Wilmots Dairy Truck

200th post on this blog! In a continuing effort to improve the local flavour of my vehicle fleet, I assembled a Wilmots Dairy truck out of parts. A cab from an Esso tank truck, a box from a Roco military truck, wheels from a Tyco tranport trailer and chassis from scrap styrene. This truck represents a commercial dairy delivery truck rather than the home delivery truck from which the milkman made numerous stops. I used an image of Wilmots advertising, formatted to fit the side of the truck box and printed. I matched a white for the cab. I've since painted the front fenders, as well as the rear bumper I added, dark blue - the prototype Divco home delivery truck has a blue hood also.

The finished product is at Montreal and Rideau Streets (top photo) and crossing the River Street Bridge:

Here's the prototype, taken by George Lilley in 1948 at the Wilmots Producer Dairy at the Traffic Circle (Queen's University Archives). Note the image on the building sign, matching that on my truck:

Here's a black and white image of my truck on Wellington Street:

And a view of the same truck in the same spot, from the backyards lining the CN Hanley Spur along Wellington Street:

By cutting and pasting the Wilmot graphics, I was able to produce a billboard:

Another possible project - a Wilmots Ford cabover truck: 

And just for fun, a much earlier photo showing the range of horsepower used by the Hemlock Park Dairy, also in Kingston (below). The age of actual horse power was over by my modelled era!

Another Anglin Coal Truck

 

Many elements of a scene give it a sense of place. One of these elements is prototypical vehicles. In an earlier post, I added to the S. Anglin coal delivery truck fleet.                   

Here's the real thing, delivering to the Royal Bank in 1966:                              

Here's my model, stopped along Rideau Street:

Here's the After and the Before: Released in 1966, the Matchbox No.48 red Dodge tandem dumptruck I started with is at right. I hacksawed off the lip of the box over the cab, and the slanted back of the dumpbox. I removed the dual axles and added a replacement with dual tires. Then it was time to paint the cab red and the box yellow. Printed lettering and logo were cut to fit in the spaces in the dumpbox side supports. The box had a tailgate added, then was painted with dilute black craft paint for the prototypical weathering that dirty coal would provide:

But this truck was meant to work! About to make a delivery on Wellington Street - once an everyday occurrence downtown:

Then it was time to return to the S.Anglin yard to pick up another load!

Esso Bulk Tank Upgrading

The previous post included a view of Imperial Oil's bulk tanks along Rideau Street in 1970. Since that's my nominal year for modelling on my HO scale Hanley Spur layout, it inspired me to upgrade my HO scale tanks, which were really just place-holders or mock-ups made of cardstock. 

Looking across CN and CP tracks above the limestone outcropping on the harbour side of Rideau Street, (above) the tanks are showing their age and have a large Esso oval logo. Here's the Before photo, showing my white cardstock tanks and way-too-small logo. In the foregound, closer to water level, is the limestone Imperial Oil warehouse:

My duckunder was a handy workbench, with the tank site just to the left. I taped the cardstock to a piece of foamcore matching my available backdrop space. Each piece is one half of an 8x11 sheet. My previous mock-ups are visible just behind:                                                   

I cut curved pieces of cardstock that I taped in to form the tops of the tanks. Here is the completed bulk tank backdrop. The colour is not so blazingly white:

I decided those former Texaco turquoise tanks had to go! I used a tape-runner to apply adhesive to the parchment-like paper onto the cardstock, which ironically, like the paper came from my wife's side of the layout/craft room! 

I'd photographed a small Esso oval logo, enlarged and dulled by photo-editing, also applied to the paper with tape-runner.

I added a couple of power poles and rearranged the equipment sheds around the tanks. As suggested by modeller Lance Mindheim, keeping a colour palette narrow reduces the suspension of disbelief required by brighter structure colours!

Cabbages and Kings film, 1970

This film profiles some down-on-their-luck men in Kingston, who circulate between downtown streets and the Inner Harbour shoreline, girl-watching in the former and day-drinking in the latter. Along the way, the cops come calling and the cells await. Directed by Peter Duffy, the film is online at vimeo.

The rail enthusiast in me picked out three brief scenes that I've screen-shotted. Two of the men rush to rescue someone in danger in the water, with Esso tanks on Rideau Street in the background. They're crossing tracks in the CP yard, with a CN switchstand at right indicating the Hanley Spur switch to the Imperial Oil limestone warehouse. 

