This is the second section (pages 009 through 016) of Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! (Horning)

This second section is also free to all subscribers, but subsequent sections will be exclusively available to paid subscribers.

Printing note: This PDF is sized at 9 x 11.5 inches to match print editions of my books. For home printing on letter-size paper, print double-sided and choose Fit to printable area if your printer offers it, or set a custom scale between 90% and 95%. If the page edges look clipped on your printer, use 85% instead. Print the pages in order as paired spreads: 9 and 10, 11 and 12 13 and 14, and so on.

Sgs1957 Horning

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To read all the entries for this Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! title, click on the tab shown below on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

This is the first section (pages 001 through 008) of Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! (Horning)

This initial part is free to all subscribers, but subsequent sections will be exclusively available to paid subscribers.

Printing note: This PDF is sized at 9 x 11.5 inches to match print editions of my books. For home printing on letter-size paper, print double-sided and choose Fit to printable area if your printer offers it, or set a custom scale between 90% and 95%. If the page edges look clipped on your printer, use 85% instead. Print the pages in order as paired spreads: 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, and so on.

Sgs1957 Horning

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To read all the entries for this Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! title, click on the tab shown below on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

This is the third in a series of three background videos (free to all subscribers) previewing our upcoming Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! digital release

Click on the video icon below, which will take you to the post containing the video. Once there, click on the video to play it.

To read all the entries in this new Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! series, click on the tab shown below on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

To recap and expand

• A new digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! work featuring the photography is Philip and Oliver Horning is in the works

• this is the third of three background videos via Substack email or website (to all subscribers) previewing the volume

• the release of the digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! Horning volume (for paid subscribers only) will begin a couple of days after the third preview video has been published

This is the second in a series of three background videos (free to all subscribers) previewing our upcoming Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! digital release

Click on the video icon below, which will take you to the post containing the video. Once there, click on the video to play it.

To read all the entries in this new Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! series, click on the tab shown below on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

To recap and expand

• A new digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! work featuring the photography is Philip and Oliver Horning is in the works for imminent release

• this is the second of three background videos via Substack email or website (to all subscribers) previewing the volume

• the release of the digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! Horning volume (for paid subscribers only) will begin a couple of days after the third preview video has been published

This is the first in a series of three background videos (free to all subscribers) previewing our upcoming Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! digital release

To read all the entries in this new Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! series, click on the tab shown below on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

To recap and expand

• A new digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! work featuring the photography is Philip and Oliver Horning is in the works for imminent release

• this is the first of three background videos via Substack email or website (to all subscribers) previewing the volume

• the release of the digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! Horning volume (for paid subscribers only) will begin a couple of days after the third preview video has been published

Introducing a photographer who needs no introduction to those with limited-edition hardcovers from the Steam series on their shelves

The work of Philip Tonson Horning has been featured in many of my original Steam series of hardcover volumes. Now we are about to showcase his (and his father Oliver’s) photographic journeys to Ontario, Canada in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

Readers of the original Steam series have seen Phil Horning (and Oliver Horning) photographs showcased, but until now space limitations have prevented us documenting their travels in entirety

We’ll begin this all-digital Speed Graphics and Steam! chronicle with a trip to Ontario in late October 1957

This atmospheric view at Stratford on the morning of October 26, 1957 is a teaser, a prelude of what is to come

As with our photographers John Rehor, Don Wood and Herb Harwood of the Speed Graphics and Steam! print series, Phil Horning uses the best camera his money can buy

Remarkably, our “PTH” is only 16 years old at the time of his October 1957 trip to Ontario with his dad, but already possessing accomplished skills through school yearbook photography and trackside documenting of his beloved Nickel Plate Road mainline through his hometown of Rocky River, Ohio!

Accompanying 16-year-old Phil with the all-important family car is his father Oliver Horning, a photographer in his own right (we’ll feature Oliver’s work in this digital Speed Graphics and Steam! series as well)

What would a photographic journey to CNR lines in southwestern Ontario in October 1957 be without a stop at Palmerston?

