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

On Track

And by 'On Track' I don't mean everything is going as expected. I mean on the subject of track, like On War by von Clausewitz or perhaps 'The Art of Track' like The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Literary references aside, I've had three some interesting experiences with my Hanley Spur HO scale track recently. 

Fellow blogger Chris Mears has been laboriously but languorously toiling on some track work lately and posting the results. Unlike me, Chris builds from the ground up. I just screw down track on plywood and maybe there's some pre-existing scenic material there for some texture, and maybe there's none. The top photo shows one section of track I might as well call the Mears Track or even Mears Tribute Track because it exhibits some shading that reminds me of Chris' much better work. I brushed some various colours on various ties and I like the look of it. For most of my spur, I want weathered track. That means painting the sides of the rails and having weathered-looking ties. I generally keep vegetation off the track so the locomotives don't ingest it.

There's one spur that is now directly in front of a small sliding workbench I've installed and it's a well-lit spot. The spur serves Canadian Dredge & Dock, Shell Oil, Anglin's lumber yard and I Cohen Steel. Not all four industries have cars at once, because if they did, they might as well stay coupled. In HO terms, it's one piece of flextrack and another short section - around 40 inches. (Unfortunately, I'm too impetuous and never sure of the outcome, so I often don't take 'before' pictures of the project. These are all the 'after' photos!) Overview of the spur here:

There was some old scenic material there from my previous Manitoba iteration - buff-coloured ballast. It didn't look Kingston-ish and I decided to do something. So, I took a strip of The Moss Collection MossyMat Peel 'N Stick and removed the backing paper. (I found this material handy during my Vermont iteration to give a quick, green hillside in Rutland. In that case, I left the backing on and scotch-taped it to the blue-painted drywall. Done!) Below - peeling and sticking is over, and you can see the moss covering the edge of the fascia and the sliding workbench below the grey fascia:

Anyway, the MossyMat really sticks and it now covers the edge of the fascia. I trimmed it to leave a couple of scale feet for ballasted track. Then I decided to cover up that buff-with some diluted brown craft paint. I liked the look. I also painted the rail-sides. So now this four-spot spur is a bit more Mears-like i.e. realistic. Upgraded track at right, with short remaining section at left and the CD&D freight dock. It's pretty invisible and might get more attention from me later:

Looking down the spur from the other end, with the water bottle resting on my workbench and the gondola of scrap, UP boxcar then CN boxcar in distance spotted at CD&D. The process of track-level photography gives me some apprehension, but the finished product points out things that my eye doesn't catch! You might think of it as The Fallowfield Effect.

Another up-close shot of the Anglin's platform (below). I added some vegetation behind the upgraded track to get rid of the 'line' separating the ballast from the platform:

Due to my gnat-like attention span, I can do a short section of track and then operate a train. I'm unlikely to ever spend 16 hours painting every inch of track on the layout!

Orange Meat!

In 1897, Alderman Henry Mooers established a 575,000-bushel grain elevator at the foot of Gore Street, site of the old Robertson spice mill. These ladies are enjoying a cruise along the waterfront, captioned 1902, with the Forwarders' elevator in the background (top photo). Designed and built by the Tromanhauser Brothers of Minneapolis, contractors and builders of grain elevators, the elevator had space for one vessel on either side. J.H. Tromanhauser claimed the elevator, extending out 220 feet from shore and 130 feet tall, could be built in 80 days at a cost of $100,000. The total 74x221-foot elevator structure comprised 48 bins measuring 14x15 feet and eight smaller bins plus six shipping bins. Tromanhauser, born in Guelph, first arrived in Kingston in February, 1897 having operated his business for at least 12 years already. Seemingly the least-photographed and western-most of the three major waterfront elevators, it had a 500,000-bushel capacity. 

Three cars of spiles had arrived in July, 1897 and 160 workers were hard at work. While supervising the elevator's construction, Tromanhauser was injured - an August 20, 1897 Whig clipping (below). Lumber came from Ottawa, the marine leg from Chicago, and engine and boiler from Galt. By the end of September, 600,000 board-feet of lumber had been used, with another 350,000 to be delivered and the elevator was expected to be ready to receive grain by November 15, 1897. Vessels carrying 60-70,000 bushels of grain could be unloaded. The elevator was not without controversy (beyond the scope of this post), as the Montreal Transportation Co. was also planning an elevator along the waterfront.

