Via regular reader and contributor Tim Swaddling:
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Hello friends
Saturday, March 9th, 7.30pm – Action Hobbies hosts Historical Train Slide Show #10
Free admission!
Action Hobbies Kingsville welcomes Larry Broadbent of St. Thomas, Ontario.
Action Hobbies Kingsville is pleased to announce the 10th instalment of the ever popular Historical Train Slide Show series. On Saturday, March 9th, 2013 at 7.30pm, featured presenter Larry Broadbent will showcase his photography and photograph collections in a show entitled “All The Live Long Day: A Railroad Career with Larry Broadbent”.
Larry has had a long career in the railroad, having worked for Penn Central, Conrail, Canadian National (all CASO division), Port Stanley Terminal Railroad, GM Diesel and currently with the Ontario Southland Railroad. Along the way through it all and all of the changes in southern Ontario railroading, Larry has brought his camera along with him and made a remarkable document of his career on the rails. Having worked a variety of jobs from running the trains to maintaining them to building them, Larry’s experience, knowledge and material covers all facets of the railway in a way that few in North America can claim anything remotely similar.
During Larry’s career, he has met and befriended many other railroad employees, some from other rival roads and many of them senior to Larry with many stories that they passed along to him. In addition to that, Larry has collected a number of artifacts, documents, photographs and information about southern Ontario rail history, especially that of St. Thomas, Ontario. Larry will also be sharing some of that material entrusted to him by friends both living and passed away.
Action Hobbies will be open late on the Saturday night for the show.
10% off all in stock train products starts at 5pm and continues throughout the show until close later in the evening. The show will be approximately 2 hours in length with a 15 minute intermission. Complimentary snacks will be provided along with the fully stocked on-site soda pop machine which includes the “Mystery Pop” selection with over 25 different random flavours and special ActionHobbiesKingsville.com website prizes.
Seating is limited so arrive early for preferred seating.
Admission is free, as always.
We will post an interview with Mr. Broadbent here on the blog in the coming weeks along with other related links to the show.
Action Hobbies Kingsville is located at 197 Lansdowne Avenue, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. Phone (519) 733-2619 for more information.
Check our event listing out on Facebook by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/events/438087542927931/
Attached is a poster suitable for printing. Pass it along!
Call Action Hobbies at (519) 733-2619 for additional information.
Fascinating photo. Love the high narrow look of the overpass. I used to wander around this area back in the late ’60s, early 70s and I don’t recall any reason for trains to be running down this section of track. All the old riverfront industry was long gone….On the other hand, the MG Butler sign in the upper right corner presents a clue. Wasn’t this an old SW&A railway shed, part of a complex on the north side of University, and wasn’t there a spur line running NE up the hill from the main line, into this group of buildings? This engine was probably shunting freight up and down that line. Can anyone shed any light on this?
On another note, a few years ago on one of my regular visits ,I was shocked to discover the rail cut partially filled in and become some kind of creepy urban jungle. When was this done and why? Somebody’s idea of reclaiming industrial space for parkland? Or a convenient place to dump debris under the guise of “beautification”? What kind of material was used to fill?
Probably the last use of this track was for the delivery of large rolls of newsprint to The Windsor Star warehouse which was on Riverside Drive West adjacent to the rail cut. The newsprint and The Star’s delivery trucks were kept in the warehouse because there was no room at the main operation at Pitt and Ferry Streets. When the printing plant was relocated to near the E.C. Row Expressway and Central Ave. and the fleet delivery of newspapers turned over to private contractors, the warehouse became redundant. The 17-storey Portofino Condos are now on the site.
The boulders and overgrown bushes in the cut that”Exile” refers to are the remnants of the Fujisawa Public Gardens. It was an attempt by a private group to salute Windsor’s twin city with an oriental garden of rock, stone and plants, but unfortunately there has been little maintenance of the garden for about five years now. The land is owned by the railway and is not the city’s responsibility.
Does anybody have any links to any photos of the Windsor Star Warehouse? I’m trying to place what it looked like.
The Windsor Star warehouse was grey cinder blocks nondescript building, the rail sideing was more exciting.
RWS,
no they are not remnants of fujjisawa gardens. They are remnants of Gateway Public Park http://www.gatewaypublicpark.com
The park had to be left due to the aging of the volunteers and the railway asking for an exhorbitant insurance which would have bankrupted the non-profit group anyway.
There were deals with the railway that they reneged on such as assistance with upkeep (insurance) and the access to the abandoned railway cut. (Thanks again to Mike Hurst for that and his replacement). Too bad because that park was a real gem.
I forgot to mention. The land on Riverside Dr E and Cameron is owned by the railway as is the ravine. However, the land on the upper portion beside the alley is city owned.
The infill was mostly poor dirt with chunks of brink and concrete. The rail tunnel actually goes under this area.
Over $1.2 million in donations was used to fix up the abandoned railway site and tonnes of garbage and derelict vehicles pulled from the area.
Why the city never kept up their portion I will never know. But the railway company were nothing but shameful (it didn’t cost them much of anything)….sad.
Dave, I believe the Fujisawa Gardens I refer to and the Gateway park you refer to are the same.
http://www.brokencitylab.org/blog/the-creation-of-place-in-abandoned-railway-cuts-in-windsor-24-international-gardens/
THe only part of the Fujisawa Gardesn were only a very small portion at the corner of Riverside Dr E and Cameron. They planted a few cherry trees and some shrubs (using up their entire budget) and then left it. Gateway Public Park expanded and did all of the work that is sadly now in decline.