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Caption: Depot Harbour was founded by 'visionary' John R. Booth back in 1892. The railroad connection was the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railroad (OA&PS). Became part of the Grand Trunk in 1904 and later, part of the CNR network. Shown is the road/rail bridge to Depot Harbour, which was situated on Parry Island, home of the Wasauksing First Nation. The town had a fascinating history, but it is all gone now; the last resident having left in 1980. At its best, the community had around 1600 residents, as well as a couple of grain elevators,warehouses, an excellent deep water pier and a well laid out residential area. The railroad was very busy, lake ships from Chicago and Milwaukee brought lumber, wheat and coal, which were unloaded onto the railcars and sent to Ottawa and Montreal and points East. A train every half hour. Eventually it all died out as better shipping routes were found. In 1926 the railroad, streamlining somewhat, closed the roundhouse, turntable, freight shed and offices and centralized activity at nearby South Parry. Very little happening any more and the town dwindled down to about 200 residents. On the night of August 14, 1945, mysteriously a blaze started in one of the grain elevators, used for the storage of cordite which was involved in the making of dynamite at the nearby Nobel Canadian Industries Ltd (CIL). The building exploded and took most of the town with it in a raging inferno. Jobs gone, people left. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 assured Depot Harbour it would never amount to anything ever again.
All of this is involved in why this pictured Wasauksing Swing Bridge existed. As far as I know it was the only railroad / auto combined bridge in Canada. Trains had to stop and crew checked for approaching vehicular traffic on both sides before advancing over the bridge. And the bridge often was opened for boat traffic. Quite the all-purpose structure. And only one lane !!!! This image is from nearly 40 years ago, and 10 years after this photo was taken, the last train left Depot Harbour and the tracks you see here were removed. A neat piece of Canadian railroad history.
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Very interesting.
There is a similar bridge in northern BC.
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=10846
If you search Fort Nelson BC auto train bridge you will find pictures/videos of a structure very similar to this one.
No trains in 1979 Arnold? Looks abandoned on the other end..
A steel company shipped a few cars of iron ore out of Depot Harbour in the early ’80s but that was infrequent and I was never able to catch anything running on the line. Just the odd railcar in a rusty yard.
Interesting, was the port still active at the time?
Not much happening. Coal was shipped out a bit in the ’50s, (the Edmund Fitzgerald called there!!) and when that faltered, an ore shipper used the facility but I can’t recall seeing much of anything….it was like Michipicoten Hbr on the ACR;no real structures, just self-loading. I remember the pier, it is still there, as was most track but what rolling stock there was just odds and ends that were all rounded up when the last train left in 1986. Activity at the port would have been very spotty at best in 1979.
The area is still worth a visit.
There was also a combined road / rail bridge in Peace River, Alberta, if I recall correctly. As well, there was one at East Coulee, Alberta, to allow CN and CP to switch the Atlas Coal Mine. The line from there to Drumheller was CP but CN had trackage rights between the two locations.
The main highway (16) into Prince George BC was a long road/rail bridge as well. It was changed in the 90′s when a new entrance to PG was constructed.
There was a road rail bridge at Little Current as well (CP)