Drinking in front a pile of wooden timbers, the men miss this awesome photo of Anglin's crane and its clamshell bucket taking coal from a Reading hopper car, with their covered coal trestle just visible at right:

And though it doesn't show well in this view, at the left of this frame, a CP switcher pushes a few cars into CP's yard, with basic boat docks visible in foreground and the Woolen Mill visible in the background.

CSL Package Freighter Fort Henry

FORT HENRY was named for her namesake fortification in Kingston. Hull#150 was launched March 10, 1955, at Collingwood, Ontario by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., for Canada Steamship Lines Ltd.  

Dimensions: 461’ 6" LOA x 56’ beam x 32’ depth; 5,729 GRT 4,159 NRT. Powered by a 4,500 shp double reduction geared steam turbine built by John Inglis Co. Ltd. of Toronto, Ont. and 2 Foster-Wheeler oil-fired water tube boilers. The vessel was originally planned to be named FORT GARRY and had that name painted on her hull but prior to launch, the name was changed to FORT HENRY. The Whig-Standard published this story on March 11: 

The ship entered service in May of 1955. She was the first of Canada Steamship Lines "Fort Class" package freighters and the only one to have her pilothouse forward. Built for speed, the FORT HENRY could reach speeds of 18 mph. In her early years, the vessel often carried freight upbound loaded through the side doors and grain downbound loaded through her deck hatches.

On December 4, 1956, FORT HENRY struck bottom near the Canoe Rocks, Lake Superior, and was badly damaged. It reached Fort William safely, was unloaded, and spent the winter on the Port Arthur Dry Docks for repairs. It returned to service April 12, 1957. In 1960 her tonnage was changed to 5,729 GRT and 3,707 NRT. Ownership changed in 1970 to Steamship Forwarding Ltd. of Montreal, Que. while still under the management of Canada Steamship Lines.

At the end of the 1979 shipping season the FORT HENRY was laid up in Kingston, Ont. until she was sold for scrap to United Metals Ltd. of Hamilton, Ont. in 1984. (All Canada Steamship Lines package freight service ended before the start of the 1982 shipping season.) The FORT HENRY was towed by tugs GLENEVIS and GLENSIDE to Hamilton, Ont. arriving on June 5, 1984. Scrapping began in 1988. 

CSL's Last Canaller

A little background on Metis: She was the last canal-sized ship built for Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The 259 foot long carrier was launched in 1956. She was lengthened at Kingston Shipyards to 331 feet in 1959 and deepened by 5 feet. Show in drydock on January 30, 1959 (top photo and below - Queen's University Archives). An internal CSL memo proposing the conversion was copied to shipyard superintendent R.W. Sutton in October, 1958:

Metis went back to work for CSL carrying cargoes for Lake Ontario Cement and usually managed in excess of 80 trips a year. It usually loaded at Picton for Toronto or Rochester and occasionally came up the Welland Canal for Windsor. Metis ended her career as a powered freighter, tying up at Kingston, on August 1, 1983, where I photographed her in 1984 with some of her bigger fleetmates: 

Metis was towed to Toronto on October 29, 1989 and, in time, rebuilt as a barge. The pilothouse was removed and a notch cut in the stern to accommodate a pusher tug. Here she is approaching Bath Lafarge cement plant on June 9, 2018 propelled by the tug Salvage Monarch:

Metis traveled down the Seaway on May 20, 1991, to begin a new career as a barge and has worked on the St. Lawrence and as a stationary storage barge at Green Bay, Windsor and Toronto. Metis is now owned by Essroc Cement and has seen considerable service carrying cargoes from Picton to Rochester as silting in the harbor has prevented the deeper draft Stephen B. Roman from servicing the port. When not in service, Metis is tied up and ready in Toronto. 

What's Up, Dock?

This 1881 Kingston Harbour map, from Library and Archives Canada, illustrates two things:

One, how difficult it must have been to bring your sloop, schooner, steamer or laker into the harbour, past those shoals, and oh, don't hit Shoal Tower on the way by!