All of the black & white photography in the digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! Horning volume will feature Phil’s work with his press camera and 4×5 film, while the colour views will be 35mm slides courtesy of father Oliver

Reminiscent of our Encounters series, we’ll document the adventure of travel to Ontario from afar… this time from a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio in the Hornings’ 1955 Mercury Montclair two-door hardtop (Tuxedo Black over Yukon Yellow… an iconic “bumble bee” colour scheme)

All of our Speed Graphics and Steam! photographers delve deep into the remote branchlines of Ontario, and Phil Horning and his father Oliver are no exception in October 1957, for example probing the Southampton Subdivision in search of mixed trains behind CNR Ten Wheelers

To read all the entries in this new Speed Graphics & Steam 1957! series, click on the tab shown above on the Canadian Branchline Substack website (click on the picture to go there now and look for the tab)

To recap and expand

• A new digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! work featuring the photography is Philip and Oliver Horning is in the works for imminent release

• watch for a series of three background videos via Substack email or website (to all subscribers) beginning Thursday, April 8, 2026

• the release of the all-new digital Speed Graphics and Steam 1957! Horning volume (for paid subscribers only) will begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, April 15, 2026

In June 1936, the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway had placed an order with National Steel Car Corporation of Hamilton, Ontario for ten new all-steel passenger cars: six first-class coaches and four combination baggage-passenger cars. Delivery was expected before the end of the year.

The train-travelling public awaits

By early December anticipation is building. On December 4, 1936, the railway announces that the modern, all-steel, air-conditioned coaches will enter daily service on trains Nos. 46 and 47 between Toronto and Timmins by Monday, December 21. The six new coaches feature improved seating, lighting, and properly appointed lounge rooms for ladies.

On December 10, the T&NO confirms that some of the cars have already been delivered, with the full order of ten scheduled for completion by December 17. The cars are painted in the railway’s dark green with gold-leaf lettering and finished with three coats of outside varnish. They feature the turtle-back roof design.

Read more

The Canadian railway world into which the first two T&NO 4-8-4s were introduced in 1936

The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario ordering two new, large engines on September 18, 1935 was welcomed by the Depression-era Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston, Ontario. They had been delivering steam locomotives to the T&NO since 1903, but none since October 1930.

The year 1936 was an exciting time in locomotive development in Canada:

The Montreal Locomotive Works was putting together five streamlined 4-4-4s designed for 110 m.p.h. passenger service on the Canadian Pacific. Designed by CPR steam man H. B. Bowen, lightweight passenger cars would accompany the new power.

Meanwhile, the MLW was also building five streamlined Northerns for the CNR for 1936 delivery.

To read or re-read any of the nine previous installments in the Gravenhurst 1938 series

Click this image (it will take you to the Canadian Branchline homepage, where the Gravenhurst 1938 grid block is featured):

Recalling the T&NO locomotive requirements and limitations

The same infrastructure considerations of 1921 (see our conversation with T&NO Chief Engineer Sheldon B. Clement) were still present in 1935.

What the T&NO wanted, but could not have, was a pair of 4-6-4s to head their heaviest trains 46 and 47 between North Bay and Timmins. However, a Hudson would carry too much weight on her axles for the railway’s roadbed. To spread that weight out, an additional set of drivers was added, with relatively small (69-inch) diameter for modern passenger steam power.

Let’s peek into the CLC erecting hall at Kingston, Ontario for a look at engine 1100, the first of the two 4-8-4s, under construction

A trailing truck booster was a foregone conclusion, boosting the locomotive’s tractive effort from 54,500 to 64,950 lbs.

Read more

Sheldon B. Clement, Chief Engineer for the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway

Sheldon B. Clement was born in Stratford, Ontario in 1880, when the town was the centre of Grand Trunk Railway operations and locomotive repairs. Like me, he trained as a civil engineer at a Canadian university—McGill for him, Queen’s for me. He graduated in the spring of 1901, some 83 years before me. He earned prizes and orders of merit far beyond my wildest academic dreams! Moreover, he accomplished a Masters Degree in civil engineering, focusing on hydraulics.

Clement began his professional career with the Niagara Power Company, then joined the T&NO in 1905. On April 1, 1909, he was promoted to Chief Engineer (at age 29), a position he held until his retirement on December 31, 1945.

Wouldn’t it be great to sit down with Clement for an hour or two, “back in the day”?

