New Houses on Wellington Street

Second-storey view of both houses

Having placed my two new 'dollar store' houses nominally at Wellington Street and Place d'Armes, I used two cameras to show them in place. These first few are taken with my Nikon point-and-shoot. It has so-so depth-of-field and is nice and small so it actually fits into the streetscape.

Anglin coal truck heading out for a delivery

Rooftop view with Bajus Brewery in background

Looking along Wellington Street

The other side of Wellington Street

The photos below are taken with the iPhone's camera. The iPhone is a little longer and more difficult to fit into some tight spots. However...a big bonus is that with every placement, you can get up to four 'views' due to the corner location of the camera lens.

The new houses sit cheek-by-jowl with fuel dealers

The Bajus Brewery still stands today

Place d'Armes coal unloading trestle

Coal delivery time

Wellington Street leading to Canadian Dredge & Dock

It's a workaday neighbourhood

Ladies run some errands as coal rolls

The lowest possible angle with the iPhone camera.

Well-Housed Wellington Street

Limestone foundations and painted details

A recent trip to Dollar Tree just about sleighed me. There on the North Pole end of one shelf were a few little houses. Should I tree-t myself? And my layout? A whole sh-Elf for a dollar-and-a-half each! So I put two of them into my sack and I bought them - two all a good night! It was out into the rain, dear.

Having kitbashed two Swamp Ward houses, I had a few residential holes to fill in the streetscape. Much like the current City of Kingston residential in-fill policy! Thinking these two hundred-cent-ury structures might fit the bill, I tried to find some prototypes. I soon realized they were a little too uptown for my waterfront neighbourhood. No matter, perhaps too professorial and not pedestrian enough, but OK or the transition between industry and downtown along Wellington Street.

A fine home on King Street

Fine homes on University Avenue

                                     

Fine homes on my mantle.

The progression can be tracked through the above photos. I made the decision to leave each structure intact, relying on painting and a few details to set them in Kingston. The models are meant to accommodate an LED tea-light, so they have half-open window panes. I painted the panes black, the frames grey. The stone house got a coat of grey paint, the other a weathered brick exterior. Roofs were darkened. Bits of snow on the roofs were painted over. The Dremel took care of the snow surrounding the foundations. The founcations were covered with limestone-printed paper. A few railing and roof-top details were added. 

Now, to place them into the model Wellington Street....

The Lilley Letter

Today I received a most welcome letter via the staff of the Queen's University Archives. The letter was from a member of the family of prolific photographer George Lilley. I first took the opportunity to pore over the George Lilley fonds in 2019. I am pleased to be able to feature George Lilley's fine photography in both of my books on Kingston's waterfront history -  Smoke on the Waterfront and Stories on the Waterfront. 

"Thank you so very much for the copies of your 'Waterfront' books which I received this week. I have enjoyed viewing the pictures and am looking forward to reading your research. George passed away 18 years ago this month. If he were alive, I know he would have enjoyed talking with you, especially about his beloved Kingston. He would be so pleased to know that his pictures have been helpful in the 'telling' of Kingston. I am so glad to have your books and thank you again. 

Upon publication, I provided a copy of each book to the Archives, as well as a copy to their Lilley family contact. The Archives staff told me that they do not put researchers in direct contact with copyright holders, though they do convey permission to researchers to use material, in this case from the Lilley family to use the photographs. It seemed to be the right thing to do to provide them with a copy, to show how George Lilley's photos live on!

From the 1940’s to the 1970’s, photographer George Lilley recorded a layer of Kingston’s history that no-one else did. A photographer who freelanced for the Kingston Whig-Standard, Lilley covered accidents, fires, weather events and train wrecks. He was also called out to document the results of car collisions for insurance cases, as well as crime scenes and the trials of local criminals and prisoners. He employed a sense of drama and adventure in his photography – life’s triumphs and tragedies. Lilley donated over 20,000 of his negatives to the Queen’s University Archives, where they are stored in a climate-controlled vault. He was a ‘road man’. When a deer got trapped in a Princess Street store window, he was there. When the Wolfe Island ferry caught fire, he was there. It was all part of his record of the city at the time. If George Lilley had not been such a prolific photographer, there would be a lot less Kingston history to see and to share.

Wandering Wellington Street - In Scale

What good is a model if we can't imagine ourselves in it? This often takes the form of photos taken from helicopter or drone height. Using a point and shoot camera, I'm able to 'get down' to layout surface height. Getting back into the modelling season of fall to spring, I am operating the layout most nights, combined with maintenance, building or photography. It was photography this night, and here are the results. Rideau Street (top photo) and Wellington Street (below):

The rear of the Bajus Brewery buildings:

Garage at Place d'Armes coal yard:

Rear of the City Steam Laundry on Wellington Street:

Another view near the coal yard:

Mileboard for CP's station, telltales, and the River Street bridge, under which CN and CP cross. Pay no attention to that secondary track at right. More heavily camouflaged seen from the layout edge, it provides (nearly) hidden track access to a (nominally Anglin) bulk fuel tank spur. Just because I could!

 

Photographing Work on the Waterfront

In an earlier post called "Watching Work on the Waterfront", I was inspired to build a scene of several workers at Canadian Dredge & Dock, on Wellington Street, working on an unspecified project. Returning to the layout room after a long, enjoyable summer, I did some layout-level photography. Specifically, exploring several angles around this scene. 

