From Dream to Blog to Book

What a journey this has been! Sitting atop the beautiful lakeview of Elevator Bay at the city's Lake Ontario Park, I first dreamed about changing the modelled locale of my HO scale layout to reflect Kingston's waterfront trackage - what I have termed the Hanley Spur.

Little did I know at the time that my research efforts would lead to this day. As I learned more about the waterfront trackage, complemented by photographs and documents in the Queen's University Archives, I continued modelling the prototype, while also deciding mid-summer to create my seventh book. 

The timeline:

• November, 2018 - Hanley Spur blog created to chronicle research and layout progress.
• November, 2018 - Planning for home Kingston's Hanley Spur layout construction.
• November, 2018 - Modular layout proposal for Associated Railroaders of Kingston (ARK)
• December, 2018 - Construction of home layout begins.
• December, 2018 - First meeting of ARK modular layout group.
• March, 2019 - ARK presentation on the Kingston's waterfront trackage.
• April, 2019 - First visit to the Queen's University Archives.
• October, 2019 - Planning meeting for ARK modular layout group.
• November, 2019 - One year anniversary of this blog.
• March, 2020 - Visits to Queen's University Archives curtailed due to pandemic.
• July, 2020 - Manuscript begun.
• August, 2020 - Manuscript completed.
• September, 2020 - Graphic design of Smoke on the Waterfront.
• September, 2020 - Smoke on the Waterfront blog created.
• October, 2020 - Printing of Smoke on the Waterfront.
• November, 2020 - Book launch and 165th Hanley Spur blog post published.

You can find more information on ordering my new book on the Smoke on the Waterfront blog. The book officially launches next week.

There will be more research in the future, especially once the pandemic is at bay and freer access to the archives is possible. There is always more to learn!

In terms of a life journey, consider these photos of our family's visit to Kingston on August 18, 1967. CPR 1095 has been dedicated, Centennial celebrations are in full swing. The Centennial logo is even visible on the park bench in front of City Hall:

One track remains on the waterfront to allow shipping of Canadian Locomotive Company's final export locomotives.

I'm the little knuckle-height blonde haired fellow:

Thanks to my brother David J. Gagnon for scanning these slides, taken by various family members!