Global Kingston and the Hanley Spur

Since the inception of my Hanley Spur layout, I've been fortunate to have interviews with some local online and print media, namely YGKNews, Kingstonist and The Skeleton Press. These all took place during the pandemic, so were either online, by phone or outdoors. This past week, I had another serendipitous interview inquiry...

On Thursday, I'd posted a Wellington Street walkaround of some layout photos to Vintage Kingston Facebook group, for the first time in a year. The scenes were various street-level views, not necessarily including trains. This is always tricky for those looking at such photos in 2022, because my layout shows the way things were, not the way things are. For the Kingston citizens of today, to relate to the Outer Station or C.E. MacPherson buildings circa 1970 is difficult because they're no longer there. I'm always looking for new angles for my layout-level iPhone to capture!

Over my morning coffee on Friday, I was surprised to see Global Kingston Morning News hosts Bill Welychka and Maegen Kulchar sharing those photos with their TV audience in a chat segment. I sent Bill a thank-you message. In response, he said he said he was pitching the idea to their news team. Late the same day, Assistant News Editor Mark Ladan emailed to ask whether reporter Aryn Strickland could stop by on the weekend. Titling his email 'Mini-Kingston buildings' made me wonder if they knew there were trains running around. There's always a tug-of-war in my own mind...is this a diorama or an operating layout? 

Sunday morning found the Global Kingston 002 rolling into the driveway. Aryn spent 90 minutes with Karen and me, getting video and sound bites. She asked Karen a few questions about my hobby as well.

The answers to Aryn's questions about why, how and when this layout took shape got me going back to find this photo showing the changes that first took place. Initial work on Rutland yard becoming the Kingston Outer Station yard:

Here are a couple of screenshots of the interviewees, and here's a link to Aryn's report as posted to the Global Kingston website.

Thanks to Global Kingston, Bill, Maegen and Aryn for sharing this story. You can take the camera into the basement, but you can't take the layout out of the basement! It's great to have the opportunity to work with local media that have a true community focus.