That would be the easiest way to sort out the operations of various trains on the T&NO side of North Bay. Virtually all of our trains through Gravenhurst (the dividing point between the CNR’s Huntsville and Newmarket Subdivisions on the Allandale Division) in 1938 are tied directly to the T&NO. The CNR (and previously GTR) is essentially a bridge route for the Provincial Government railway between Toronto and North Bay. Another way of looking at it: the T&NO is a northern extension of the CNR/GTR beyond North Bay.

But, wait a minute… I’m a writer, am I not? As such, I’m an omnipresent (not omnipotent; that’s a whole different thing) narrator. If I choose to visit Sheldon B. Clement in his capacity of Chief Engineer for the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway, I can do that anytime I want.

And I know just how to do it.

Read more

And Part 09 (concerning the T&NO 4-8-4s) is in the works.

I have grouped all the parts under one heading (Gravenhurst 1938) so you can read them in sequence, re-read them, refer back, etc.

To explore special series (such as Gravenhurst 1938 or Videos)…

Navigate to my Canadian Branchline Substack at canadianbranchline.substack.com .

At the top of the page, you’ll see a navigation bar with headings like Videos and Gravenhurst 1938.

Simply click any heading to view all posts in that category.

.This makes it easy to find and read related articles or watch videos directly on the site.

I will continue to group related posts (past and future) under headings.

Note: most of these parts in their entirety are for paid subscribers, but there are some for free subscribers, and all posts have previews for free subscribers

If you are a paid subscriber, be sure to login to the Canadian Branchline publication with the email address associated with your subscription (I believe this is a one-time-only step on a given device). That way, you’ll have full access to all the posts.

If you are a non-paying subscriber, you’ll have at least a preview for any post in any series (and, within any post, you’ll see links whereby you can upgrade to a monthly or annually-paid subscription for full access).

Service developments in the early 1920s favour Cochrane

It’s a never-ending skirmish between the citizens of Timmins (Porcupine) and Cochrane for the distinction of being the terminus for our trains 46 and 47. These are not ordinary trains: they are overnight sleepers between Toronto and North Bay, carrying Pullman cars. Even the changing nicknames for the trains reflect the tug-of-war between the communities to boast of being the terminus.

At the conclusion of the Great War in November 1918, our trains operate between Toronto and Cochrane (regardless of the alternating nature of the northern terminus, the other community—in this case Timmins—is served by local connecting trains). By March 1920, the people of Timmins are formally asking the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario to route trains 46 and 47 to their town instead.

Short-term improvements are in the offing, but they favour of Cochrane, with a bone thrown to Timmins

The National (GTR trans-continentals 9 and 10) expands to daily service between Toronto and Cochrane on June 27, 1920. To add insult to injury (for Timmins), trains 46 and 47 are cut back to Englehart again (for the winter months 1920-21).

And then this:

On April 30, 1921, political pressure forces the GTR and CNR to route its new train, the Continental Limited (between Montreal and Vancouver), over the T&NO between North Bay and Cochrane.

With this latest development, our trains 46 and 47 change their terminus to Timmins.

Read more

Today, we have a number of sequences filmed at Windsor, Ontario on Tuesday, July 17, 1956. It’s mid-morning and this is what we witness:

Overview of the footage

• general view of the Windsor and Detroit waterfront

• CPR SW8 6704 switching freight cars onto a ferry

• CNR Northern 6149 off manifest freight Second 475

• CNR Northern 6228 arriving with passenger train 117

• CNR steam yard engine 7510 inside the roundhouse

• CNR Hudson 5702 leaving with passenger train 12

• Wabash SW1 102 switching car ferry Manitowoc

• CNR car ferry Lansdowne

Other movie footage available here

After enjoying the Windsor sequences, check out these other movies if you haven’t already:

We’ll have more movies as time goes on

As usual, please spread this email far and wide by forwarding it to a friend or two who share your interest in Canadian National Railways steam operations in Ontario.

They look like this one, sister 1103 at North Bay after the advent of the name change to Ontario Northland in April 1946. Engines 1100 and 1101 have been built specifically to head trains 46 and 47 between North Bay and Timmins. But we’re getting ahead of our story. Let’s learn more about the early days of that pair of trains…

We’ve built our railway network surrounding Gravenhurst

All the tracks are in place, ready for the trains to appear on our stage set in the late autumn of 1938.

