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Caption: CN Train M264 which set out from Parry Sound almost four hours ago on its day long journey to Algonquin Park is seen on 10 August, 1953 a few minutes west of Scotia. Running eastbound on Mondays and Fridays, and westbound a day later, the train took 10 hours for the 94.6 mile journey including a three hour layover at Scotia making connections with north and southbound Toronto - North Bay trains. Originally part of lumber baron J. R. Booth’s busy Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway, traffic diminished over the years and the Parry Sound to Scotia segment was closed not long after the photo was taken, on the promise that the communities would be linked by a provincially built paved road.
[General location geotagged, not exact]
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![CN Train M264 which set out from Parry Sound almost four hours ago on its day long journey to Algonquin Park is seen on 10 August, 1953 a few minutes west of Scotia. Running eastbound on Mondays and Fridays, and westbound a day later, the train took 10 hours for the 94.6 mile journey including a three hour layover at Scotia making connections with north and southbound Toronto - North Bay trains. Originally part of lumber baron J. R. Booth’s busy Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway, traffic diminished over the years and the Parry Sound to Scotia segment was closed not long after the photo was taken, on the promise that the communities would be linked by a provincially built paved road.
[General location geotagged, not exact]](http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CNR-M264-on-the-Algonquin-Sub-near-Scotia-ON-08-10-1953-Julian-Bernard-EDIT.jpg "CN Train M264 which set out from Parry Sound almost four hours ago on its day long journey to Algonquin Park is seen on 10 August, 1953 a few minutes west of Scotia. Running eastbound on Mondays and Fridays, and westbound a day later, the train took 10 hours for the 94.6 mile journey including a three hour layover at Scotia making connections with north and southbound Toronto - North Bay trains. Originally part of lumber baron J. R. Booth’s busy Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway, traffic diminished over the years and the Parry Sound to Scotia segment was closed not long after the photo was taken, on the promise that the communities would be linked by a provincially built paved road.
[General location geotagged, not exact]")
Wow – great historical shot, thanks for posting!
Very nice. Where was mixed heading to in Algonquin Park? 4 hour trip? Sadly I think the road was more of a time efficient route. It’s 5 hrs from Toronto to South River.
3 hour layover in the bush?
Anyone on board must have been eaten alive in summer!
Yes, an excellent hostoric shot.
Magnificent! Thanks for sharing this shot. Lots of history here.
This is nothing short of amazing – a railway abandoned in the early 50′s with a colour photo to boot.
Brad, according to this link below Route 518 was more of a logging/development road in the early 50′s.. I imagine it would have been a very slow trek (10 MPH) and the railway was probably much faster. In winter, it was probably nearly impossible to go from end to end without going all the way around the major highway routes at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_518
After its long layover at Scotia, Train M264 headed east, probably with only a handful of passengers, another 49.4 miles to Algonquin Park Station which was adjacent to the once thriving Highland Inn, a wooden structure built by the Grand Trunk in the early 1900s. After World War II the hotel had another brief burst of prosperity until the mid-1950s when a change of attitude towards the park led to the closing of all private businesses within the park and the lifting of the tracks. A modest historical description and display of photos are all that remain now at the site.
A super WOW.
The O.A.&P.S.
For forty years the only direct route into Algonquin Park.
Today the road bed, including trestle bridge(s), is the main access to several Algonquin campgrounds. Great shot.
b.t.w. I believe the 1963 CNR doubleheader 6167-6218 turned the train at Scotia Junction.
Julian, very interesting photo. In the mid 30s I visited My grandfathers’s cottage near Canoe Lake. We took the train from Toronto to Scotia Jct and then the Algonquin Park train to Canoe Lake Station where friends would take us by boat to the cottage. I have small photos of Camp Ahmek Boys camp getting of the train at the station and “war canoes” took them to Camp on the lake.I was about 9 or 10.
I am both surprised and pleased at the number and variety of comments this photo in particular has generated. It was after 12 noon and I found, more or less by accident a spot where there would be sun on the left side of an eastbound train which meant it was actually running north at that location. I couldn’t hear it all all and it crept up on me giving only one chance for a shot. Unfortunately I never rode the mixed train but did ride the eastern segment from Scotia to Algonquin Park in 1952 on a train which had come up from Toronto. There were few passengers on board leaving Scotia and most got off at road crossings or one of the camps before reaching the end of the line.
The caboose in this wonderful photo CN 77190 (ex-GTR 90066) built in January 1904, is currently sitting on a track panel on private property at 208 Tutela Heights Road near Cockshutt Rd. in Brantford, ON (confirmed in TSG and in a photo my brother Terry took in March of 2021).
Might be the caboose I tried to save with http://www.ghra.ca at one point, but at the time we declined as we could not afford it…
yeah that’s the one.. the interior was highly modified i’m; told… and it’s white…
What a wonderful, historical picture. Love the “wonky” wooden baggage car and the ancient wooden coach, both with a smoke stack – no steam heat here in the winter. Would be most interesting to learn the history of these two cars. Julian has left a wonderful legacy, may he rest in peace, John