Unsued in years and in disrepair, the Wyandotte Subway is due for demoliton and removal shortly. Unlike its neighbour to the east at Drouillard Road, which is being rehabilitated and was built with steam shovels, and other heavy machinery, this one was built by hand.
During the middle of the depression, in a effort to create work for the enemployed men of Walkerville, the town of Walkerville, started to build a subway under the Pere Marquette railroad tracks just east of Walker Road. The entire thing was dug by hand with shovels.
Starting August 13th, Wyadotte Street closes from Walker to Cadillac for the removal of this underpass, and the refurbishment of the Drouillard Road one.
More of our local history gone. Hey, maybe if things keep going the way they are going now, we can build another one as a new make work project…
Thanks Andrew. For all the thousands of times I’ve driven by there, that’s something I never knew.
Hello!!! so Andrew when will they get rid of this and start building a new one??
i know it is not safe, every winter they always warn people about the ice that forms at the tops and it can get pretty sharp and can fall on people, while walking under.
Well it is probably a good idea because it can calapse, you never know? and i can tell there was a stair case there a long time ago…. well i guess we will be taking riverside or seminole rd more when construction starts…..thanks for posting that Andrew !!! have a good day!!!
Why wouldn’t this qualify as a rails-to-trails opportunity? If Ford City were on the upswing, wouldn’t this make a great link to the river. If abandonned what would becomes of the right-of-way?
I hope it becomes a real streetscape — I fear it’ll look like what happened when they curved and widened Tecumseh in the west end. What a sprawling wasteland in the middle of the city, with streets like Wellington cut off. Good for traffic maybe, bad for urbanity and a livable city.
Shawn, who wants a liveable city? Surely not our illustrious mayor and the inept city councillors! They have done everything and anything to stifle growth of this community.
I wonder what will happen to the two plaques that are mounted on the bridge (one of which Andrew posted). I bet they get thrown out too!
ME – Don’t worry, I’ve taken steps to ensure that they will be removed and preserved. Hopefully one ends up at the Museum.
Andrew, do you know what becomes of the r.o.w.?
Those tracks go to Fords (pardon the Windsor pronunciation) don’t they? Isn’t that private property?
Fausto I have no idea. I think it was an industrial spur that once served Studebaker and Ford.
I imagine that Conrail or CSX whoever accquired the Pere Marquette Railway would still own the ROW. However just a guess…
Well maybe they can use the dirt they dig out on Walker road to fill this underpass?
For some reason I can’t get a particular scene out of my head from an old movie, “Cool Hand Luke.” 🙂
PW Herman…..
…….Calling the motor company Ford’s is not strictly Canadian. Memory says it was fairly common to refer to FoMoCo in the posessive, reflecting the family ownership. Same thing was true to a lesser extent at Walter P.’s company. Can’t say I remember anyone saying they worked at Durant’s, though.
Don’t know about the current ownership of the right of way in question, the Windsor/St. Thomas line being pulled in 1997, but the Pere Marquette came under control of the Chesepeake and Ohio in the mid ’20’s as part of the Van Sweringen “empire” and was formally merged into the C&O in 1947.
As another aside, the Pere Marquette Historical Society has pictures of still standing Ontario PM buildings on it’s website http://www.pmhistsoc.org including a depot in Kingsville. Essex County is considering fixing the exterior of the building and looking for people to restore the interior, according to the site.
Chrysler was Chrysler’s too — but GM just GM. GM’s would be weird.
Great to hear Andrew!
Whatever happened to the turntable for the train engines that used to be on the riverfront, not far from where Peabody Bridge once stood. Anyone know ?
CSX abandoned the line and abandoned all pretense of caring about the bridge. They fought the City in court over maintenance costs and won. North of the bridge is owned by VIA.
Thanks a TON Andrew, for your ongoing catalogue of Windsor’s municipal abuse and neglect. I took a charcoal rubbing of that plaque you photographed a while back in the hopes I could recreate something for in front of my Walkerville home. Like you, I hope it lands into a public museum collection locally.
Rich….
……maybe we could ask Andrew if he has a picture of the turntable pit. Somewhere around here I’ve got a picture of CN 4-8-4 6167 on the turntable from the mid ’60’s, and another from 1994 of just the pit with a couple of ducks swimming in it…..
Sounds good. Douglas if you find those pics maybe if you want send them to Andrew and he can post them here. The last time I seen the turntable it was full to the top with water and yes it was a bathing tub for ducks & geese.
I don’t have any of the Turntable… If you can come up with the photo Douglas, I’d be happy to post it…
Douglas,
I would also be very interested in seeing any photos that you may have of the turntable/roundhouse…please post if you can.
Does anyone know it how long it took the workers to complete this project digging it picks and shovels. I would like to contrast it with how far we we have come in technology. I bet it didn’t take any longer then 16 months they are estimating to build the new underpass at walkers and Tecumseh.
Does anyone know it how long it took the workers to complete this project digging it picks and shovels. I would like to contrast it with how far we we have come in technology. I bet it didn’t take any longer then 16 months they are estimating to build the new underpass at Walker andGrand Marais
Two historical signs in Walkerville have been stolen from a construction site. The bronze signs were posted at the corner of Walker Road and Wyandotte Street East in 1934 as part of the underpass. They were scheduled to be moved to Windsor’s Community Museum for preservation and display, but they went missing on Friday. Anyone with information is asked to call Windsor Police or Crimestoppers.
This really sucks, who knows where these signs gonna end up now ???
Probably to the scrap yard.
That wouldn’t surprise me in this city. If that’s the case it’s good to see that historical items are worth more to someone for petty scrap prices. What a joke.
Considering the timing and events surrounding their disappearance, I’d be more inclined to believe they are in someone’s personal collection right now.
Douglas the Chesapeeake &Ohio RR took over control of the pere Marquette in 1947 and the turntable in the area you mentioned is just a wye still there but not used much anymore