Modelling the Bailey Broom Factory

At last night's ARK Hanley Spur Module group meeting, we moved from discussion to goal-based construction. We're planning to have a model module available for the November Railfair train show. Starting with the River/Rideau/Cataraqui  nexus, it's time to finally build the Bailey Broom Factory. Stay tuned here for progress updates! A 1949 aerial view, while serving as a fuel oil dealership:

September 29 Update: In my scrap box,I found some wall parts that I can use. But I really need some measurements! Going to the RAW architectural drawings for the revamped Bailey, I found millimetre measurements and converted them to feet. The entire east-west length of the office and factory is 118 feet (15 inches in HO), and the width is nearly 29 feet (3 inches in HO). The concrete addition to the north along Rideau Street is 59 feet, and the office is about 20 feet square, with the small sloping wall to the north about 9 feet. On a two-foot wide module with two tracks running down the middle, 118 feet of building simply will not fit! Even on my layout, where the tracks are closer to the backdrop, it won't fit. Time for selective selectivism!

October 5 Update: The walls of some long-forgotten engine shop train show purchase are the feedstock I need. They include pilasters, thought not cast in brick. The foundation is nice, and will have limestone paper attached to it. That end wall is too narrow, so will be discarded. The side walls are too tall, but the Dremel brought them down to an acceptable height:

My on-site photos from 2001, as well as online photos from the city report provide inspiration. Before long, the side walls are tilted up, an end wall has been installed, and the office walls are being pieced together. Measurements are out the window at this point. I've dropped two bays from the north-south original factory, and will drop at least one from the concrete addition. The office is more-or-less full-size. This phase of the construction is taking place on the layout, to make sure I have room to shoehorn the finished structure in between River, Rideau and Cataraqui Streets! Look sharp and you can see that while Dremelling, I've collected lots of those cooled hot-styrene shards. I like to use these for scrap remnants glued into gondola car bottoms!

October 6 Update: During our grandson's naps, it was quiet time for some quiet construction and surreptitious structure-building. Shhhh! The Dremel is not in use and I've added the office bay and some more wall pieces. I've covered over the top third of the engine house windows with brick styrene, and will cover most of them further with 'plywood' styrene.

October 9 Update: Bridging the gap to the concrete addition (along Rideau Street) is a bit of a guessing game. Apparently the office was not built exactly to Newlands plans, so that gives me some licence. The office walls and brick pilasters come from DPM structure add-on kits.

October 10 Update: Doesn't everything look better with a coat of paint? I used some brown and green hobby paints to paint all the brick, and the trim, doors and windows respectively. I used strip styrene to represent the aluminum-covered window sills, and added a scratchbuilt loading door on this, the Cataraqui Street side. Notice the built-up brick over the front door. At this point, the bay is not glued on, ready for its window.

October 11 Update: Office windows and door are in. Roof is ready for the factory. Starting to look 'right' to me:

Another nap means more time to work! I've added the back of the office walls, with some roofing left over from a Superior Bakery kit. Styrene from another kit is being cut to shape for the factory roof sections:

October 12 Update: Generous work block during a dreary fall afternoon! Roof in place on office and factory, so it's time to add the concrete addition. To keep this wing in scale with the factory wing, I've shortened it by one bay, and will use grey styrene, to be reversed and painted white, for the walls. 

Measurements made on the back of the grey styrene walls, Dremel in use and chopped windows and doors from the scrap box are ready to add:

The walls are up and painted. I may still 'plywood over' some of those windows. On the prototype structure, some of the original windows were still in place under the plywood! Depending on the date this factory will be 'set' in, I've decided to keep it in semi-serviceable condition. No-one viewing it would remember the factory in its oil-dealership use, so I'm placing the exterior appearance date somewhere close to my 2001 photographs.

