Stevens for sharing this view seemingly taken off a car spotted at the CP freight shed, perhaps.

Kingston elevator dated 1905.

Compare the above, rather lively photo shared by Don McQueen from a family album taken in 1910, with this rather quiet view fifty years later:

CP freight house view, 1960

Iceboat with Nickel Plate and CN boxcars, and gantry, undated

CP freight house view, 1960

Trainload of equipment from CLC along Inner Harbour STR24301a.001.aa.cs Contract C571 undated.

CPR has cut off the passenger cars, CN photo

More freight cars are visible in this photo from the RAIC newsletter, 1961.

Foot of Brock Street, from Kingston: Celebrate this City by Joan Finnigan.

Station and City Hall, captioned 1928

Taken from top of the Richardson elevator, CP trackage and a street railway streetcar, 1910!

1955

CLC at left, with coal piles delivered by lake boat, coal pier and passenger car at Hanley Station, and CP freight shed

'Tilt-shifted' view of City Hall and CP trackage, 1919.

Captioned 1961 from RAIC newsletter

CP steam switches the small yard, 1948.

 

With CPR 1095 preserved, the lone CN track leading to CLC looks quite lonely.

Kingston Shipyards 1955 Whig-Standard harbourfront photo