Sunday 18 November 2018

CP's North Street roundhouse

Located at the foot of North Street, CP's compact turntable and roundhouse was vital to the daily operations of the Kingston & Pembroke line north. Southbound steam locomotives would have to be turned after arrival at the Ontario Street passenger station before heading north again. 

The above photo shows the derelict roundhouse before the turntable was moved to Wakefield, Quebec to turn ex-CPR 1201 in excursion service. Check out that wooden ramp and oil tanks in the background. The following two photos show manual wyeing operations in 1956. Not only steam locomotives, but boxcars (perhaps to orient properly for unloading nearby on the desired side of the car) and coaches can also be turned. Note the woolen mill in background:

Three busy scenes from the steam era: CPR 417 in April, 1952 from the Paterson-George collection:
And two other undated scenes:
These views look south toward downtown.

This view, captioned 1976 shows a dumpster in place, and the Canadian Dredge & Dock crane in background:
Interestingly, the Swamp Ward and Inner Harbour History Project did some mapping of the former roundhouse site. In May, 2016 the former CP tracks were plotted in place; in white on the current site in Doug Fluhrer Park: 
 Looking north (above) toward the woolen mill and east toward the harbour:

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