Coming full circle. Returning the structure to where it all began. Roofing, detailing and scenicking still need to occur, but it seems to fit! Though the prototype structure was set on a grade sloping down along Cataraqui Street, and the concrete addition 'bent' slightly backwards to parallel Rideau Street, I've built this (mostly) level and square. Perhaps I can set it 'into' a grade when finally scenicked.

A 'drone view' of where the structure will sit. It will be used on both my home layout and the Associated Railroaders of Kingston modular Hanley Spur layout. I'll be adding lots of cross-bracing and details that will not get knocked off in transit!

With the ARK module group meeting four days away, I hope to have this structure ready to take along to provide some inspiration!

October 15 Update: The concrete addition is attached and styrene roofing completed between all parts of the structure, and pilasters added to concrete addition.

 Limestone-paper foundation added as well as some weathering done:

October 17 Update: Shingles! Realizing the factory, as most structures on a layout, are viewed from above, I would need to add some shingle detail! A piece of cardstock, cut into strips a few millimetres wide, were then cut to individual shingle size with manicure scissors, and glued in parallel from the eaves up. Some shingles were bent up with an X-Acto knife. The roofing between the two wings seems to always have been a problem on the prototype, patched and re-patched!

Tonight's ARK module group meeting went well. Excellent discussion led by Andrew Jeanes focusing on the Rideau/Cataraqui Streets area. So much modelling interest in such a small, two-module space! It was great to have this impetus to finish my structure, and it looks like it will fit in well on my home layout as well as the module/portable layout!

October 23 Update: Now that construction is done, it's time to scenick. Since the factory is on a grade, with Cataraqui Street running downhill along its length, the scenicking should run downhill. But now wanting to change the whole grade on my layout, I decided to built the structure up a bit. So it was off to Dollarama, to pick up a package of plasticene. Setting the structure on the plasticene, I built it up till it looked good:

Then added scenic material up to the bottom of the structure.

Street level view...so far! Now to decide whether to make it vacant (unlikely), roofing contractor (somewhat likely), oil dealership (quite likely) or broom factory (also unlikely) in reverse chronological order. The fun continues. Next door, the National Grocers building awaits...

Kingston's Coal Trucks

If you were buying coal from one of Kingston's coal dealers, you needed delivery. Here's a list of coal dealers in 1919:

Coal trucks from Anglin, Swift and others. On the Wolfe Island ferry ca 1950 (top photo)

 Anglin newspaper ad (above) 1960s

Richardson coal truck overturned heading to DuPont near the grain elevator, giving us a great interior view (above) and Swift (below - Clarence at Ontario Sts.), both from 1948.

Another Anglin truck, this one at Bank of Nova Scotia in October, 1966:

Another Anglin truck, undated:

Restricted Clearances

End-of-the-timetable Restricted Clearances which are not marked by tell-tales or restricted-clearance signs, from the September,1940 CN Belleville Division employees' timetable. Note that the Gananoque Subdivision is now known as the Kingston Subdivision, and that the Kingston Branch would later be referred to as the Hanley Spur.

Imperial Oil Tanker and Bollards

It's difficult to find a photo of an oil tanker discharging its combustible cargo in the Inner Harbour. After looking in all the usual places, I finally found such a photo in an unlikely place! Arlie Robb often crossed the causeway to Barriefield. And he photographed some interesting marine sights. The Queen's University Archives holds the Arlie Robb fonds, photos of various diverse subjects, including the Imperial Collingwood* in June, 1976 (top photo) with Canadian Dredge & Dock visible in the background. The photo would have been taken from the former coal unloading dock on the west side of the Cataraqui River  (extreme bottom left corner of George Lilley aerial photo, taken in April, 1951, also from the QUA):

Across the few feet of water was that whitish area (above) where the Imperial (Imperial Collingwood, Imperial London, Imperial Simcoe) and Shell tankers would have docked to unload (furnace oil, stove oil gasoline) filling the nearby oil tanks. Their loads were either taken on in Sarnia or Toronto (via pipeline from Sarnia). Surrounded by Canadian Dredge & Dock scows and vessels. In a subsequent post, I'll list some of the marine traffic including tankers that visited the Inner Harbour. 

