Many railroads over the years eventually developed standards for colour schemes and designs of stations and other structures. Since the Algoma Central was a relatively small railway, and running through such sparsely populated wilderness, only a small handful of proper stations were ever built, and each at different times and to fit the requirements of the location, so a standard station plan was never developed (and the stations at the well-known crossing points of other railways at Franz, Oba and Hearst were all built by the other railways at those locations – Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern and National Transcontinental Railways, respectively, and the current two-storey brick station at Hawk Junction only dates to the 1940s when the yard was extensively redeveloped). However more or less standard versions of many other common structures were developed, which I have been exploring here on this blog over the last few months.
It is natural too, that the railway would establish a standard painting scheme for these structures, and while a trip along the line today will display quite a variety of treatments to the old section houses, many of these existing section houses on the south end between Sault Ste. Marie and Hawk Junction have been renovated and upgraded by private owners as cottages. During the 1970s and 1980s the standard colour scheme for most [wood sided] ACR structures was white with dark green trim.
Mashkode section bunkhouse, July 2014. Now a private camp, but mostly unaltered. My photo.
Franz section bunkhouse, September 2013. My photo.
These two shots of Mashkode and Franz help illustrate how the bunkhouse and associated tool sheds would all receive the same treatment.
Abandoned speeder/tool shed at Frater in the mid 1990s. Blair Smith photo.
Outhouse behind Searchmont Station. July 2013, my photo.
Even this old double outhouse and a nearby storage shed in the weeds behind Searchmont station follows the standard colours with white paint overall and dark green trim.
This two-storey structure at Hawk Junction is identified as the railway bunkhouse. It was located across the street from the station and apparently later lost to a fire. It again follows the standard colours.
Prior to about 1970, the standard railway colours still involved a dark green trim, but on what can best be described as a sort of light pistachio green shade for the siding. As this started to be repainted to white and green in the early 1970s, there aren’t really any existing examples of this anymore, but Ted Ellis has some good 1960s shots on his Algoma Central photo website:
Canyon Section Bunkhouse and Tool Sheds – 1964
