Hanley Spur Research, 1990: Letter from J.M. Harry Dodsworth

This current interest in Kingston's Hanley Spur is apparently nothing new. Back in 1990, J.M. Harry Dodsworth of Ottawa sent me the above letter. Reposing in my archives until now, finding this letter makes me realize that it's about time this interest in hometown modelling finally...comes home!

Harry mentions several gems of the downtown lines: Kingston Street Railway, CN and CP, special trains, and the CLC plant. Walking the tracks in the 1960's? Priceless.

Tell Tales and Tall Tales from the River Street Bridge

A most rewarding aspect of modelling something so local as the Hanley Spur is that it's so darned personal. Not necessarily personal to me, but rather to those who lived near it and remember it best. To find someone who remembered more macro modelling might be easy, but to find accounts of micro modelling of such a specific area of a smallish city? Priceless. From my files, these photos and articles speak volumes about what this structure meant to local residents.

From the May-June 2007 Kingston Rail, a 1982 photo of the bridge - a pedestrian pathway at the time, with the CP right-of-way looking flooded and poorly-drained. And some hard evidence of how the bridge was rebuilt for a specific purpose (top photo - as always, click to enlarge). Don McQueen kindly shared two photos of the bridge in December, 1982. Looking south:

 And looking north - colour version of top photo. CP's drainage left something to be desired:

Book photo, three years earlier:

A undated view downtown from atop the bridge, kindly shared by Marc Shaw:

The Whig was upset that CN planned to have the bridge rebuilt in January, 1970. Only problem was that CN failed to secure 'stopping up' of River Street prior to the work being done and the bridge deck removed! The foundation was rebuilt and a new bridge deck installed. The usual city process was not followed. Scandalous! January 24, 1970, deckless:

Another misfortune befell a GTR Conductor who was atop some moving cars and struck by the bridge ( above) after spotting two cars at the Baylie [sic] siding.

Patrick Kennedy's column appeared in the Kingston Whig-Standard on November 23, 1995, about two years after the bridge broke the back (and vice-versa) of a transport truck. The article even hints at the reason Orchard Street, just to the east, got its name!

Controversy over the bridge's reputation as a viable transportation route lived on Without the presence of CN and CP tracks, it's hard to imagine why this bridge was needed. But in its day, even irregular trains could cause crossing consternation for nearby road traffic. In this October 18, 2003 letter to the Whig editor:

Appearing in the Whig on August 23, 2001, this is very personal! Vince wrote a letter to the editor afterwards, thanking the paper for printing his little stories. Interesting that this one mentions stories read by a survivor semaphore-tender.

That famous transport truck! Taking a wrong turn, this behemoth ended up on the little bridge on March 9,1993: 

The bridge was closed to pedestrians on November 10, 1994, as described in the Whig clipping below. It was being dismantled in 2003, hence this letter to the editor on October 14 of that year: 

So we can talk all day about nut-bolt-washer castings, how to weather timbers prototypically, and decalling boxcars specific to an era. If we can only zoom in on the micro from the macro, to understand how real people perceived and lived around this bridge, it can only enrich our modelling experience! I know it has mine. The City of Kingston erected this information panel near the site of the River Street bridge - photographed in August, 2019:

Boathouses on the Inner Harbour

When modelling the Inner Harbour served by the Hanley Spur, here's an interesting scene I'll include. It was highlighted by a March, 2015 Kingston Whig-Standard article on the closing of Canada Dredge & Dock by Shirley Gibson-Langille, with memories of outings in the Inner Harbour by Terry Cloutier. Some excerpts of Terry's memories:

"The area was populated by derelicts and winos back in the early 1960's. It was Kingston's inner Harbour, adjacent to the factory known as the Woolen Mill. The shoreline was rife with boathouses and dotted with fishermen who could be seen preying on unsuspecting catfish. Different personalities, the derelicts and the fishermen, but the two co-existed quite amicably. 

Many of the boathouses were put to use, but there were always vacant ones and these were inhabited by [various names]. A refuge to stay out of sight as they guzzled their cheap wine. Out of the wind, out of sight and out of mind as they drank themselves silly, harming nobody but themselves. A safe haven to sleep it off when the bottles were empty, invisible and ignored by the outside population. 

Outside of these boathouses were railroad tracks, and these were employed on a regular basis. Freight trains travelled the rails on a daily schedule. This was the area now known as Douglas Fluhrer Park. An area and era when youngsters could roam freely and [various] experiences that life had to offer. 

Not once do I regret my childhood on the Inner Harbour. It was called the poor side of town, but my memories are nothing but rich when recalling my time cavorting in Kingston's Inner Harbour."

A 1924 aerial photo (top) shows the circled boathouses that Terry mentions. Kingstonians enjoy their water access even today, so it's no wonder that residents employed covered storage for their watercraft. I'm using calendar photos to portray the verdure of the harbour, and though the oil tanks in this photo near the Woolen Mill are being re-purposed, the backdrop will continue to evolve. Boathouses and a couple of 'winos'? No problem!

If there's one thing I like to pick it up, it's 50-cent shacks. (Hey, would you take a dollar for three of them?) I lined some up and applied some weathering. These will make dandy boathouses for the backdrop on the Great Cataraqui River. The bottle of 'bingo' is already being imbibed:

Gus' Railway Restaurant

This corner restaurant was a fixture near the CNCP Telecommunications building and Outer Station. With its characteristic lettering, it should look good next to my HO version  Can I kitbash it from a Kentucky Fried Chicken structure?

Microsoft Word and some soft-drink company images copied and pasted:

Then it was time to kitbash! Dremel took care of the roof, after I removed the structure from its parking-lot base. I added a piece of Foam-core as the new flat roof, added some exterior details and weathered.

KFC no more! I positioned the completed structure near the Outer Station along Montreal Street, where I could find space! Final detailing, a Pepsi sign-post and scenicking to be completed...it's ready to serve hungry HO-scale customers while they wait for their trains!

CNCP Telecommunications pensioners have their own website. The late Gordon Smithson, author of his seminal At the Bend in the Road worked there and submitted several photos to the website that are different from those that appear in his book, including the (top) photo. Gus's Railway Restaurant caught fire on December 17, 1981.

Modelling Quattrocchi's Specialty Foods

The only Hanley Spur photo I have is that of a San Luis Central car of potatoes at Quattrocchi's Specialty Foods - Montreal at Rideau Streets. Who knows what other cars were spotted here - this just happened to be one day that my Dad and I were driving by and that I happened to have my camera and just happened to take a photo (top) in April, 1979.

The produce business has a good description of their operations here. Scroll down for a video that shows how produce arrives here for sale. The site also includes the following photos showing the growth of the business and its truck fleet:

A recent discussion thread on the Vintage Kingston Facebook group included the following spellings of the name of this business:

• Quatrocchis
• Quattrocchi's
• Quattrochis
• Quattroccis
• Quatroccihs
• Quatrochi's
• and from some wag, cockroachies!

Just for the record, it's...

The business is a very visible CP Rail-served one, at a major intersection. And it just happens to fit into a spot on my layout that would be just down modelledMontreal Street from the Outer Station. Not a lot of room, but I was able to add a spur that serves the warehouse from the correct direction! 

I added a second train-show find as the warehouse. Painted it to match that light pink with turquoise trim.

I chose the Life-Like Woodlawn police station, a structure I've had in storage for years, previously portraying a Royal Bank/convenience store on my previous Prairie layouts. It has lots of small windows and two storeys, like the prototype. I'd already cut away parts of the walls to add the storefronts, so it no longer resembles a typical American police station! 

I also have outdoor produce stalls from an earlier layout project, ready to be placed in front of the structure.

Final scenicking included parking lot improvements, Nancy Q delivery truck lettering and printed-off signage on the structure and outdoor stalls:

 ......Current view from Montreal Street:

At Kingston's Outer Station, April 1985

My brother David published this post on his blog, Rolly Martin Country, which shows a transfer-van mishap on a stub-end track at the Outer Station in April, 1985. You'll also see a train of boarding cars there (above), and a view of the Elliott Avenue crossing, looking toward the station.

Interesting fact in one of the tables included in the post: the difference in altitude between the Hanley Spur switch and the downtown (Inner) station was 24 feet! I believe much of this difference was encountered soon after the Spur left the CN Kingston Sub, as the line ventured towards the Inner Harbour, where it was a few feet above the level of the Great Cataraqui River thence Lake Ontario.

Modelling the Imperial Oil Warehouse

Having modelled the CN Outer Station which is the 'right-bookend' structure as one enters my HO scale Hanley Spur layout, I turned my attention to the 'left-bookend'. The limestone Imperial Oil Warehouse is right beside the lightswitch as one enters the layout room - very visible! I would need one or two spurs - one for tank car deliveries of bulk oil, the other for boxcar deliveries. The bulk tanks were on a rise above the North Street location, so it was time for some lumber-and-papier-mache landforms.

Newspaper applied The 'gravy' was a bit thick.

Lumber screwed down (above) and papier-mache added, all subject to change once I placed the mockup structure. Scaling-out the warehouse at 90x66 feet, it was time to produce a cardboard mockup, using post-it notes for approximate window/door locations:

Test-fitting two sides of the mockup in place. Note the cardstock 3-D tank structural backdrop at the right end of the paper oil tank backdrop:

 Printing off three sheets of my limestone paper, described in the earlier Outer Station post:

In a stroke of blind, dumb, modelling luck, the measurements for each long side of the warehouse were exactly the same as a bisected sheet of Evergreen styrene! Then it was time to glue on the limestone paper, windows and doors (darkened as found in an original Caldbeck-Cosgrove catalogue), sills, arches and prepare door openings and potential platform and stair locations.

 Endless limestone!

I measured the windows out based on the photos at hand. I 'keystoned' some more of the limestone pattern above each window, then grey paper windowsills below. I plan to keep at least one door open to add modelling interest. I'll produce the doors, then scotchtape them inside if needed!

What to use for a roof? This piece of foam-core was previously used as an oil tank enclosure. It measured out just right and I had to add two corners. I liked the edge effect, as the wooden eaves eventually rotted away on the prototype. And it has a spray-texture paint finish on top. Hard to judge the actual prototype roof material from photos. I liked the thickness and the overhang of this piece, so on it went, with a cutout made for the chimney.

On the layout. A small outbuilding on the south side, as well as an upper-level loading dock to be added. Exact siting to be determined:

After test-fitting the mostly-complete warehouse, I realized that the topography I'd built to support the bulk tanks should be level and enlarged. So, some lumber scraps and some re-applied papier mache ensued, bringing the scenery right up the the rear wall of the warehouse. The bulk tanks are made from cardstock, rolled to approximate the tank curvature based on the space I had, with taped cardstock tops:

The topography has been painted and a couple of pill-bottle Esso tanks added. I also did some scenicking, including the tank car unloading stand. It required a track bumper since it abuts the warehouse, with room for only one tank car, it is a tight fit!

The outbuilding is on. Gotta make some topography to reach that upper-level platform though:

There's lots of room for boxcars to be spotted in front. We'll just have most of the oil delivered by lake tanker! It was a fun project, and cheap - just the cost of styrene, about 8 bucks, and printer ink for the paper windows, stone, and doors!

Fencing surrounds the bulk tanks and the tankcar unloading area, boxcar unloading platform finished:

Scenicking on the hillside near the tanks in March, 2020: