Modelling the S. Anglin Offices

Fellow Kingston history buff Marc Shaw recently re-posted his ca. 1989 photos of this well-known building at Bay and Wellington Streets. The same photo I'd apparently inadvertently deleted. It was a sign! I saved the photo, printed it, and realized it was time to replace my stand-in Anglin office, lumber yard and shed buildings.

Having driven past the building years earlier during waterfront industrial expeditions, its broad grey expanses of wall, many various windows, sloped roof, location mere feet from the street, and most eye-catchingly, its yellow and red signs made it a great subject for modelling. An earlier B&W photo some years earlier, posted to Bill Anglin's family history page, shows different signage:

A quick appraisal of the space available (never enough!) and materials I could use led me to a Promotex modern warehouse kit I'd purchased from fellow ARK member Michael Pasch at last year's Railfair (this year's is next weekend!). This was the thickest-walled structure kit I'd ever seen, and I'd previously used some walls for my Davis Tannery 2.0. It had a nice smooth stucco-like surface (unlike all those brick structures the manufacturers want to sell us), and would require minimal cutting with a Dremel. I also printed off some Anglin signage that I put together in the Paint program, and some windows I'd formatted from an online search:

Before long, the front, back, one side and roof were Dremeled into submission and glued together:

I applied Dollarama grey craft paint and filled some cracks with Vallejo plastic putty from Leading Edge Hobbies. I added more first-floor and roof overhang with styrene strips from the Promotex kit. Test fit on the layout:

The most fun part - adding the signage. I'm way past cutting window openings into styrene, especially with this kit that was like a fortified bunker on the Maginot Line. So paper cutouts it would be. Stucco means board attached low down to prevent possible vehicle or other damage:

The prototype had some curtained windows, and some showroom windows. A door from the scrap box would do, and I glued an 'S. Anglin' into the skylight. 

I still have to finalize placement. The view here today is a series of row-houses across from the Bajus condominiums.

I painted my former Beaver Lumber lumber storage shed to match. I also have a shed (below) which might receive fire-brick red paint to match the prototype sheds remaining on the site. The awkward thing about the available space on the layout is that the CP spur (also serving Canadian Dredge & Dock and Shell Oil) runs behind the office building. I'll have to shoehorn in an unloading area and reposition the milled lumber on the site. 

Locomotives of the Hanley Spur

I've endeavoured to compile a list of locomotives that served CN and CP's waterfront trackage, based on photos I've seen. These are listed by railway, and within each railway by model and year if known.  

CN 7128 switching Wellington Street freight yard with Bajus brewery building in background (top photo) - August 1939 Bud Laws collection - Old Time Trains. (Note the angLIN lettering on the Bajus roof):

CN steam:

• CNR 7128; 7151 in 1948; 7373.
• CNR 7177 in 1948; 7226 in 1952 and 1953, O-18-c 0-6-0 7510.

CP D-10 807 at Kingston May 1956 - online auction site photo:

CP steam:

• D4's 417, 423, 424, 434, 437, 445, 453, 485,487.
• D10 807 in 1956; 1092 in June 1958.

CN diesels stationed at Kingston:

• RS-3 3018 in 1958-59.
• S-4 8188 in  June 1967 (black switcher paint scheme).
• RS-18 3745 in June 1967; 3103, 3119 in February 1970; 3108 September 1970; 3117 in June 1974; 3715 in January 1977; 3735 in October 1977; 3634 in April 1982.
• GP-9 4517 in 1977 (online auction site photo reformatted - above)
• SW1200RS 1215, 1217 in June 1965; 1238 in 1961; 1316 in 1970.

CP Rail 8025 with Tackaberry and Superior Propane in background - August 25, 1979 (kindly shared by Sam Maclauchlan):

CP diesels from Smiths Falls:

• 8400's and 8700's after 1959.
• S-11 6621 in 1963.
• Tuscan RS-23 8022 in August 1957;  8028-8030 after October 1959; 8029 in May 1965; 8045 in April 1969; 8031 in July 1969.
• CP Rail-painted S-3 6591 in 1977.
• CP Rail-painted RS-23 8045 in February 1979; 8030 in April, 1979; 8043 in July 1979. 
• CP Rail-painted RS-11 8782 in August, 1985

CP 8782 near CP Express building off Dalton Avenue on August 13, 1985, Hughes Bonin photo/Dan Dell'unto Collection (above).

I'll keep this post updated with subsequent data points.

Six Lakers Laid-Up, 1961

 

The Marine History Society of Detroit shared this photo of Canada Steamship Lines canallers rafted together, laid-up on the west side of their Kingston grain elevator: "Canada Steamship Line's canal-size vessels Fernie, Selkirk, Winnipeg, Elgin, Teakbay and Battleford await their fate at the Kingston Elevator Company's grain elevator in Kingston, Ontario in 1961. Five of the six vessels had been sold for scrap by the end of 1964." (Peter Vander Linden collection/MHSD) The Battleford was laid-up in Kingston from 1961-66.