The Frontenac Cereal Co. combined the operations of Kingston Elevator & Transit Co. and the Frontenac Milling Co. in 1903. There were two dredged vessel docking areas. In 1908, Forwarders Ltd. was using the site to trans-ship grain from lake vessels to barges destined to the seaboard. A 1913 Whig ad for the Forwarders elevator:

Interestingly, the unused cereal works were converted to barracks to house the half of the assembling Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment not housed at Artillery Park in late-1914. This March 10, 1915 Whig-Standard article describes their formation and preparations for the war front:

The elevator portion was demolished circa 1919. The Orange Meat product was launched locally in 1903. A 1906 ad:

In the year 1919 there were briefly three grain elevators on Kingston’s waterfront, from west to east: the Forwarders’ at the foot of Gore Street, now the location of the Admiralty Place building; Richardson’s at the foot of Princess, the site of the Holiday Inn since 1967; and the Montreal Transportation Co. (MTC) at the foot of Barrack, now the Wolfe Island Ferry dock.This early photo of the rail-served Frontenac Milling, captioned 1900, includes the name of the builders, Nordyke & Marmon. Another source shows that the spur to the elevator was built in 1916, when another company was ready to take over operation of the Forwarders Ltd. to manufactural cereals IF a spur were built to connect the industrial plants between William and West Streets to connect the three railway lines serving Kingston.

A July, 1902 Whig article described the mill's location:

And a February 18, 1899 Whig article discusses the construction of Frontenac Milling in detail (as always, click for a larger, readable version): 

So it's rare, but not an impossible feat to find a photo of the elevator section that jutted into the lake. Captioned 1900:

1920 other side, aerial view:

Factory and cereal warehouse 1909, foot of Gore Street: 

A 1911 view of the of the elevator taken from the Kingston Shipyards: 

This 1921 view (photos above and below - Kingston Shipyards Papers, Queen's University Archives) of the Canadian Coaster under construction at Kingston Shipyards shows the water-end of the brick structures with the elevator dismantled:

During World War II, the cereals building at the foot of Gore Street was bought by the Department of National Defence(DND) for $15,000 for as an ordnance depot. The building had been turned over to DND at the start of the war, with an elevator and heating added. The railsiding and location next to a dock made bringing in of supplies convenient.

Another life: Frost the Mover warehouse 1986:

Nobody gets the name Orange Meat, perhaps not even when it was being produced! A Prof. John Waddell of Queen’s University was enlisted to do a series of tests. The outcome? “Orange Meat contains over 45% of wheat sugars. These build up muscles and feed nerves and make people strong and cheerful. The mysterious ‘meat’ was in fact a breakfast cereal. According to the marketing folks at Frontenac, Orange Meat’s combination of ‘crisp flakes’ + ‘spicy malt’ + sugar = ‘fascinating tastiness’.

Michael Peters has done some amazing research on the Orange Meat story. He shared this image from Canadian Grocer magazine:

The Frontenac Cereal Company seems ultimately to have said ‘uncle’ around 1911 and pulled the plug on the product with the very strange name! 

Lots o' links:

• Village-Design post by Michael Peters
• Michael continues blogging about Orange Meat. Watch for more posts!

Drones over Downtown

Doornekamp Construction Co. recently created a video showing some of their past and present projects in Napanee and Kingston. Some screen captures are shared here, making me wonder what it would have been like to have drone photography available in the heyday of the Hanley Spur. It sure would have been useful for rooftop detail modelling. Smokestacks! No doubt the drone would have, or could have, negotiated clouds of smoke wafting upwards from factory and steam locomotive smokestacks. Top photo and below - the 9 North Street Imperial Oil warehouse being repurposed for living space, with Rideaucrest Home in the background. A styrofoam-form pseudo-oil tank has been built at the north wall: 

Air conditioners really don't represent the rooftop details of years past! Though that brick wall has kept watch for decades. Note the yellowish former Whig warehouse, visible at middle-right background, near 'ground zero' at Rideau and Cataraqui Streets!

Heading toward the lake, looking back at the Woolen Mill and Dyeco. Farther to the right is the brownfields site of the former Davis Tannery and obsolete smelting activity:

Formerly a piano factory and department store, the former S&R building frames Ontario Street with former feed and grain buildings, with the former Richardson headquarters visible at Ontario and Princess:

George Lilley did his bit, flying over downtown in the late forties and early fifties in a small plane and preserving lots of images still available at the Queen's University Archives. Imperial Oil warehouse and tanks, CP roundhouse and in between, steam locomotive in parts for overseas shipment!