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Caption: Remote and Dreary is what I think of Hornepayne, although I know some on this list might differ. First time I went up here in the '70s even the highway was but a shadow of what a highway should be. But for the train buff the place has its highlights. Note the huge station in the foreground, and administrative offices to the left. Note the huge train sheds, indoor shop and the world's last indoor roundhouse. Why? Because it is so bloody cold up there, thats why. Unfortunately the station has been closed, it is, at last visit, a forelorn and empty structure falling to the vandals. Neither the RR nor the town seems to want it. I understand that due to the elements (as in 'winter') a central all-purpose building that houses everything vital to operation of the community was constructed downtown. I had heard, however, that it was facing forclosure due to lack of tenants and local business. Now that I think of it, this place deserves another visit. :o)
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Looks like it’s the “middle of nowhere”. Great picture though.
Why do they have a CP crane..? Anyways interesting shot
It’s not a CP crane. CN used to paint some of their cranes this way. The “Hallmark” which is the facility Mooney is describing is indeed closed. CN built a new bunkhouse here rather than having crews continue to stay at the Hallmark, and after that it was soon closed. Although Hornepayne is still a home terminal on CN, it’s a pretty sad place like many other small communities in Northern Ontario. You do really have to love the place to live there. The bank rolls into town on a trailer on Tuesdays and the nearest doctor is in Kap.
Ahh okay thanks for the clarification.
Thanks for that great shot Arnold. It sure brings back a lot of memories. You took that photo on the hill where the Superintendent of Transportations house once stood. Across the street behind the Super’s house was the Catholic grade school that I attended in the early 60′s. My Dad’s office was on the upper floor of the main station building (he was the Roadmaster there in the early 60′s). We lived in the CN supplied Roadmaster’s house at 133 Front Street for a number of years. If I recall correctly, CN switched from the all black paint scheme on wreckers to the orange modified locomotive scheme in the early 1970′s. When I came back to Toronto as Regional Superintendent of Work Equipment on CN’s Great Lakes Region in the mid-80′s I had an apartment in the Hallmark Center for use during my trips ‘to the west end’. Work Equipment occupied the last two bays on the right side of the roundhouse building. It was quite a unique building with the fully under roof turntable. As Arnold stated ‘it is bloody cold up there’ in the winter.
Thanks for positive comments. I knew you would like this one, Mr. P O’S.
The two units in the photo.. would they have been used on the Manitouwadge/Geco job?
It’s so remote up there even the Google satellite images are fuzzy with very little detail to go on.
What I can see, the long yard to the North of the shop area in the photo is almost completely empty. The only reason for Hornepayne now is for crew changes I suspect.
So, is that an RV or rails, or a small Atco trailer on a short flat car, tacked on the the caboose?
Havinf just read about SP’s covered roundhouse at Norden, I was very intrigued to learn that there was one in Canada. Wouldn’t the big cities in the plains be suitable for similar treatment? Or is Hornepayne colder than Edmonton?
Hornepayne is bitter compared to Edmonton.
I belive White River South of Hornepayne, in the same region, still holds the coldest Canadian day on record.
Hi Steve. I’d like to try and answer your question … “So, is that an RV or rails, or a small Atco trailer on a short flat car, tacked on the the caboose?”
The car tacked on to the two PSC cabooses is a Transportation Department assigned accommodation unit known within CN as a ‘Blue Fleet” unit. They were similar to the original ‘White Fleet’ ATCO units on CN in that they had sleeping, cooking, eating, and wash facilities within. There was a fuel reservoir with a sound enclosed power generator mounted on one end of the car as well.
Hope this is what you were trying to clarify.
Thanks, Paul. That protrusion on the near end is the generator?
Yes. The fuel tank was framed in angle iron and bolted to the deck of the flat car. The diesel generator was in a sound proof enclosure mounted on top of the fuel tank frame. I have photos of these generator/fuel tank assemblies if you are interested.
Thank you, again Paul. What made me think of an RV on a flat cars was from my first impression that the ends were rounded slightly. It looked odd.
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On another note. As a Co-op Geology student, I visited several mining towns, as did my classmates. There was nothing like that experience to help me decide to pursue a career in the oil patch. (That worked out fine for me until oil went to $20 a barrel
If you look to the left of the PSC cabooses you can see a 4-man BKD (bunk, kitchen, diner) white fleet accommodation unit on a flat car. It has an enclosure for five 100 lb. propane tanks on the near end, and a generator enclosure mounted atop a fuel reservoir on the far end. These made the car completely self-contained.
I hate incorrect info.First,Snag,YT. has held the record since the 1940′s for the coldest day on record in Canada.
Having lived and worked in Edmonton in the early days of my flying career I can tell you Hornepayne is tropical by comparison in the winter months.I have been through Hornepayne probably fifty times,all in the winter months and yes,it gets cold but try YEG at -40c with a ‘breeze’.
You boys back east need to travel out of Ontario once in awhile!
White River lays claim to coldest spot in Canada at -72F on their big roadside sign. Sure, it might be not as advertised, but it is a take-it or leave-it claim. I’ve not heard any ‘public media’ commentators request it be removed.
Iroquois Falls and a few other towns were actually colder. Lets just say perhaps the “coldest town where a railroad runs thru it”.
Hornepayne is bitter. Ask any who have worked there.
And/or lived there!
Hornepayne is bitter cold, that is absolute truth.
White River hit -72 , I lived in Wawa when it did.
We saw -60 in the 1950′s and 60′s easily in Wawa.When the wind is out of the north -40 is brutal.
Rafters would bang when the nails in the wood got that cold in the attic.
Below that it is quite still no air moving.
Lots of young guys from Wawa and Hawk worked the ACR