Interestingly, at the bottom of the post, there's a link to a post I published about Kingston's grain elevator on my main Canadian railway blog, Trackside Treasure in 2018. For more on Kingston's various lay-up fleets and locations, see this earlier post on this blog. Additional information on the six vessels published above accompanied the MHSD post:

Fernie - Launched in 1929, the freighter Fernie was built in Midland, Ont. by the Midland Shipbuilding Co. for Canada Steamship Lines of Montreal, Que. The 259-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1963.

Selkirk - Launched in 1926, the freighter Selkirk was built in Lauzon, Que. by the Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Co. for Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). The 261-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1964, towed from Kingston to a Hamilton scrapyard

Winnipeg - Launched in 1926, the freighter Winnipeg was built in Lauzon, Que. by the Davie Shipbuilding & Repair Co. for CSL. The 261-foot vessel was designed for the fast package freight trade between Montreal and Fort William, Ont. It was sold for scrap in 1964.

Elgin - Launched in 1923, the freighter Elgin (ex-Glengeldie) was built in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England by the shipyard of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. The 261-foot vessel was acquired by CSL in 1926. It was sold for scrap in 1963.

Teakbay - Launched in 1929, the freighter Teakbay was built in South Bank-on-Tees, England by the Smith Dock Co. for the Birchbay Steamship Co. of Montreal, Que. The 259-foot vessel was acquired by CSL 1946. It was sold for scrap in 1964, towed from Kingston to a Hamilton scrapyard.

Battleford - Launched in 1925, the freighter Battleford (ex-Glenross) was built in Newcastle, England by the shipyard of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson for the Glen Steamship Co. The 261-foot vessel (LOA) was acquired by CSL in 1926. After being lengthened by 95 feet, the ship was laid up for most of the 1930s when it was found to be under-powered for its new length. In 1939, the vessel was returned to its original length and converted into a package freighter. It was sold to British interests for off-lakes service in 1966. The freighter was sold for scrap in 1975.

Kingston's Part in the 'Battle of Bowmanville' - October, 1942

With the debacle at Dieppe two months earlier fresh in their minds, the Canadian military was involved in a battle waged here on Canadian soil in October, 1942. The alliteratively-named 'Battle of Bowmanville' took place at a prisoner-of-war camp housing high-ranking German officers east of Toronto. Upon hearing reports of Canadian prisoners taken at Dieppe being shackled by their German captors, Canadian authorities decided to replicate the incident. They asked for volunteer officers at the camp to participate in what we'd call a photo-op today, as photos and claims of shacklings of British and German prisoners were publicized.

I had never heard of this camp nor this incident. More background on the camp is available here, here and here

Of course the proud Germans would not agree, and perhaps it was right that they didn't. Regardless, guards pressed the point and it resulted in a prison riot and stand-off. Wounds from bayonets, baseball bats and even hockey sticks were reported on both sides. While reading a recently-published account of the incident in a Legion magazine article on WWI veterans returning as PoW guards in WWII, the story mentioned that the riot was in part put down by 200 Royal Military College students! Another account mentions troops from Kingston here on a commando course. Yet another mentions troops from Barriefield. Most accounts of the Battle of Bowmanville focus on the German side, not the Canadian side, of the story.

I can only imagine the forces from Kingston being hurriedly hustled west by train to Bowmanville. It would have been the most expedient way to get there - probably the only way when inter-city roads were rudimentary and road transport likely hard to come by. It would be interesting to know if the quickly-assembled force boarded a CNR train at the Outer Station (top photo) or perhaps a CPR special on the former K&P. I favour the former. It's doubtful that newspapers of the time would have contained any news due to wartime security measures. 

We may never know. But we need to learn more about this incredible incident.

Tett a Tete: A Study in the Transformation and History-Telling of the Industrial Nitty Gritty of this City

As a model railroader recreating Kingston, I'm drawn to the trains that served the industries that gave employment to the citizens of our city. The area around the Tett Centre on King Street West (above) is an excellent example - stately buildings. But who knows the history of the site? Not truly a prison, a military site or a place of higher learning, it actually has occupied all three of those realms in its history!

This capsule history of the Tett Centre site includes the following quote, which in two sentences really encapsulates the part of Kingston's history that really interests me.

"In our post-industrial age we celebrate the legacy of our leaders and politicians but not that of the average citizen who actually did the work. Our industries were where people found employment to sustain their families, allowing our community to grow."

After an early focus on what I call the history of the stately limestone homes of the rich families of Kingston, the focus shifted to presenting prison history, military history, educational history. All that is well and good, and deserves to be studied. Perhaps industrial history was just too gritty and grimy for us to get our historical hands dirty in? Now, after glossing over it, our sights shifted again to the current historical focus: women's history, indigenous history, history of racialized and minority groups. Again, all well and good. But the industrial history lies weed-grown and begrimed, buried in indifference and disregarded to our detriment.

