OCTOBER 1999

    Concerning steam operations on the CNR in Southwestern Ontario in the summer of 1958, Charles Dickens summarized it best a century before:  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . ., it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us".

    Time was of the essence, and no one knew it better than railway enthusiasts, in particular steam fans.  Roundhouses and engine sheds were being closed.  Train assignments were being cancelled in the wake of declining patronage or cancelled mail contracts.  Railway branchlines were beginning a long, difficult and hopeless struggle.  But worst of all, the internal combustion engine was taking over, and steam power was being sent to the scrap yards.  Sometimes the dead engines travelled in ones and twos in the middle of a freight train directly to the reclamation yard at London.  In other cases, which would become the norm over successive months, they would be stored in long lines on railway sidings, for months or years, until their rusting hulks were led like so many cattle to the slaughter.

    But in the summer of 1958, there was still time.  Although steam had been fenced off in most outlying areas, Southwestern Ontario was a hotbed, and in fact momentary hope had sprung from the resurgence of activity.  More than two hundred locomotives, many of them displaced from other regions, were still active in the Southern and Northern Ontario Districts of the CNR.  The "jungle telegraph" was coming into its own, spreading the word of remaining bastions of steam power for the camera hounds.  With a few days to travel, an automobile and a camera, where would a CNR steam fan go, and what would he see?

    He might start on the Toronto-London mainline, where four out of five Hudsons, eight Bullet Nosed Betties and fourteen U-2-g Northerns were still lapping off 4000 to 6000 miles a month in passenger service, and two dozen 6100-series and eighteen U-2-h Northerns were still lugging freight.

    On the lines out of Hamilton, the darkness had indeed descended on the Moguls and Ten Wheelers, since the demise of the mixed trains to Port Dover and Port Rowan.  But a couple of Consolidation "hogs" still ran to Brantford with way freights, and four Mikados exerted their muscles in helper service from time to time.   Pacifics 5126 and 5607 held down trains 173 and 174 between Hamilton and Palmerston.  Ten steam yard engines were still to be seen in service on an infrequent basis.

    But based on the numbers of active locomotives, no wonder the photographers headed for the shrines of London, Stratford, Guelph and Palmerston!   Although diesels had taken over some strategic runs, steam ruled supreme on most of the assignments.  At Guelph, three-way meets between steam-hauled passenger trains were a daily occurrence, with U-1-b Mountains holding down secondary passenger trains 27, 29, 34 and 36 between Toronto and Stratford; the Hamilton Pacifics on trains 173 and 174; and half a dozen 5200-series heavy Pacifics available to command trains 175 and 172 between Toronto and Palmerston.

    Fourteen pooled light Pacifics of the 5500 and 5600-series were still untouched on the branchline passenger train assignments serving London, Sarnia, Stratford, Goderich, Palmerston and Owen Sound.  Seven Ten Wheelers were active at Palmerston on the mixed trains and way freights to Southampton, Owen Sound and Kincardine.   At Stratford, Mikados and Northerns handled heavy mixed trains to and from Fort Erie, freight hogs commanded the London and Palmerston way freights, and six-wheeled yard engines held daily assignments.  Other yard engines were to be seen outposted at Kitchener and Guelph, and Consolidation 2347 worked the elevators at Goderich.  Even the branchline to Elmira and Galt would have a Palmerston Ten Wheeler assigned to service for a few more weeks.

    North of Toronto, the scene was bleak almost everywhere except Allandale.  Similar to Palmerston in its network of branchlines, five Ten Wheelers were still to be seen on a regular basis on way freights to Orillia, Meaford, Penetang and Camp Borden.  While the Beeton-Collingwood mixed train was gone and diesels had claimed the Toronto way freights, hogs were still in charge of the Hamilton and South Parry runs, and a six-wheeled yard engine was rolled out of the roundhouse almost every day for service.  Conventional Mountains and an increasing number of Northerns were to be seen on passenger trains 41, 44, 46 and 47 between Toronto and North Bay.   Pacific 5125, called in to handle heavy summer trains in the wake of a damaged diesel car, triumphantly held down the daily passenger run to Hamilton.

    Yes, the sunny summer of 1958 offered much for the CNR steam fan with a camera and means to travel.  But he had to do it quickly, because in one year there would be nothing to behold except the long dark lines of condemned engines.   Sadder still, the trains themselves were disappearing as rapidly.  It may be said that the summer of 1958 offered not only the last glimpse of CNR steam in regular service in Southern Ontario, but also the last glimpse of the railway in its traditional context.  For the steam fan and the traditional railway enthusiast, the winter of despair was at hand, to be followed by endless seasons of darkness.

Ian Wilson
October 1, 1999

[HOME] [ Topics ] [ Books ] [ Weblog ] [ Contact Us ] [ About Us ]