Winter surprises in frozen Ottawa (Part I)

I finally made it out to capture some winter railroading shots last weekend and it brought to mind a comic strip. I recall Calvin and Hobbes peering down from a high hill, wondering why they are about to hurdle themselves down the precipice in a wagon. I asked myself a similar question this past weekend, as I braved the -30 C conditions to get a few winter railroad images.

In between the frostbite and quick retreats to my car, I did manage to capture some interesting images. These shots helped me uncover a few pieces of news that I was not aware of before. I was in the east end of the city to drop my daughter off at a birthday party at a laser tag facility, so I had a few hours on my hands. 

As the facility was just across Saint Laurent Boulevard from the Canada Museum of Science and Technology, I decided to head behind the museum to the Bytown Railway Society storage tracks to see what BRS had resting on the rails in the frigid cold.

I was happy to see the former Thurso & Nation Valley GE switcher basking in the winter sun. This bidrectional engine was built in 1946 in Erie. Pa. It was used for plant switching at the Singer facility in Thurso for years. More recently, it was considered for use on the old tourist railway between Hull and Wakefield, Quebec. That never panned out and the engine was never used. Instead, it sat in storage near Edelweiss ski resort near Wakefield.The steam operation is long gone while the rails it used, CP's former Maniwaki Subdivison, are also history. BRS had the locomotive brought to the museum, where it was restored to operational shape and painted in a classic CNR livery. You can read more about its history here.

Right beside the GE switcher, the society had its Canadian Pacific wood slatted caboose 436436 sitting on an adjacent track in the sunshine. This car was built in 1913 and acquired by BRS in 1983. Like the switcher beside it, this car was used on the T&NVR. The car, after being acquired, spent three years in and out of Thurso until that railway closed for good in 1986. After the caboose was transferred to the museum, the society took off the plywood sheeting that it was covered in, to restore its wooden slat cladding, essentially restoring it to its original condition. The car was recently repainted and re-lettered. The caboose is now used for special events like Santa meet and greets. 

This image above was perhaps the biggest surprise I found on the museum tracks. The society's recently purchased steam locomotive was resting at the end of the museum tracks, connected to the old Central Vermont crane car. I was surprised to the see the skeleton of the old E.B. Eddy steam locomotive stored outside, considering what a big deal it seemed to be when the society acquired this piece of equipment from Exporail in Delson, Quebec in the fall.

The engine is called E.B. Eddy No. 2. At it stands now on the rails, its exterior cladding is clearly somewhere else, as the chassis and insides of the machine are exposed to the elements, with some tarps partially covering certain areas. You can see the various shots that chronicled its move from the Exporail shops onto a flatbed truck here. 

When the engine was acquired, there was work to be done with asbestos removal. The society also mentioned that work would have to begin on the engine's boiler, as it must meet safety standards before anything is to happen to make it operational. I would imagine this would be a long-term project.

The E.B. Eddy switcher is a throwback to a time when downtown Hull was a warren of industrial activity, complete with railway tracks serving the Eddy operations. Although Hull still has a paper facility on the waterfront, most of the former Domtar lands have been repurposed into modern condos and housing around Chaudiere Falls. E.B. Eddy's legacy lives on in the downtown, as one of old Hull's main streets bears the Eddy name. Some of the old stone match making facilities remain, although I'm unsure what is intended there.

Railway service to the Hull waterfront continued via the Canadian Pacific Prescott-Ellwood Subdivisions, over the former Prince of Wales rail bridge, up until the late 1990s. That service ended, essentially silencing the sound of trains in the old section of Hull for good. Although the Guebec-Gatineau Railway still technically reaches Gatineau, most of that activity is limited to the east parts of the Outaouais. That railway is operated by Genesee & Wyoming. 

For more on the rails in Gatineau, you can check out my 2018 post, which is still relevant today.  

Before departing from the museum, I managed to get a few other quick shots of what was on the rails.

The old CV crane car is at the very end of the museum tracks, coupled to E.B. Eddy No. 2. Indoor storage space for the society in the museum building is clearly at a premium, which is why I would imagine some of this equipment has to be stored outside. In recent months, the organization's old CP Jordan spreader plow car has found a new home, which leaves a bit more room for what the organization can fit outside now. 

The old 1955 CN baggage car, built by National Steel Car Co., remains a fixture at the museum, although the winters can be tough!

 

Here's one final shot of E.B. Eddy No. 2, which gives you a little more context as to its size, when framed against the CV crane car. It's not a huge locomotive, but it likely didn't have to be huge, as it was a switcher that worked the tracks a few cars at a time in downtown Hull.

 

I have another batch of photographs from Ottawa's central station from the same day, but I will save them for another post, as this one is long enough. It ended up being a very successful railfanning day for me, with a number of unexpected surprises. I'll be watching the efforts of the Bytown Railway Society closely as it works to restore the old Eddy switcher back to its operational condition. It will be nice to see a part of Hull's industrial story come back to life.