Caption: The joint excursion of the Upper Canada Railway Society and Canadian Railroad Historical Association behind E-10-a 2-6-0 90 and N-4-a 2-8-0 2649 is seen pausing briefly at Bancroft before continuing north to wye at York River. The train had stopped to allow local children to board the train for a ride up to the wye and back, after which the locomotives would take on coal and water.
Departing Belleville amid the light rain that morning at 0645h - with a crew from the National Film Board setup in the baggage car - the excursion ran along the Campbellford Subdivision to Anson Junction, taking the east leg of the wye onto the Maynooth Subdivision. Seen here, the train would pause briefly at Bancroft before proceeding three miles north to York River where the train could be wyed for the return trip. Arriving back at Anson Junction, the excursion would continue south into Trenton, turning on the wye before returning north to Trenton Junction to rejoin the Oshawa Sub mainline for the short twelve mile run back to Belleville. The special reached a top speed of 55mph on the high iron, running barely 30 minutes ahead of Toronto - Montreal train 6, due into Belleville at 1815h.
Notes of the trip per John Freyseng's extensive article in the June 1959 UCRS newsletter. Neither of these locomotives would last another year, with 90 meeting the torch in February 1960, and 2649 that March.
Basil Headford Photo, Jacob Patterson Collection.
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