Kingston's Hanley Spur: Later Life Learning Presentation

NOVEMBER 13, 2026:

We had a great time together this morning at the Kingston Seniors Centre! As the fourth presenter in Series B of the multi-year Later Life Learning series, I dovetailed my presentation with the 'Stories' theme of the series, 'Stories:Kingston Legends, Lives and Landmarks'.

Sold out at a maximum enrolment of 160, the gym was filling up well before 10:00 start time. It was great to meet Clare who'd initially invited me, as well as Leann and Cassie who were very helpful with my questions and getting set up. The Centre has a professional presentation space - a former school gym and stage - with all the tech bells and whistles: dimmable room lighting, LCD projector and laptop lectern, sound system and microphones, and even a hearing-assist system. Clare made sure my talk started on time, I kept to my one-hour presentation length, and Leann ably assisted with the question period and even offered me refreshments. I gladly would have partaken, but was kept pleasantly busy answering questions before the talk, during the 11:00 coffee break, and even after the question period!

The audience was engaged and engaging, asking a wide variety of pertinent questions and interesting comments:

a family with four generations (!) of CN locomotive engineers out of Belleville
did all cities preserve steam locomotives like Kingston's Spirit of Sir John A? [yes, but not in perpetuity]
father was transferred to Kingston from Thunder Bay as a marine inspector, including CLC engines and lakers being worked on in Kingston
parents passed through Kingston by rail in 1948 arriving from England and thought it looked like a nice place to live, though they were heading to Brantford. Would they have seen the historic downtown or just the Outer Station [the latter at that time!]
where can I find Kingston passenger rail history online or is there a museum here [there is not]
two questions about ALTO, and one about Hornby toy trains [the latter questioner was an uncle of our former neighbours in Amherstview - typical 'small world' Kingston-type story]
a gentleman had made sound-impact studies about rail traffic in Kingston, quite apart from the usual airport sound-impact studies
is the Invista (formerly DuPont) plant still rail-served?
many attendees told me about relatives who were employed by the railways

And here's why your presentation can't cut corners or give short shrift to research. I had the unexpected opportunity to meet Joe Quattrocchi who introduced himself! I asked whether he expected to see his family business up on the screen when he arrived at the Centre! He incisively asked about the track beside K-D Manufacturing, Canada's largest frame manufacturer located near Quattrocchi's, shown in one of my on-layout photo slides. I had to respond that the CP track on my layout had to pass close-by K-D in order to fit all the tracks and industries I wanted, but confirmed the plant was not rail-served, as Joe had correctly pointed out!

Lots of attendees snapped photos of my blog links and email address from the final slide that remained on the screen. This blog really is the best source to view the research information I've been able to amass! It was a pleasure making this presentation. I was made to feel most welcome, and I even received a Seniors Centre T-shirt and water bottle!

OCTOBER 20, 2026:

Back in February, I received a friendly email from Clare Williams at the Kingston Seniors Centre:

"In September of 2023, the Seniors Association Kingston Region took over the long-running Later Life Learning series. As you may know, Later Life Learning has been an integral part of the Kingston educational landscape for more than 30 years, offering a diverse selection of scholarly lectures on important and/or topical themes.

The series have been very popular at The Centre, with more than 150 older adults attending each lecture. The theme for our Oct/Nov 2026 series is “The Great Kingston Stories Series”. I am hoping you might be interested in doing a presentation on Kingston railways. The lectures take place at the Centre, on Friday mornings from 10am to noon. Generally the talks are 45 – 60 mins, with a break for coffee, followed by questions from the audience. Our presenters have found this to be a very rewarding experience, as our audience members are intelligent, engaged and interested in learning."

Well, that was in February and it's nearly November now. Time to get to work! One Apple Pages presentation, 80 slides, in one day. I've been told to expect 160 attendees and to use nothing smaller than 28 pt on my slides! I am sure that during the Q&A someone will ask me what I think about ALTO. I'm prepared to say that we're here to talk history, not the future. But as we all know, every day we are making history.

I've been to the Seniors Centre only once, for a book sale. But our late neighbour was there many times. Pat was a tireless volunteer and as an increasingly skilled watercolour artist. She taught art classes at the Centre, and took part in yoga classes there. Many years ago, she suggested I come to a Later Life Learning talk by Kingston historian and author Steven Manders. I was not able to get the time off work. As I often say, work gets in the way. Not any more. I will be there with Pat on my mind on the 13th. Life has come full circle. From potential attendee to presenter, I think Pat would be proud.