Indeed, in reading the capsule history, there is much to question about the activities of the early owner of the site as a site for brewing and distilling, James Morton. An industrial baron of the 1850's, he was well-connected politically and societally. His use of convict labour and tenement housing for his labourers did little to help his bottom line, and he died bankrupt a few years after his brewery boom.

Then things got interesting. The capsule history goes on to note the increasing need for military hospitals during WWI. The Government of Canada expropriated Morton's Mortonwood mansion in January, 1918. It was known as the Ongwanada Military Hospital. Not like our modern, multi-wing sprawling hospitals of today, in July of that year the brewery was expropriated as the Sydenham Military Hospital. In 1924 the buildings were converted to house the Canadian Army's Eastern Ontario Headquarters. Then in 1966, with Paul Hellyer's unified 'aerated mud' Canadian Forces unification, the EOAHQ was moved to Ottawa. In 1968 the upper property was transferred to Corrections Services. In 1971 the lower property was bought by the City of Kingston for $120,000. Imagine its current real estate value - prime waterfront!

Aerial views from 1955 (above - note rows of hospital buildings) and 2004 (below - prior to the construction of the Tett performing arts centre by Queen's University and the rebuilding of the city-owned Tett Centre arts cluster. Snapshot Kingston)

MAY 2026 UPDATE: Three historic houses and nine acres of land (parcel outlined in red) are for sale for $9.7 million. Real estate listing views:

Yes, Virginia There Is A...

...book here for you. I had the pleasure of meeting Virginia Rescorla and Peter Bernhardt today. Virginia and Peter were taking advantage of a semiseptcentenary special on my newest book on Kingston's industrial waterfront. I haven't heard of a single event marking Kingston's 350th year, though the tercentenary in 1973 was chock full of civic events. So this week-long 35% discount was my way of marking the milestone. I only offered the discount on the Vintage Kingston Facebook group, of which Virginia is an involved member.

Virginia and Peter love to travel and appreciate history and technology. So it was natural that during a sweep through Eastern Ontario from their home in Elora that we would have a chance to meet. We discovered that we have many things of common interest - Sydenham, industrial history, the Davis Tannery and River Street bridge, railways in Canada and Britain, Wolfe Island, enjoying our retirements, and many more.

We visited on the front step before the interesting pair left with a pair of my books in hand, on their way to the Sydenham High School 150th 'reunion' (though I don't think anyone from the inaugural class is going to make the reunion!). SHS was also where my Dad taught for 15 years.

I mentioned an engaging hand-drawn Davis Tannery diagram from the an earlier era when we made things here' as in here in Kingston. This is a 1965 Finishing Machines Drying Tunnels drawing on graph paper. It's remarkably clearly-drawn and neatly-presented:

Peter's interests in agriculture and Canadian Pacific Electric Lines led to me mentioning my brother's blog post on the Beatty Brothers manufacturing efforts in the area.

We could have talked for hours.

Wellington Street Project and Executive House For Sale

Two prominent locations along Kingston's waterfront are undergoing change.

A new 14-storey, 158-unit residential building is to be built next to the "OHIP building" (actually the Macdonald-Cartier Building) at 279 Wellington Street. Currently a parking lot, the GTR/CNR freight shed and team tracks occupied this site.

The four-storey Executive House office building at 275 Ontario Street is up for sale for over 3 million dollars after being owned by the same family for over four decades. The building sits at the site of the former W.P. Peters Feed & Seed which was rail-served.

SkEye Stream drone view with Executive House circled (above) and RE/Max street view photo (below). Compare to the street view of Peters Seeds in 1959 at bottom (Queen's University Archives, Kingston Picture Collection):

Hanley Spur Diorama Down

The Kingston PumpHouse Museum's 'On the Move!' exhibition premiered back in April, 2022. As a contributor to the railway history portion of the exhibition, I was proud to contribute a diorama showing Kingston's rail and road transportation. Centred on Cataraqui an Rideau Streets, the diorama featured a CN 0-6-0 switcher, CN and CP freight cars and trucks serving Rosen Coal, National Grocers, the Woolen Mill and Queen City Oil Co.

Originally expected to run until November, 2022 the exhibit was extended into 2023, finally wrapping up this week. Taking its place will be The Art of Survival. I was contacted by Miranda of the museum staff to pick up the diorama. That was good news - it meant that museum visitors had enjoyed the transportation exhibit longer than originally anticipated,  and now it was time to repatriate three major structures to the Cataraqui and Rideau Streets intersection on my Hanley Spur layout! Even though  layout operating season usually ceases for the summer, I will be working on projects in the great almost-outdoors!