Those trains are our characters, our players… let’s now cast our minds back. It’s Autumn 1938 from this moment on, in this study.

It’s time to learn the biographies of these trains that we’ll witness passing before our eyes on this Northern Ontario District crew change point on the Allandale Division of the Canadian National Railways.

We start with stalwart passenger trains 46 and 47, which (by 1938) have already operated through Gravenhurst for decades

Premier Temiskaming & Northern Ontario passenger trains 1 and 2 begin on March 5, 1905. Initially, they only connect with Grand Trunk Railway Toronto–North Bay trains 46 and 47. A joint arrangement is not yet in place. For several years to come, connections will be made at the CPR North Bay station.

Read more

But since a lot of my content (especially the book-length Gravenhurst series) is something designed to be read sequentially (or referred back to), I want to tell you the easy way to browse and consume the dozens (soon to be hundreds) of posts at your leisure.

There are two kinds of posts

Before getting into the instructions for reading posts, bear in mind there are:

• free posts available to everyone

• paid posts only available to paid (yearly or monthly) subscribers

Note, a portion of every paid post available to free subscribers (as a “teaser”).

Bearing the two kinds of posts in mind…

If you ever want to read my posts directly on the Internet (instead of just by email), you can do so in two easy ways.

Read (or sample) any Canadian Branchline Substack posts on a computer or tablet or browser (on your phone)

• Go to www.substack.com

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• Enter your email address (the one you use for my newsletter, i.e. email newsletter that you receive from me in the form of posts).

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If you have any trouble, reply to this email and I’ll help you out.

Stay tuned for Part Seven in our Gravenhurst series

Back with our regular programming, as they say, we’ll dive into the fascinating background of Toronto–Timmins trains 46 and 47.

As usual, please spread this email far and wide by forwarding it to a friend or two who share your interest in Canadian National Railways steam operations in Ontario.

Such is the case this week in the course of compiling background data trains 46 and 47 through Gravenhurst. The 12-section Pullmans, the magnificent Temiskaming & Northern Ontario 4-8-4s that fronted these trains beyond North Bay, will have to wait for a couple of days. First, a tale for the ages with CNR Pacific 5108.

Here’s our engine (above), somewhere on the CNR’s Northern Ontario District in the 1940s

This particular incident I will describe happened in February 1936. I don’t have a lot of data on number 5108 that far before the 1950s, but I know she was a Capreol engine in the late 1940s or sooner. In the early 1950s, she spent time on the Northern Ontario District at Port Arthur, on local trains between there and Longlac. Below is my late friend Bill Cole’s view of her in that capacity at Longlac.

Still later in the 1950s, she ended up on the Southern Ontario District. The late Ray Corley framed her at Peterboro on June 3, 1957 (below).

Let’s set the stage for engine 5108 in February 1936, then recount our story

Number 5108 was in work train service at Allandale circa October 1937, not long after our incident. And given the crew change notes at Gravenhurst to follow, it’s safe to say she was an Allandale Division locomotive in February 1936.

At the rink: Sunday, February 23, 1936 at South Porcupine (Timmins), Ontario

Seventeen-year-old Bob Gallagher is doing what I, and millions of other 17-year-old Canadian boys across the ages have done on a mid-winter Sunday afternoon: playing pickup hockey with his chums on an outdoor rink. It’s wired into us!

After playing hockey with his fourth form (Grade 12) friends, it’s time for Bob to leave the ice and head home. In the course of stepping off the south end of the rink, he stumbles. The butt end of his hockey stick lodges on the ground, immovable. He falls on the blade end of his stick. The blade lodges in his left eye.

Bob calmly says to his friends, ‘I think I’ve knocked my eye in.’ He walks to the hospital unaided, practically next door.

At the Timmins hospital

The three emergency room doctors immediately recognize the severity of Bob’s injury, as do the specialists who examine him soon after.

There are two serious concerns the physicians share among themselves. The injured left eye cannot be saved; it will have to be removed. Worse still, infection could spread to the uninjured right eye and render the boy totally blind. At whatever cost, they must save the second eye.

