Mud Lake trestle surprise!

last summer I was invited to a cottage on Davern Lake  Southwest of Sharbot lake Ontario. while I was there I had a great view of passing trains on CP rail's Winchester Subdivision at the end of the lake.

Just up the road from Davern Lake sits another railfanning gem in the form of the Mud Lake Trestle. I visited the trestle and boy was I lucky! a few minutes later a CP windmill train eased across the trestle and barely squeezed through the wooden bridge carrying Bollingbroke rd over it.

Halifax and the Ocean

so its been a while since I blogged. recently I went out to the maritimes to see relatives and friends. on my journey  I ventured to halifax to see friends (they weren't free) and sight see here are some of the photos I took:

The above ship is the HMCS Sackville, she is the last canadian WW2 Corvette. during the battle of the attlantic she protected convoys of ships heading to Europe safe from attacks from german U boats.

The next ship is the SS Acadia. this ship is a former Hydrographic surveying and oceanographic research ship.

And folks this is the fairy to dartmouth Nova Scotia which is just across the harbour.

After spending time in Halifax I hopped on VIA Rails Ocean for Montreal:

the door to the Park Car "Tweedsmuir"

View of the "Ocean" near the provincial border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Maintenance of way (MOW) equipment in the form of a Herzog tie train and brush cutter

first freight train "meet" on the trip west of Quebec City.

Ottawa-Carlton trailway: Part 2

the photo below shows the train bridge across Robertson rd, the passenger train the Canadian used to run along here until the VIA rail cutbacks in 1990:

heres another picture of some more cars being stored on the spur beside Moodie drive:

this is across from the rail spur, if you keep following it you will arrive at the start of the bike trail:

the Ottawa- Carlton Trailway: Part 1

The Ottawa- Carlton trail way is part of the Trans Canada trail. This trail starts in Bells Corners and follows the rail bed of the now abandoned CP rail Carlton Place Subdivision. I have biked this route several times, it is a very nice trail.

The Carlton Place sub starts near Moodie drive, now there is just a spur that CN uses to store railcars on (these ones are for sale according the CN website). CP abandoned the line in I believe in 1990 and CN has since acquired the rail spur.  

there is a beautiful culvert probably from when they first built the rail line, you can't see it from the trail though. the trail then crosses over Robertson rd on a old railway bridge, I have a picture of it but I have to scan it onto my computer. Mostly the trail looks like this:

and maybe this but probably not.

after passing through Stittsville you go under the 416. up until a few years ago they still had the original  underpass for the railway but now its been replaced by a pedestrian style concrete culvert.

Then you arrive at carlton place. the CP rail station is still here but its not a station anymore  there is also the  roundhouse that is owned by a local business. up till 2009 CP rails Chalk River sub ran through Carlton Place. but in 2009 they abandoned it and started pulling up the rails in 2010. there is talk about turning the Chalk River sub into a trail as well, hopefully they will.

Big thompson rapids

this summer my family drove out to lake traverse in Algonquin park. while I was there my dad told me about a dam which used to exist at the end of the lake where the Big Thompson rapids are located. so we paddled out to see it. in the end I was the only one who saw it because my dad and my stepmother were cooking dinner that night and had to head back. heres whats left.

as you can see theres not much left, although I did find the remains of a "Cant Hook" that would have been used to move the logs toward a log chute if there was even one here.

Old Timber Slide

This spring I went camping with my dad at Shirley lake in  Algonquin park. I was a very cold weekend  and you could even see icicles along the shore! it was while on this trip that we discovered an old timber slide or splash dam from when they used to log in the park almost a century ago! the old timber slide is located just off the start of the portage from Shirley lake to Crotch lake.

historic mill torn down

Domtar recently tore down the Groundwood pulp mill that John Rudolphus Booth built on Chaudiere island. the building was built on the site of a grist mill that burned down in 1900 the year of the great fire in Ottawa. there is more information on the fate of the mill at:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Joanne+Chianello+Heritage+crumbles+while+looks+other/6207031/story.html