Two, how those dock names ebbed and flowed over the years as new commercial enterprises, merchants and companies rose to prominence. Wharves extended from the shipyards to the Queen’s Wharf at Tete du Pont Barracks. The slips at the foot of the streets were all open: at Barrack, Strange’s; at Queen, Smith’s; at Princess, Commercial; at Brock, Scobell’s; at Clarence, Fraser’s; at William, Cartwright’s; at Earl, Counter’s; at Beverley, Morton’s. The names of wharves changed over time as enterprises came and went, or their uses changed.

Switchman's Shanty on Ontario Street

A switchtender had a cabin near where Ontario Street and meets Barrack Street to control CN and CP train movements just east of City Hall. It was opposite the cornerwall surrounding the Tete de Pont barracks. (Top photo - from Kingston Picture Collection, Queen's University Archives. Though it's undated, the car is a 1953 or 1954 Ford Fairlane). The track almost buried in the road's shoulder is NOT the joint section that CN and CP shared. The joint section is on the far side of the shanty, and the track in foreground is the spur to a feed mill. Millard & Lumb is just visible in background. The shanty is the kind of structure that no-one would photograph on its own, though its location can be discerned from other photos: I was able to photograph the original and focus in on several details:

Cities Service tank cars, and the shanty steps and door (above - glare is on the original) Note the signal for trains on short signal mast on shanty:

Rotary Club welcome sign and lettering on Millard & Lumb, "Electric and Gas Welding - Steamship and Boiler Repairs - Millard & Lumb"

A photo of the cabin, taken at Barrack Street captioned 1930 from the late Charles Cooper. Note that the Fort Frontenac gate at right extends outward toward Ontario Street. This was a traffic bottleneck and its inversion into the fort was planned in 1930, obviously after this photo was taken. In the distance is Sowards Coal, with the Montreal Transportation Co. elevator spur crossing Ontario Street. Note the switch tender sitting outside and the two semaphores attached to the cabin, later reduced to one. 

The CP designation was Mi. 103.3-103.4 of its Kingston Subdivision, and Mi 2.2-2.3 (1970's)  of CN's Hanley Spur. Tommy/Teddy Smith was a peg-legged railway switchman who opened the switch for the Kingston & Pembroke (CPR) trains to cross the GTR/CNR. It was common for injured employees to be given flagman jobs. He rated his own listing in the Kingston city directory, 1923 (below). A Whig story notes the flagman's name was J. Delph of Stephen Street in 1910.

What Tommy was guarding - the joint track across Ontario Street, where a CP steam-led train heads north out of Kingston with its two wooden coaches in tow and the Public Utilities Commission building at right:  

A 1950 CN employees' timetable gives instructions for operations at the crossing:

Mileage 1.79 - 1.94 Joint section with CP Rly. Signal located on north side of cabin Mileage 1.79 governs CNR westward movement. Signal located on south side of cabin governs CPR westward movement. Day signalman only. When Signalman on duty, trains and engines of CNR and CPR westward must stop before passing signal and proceed only on receiving flag signal from signalman. Signalman must precede and flag each westward movement over joint section. CNR eastward movement – Rule 93 governs. When signalman not on duty – CNR signal will indicate Proceed and CPR signal will indicate Stop and so left for uninterrupted movement of CNR trains and engines. Movement of CPR trains and engines over joint section must be made under flag protection and rear of such trains must also be protected against CNR trains by leaving Flagman at the entrance to the joint tracks.

After Mr Smith's death, a CN employee was responsible for walking over from the Wellington Street freight shed to operate the switches.

The shack can be just visualized on aerial photos taken in 1920 (above and below):

Close-up view:

Queen's University Archives, 1950 (below). The shanty remained in place until 1964.

 1964 aerial photo - the shanty is gone: 

And a summer, 1963 Queen's University Archives photo of a CN crew working on the switch that joined the CN and CP into the joint trackage shows what would have been the shanty's location, behind the track gang and just across from the corner wall of Fort Frontenac: 

By 1963, there was no mention of the signalman in a CN employees' timetable (below). CP movements simply had to 'flag' their progress. Instructions for the crossing disappeared altogether from CN employees' timetables between 1971 and 1977.

100 Years of the Grand Trunk in Kingston

Rail enthusiasts gathered in Kingston to mark a significant anniversary for the city. This account appeared in the November, 1956 Upper Canada Railway Society Newsletter. 

THE KINGSTON CENTENARY JOINT CELEBRATION - OCTOBER 27, 1956. 

To mark the centenary of the opening of the Grand Trunk Railway line between Montreal and Toronto, the Canadian Railroad Historical Association and our Society held their first joint excursion on October 27th, the actual centennial date. Toronto enthusiasts proceeded to Kingston on Train 14 powered by Northern 6226. At Belleville two narrow gauge diesels for the Newfoundland lines were seen loaded on flat cars. The Montreal group arrived in Kingston on Train 5, hauled by engine 6214. 

The party proceeded to the LaSalle Hotel for dinner. Mr. Omer Lavallee of the C.R.H.A., in a short speech after the dinner, observed that the visit was significant not only because it commemorated the opening of the Montreal - Toronto rail line but also because the opening of the line marked the beginning of the era in which railways commenced to provide a comprehensive network in Canada rather than serving merely as feeders to navigation lines. Mr. Lavallee also noted that the Kingston locomotive works had produced its first engine, Grand Trunk 88, in October, 1856. 

Accordingly, the group’s visit to the locomotive works after the meal was a chance to see the changes in locomotive production. At the plant the last three of the order of 20 “Trainmaster” (Nos. 8901-8920) for the Canadian Pacific were seen. Other diesel locomotives were seen in various stages of construction. (The recent order of steam locomotives for India had been completed). 

A standard gauge four-wheel diesel with buffers and hook-and-chain couplers for Arabia was on hand modified for use as a shop switcher. This engine was one of an order built by the Canadian Locomotive Company’s subsidiary, Davenport-Besler. The Kingston plant has trackage of metre gauge and 3' 6" as well as standard gauge, to handle export orders. 

Following the tour through the locomotive works, the party proceeded to the Canadian Pacific station to see 4-6-0 engine 437 arrive from Renfrew hauling train 612. After a brief period of sightseeing, then enthusiasts returned to Toronto and Montreal aboard Trains 6 and 15. Kingston station is very busy when the daytime trains between Montreal and Toronto arrive. They are scheduled to arrive within twelve minutes of each other and frequently both are in the station at one time.

An October 27, 1956 Whig clipping describes the anniversary events:

Accounts of the dinner appeared in the Whig on October 29, 1956 (above). A 1903 GTR ad from the Queen's Journal:

Streetcar vs. Train!

Montreal at Rideau Streets, looking north with streetcar tracks on east side of Montreal St.

Here's a newspaper account of a serious collision between a Kingston, Portsmouth and Cataraqui Electric Railway Company streetcar and a Kingston & Pembroke train at Montreal at Rideau Streets.

22/04/1910 - Kingston Daily British Whig - Struck car 

Collision on the Montreal Street crossing - Engine hit the car Crushed in the side of the electric van. There were quite a few passengers on board - a little girl badly cut about the head - a commercial traveler had his back itrained. Ruth Doyle, age 9, seriously injured about head and face. C. L. O. Lampe age 55, seriously injured about head and back. James Watson, aged 12, slightly injured about face. Irene Doyle, age 11, slightly injured on face and legs. Thelma McDermott, age 10, slightly injured about face. Lillian McDermott, age 12 slightly injured. 

At 12.10 o'clock today the Kingston and Pembroke train number 1, crashed into street car number 15 at the railway crossing, Montreal Street, completely wrecking the car and dealing out serious injuries to some of the passengers, in fact none of the nine people in the car escaped without a few bruises. As shown in the above list, with only one exception all those injured were young tots, on the way home from school for the noonday meal. Just how the accident occurred could not to be clearly as ascertained. It seems that the Motorman, William Brown, thought he had ample time to cross and the engineer of the train, James Harmer thought he had the same. 

The nose of the locomotive struck the car just in the center, rear of the stove, making kindling wood of one side, and fairly throwing the twelve-ton car completely across the road. Fortunately the car remained upright and to this fact alone more than one passenger owes his or her life. The passengers were nearly all seated on the right hand side of the car and little Ruth Doyle, the 9 - year old daughter of John Doyle, 693 Montreal street, was seated just beside the stove, right in line with the locomotive when it struck. Besides her were seated her two sisters, Edith next Irene, and her brother Norman. On the other side of the car Mr. Lampe, and another traveler who was not injured and who left on the train for the west was seated. The motorman was in front and, and the conductor, James Beseau was on the rear platform. James Watson, a young lad, was standing on the step of the car, and just inside the car door and the two little McDermott girls, Thelma and Lillian, were seated. This according to one of the children was the layout of things just before the accident happened. 

