At the Top of the Hanley Spur

There's a rather non-descript shed just off Montreal Street, south of what was Elliott Avenue. Used as a maintenance/storage building for the nearby Village on the River apartments, it has an interesting past. It used to be served by a trailing-point CN spur heading down the Hanley Spur, witness two CN boxcars spotted there in June, 1957, with a sign reading Chown Limited Warehouse No 3:

The lettering says Chown Limited - a downtown hardware store. This Don McQueen photo shows another building in the same area - east of Cassidy Street - once also served by a CN spur trailing-point CN spur heading up the Hanley Spur. It's 1959, and it's the A.McLean & Son Wholesale Grocers operation:

The building is referred to by other owners i.e. Canfor, I. Cohen on CN car control schematic diagram listings.This Googlemaps view shows the building (yellow star), the Hanley Spur's former alignment (yellow line, from which the Chown spur diverged) and pre-realignment Kingston Sub mainline (red line):

August 2021 UPDATE: I returned to the site on foot to get a few detail photos of the north side and doors. I later realized that the S-shaped entrance road to Village on the River is where the former Hanley Spur approached the mainline, having passed behind the line of houses on Montreal Street.

Anglin Coal Truck and CD&D Hull Projects

A trip to Dollarama yesterday had me looking for some modelling ideas. I've been looking for some coal trucks for my Anglin/Sowards coal dealership. This Hot Wheels 'Mooneyes' VW Beetle pickup caught my eye. It wasn't until I got it out of the box

I don't want you to think I'm cheap. Because I am. I just don't want you to think I am. But why pay more? First steps were removing the motorboat superstructure screws to release the hull, to which I added lots of styrene sprues and other under-construction might-have-beens. I'm no marine architect, as you can see. The Hot Wheels got a little less 'hot' with some primer, as well!

Two views of the finished product. A couple of Canadian Dredge & Dock workers are puzzling over my propulsion system. Hull number chalked on the bow:

Becoming a coal truck, the first thing was to apply correct Anglin colours. Red can and yellow box. But what about that under-part? I couldn't decide, so one side got black paint, the other red! I dug some less 'hot' wheels out of my Vehicle Wheels box. Much more truck-like!

Here's the passenger side with lettering made in Microsoft Word. Until I get a sophisticated printer or decals, these will do for now.

Driver side:

Box filled with coal. The rest of the coal fleet is at right - these are weathered Life-Like trucks.

And the boat is now in the dry-dock at CD&D!

Stern view!

On the Shoulders of Giants

While I don't intend to do a lot of blogging about my Kingston-based manuscript, while looking over some articles from the 70's (that's both the 1970's and the 1870's), I realized that there were two giants that had come to mind. (It was the great Isaac Newton who said that if he had seen farther than other men, it was due to standing on the shoulders of giants.)

In my case, it was Kingston's most illustrious citizen, one Sir John A Macdonald who served in the Frontenac Militia during the 1837 Rebellion, was instrumental in the establishment of Queen's University, championed local civic, religious and charitable causes and was successfully re-elected in ten consecutive provincial and federal elections. He was Kingston's most illustrious citizen, by far. In this morning's paper, I read about some misguided efforts to erase the man from our history. Sad!

Then there was this snippet about Mel Easton, Kingston's most ardent chronicler of the Kingston & Pembroke Railway. Clearly, it was from a time when downtown bookshops were flourishing, and I visited them regularly as a youngster. I took the snippet as a pinch of inspiration!

Manuscript!

Well, I've started work on my seventh book! Unlike the first four on VIA Rail, or the next two on my trips West, this one is in line with my Model & Railfan Local in 2020 initiative!

The manuscript for this book is now underway. Under some as-yet unknown title and format, it will combine all the things that make Kingston's railway operations so interesting!

After getting inspired reading about Sir John A. Macdonald's many contributions to Kingston last night, it seems like Canada Day is the perfect time to share this good news. 

Stay tuned for more!

-Eric