Kingston's Hanley Spur is most definitely a model railway, but it also comprises a compendium of discrete scenes. These scenes are built around trackside industries, or portray life in Kingston's Swamp Ward neighbourhoods, as well as those from Wellington to Montreal Streets. 

I like the perspective that actually placing my point & shoot camera (hey, should try with a smartphone - note to self!) on the layout and manoeuvring it around to various angles. This not only lets us view these scenes not from the traditional drone/helicopter height, but helps us sharpen our modelling and scenery skills. 

These guys are working on Canadian Dredge & Dock tugboat Traveller in the drydock, that unnamed project and also show the company's stores buildings and heavy industrial equipment.

Woolen Mill For Sale

A piece of the Woolen Mill on Cataraqui Street, about 3,237 square feet is for lease. Although I've modelled the exterior, these are rare interior photos of what used to be the Boiler Room climbing gym:

and brochure information: 

Another 'Dear Photograph' Tour of the Waterfront

Was it really a year ago? The day that I wandered the waterfront snapping archival photos in today's context in the style of Dear Photograph. Last week, having just come from Kingston's PumpHouse Steam Museum, my first stop to the east was the dry dock along Ontario Street. Holding some photo prints of images from the Queen's University Archives, it was neat to position each photo (taken in the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s) to fit today's scene. My first stop was the Ontario Street dry dock. The Wolfe Islander, 1951 (above) and HALCO's Cove Transport, 1964 (below):

                                        Motor yacht Chanticleer in the dry dock, 1967:

The former Canadian Locomotive Company office building sat at the corner of Ontario and William Streets, now the site of parking behind Empire Life:

This row of buildings has been occupied by a variety of tenants over the decades, but it's no longer a Meat Market like it was in 1950, and its annex is no longer standing.

At the foot of Brock Street, I had several images of The Way Things Used To Be, which in Kingston sometimes means The Way Things Still Are Today. Not in all cases though, and these historic grain merchants are long gone, replaced by the hotel on this site. A central waterfront location, once desired for easy grain-handling to and from ships, now used to house tourists.

Looking up to Brock Street over the 'cobblestones' to City Hall (above). CN and CP reached the locomotive plant and shippers in the vicinity of City Hall. Their tracks headed north at the foot of Brock Street, where the angled backs of buildings belie the tracks' former location:

It was soon time to return to my parking spot at the PumpHouse. I managed to keep myself and the photos dry! The former Kingston & Pembroke station hasn't changed much, but that Ford city station wagon is no longer parked in front!

A Milwaukee Road boxcar was behind the station in the mid-sixties. The Milwaukee Road itself has long since gone bankrupt! CP moved its operations away from City Hall to make way for Confederation Park and the Centennial celebrations.

As I walked back, I reflected on the grey day, its grey sky, the grey of limestone and concrete and those long-ago images with their own shades of grey, black & white.

Muse-ology

Summer is not model railway season. It's outdoor season. So that's why there is very little modelling being blogged about. But now winter is here. Kingston went from Shorts Weather to Sweater Weather in less than a week. Cold beer has been replaced by Pumpkin Spice Latte. So just before I return to the basement layout, it's Connection Season. Hot on the heels of the Kingstonist interview, I'm trying to get my layout out of the basement, virtually. As long as pandemic precautions are in place, it's tough to justify a visit. Plus my wife says the basement is too messy and I'd probably have to vacuum or something. But I'm thinking about creating a model of the K&P station on Ontario Street.

In all cases, whether it's local media, Queen's University Archives, ARK or local book readers, it's interesting to see where this process is leading. It's worthy of muse-ing.

 

When Kingstonist Calls

Back in August, I got a message from Tori Stafford, Editor at Kingstonist.com, Kingston's premiere online news source. Tori was interested in profiling my work on the Hanley Spur layout. It took a little while, with various intervening events, but Tori got me in touch this past Wednesday with Kingstonist journalist Terry Bursey. After a short and enjoyable phone interview with Terry, and supplying some photos, this nice online news article was the result. Click here to read the article.

My family has subscribed to the Kingston Whig-Standard for decades, and when I look back through my files, it's clearly evident that its local coverage is a shadow of its former self. Online sources like the Kingstonist have effectively filled that vacuum!

Chinese Laundries in Kingston

 

Perusing some online Queen's Journal editions in Qspace of the turn of the last century, the advertisements aimed at the young men of Queen's were interesting. A wide variety of enterprises like bookstores, travel opportunities and even laundries were advertising. One recurring ad was for the Hong Lee Laundry on Princess Street (1903 top ad, 1900 below):

1903 Queen's Journal advertisement:

Three 1908 Queen's Journal ads:

Here's an even older one, from 1881:

An excellent story on the Chinese laundries was posted in Stones Kingston - Exploring Kingston's Social History. The site contains many other informative accounts of Chinese history in Kingston. Though I've already modelled the City Steam Laundry, a storefront laundry might also be a subject for structure modelling in my layout's future!

At least one - Lee's Laundry existed on Division Street at Earl Street, near the Queen's campus. In this 2009 image, the laundry name still shows, though renovations have erased it by 2020: