These photos come from long time reader, and local film maker & railfan Tim Swaddling, who sent along these photos shot by his father Bob in 1984.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
The first couple of shots show a view east along the waterfront rail yards. Note the four story red brick warehouse at McDougall & Riverside. That was the Ferry Seed Warehouse, it was demolished for the Casino project. More on that building at a later date…
Photo © Bob Swaddling
Goyeau & Riverside.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
A nice view showing a ferry in the old slip. The Spirit of Windsor is kind of hidden in the shadows to the right of the end of the parking lot along the river.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
The note Tim sent along date these photos to June 4, 1984, as part of a special excursion that started at the old Michigan Central Station at Tecumseh & Crawford and ran through to St. Thomas. As Tim points out, especially following this post, this might have been the last time passengers were picked up at that station.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
Bob Swaddling started the trip in the C & O Oak Yard in Michigan, and rode through the rail tunnel to the Windsor starting point. Here’s a view of the Detroit Michigan Central Station when it was still in operation. All of these platforms are no longer in existence.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
The tour passed the old Kingsville Station, which was then in its unrestored state.
Photo © Bob Swaddling
Our tour ends in Leamington, where our photographer had to disembark due to prior commitments, a glimpse of the former Leamington station can be seen on the left. Tim points out this is the site of the new Town Hall, which sits on top of the old rail Right of Way.
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Fantastic photos Andrew, Tim and Bob, thanks for posting. Speaking of the Ferry Seed building – I worked in that building for 6 years and have images to show you sometime. Just have to dig them up.
The riverfront pictures depict a high volume of freight traffic. Passenger service terminus was (is) in Walkerville. Today’s news headlines feature complaints from Tecumseh and Lakeshore over the resumption (without notice) of freight over the VIA lines. I can’t imagine that the volume of freight even comes close to that when the riverfront was a major transfer point and I don’t recall floods of complaints inthe old days. Do people nowadays just like to complain?
That’s the original roof in that shot – it was pulled off in the 90’s by some jerk. They replaced it, but not with the original materials ($). Glad they replaced it though with anything so it survives to this day, great restoration. One of Albert Kahn’s best. Mettewas Station Restaurant now operates out of it, does a great job using the building’s atmosphere and history. Equally as good food!
Carl: what building are you referring to that’s now the restaurant?
The Ferry Seed building looks rather handsome; shame to have had it demolished.
Kingsville Train Station
Albert Kahn design for Hiram Walker’s end of the line at the time stop. Kingsville was Walkerville / Windsor’s luxury sun parlour playground, this was the noble beuty that awaited everyone at the end of the line, then down Lansdowne to Mettewas Hotel and beaches. The restaurant is named Mettewas in tribute to the link to the long gone palace of a hotel that the station was the stop for.
The station today – restaurant website – http://www.mettawasstation.com/
YAY! Awesome photos, thanks for sharing!
JBM – I heard from a CN engineer on the 7th of last month, that CN was supposed to run its last train on the CASO at the end of April. If this new traffic on the VIA line is any indication, I would say he was right. 🙁
Hopefully the ROW isn’t sold off, because this is the corridor we’ll need for high speed rail
when it eventually comes.
And yeah……people just like to complain.
It’s hard to tell by the pictures, but this is the Pere Marquette/Wabash/Norfolk & Western slip, not the CN/GTW slip, right?
I’ve always felt a bit sorry for the CN ferry operation, it never gets much attention. The Lansdowne was the oldest commercial sidewheel ship on the Great Lakes before the port side piston head blew off in late 1970 when she was turned into a railroad barge. Her running mate, The Huron….which is sunk in a slip (the one the Edmund Fitzgerald was launched into) in Ecorse was THE oldest operating commercial vessel on the lakes. That’s the top of her stack in this picture.
http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newpictures01/huron-heron7-31-01mn.jpg
And here’s the Huron at Brush Street.
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/attachment.php?attachmentid=6921&d=1280079369
Glad folks enjoy the photos.
Aaron – last run on the CASO was this past Saturday, May 7, 2011. Video of it passing through Essex and Maidstone is on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txjLmLfeFKE
CN now re-routes its Windsor freight up the old C&O at Pelton, hooks onto the CP at Walkerville / Chryslers, goes up the old Jefferson Ave bush track and then hooks onto the old Great Western / VIA line all the way to Chatham and all points east. It is really funny hearing people losing their head about how great a mystery this all suddenly is! 😀
CASO would’ve made a perfect high speed rail line in it’s day – it was as high speed as you could get, the Wolverine and other New York Central passenger trains raced through there at top speeds on the double track speedway that was the CASO linking Detroit and Buffalo. Unfortunately, it was all pulled up east of Fargo and only Windsor – Fargo remains… soon to be, if CN gets it’s wish and prevents anyone from buying it, just the int’l crossings at Buffalo and Detroit as CN would like to get rid of the Windsor – Pelton stretch and just hop on the CP after getting out of the tunnel. As is the plan that has been in place for more than 20 years since CP and CN jointly purchased the line to aquire the crossings and dismantle the highly valued line to eliminate competition. The sagging economy in the area has helped CN justify their decisions to successive hapless Canadian politicians who are easily duped into thinking “railroads = ancient history”.
Anyways, there are more photos from this trip that will eventually be presented in a future Action Hobbies Historic Train Slide Show. This excursion train made a brief cameo appearance in the first one, specifically the tail end of it making the turn south off the CASO onto the C&O at Pelton.
nice to see the old photos of the riverfront railroad and even nicer to see the chessie gp7’s and the old passenger cars
If you live near railroad tracks there will be trains. People tend to move near industry,railroads, and other thins then complain about the noise. A few years ago they built houses near a factory on Pallato rd. in Tecumseh, then the home buyers complained about the factory noise.
I thought these were the ones I missed at the slide show lol
Interesting that the Jefferson spur will be seeing more action! For some reason, I was hoping CN would stop using the Chatham sub so Essex Terminal could hook up to the sub again and serve Hiram Walker. I guess that’s alot of wishing just so I can get some shots of ETR at the riverfront lol.
The only line CN wants to help ETR connect to is the unemployment one.
These shots were not featured at the slide show – that was all analog presentation, hence only slides. These are scanned prints. The next slide show should be all digital to showcase scanned prints.
Nice photos, thanks for the memories! I remember as a kid going up and down Riverside Drive and seeing the riverfront train tracks and ferry launches.
This new route CN freights are taking is interesting if a bit convoluted. I guess CN has their reasons. And yeah, to hear the Mayor of Tecumseh complaining about this new rail traffic is laughable. In its heyday the Chatham Sub saw a TON of freight rumble through the town.
Interesting stuff. I used to live in Calgary so I am more familiar with Western Railroad history, primarily CPR. Question for you guys. What is the old steamer hiding in the shadows in the first couple of photos? I can tell it is CN but that is all. There must be a wealth of rail history in your part of the country.
Ols Skool… good eye to catch sight of the steam locomotive. This unit was built to Grand Trunk specifications as a P-6 Pacific class locomotive and numbered as 213. It was built in 1911 at the Montreal Locomotive Works Point St Charles facility. In 1923 it was renumbered as 5588 under Canadian National ownership and classed as a K-3. Most of its service time was spent on the London-Stratford-Owen Sound route and based in Palmerston. In 1955 it was transferred to the London roundhouse and made its last run Palmerston to London in 1959. In 1963 the Windsor Chapter of the Historic Vehicle Society of Ontario acquired the locomotive and dedicated it in its present location as “The Spirit of Windsor”. 5588 is the only survivor
of not just the thirty-nine Pacifics built at Point St. Charles but of all the P-6 (K-3)Pacifics built for the Grand trunk Railway. Windsor has a rich railroad history but unfortunately little evidence remains.
I wish there was a lot more history present of our railroad history.
I love pictures like this and wish there was a site based off the history of Windsor’s railway. Throughout Windsor there is areas where tracks once were but are no longer there. Wish I could see where these tracks led.
JBM, thanks man. So that makes it a Canajun Alco? Wouldn’t mind taking a peek should I get to your fair city
Kyle – for any geographical region, check out SPV’s Railroad Atlas series. The ones titled “Ontario” and “Great Lakes West” cover the Detroit/Windsor/Southwestern Ontario region and contain detailed maps of every single railroad route, past and present, that ever criss-crossed the land – including the streetcar lines! They offer detail views of populated areas (Windsor included) and the county, plus information (previous owners and operators / history, abandoned, current status, etc). Plus there are ones for any region, as I mentioned.
http://www.spv.co.uk/acatalog/Canada.html#aATON
And not to promote Action Hobbies on the site here… but in the interest of promoting local history interest and reference, the shop does carry those at the shop (I mention this because I believe Action Hobbies is the only place you can get them in the area), along with several other books that all have local Windsor/Detroit/Essex County/southwestern Ontario pictorial histories of local rail operations. Morning Sun’s series are the absolute best, IMO – they have one on the history of the Michigan Central (a division of New York Central, and the name of the railroad that the iconic Michigan Central Station pictured above gets it’s name from) that has vintage colour slide photography dating back into the 40’s and 50’s. Those are also stocked at the shop – and an FYI, the shop’s prices beat those of the listed prices online by $5-$10 or more.
My apologies, Andrew, for the quasi-commercial here! Just trying to help promote reference resources! 😀
And yes, in the link above, that is, believe it or not, Windsor/Essex gracing the cover of the Ontario book. You don’t see that very often! 😀
What?!?!? Action hobbies has the SPV atlas?!?! Eff! I woulda bought that in a heartbeat instead of my “how to” model railway books!
Another shamelss promotion, for anyone interested……the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society, to which I am a part of, is always looking for volenteers to help out on projects! We are the ones who maintain ol’ 5588, and we’re also restoring ex-Essex Terminal Railway 101(1941 Alco S1)not running, 103(1952 Alco S3)running, and another S3 from the 50’s…unknown road history, running. They’re all owned by Don Hearn out at the ol Lasalle Packing place in Amherstburg. We also have a streamlined, 1953 Canadian Pacific baggage/express car #4769, that was donated by CPR to our group. She’s in great shape but needs some TLC after being converted into a tool car for the work gangs. Came down from Montreal in January.
Here she is:
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2369357
If anyone is interested….mechanical know-how not required…..let me know!
Tim – do these atlas’ contain even things like sidings/spurs/companies served etc…for the ETR?
Yes – SPV Atlas books are in stock, although the Ontario one sold this morning (InternationalMetropolis reader? perhaps!) and is now on re-order. Yes, the SPV Atlases do contain sidings/spurs – some list on the companies served. And yes, that includes the ETR and the Hearns siding is listed. Windsor/Detroit is covered in the Great Lakes East book as well, though there is only a detailed view of the Detroit River area (Windsor – Amherstburg region) and not so much the County in that book.
Make that 2 ordered. 🙂 I had to order one, I’ve always been a rail fan since I can remember! Would be very interesting to know which tracks went where, and which companies at the time were being served by rail. Thanks!
Aaron, I’m very interested in joining SOLRS. Please contact me at xjr9lm@hotmail.com. And Tim thanks for bringing back great memories, I spent alot of time at the CN riverfront yard as a youngster and enjoyed every minute. Of the two tugs that pushed and pulled those barges, the R.G. Cassidy now sails under the name French River and works in Turks & Caicos Islands. The F.A. Johnson sits engineless beached on the banks of the Kam River in Thunder Bay, its engine was used in one of the Detroit fireboats.
old skool there is a ton of railroad history in this part of the country but the city doesn’t give a dam about it …thats the problem
the city dosen’t give a dam about it, WHO DO YOU MEAN? The mayor, council the population?
richard the mayor and council don’t care about itthey keep talking about this mueseum they want to build someday but theirs never any mention of railroad history it’s too dam bad we don;t have one train station from long ago left in the city that would make a perfect veniue for it
The Mayor and council where all elected by good margins last fall, (except Ron Jones) sew the voters must like what they elected.
If you look at the two restored, and one planned for restoration in the county you will find people got together to do it, no elected officials did it.If you feel strongly about a railway mueseum get some people to present a plan to the city, they have over a million dollars left to them a few years ago.
Some time if you want something you have to go after it.
about 5 years ago i was working at green giant in Tecumseh every morning about 300am a CP container train raneastbound thru Tecumseh for about 2 weeks i wonder if they had track problems on the cp farther east and Cn gave them running rights for that time
The second picture down, looks like it was taken from the CIBC Building looking down at the Papa Chene’s building. Is that right? But next to it is not the apartment building that is there today. When was that built?