This Whig clipping shows Imperial Windsor passing through the causeway at the start of the 1963 navigation season:

Here's a Whig clipping from March, 1974 showing Imperial Collingwood docked as the first vessel of the shipping season, seen riding high in the water:

Two years earlier, Imperial London couldn't risk entering the Inner Harbour to unload due to high winds on November 27, 1972: 

Bollards for mooring still exist:

There was wood cribbing (shown on my diagram as decayed dock) between the bollards. Bow of a laker at Anglin's coal dock with retaining wall, bollards and equipment in the background:

A recent walk finally put me on this hallowed ground on the Inner Harbour! Bollard in water:

Walking a little farther back toward Doug Fluhrer Park, MetalCraft Marine (former site of Canadian Dredge & Dock) is in the background with marina docking in foreground:

 A little farther along, another view including the Leeuwarden Condominiums on the far shore:

A few days later I returned to get some close-up photos of the installation, largely overgrown. A schematic, with Frontenac Village (south) at top, across the narrow docking channel. Going counter-clockwise around the installation, I encountered the large bollard, two metal retaining walls out of which most of the retained rocks had disappeared, two small bollards, two unloading pipes near a decayed and submerged wooden dock, a welded-shut steel box, two more small bollards, the large bollard, and a light pole and small steel box:

 Looking across to Frontenac Village, the first of the two smaller bollards are shown with red arrows:

 The smaller bollard carries the name Drydock Engine Works Detroit:

One of the weed-grown unloading pipes:

This welded-shut steel box probably contains a valve to connect the ship's hose to. Ron Hawkins has kindly noted that the ship would pump the oil itself, not needing any additional pumping equipment to unload the tankers:

 Two more smaller bollards, the retaining wall and blue No Wake sign and Causeway bridge:

And the second large bollard, still with cables and ropes around it:

An aerial view from the Whig 1994 Neighbourhoods series:

The Queen's University Archives turned up a hidden gem, with this view of Imperial Windsor approaching the causeway bridge. The tanker was the first vessel of the year to enter Kingston harbour at the start of the 1969 shipping season, on April 10, reportedly carrying 680,000 gallons of fuel oil:

Closeup (above). The causeway bridge is up:

Neat memories from Ron Hawkins via the Hall Corporation Shipping (HALCO) Fleet Page on Facebook:

"In 1978 I was a cadet on the [HALCO] Chemical Transport. We did several trips to the inner harbour to Anglin Fuel. A very tight turn to port once our ass cleared the causeway. The buoy marking the channel for the Rideau Canal was under the bow as seen from the wheelhouse. Twin screw helped mightily getting to the berth."

"The steel box you mention on your page was unlikely to be a pump facilty. Ships pump it themselves, but if anything there it’s likely a valve to connect the ship’s hose to."

More information on the Imperial Collingwood:

• The tanker Imperial Collingwood began service on April 15, 1948, built at Collingwood Shipyards. 
• Lengthened 1961 at Montreal QC by Canadian Vickers Ltd., remeasured to 293.5 x 43.6 x 17.4, 2530 GT, 1610 NT;
• Lengthened again 1969 with new bow and stern at Sorel QC by Marine Industries Ltd., remeasured to 324.0 length and 2620 GT, 1671 NT.
• Sold 1977 to Shediac Bulk Shipping Ltd., Moncton NB and renamed Seaway Trader.
• Sold 1984 for off-Lakes service and left the Great Lakes.
• Renamed Patricia II (Panama) 1987, Balboa Trader 1992 and Rivas 1995.