In the meantime, I picked up the diorama from Melanie at the museum, including the de-accessioning forms. While there, the diorama had been safely ensconced under plexiglas, and I gave it a save van-ride home, then began its disassembly (top photo and below). That meant removing the duct tape from the underside of the plywood base. The tape covered the twisted wire-ends that were securing trains, trucks and buildings to the base through drilled holes. It was a long job - these modelled items weren't going anywhere while on display! All the structures, as well as trains and trucks, have been removed and piled for repatriation to the layout:

I didn't bother painting the pavement where the National Grocers warehouse had been:

For the mean time, the diorama will now become an outdoor grandsons' activity play area. I'm sure a few construction scenes and emergency service response scenes will  be staged on it!

Signature structures repariated to the layout (above) and grandsons able to enjoy the remains of the diorama base. (below). I'm also planning to use the base as an outdoor photography 'stage'.

It was a pleasure to work with the museum staff and to contribute in a smll 1:87 scale way to what appears to have been a successful exhibition!

CN Inner Station for Sale

The Grand Trunk Railway (later CN) Inner Station is for sale, for a cool $1,590,000. When I see such listings, I like to save the photos that are posted in the listing by the realtor. This may be our only chance to 'see' inside such historic properties, especially in this case which is a historic railway property. The listing states that annual property taxes are $26,240.03 and that the basement is finished, with a stone foundation. Lot frontage is 51 feet, depth of lot is 45 feet.The upper storey is a four-bedroom apartment.

Notched-top windows are on the rear two walls facing the condominium closer to the lake; narrow windows face Ontario or the foot of Johnson Streets:

Corner bedroom at Ontario and Johnson. Note original flooring:

Bedroom on Ontario Street, looking towards West Street. Mirrored doors make the space look more spacious:

High windows must mean this is the basement:

The better-known interior of the building's main-floor restaurant (Restaurant Guru photo):

Wandering Wellington Street Yet Again

Another medical appointment drop-off, another chance to check out the industrial waterfront at the end of Wellington Street! This time, there were at least three workers, busy on the Doornekamp repurposing of the Imperial Oil limestone warehouse. End wall reconstruction, windows and roof strengthening are underway. The south end, where the small office and upstairs loading ramp met the grade, with the RMC sports dome visible across the river:

Walking along the lawn in front of the Leeuwarden condos, an overall view of MetalCraft Marine, formerly Canadian Dredge & Dock:

The Glenora ferry M/V Glenora was in the drydock just a few days ago for its five-year inspection. Now, two small vessels, Kevaun's Kottage and the 1953-built St Lawrence II are high and dry. A worker was using a grinder on the 'new roof' on the cottage:

The brigantine was built at Kingston Shipyards. Though their webpage lists 2023 cruises, she doesn't really look up to that level of sailing activity right now! MAY 2023 UPDATE: The St Lawrence II is at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour with portions of two masts in place!

A wide view of the two vessels:

Some additional views of the Doornekamp project underway:

Where CN and CP tracks once passed by. The large faux-tank is at a bit of a standstill. Interestingly, there were no tanks like that associated with the warehouse. The Esso tanks were at the top of the North Street hill at Rideau Street. Oil handled inside the 'fireproof' limestone warehouse was in barrels.

The tank car unloading area and CN spurs would have been behind the tank and to right.

For once, limestone buildings and heavy equipment do not equal demolition!

 

Zooming in on the Hanley Spur

An enjoyable part of this Hanley Spur journey has been sharing my research and modelling with fellow enthusiasts across Canada. Each presentation is a unique PowerPoint slide deck of 60-90 slides, tailored to the wants and interests of each group. Here's a list of the ZOOM remote presentations I've been invited to present:

• Associated Railroaders of Kingston - November, 2020 (bottom photo)

• Toronto Railway Supper Club - February, 2021

• Winnipeg Slide Night - April, 2021

• Canadian Association of Railway Modellers - January, 2023 (two dates)

• National Model Railroad Association, St Lawrence Division - March, 2023

• Railway Modellers Meet of British Columbia -  May, 2023 (below)

• Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders - June, 2023 (belower)

• Kingston Historical Society - March, 2024

• Wolfe Island Historical Society - July, 2024 

• Associated Railroaders of Kingston - January, 2025

The Virtual RMMBC Prologue clinic presenters are posted on RMMBC website. Here's my blurb, with the title being a take-off on Rock! Paper! Scissors! perhaps suggesting that my layout development was a game of chance, or better yet, a stroke of luck!

I'm pleased to report that 80 Zoomers took in the RMMBC presentation, leaving some good comments and posing several questions. Here is my favourite, from long-time BC heritage consultant, author and photographer Robert D. Turner: 

Coming events in the OVAR March newsletter (below)

A typical Zoom audience, with local, regional or even national participants.