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Caption: Under brooding autumn skies — that, in retrospect, may have been foreshadowing what was to come — a pair of Ontario Northland EMD SD40-2s hustle Timmins to Englehart train no. 308 past the line-side sentinels at Swastika, Ontario.
Unbeknownst to the photographer, less than 6 months after this photo was taken, the unique 1967-constructed station and surrounding signals would be reduced to a heap of rubble.
With the demolition of the town's station, Swastika not only lost a piece of its railroading heritage but a sense of character. All too often, the railroad landscape of today seems to become more and more sterile as the aesthetic of place is drowned out by ubiquity. An unexpected demolition such as this illustrates the point and serves as a reminder that in railroading, the only constant is change.
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Wow….what an awesome photo
Excellent image and caption.
Steel coil loads?
Ryan, great picture, love the way the yellow on the nose of 1734 compliments the yellow fall colours – truly only in northern Ontario. Sad news about the Swastika train station being torn down, it certainly added character to the town. Question, if (and it’s a big if) the long winded frequent political promises of restoring the Northland passenger train eventually become reality, will a new modest train station be built (like the one in Bracebridge), or will it be simply a platform with passengers braving the elements ? Have you heard of any plans ? Thanks for posting this historic and colourful picture, John
Wow!! What a blast of colour!!! You must have been on that proverbial “cloud nine” after pulling off a shot like this.