Gord McGlynn Video

Taken on the waterfront, this late 1950's video shared by the Associated Railroaders of Kingston on Facebook shows some harbour hijinks, a sports car, and general views taken from the Brock St pier area. Included are CLC, the freight shed, CP station, view up Brock Street, and the buildings east of there including the feed mill and Fort Frontenac. A couple of screenshots show two stacked-lettering CPR boxcars, what looks like a tank car, and a classic old truck or two near the CP freight shed:

 And another stacked-lettering CPR boxcar behind the 'Firehall Restaurant'.

Exploring the George E.O. Lilley Fonds

During my recent sojourn to the Queen's University Archives, I began exploring the George E.O. Lilley Fonds which were donated to the archives. I perused two boxes. There are fifty-one!

To quote from the fonds description:
George Edwin Osborne Lilley was a photographer born in Kingston in 1918. George served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Just prior to the end of the war and after the war, he was employed at the National Film Board of Canada where he produced films for foreign distribution, working under John Grierson.

After joining the militia he was, at the same time, actively involved in the public relations role of the Canadian Armed Forces. He served as Public Information Officer from 1955-1974. He retired from the Armed Forces in 1974. Mr. Lilley joined Transport Canada as Public Affairs Officer. He was stationed with the Canadian Coast Guard in Toronto.

Mr. Lilley had been interested in photography from an early age. For many years he was a freelance photographer in Kingston. His photographic work involved news photography, documentaries, advertising and promotional work. As far as the news side of photographic gathering is concerned, Mr. Lilley was under contract to provide news photographs for the Kingston Whig-Standard, the Toronto Telegram, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Journal, the Montreal Star, Montreal Gazette, the Associated Press, the United Press, Time-Life Fortune, and some European newspapers. He passed away on 22 November 2003. 

The fonds consist of approximately 20,000 negatives documenting events and people in Kingston and district from the late 1940's to the early 1960's.

Business card - 1952

Walking the Hanley Spur, August 2019

While downtown on a nice August morning, we decided another walk on the Urban K&P Trail would give us a fresh route. Starting at Doug Fluhrer Park along Wellington Street, the Woolen Mill soon came into view (top photo). Ducks, swans and turtles make this part of the river their home. The clean lines and enduring nature of the woolen mill, its largely non-toxic industrial output and continued use never made it a brownfield and secured its future:

Crossing Montreal & Railway Streets, I took a look at some of the signage on Quattrocchi's:

The spur-side unloading door, windows, change of paint and even a 'vintage' auto completed the scene:                    

Turning toward Railway and Rideau Streets, the Depot School's limestone expanse marked the location of the Grand Trunk Railway's early incursions into Kingston:

George A. Wright's former machine shop location north of Hickson Avenue is a less-historic, industrial-park structure.

The trail gets a bit tricky to follow, now that CP no longer crosses CN. Emerging onto John Counter Boulevard, we need to head west to Division, cross it, then up and over the CN, then down a bit, hang a left through the city's former snow dump and regain the trail where CP used to head toward Dalton Avenue. A small limestone rock cut just north of the CN gives an indication of CP's former presence here. In the meantime, CN No 149 with three locomotives, heads west through Queens East interlocking:

The remainder of our six-mile walk took us almost to Dalton Avenue, through a peaceful paved section removed from train and vehicle traffic. Thistles and goldfinches, hogweed and Monarch butterflies marked our passage with their own, flitting from flower to flower. No sign of CP's former passing track here, which was used to serve the industrial park before returning to Smiths Falls. 

At the site of the former River Street bridge, only a photo markes its location. One's imagination must do the rest. Dyeco, at River and Orchard Streets, continues in business as Sensient. Completing our stroll past the woolen mill and the basking turtles, it was time for a rest. 

ABNA's re-imagining of the Imperial Oil warehouse at North Street is still just that. Stabilized, the structure yawns open toward the sky. Some track star has spray-painted 'Think Again Doornekamp' across this nifty artist's rendition of the multi-unit residence it will become!