The doctors conclude that only a high-risk, delicate operation—performed by expert surgeons at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto—can safely remove the injured eye and preserve sight in the remaining eye.

The quandary on the afternoon of Sunday, February 23, 1935 in Timmins

How to get young Bob to expert hands in the Toronto hospital?

It’s 350 miles from Timmins to Toronto as the crow flies. Chartering an aircraft is the first thought on everyone’s mind. But nothing is available that Sunday afternoon. An aircraft is available the next morning, Monday, but weather conditions then preclude the risk of flying out of Timmins, even in an emergency.

The Temiskaming & Northern Ontario and the Canadian National Railways to the rescue

It’s 259 miles by rail from Timmins to North Bay, then another 228 miles from North Bay to Toronto. That’s 487 miles altogether. It takes day train 46 out of Timmins (which is then an overnight sleeper from North Bay to Toronto) 17 hours and 45 minutes to make that trip. And that’s the fast way by train in February 1935.

But there are no other options. Bob Gallagher must be conveyed by rail out of Timmins, for whatever distance, then to Toronto as quickly as possible.

Mac Lang, Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway Commissioner, steps in

Lang directs the T&NO dispatchers at Timmins to charter a special train to take young Gallagher down to Porquis Junction (some 33 miles south of Timmins) or the shortest distance beyond—the object being to charter an aircraft from the nearest point for the remainder of the journey as soon as a ship is available and weather conditions permit. Worst case, an aircraft will be available at North Bay.

A special two-car passenger train (both are coaches), headed by a T&NO Pacific, leaves Timmins at 6:25 a.m. on Monday, February 24, 1935. Lang himself is aboard. Doctor McLaren, Bob’s twin sister, and other family members accompany the boy aboard the train. The lad’s eyes are heavily bandaged, and he is seated in a wheelchair. Gallagher’s anxious father is standing by in Toronto, where he has been on business.

The special arrives in North Bay at 3:40 p.m. That’s after 9 hours and 15 minutes on the road, about the same time as number 46 takes (nine hours even).

But there is unrelenting sleet and wind at North Bay that Monday afternoon

Flying anywhere out of North Bay is out of the question. The only option is to continue to Toronto by rail.

What is CNR 4-6-2 doing at North Bay on a Monday afternoon?

She’s probably been dispatched from Allandale or Gravenhurst, on standby. Whatever the case, she’s hot and ready to go, with an engineer and fireman, at the North Bay CNR station.

Passenger Extra 5108 South leaves North Bay at 4:10 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 1936. That’s half an hour after the T&NO crew had arrived with the special.

Southbound on the Huntsville Subdivision

What trains are opposing our special late afternoon, early evening, on its way to Gravenhurst?

A northbound way freight will have pulled into South River before we get there. Fast freights First and Second 453 (referring to manifests, not schedules) will have been handed over to the T&NO at its North Bay yard hours ago. There’s not much else to worry about (that we know of, ninety years after the fact).

Opposing trains or no opposing trains, every one of the dozen station order boards between North Bay and Gravenhurst is showing green for Passenger Extra 5108 South. Aside for coal and water, there will be no stops.

In the cab of engine 5108 from North Bay to Gravenhurst

Under the care of Engineer Webb and Fireman Woods, the locomotive will need to take coal on the mainline at South River. She’ll probably take water there too, then again at Huntsville.

The roadbed all the way is heaving with frost action. It could be fatal to test that foundation with the pounding of 69-inch drivers. Nonetheless, the men in the cab maintain the 50 m.p.h. subdivision speed limit (which is meant for ideal conditions) all the way, and sometimes nose the throttle open until number 5108 is doing 60 m.p.h.

With the aforementioned coal and water stops, the Extra pulls into Gravenhurst at 6:44 p.m., having made 116 miles in 2 hours and 34 minutes (the fastest pace ever set on the subdivision, with number 46 normally taking 5 hours and 7 minutes).

Without changing off, engine 5108 continues south from Gravenhurst

Now in the cab it’s Engineer Legear and Fireman Riddell (on the scoop; no stoker as yet on engine 5108). In all likelihood, they are Allandale spareboard men on hand at Gravenhurst for extra assignments (freight and passenger). They’ve taken over at Muskoka Junction, eight-tenths of a mile south of Gravenhurst station.

Six minutes after engine 5108 has come to a stop at Muskoka Junction, she’s underway again with her new crew at 6:50 p.m.

Washago and southward

As with every through train, our Passenger Extra 5108 South will take coal at Washago—and water too (as per sister 5113 here, four years later).

It’s about 89 miles from Washago to Toronto via the Bala Subdivision, ten miles shorter than via the Newmarket Subdivision. With the complication of needing to meet number 45 somewhere on the latter subdivision, and no scheduled first-class trains on the Bala, it’s a easy decision how to route the special south from Washago.

My guess is the head-end crew elects to take water at Zephyr, roughly halfway to Toronto.

Arriving at Toronto

Engine 5108, heading her two-car passenger extra, enters Track 11 at Toronto’s Union Station on the dot of 9:00 p.m. (twenty minutes ahead of the anticipated arrival). With at least one water stop, she’s made roughly 90 miles in two hours and ten minutes.

Bob Gallagher’s father is waiting for his son on the station platform. Scarcely after the train has stopped moving, the boy is wheeled off the train toward a freight elevator. From there, he is lowered to the baggage room, where an automobile is waiting.

Doctor McLaren, who has accompanied the injured boy from Timmins, helps the lad into the car and offers, “He had a good trip, and we hope to save his right eye.”

Displaying great fortitude in spite of his pain and distress, young Gallagher is then whisked away to St. Michael’s Hospital, where a pair of eye surgeons are on hand, ready to perform the emergency operation.

A quick word with the men in the cab

The engineer and fireman aboard locomotive 5108, grimy with cinders and coal dust, acknowledge their quick run to waiting reporters. “We kept her at a good average of fifty miles an hour,” Engineer Legear comments. “Sometimes we hit sixty, but the frost is coming out of the roadbed, and it wouldn’t do to crowd her over that speed.”

Steam is hissing from engine 5108 on Track 11 as Engineer Legear watches the automobile draw away from Union Station with Bob Gallagher aboard. “I hope they save the young fellow’s eye.” His fireman, Riddell, mops his forehead after more than two hours of nonstop shovelling.

How do things turn out for young Gallagher?

At an early hour the next morning (Tuesday, February 25), doctor’s at St. Michael’s Hospital report the surgery has been a success: the lad’s sight has been saved.

A week after Gallagher arrived at the Toronto hospital, his twin sister returned to Timmins. She reported that her brother was feeling physically fit and had not complained once of his ordeal. He would be at St. Michael’s for at least another week—possibly until Easter—but he was up and walking around, and reading all the letters from his classmates unaided.

The doctor’s opine that, at age seventeen and physically fit, Gallagher’s right eye will likely develop even more strength than normal, given the loss of his left.

That autumn, Bob Gallagher enrolls at St. Michael’s College in Toronto.

Stay tuned for Part Seven in our Gravenhurst series

Back with our regular programming, as they say, we’ll dive into the fascinating background of Toronto–Timmins trains 46 and 47.

As usual, please spread this email far and wide by forwarding it to a friend or two who share your interest in Canadian National Railways steam operations in Ontario.

We’re down to a dozen or so calendars. Get yours now if you haven’t already!

Office shutdown at 11:59 p.m. December 22

I can process orders received through December 22 (Monday coming), and ship them as late as the following day, Tuesday, December 23. After that, I’ll be unable for calendar distribution until January 15 (the Gravenhurst series posts will continue uninterrupted though!).

To place an order for a calendar, navigate here

This post includes all the PayPal ordering links according to destination (Canada, United States, overseas). Checks/cheques are also accepted, or Interac e-transfers from Canadian banks. Click on this link to proceed:

Sincerely,

P.S. Please forward this email to any friends who would appreciate grabbing one of the 300 Canadian Branchline 2026 calendar!

• construction of the Ontario Government’s Temiskaming & Northern Ontario railway from North Bay to Englehart between 1902 and 1906

• the OA&PS Railway coming into the GTR fold in 1905

• construction and opening of the Canadian Northern Railway line between Toronto and Capreol over the time-span 1906 to 1908

• the CPR mainline between Toronto and Sudbury opening in 1908

In Part 03 of our Gravenhurst series, we cover

• railway construction and operational developments from 1875 to 1898

In Part 02, we classify the trains which pass through Gravenhurst in 1938

In Part 01, we introduce the scope of the series

Now, we pick up the story just after the Canadian Northern mainline has reached Capreol in 1908

What’s the T&NO up to, meanwhile?

The indomitable Ontario Government railway reaches Cochrane by the end of 1908 (before the NTR, no less). The first train travels the route on December 28.

Read more

Still need a calendar? There are a few left… click links in this post to order one:

In Part 03 of our Gravenhurst series, we covered

• the Northern Railway of Canada (operations beginning to Muskoka Wharf at Gravenhurst in 1875)

• the Canadian Pacific transcontinental mainline through North Bay opening in 1882

• the Northern Railway extending north from Gravenhurst to connect with the CPR at Nipissing Junction in 1886

• the Grand Trunk Railway taking over the Northern Railway in 1888

• the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway opening operations between Depot Harbour and Ottawa via Scotia, north of Gravenhurst, in 1896

• running rights for the CPR via Gravenhurst established in 1898

Read about those early developments here:

In Part 02, we classified the trains which pass through Gravenhurst in 1938 into three groups—passenger, manifest freight, and local (ways freights, switchers):

Going back to the first installment, we introduced the scope of the entire series here:

Now, let’s move on from our teaser in Part 03 to incorporate the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway

We’ll pick up the story from the moment we introduce the Ontario Government’s railway…

When the line through Gravenhurst becomes a de facto extension of the T&NO

The development that dominates our 1938 study is the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway, conceived by the Provincial Government.

This road begins as a means of opening up access to agricultural land north of Lake Temiskaming. Construction of the 114-mile line from North Bay to New Liskeard starts on October 14, 1902.

The T&NO begins using CPR facilities at North Bay in 1903, but there is still no direct connection between the T&NO and the GTR. And the T&NO has not even reached New Liskeard yet by year end.

The plans for a second transcontinental railway take shape

Now, in that same year 1903, the Dominion Government announces the National Transcontinental Railway (to run between Moncton and Winnipeg, there to connect with the Grand Trunk Pacific, the western half of the joint project).

Thus, the T&NO plans to extend its line 100 miles northward (from New Liskeard) to connect with the NTR at Cochrane.

A silver strike ensues

Read more

All the calendar orders received (even those spoken for, and payment not yet received) have been fulfilled. The last of them went into the postal (or UPS) system yesterday, Friday.

Office shutdown ahead

An advisory: the office here will be closed this coming Wednesday (November 12) until Monday, November 24. If you haven’t ordered a calendar and you want to be assured of getting one, place your order pronto. I’ll get it on the way to you on or before the 12th.

Otherwise, the closer we get to Christmas, the greater the demand for the remaining copies of the calendar.

This recent post includes all the PayPal ordering links according to destination (Canada, United States, overseas). Checks/cheques are also accepted, or Interac e-transfers from Canadian banks. Click on this link to proceed:

Sincerely,

P.S. Please forward this email to any friends who would appreciate grabbing one of the 300 Canadian Branchline 2026 calendar!

There they are, folks. A total of 300 of our 2026 Canadian Branchline wall calendars arrived here yesterday morning (Wednesday). I immediately started packaging them for shipment and the first lot went into the system in the afternoon.

The usual stellar quality

Ampersand Printing in Guelph, Ontario has continued their fine reproduction prowess with this edition. The calendars are produced on the same archival glossy paper stock as my limited-edition books (all out of print, as the calendar soon will be).

Distribution will take a week

Your one-man-show here is packaging all the calendars single-handedly. All orders received to date will go out the door over the next five business days. These are being shipped according to when the orders were received (first-in, first-out).

There’s still time to get yours!

Of the couple of dozen calendars still up for grabs after current orders have been fulfilled, make sure yours is one of them if you haven’t already spoken for one!

This recent post includes all the PayPal ordering links according to destination (Canada, United States, overseas). Checks/cheques are also accepted, or Interac e-transfers from Canadian banks. Click on this link to proceed:

Sincerely,

P.S. Please forward this email to any friends who would appreciate grabbing one of the 300 Canadian Branchline 2026 calendar!