Old Time Trains

Canadian National Railways

Busy Times at Lindsay
aFriday, October 19th, 1923

James A. Brown

Busy scene waiting at the GTR Lindsay station. Note the two stagecoaches in right background.
Postcard cancelled 1910. Old Time Trains digital archives

The attached sheets come from material I got from Ray Corley years ago. The table of train arrivals and departures at Lindsay, on Friday, 19 October 1923 (just under nine months after the Grand Trunk was rolled into the new Canadian National system) was compiled by 28-year-old Charles Heels, a good friend of Ray's and an accomplished GTR/CN employee and researcher. Charlie retired from CN as a clerk in Lindsay in 1960.

Given that the car counts shown are loads/empties, it's easy to see the movements of grain from the elevators at Midland through Lindsay to Belleville and east, and the empties returning (sometimes engine and caboose only).

All this was handled by the dispatchers shown in at the bottom of the tabulation, working with many train order offices, by telegraph! The CNR Belleville Division Employee Time Table for 26 September 1926, and shows all the dispatchers in the 1923 tabulation except E.J. Kingsley were still working in Lindsay in 1926.)

Putting things into some sort of perspective is Ray Corley's sketch map, showing of Lindsay's rail network as it existed in 1923, over ninety years ago.

Raymond F. Corley

GTR (CNR) line running SE (just above 'Mary St'): Campbellford Sub. to/from Peterboro & Belleville, Port Hope (via Peterboro).

GTR (CNR) line running SW (lower left corner): Uxbridge Sub. to/from Toronto, Whitby Jct. (via Manilla Jct.)

GTR (CNR) line running W (lower left corner): Midland Sub. to/from Midland, Depot Harbor (via Bala Sub. connections at Beaverton or Udney-Atherley), Coboconk & Kirkfield (via Lorneville Jct). The Midland Sub. alignment shown replaced the original routing via Victoria Jct in 1907 as a means of removing the grain traffic from steeply-graded street running on Victoria Avenue.

GTR (CNR) line running N (top of map): Haliburton Sub. to/from Haliburton & Howland.

Also on the sketch map are two Canadian Pacific Railway lines:
Bobcaygeon Sub. (originally Lindsay, Bobcaygeon & Pontypool) running from Burketon (SW of Lindsay Jct.) to Bobcaygeon (E of Lindsay), and Port McNicoll Sub. (originally Georgian Bay & Seaboard) running from Dranoel (SE of Lindsay Jct.) to Port McNicoll (diverging westerly beyond top of map).

Of course there's not a single active rail line in Lindsay today, nor has there been for about 20 years! since 1991!

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Canadian National Railways

Busy Times at Lindsay
aFriday, October 19th, 1923

James A. Brown

Busy scene waiting at the GTR Lindsay station. Note the two stagecoaches in right background.
Postcard cancelled 1910. Old Time Trains digital archives

The attached sheets come from material I got from Ray Corley years ago. The table of train arrivals and departures at Lindsay, on Friday, 19 October 1923 (just under nine months after the Grand Trunk was rolled into the new Canadian National system) was compiled by 28-year-old Charles Heels, a good friend of Ray's and an accomplished GTR/CN employee and researcher. Charlie retired from CN as a clerk in Lindsay in 1960.

Given that the car counts shown are loads/empties, it's easy to see the movements of grain from the elevators at Midland through Lindsay to Belleville and east, and the empties returning (sometimes engine and caboose only).

All this was handled by the dispatchers shown in at the bottom of the tabulation, working with many train order offices, by telegraph! The CNR Belleville Division Employee Time Table for 26 September 1926, and shows all the dispatchers in the 1923 tabulation except E.J. Kingsley were still working in Lindsay in 1926.)

Putting things into some sort of perspective is Ray Corley's sketch map, showing of Lindsay's rail network as it existed in 1923, over ninety years ago.

Raymond F. Corley

GTR (CNR) line running SE (just above 'Mary St'): Campbellford Sub. to/from Peterboro & Belleville, Port Hope (via Peterboro).

GTR (CNR) line running SW (lower left corner): Uxbridge Sub. to/from Toronto, Whitby Jct. (via Manilla Jct.)

GTR (CNR) line running W (lower left corner): Midland Sub. to/from Midland, Depot Harbor (via Bala Sub. connections at Beaverton or Udney-Atherley), Coboconk & Kirkfield (via Lorneville Jct). The Midland Sub. alignment shown replaced the original routing via Victoria Jct in 1907 as a means of removing the grain traffic from steeply-graded street running on Victoria Avenue.

GTR (CNR) line running N (top of map): Haliburton Sub. to/from Haliburton & Howland.

Also on the sketch map are two Canadian Pacific Railway lines:
Bobcaygeon Sub. (originally Lindsay, Bobcaygeon & Pontypool) running from Burketon (SW of Lindsay Jct.) to Bobcaygeon (E of Lindsay), and Port McNicoll Sub. (originally Georgian Bay & Seaboard) running from Dranoel (SE of Lindsay Jct.) to Port McNicoll (diverging westerly beyond top of map).

Of course there's not a single active rail line in Lindsay today, nor has there been for about 20 years! since 1991!