Miss Doyle's story - Irene Doyle, aged 11 years, was seen at her home by a Whig representative and she said as they came down towards the track she could see the locomotive coming, and it seemed as if it must strike the car. "When we came close I ran out of the door, and just got outside when it struck us and I was thrown on the sidewalk on my face." C. L. C. Lampe, the traveler, was also badly injured, the worst injury being to his back, which was severely strained. He was knocked unconscious and removed to the Randolph hotel and later to the hospital. All the other injured what able to look after themselves to a certain extent the injuries being only slight ones. 

The news of the smash-up spread like wildfire and wild rumors were around the city, that some were killed and some maimed for life, but fortunately both proved wrong. When one stopped and looked at the car as it lay smashed beyond all repair on the road side it could not but say it was indeed a kind Providence that kept the passengers from being killed. The car will be broken up on the spot as it is smashed completely in two, the only thing being of any value being the motors. All the passengers suffered greatly from fright and especially the children. 

Motorman Brown and conductor Beseau deserve credit for the way they stuck to their posts, remaining with the car until it came to a standstill. Brown was quite unnerved and when he went down to Mr. Doyle's to see how the little girl was he came nearly losing consciousness. It was a wild scene for a few moments, with the crowds gathering around, cabs, ambulances, automobiles and locomotives racing hither and thither, and every few moments someone with a bloody face, dusty clothes, or a very serious countenance would be seen pushing through the crowd on the way to the city. 

Superintendent Hugh Nickel, President Harry Richardson, Drs. Hanley, Garrett, Gardiner and Sparks was soon on the scene and gave first aid to all those injured. Corbett's ambulance brought C. L. Lampe, of Frederick, Maryland, a traveler for the Preservaline Manufacturing company, Brooklyn, to the Randolph hotel where Dr. Keyes attended to him. Mr. Lampe was knocked unconscious when the collision occurred and did not remember what transpired. 

The law requires that streetcars should stop at railroad crossings before attempting to cross, and this rule has been pretty faithfully observed by the employees of the local electric line. There is a semaphore on the side of the track nearest the city and this is pulled down by the car conductor, who gets off as the car stops. When the car passes over, the semaphore is put back into its former position, and the conductor returns to the car. Hence accidents are impossible when the rules are carried out by those who operate the car. 

One of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway engines was rushed to the scene, as soon as possible with men and equipment necessary to clear the tracks, but it was 1:30 before the line was cleared and the train ready to proceed on its way to Renfrew. As a result of the accident, the Kingston and Pembroke railway missed connections with the fast trains at Sharbot Lake. F. Conway, Acting Superintendent of the K. & P. Railway, was at dinner when the accident happened, but as soon as word was sent to him, he hurried to the scene in a cab. A large crowd of citizens gathered at the scene, as the news of the accident spread like fire. 

Later enquiries revealed the fact that the semaphore at the crossing for which the street railway company is responsible, has not been in working order for some time, and it was not put up on this occasion. Engineer Harmer, of the K. & P. train, stated that when his locomotive reached the semaphore, which is 300 yards from the crossing, he saw the streetcar standing still on the city side of the crossing. When the locomotive rounded the curve and came to the straight run for the crossing, he was shocked to see the car loom up right in front of him on the crossing. He was running at the rate of only four miles an hour at the time. As soon as he saw the streetcar on the crossing he reversed and the passengers of the train received quite a shaking, but the engineer by his quick work, saved the lives of several people. 

Had the locomotive been running at any kind of speed, there would have been a catastrophe. Things were bad enough, but might have been five times greater. Engineer Harmer said that there was no semaphore signal. If there had been, his locomotive would have been stopped at once. It seems that the semaphore cannot be worked. Complaints have been made during the past few months about the way the street car crosses the tracks, and it is not long ago that a couple of street railway employees were dismissed by the company for not carrying out orders in regard to crossing the K. & P. tracks on Montreal Street. The company's regulations are strict in that regard. Latterly, the conductor has been getting off the car and looking up and down the railway tracks to see that all was clear. In this case it looks as if the car employee thought there was ample time to get across before the train reached the crossing

--Via Colin Churcher