Tag Archives: Structures

ACR Standard Speeder/Tool Shed

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Today I took advantage of a nice Saturday to myself with nothing planned an unattractive weather outside to delve back into some modelling projects, and start a new one, because, why not? (Who says you can have too many projects at once?)

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Abandoned speeder/tool shed at Frater, mid 1990s. Blair Smith photo.

This afternoon I was able to start into a project to put together a trio of standard track speeder/tool sheds for my eventual ACR layout. These are small, simple buildings, so an attractive weekend project. (Ok, so finishing these will spread over a few more weekends…) Like on most other railways, these sheds were for storing a section gang’s track maintenance tools and inspection track speeder. The wide door on the front of the shed was large enough for the speeder to enter, and the shed would be located perpendicular to the tracks with a pair of rails in front (which sometimes could even be just wooden beams) for the speeder to be rolled out to the track.

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Abandoned speeder/tool shed at Batchewana? August 2014. Nick Acciavatti photo.

Like most other railways, the Algoma Central had a standard design for their speeder/tool sheds; and identical structures could be seen all along the line. Surviving examples have been noted at Batchewana and Perry, and possibly still other locations. The shed at Frater pictured above is long gone.

These three models will (hopefully) eventually find their way to modelled representations of Franz and Mosher, and possibly Perry for the third one, if I ever have room to include a siding south of Hawk Junction.

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Detail from AC&HB Ry. drawing C-8-31, Standard Grass Line and Track Signs, August 19, 1946. Sault Ste. Marie Public Library Archives collection.

This excerpt from an old railway drawing in the Sault Public Library Archives gives a indication of the footprint and general relation of the tool shed to the tracks. Other dimensions were approximated from photos and I was able to work out a scale drawing and lay out the pieces on a sheet of Evergreen styrene siding. Note that the location of the window in the side of the structure is not centred. The rear and opposite side are blank walls with no windows.

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Fronts and rears for 3 speeder sheds laid out on plastic siding. Since the outlines are drawn on the *back* of the sheet, with the siding texture on the opposite side, everything is drawn as a mirror image.

At this point so far, the parts have been cut apart and the door openings cut out. The window openings still need to be opened up on all of the side walls, and then I can start assembling things and working on the main front doors.

Searchmont Station Details

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This series of photos of Searchmont station was taken on July 13, 2013. The station has certainly seen better days, but at least it still stands for now.

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Searchmont station, track (east) side.

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Awning over side door on south side of building.

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Remains of the bracket and control rods for the former semaphore train order signal in front of the operator’s bay.

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Roof rather ends and supports.

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Passenger waiting room and baggage room entrance doors on the track side of Searchmont station. A large window in the waiting room has been boarded over.

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The rarely photographed rear side of the station.

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Grounds and outbuildings behind the station. Note old storage shed hidden in the trees and outhouse at far right. Both smaller structures are painted white with dark green trim.

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Old 2-stall outhouse behind Searchmont station.

Searchmont, Then and Now

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Searchmont, mile 31.5 Soo subdivision, is a familiar location on the Algoma Central, as it’s not too far from the Sault, and one of the very few places along the ACR with road access. Closed in the late 1990s, this station still stands and has been designated as a heritage structure under that act that protects old railway stations, however the building is totally derelict, and heritage status or not it’s just a matter of time before nature takes its course on this historic wood-frame building.

I chased the Canyon Tour Train north to Searchmont while visiting the Sault, and took the opportunity to take a few detail photos around the old station. Decrepit and overgrown, it’s a far cry from quaint little station it once was.

THEN:

(Photo links from Ted Ellis’s Algoma Central site.)

Viewed from the cab of a northbound train, about to receive orders from the operator at Searchmont in 1974:

http://algomacentral.railfan.net/images/AlgoCenRy/AC_Searchmont_
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Northbound regular passenger train arrives at Searchmont in 1972:

http://algomacentral.railfan.net/images/AlgoCenRy/Searchmont_4-25-1972.jpg

In 1992 the railway has switched to Occupancy Clearance System (OCS) radio dispatching and the station is no longer a train order office (note the train order boards have been removed) but still remains open as an active passenger station:

http://algomacentral.railfan.net/images/AlgoCenRy/AC_Searchmont_Station
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NOW:

Searchmont station in 2013. Mostly boarded up; some of the second floor windows are intact, but a few are missing, exposing the building’s interior to the elements. The drywall or plaster on the second floor interior walls is totally disintegrating.

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Main Street Hawk Junction

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Or, Hawk Junction, Then and Now: Part 2.

Inside the waiting room at the station at Hawk Junction, the employees have neat little almost museum type display with all sorts of photographs from the Hawk Junction and Wawa area, mostly taken by various locals. A couple of old photos showed the historic downtown of Hawk Junction, across the road from the station, around the 1970s or ’80s. (Can anyone identify makes or model years of vehicles in the photo below to at least identify a minimum date? I’m not really a car guy.)

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Downtown Hawk Junction. Probably taken from the top of the locomotive sanding tower. The station is just out of frame to the left.

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ESSO gas station (check out the antique pumps) and bowling alley (see sign above door)? Not sure about the white structure, probably a railway bunk house?

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Grocery store.

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Of the buildings in the street view only the general store (the building with the gas pumps in front in the earlier photo above) and the Big Bear Hotel remain today. The hotel has obviously seen better days.

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This small garage, across the street from the hotel is the former fire hall for the Hawk Junction volunteer FD. With the decline in population and volunteers, fire services are now apparently covered by the nearby Wawa Fire Department.

Hawk Junction Station Details

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For the modelers, a series of walk-around detail shots of the station at Hawk Junction. For reference, Blair Smith once provided me the following footprint measurements for the station: one-storey wings each approx. 24’x20′, centre portion 24’x36′ feet (approximate overall footprint 24’x76′).

Beginning with the track side of the structure:

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The south wing of the structure contains the passenger waiting room.

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The north wing is the baggage room.

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This sign gives a pretty good indication of what types of baggage may be seen on the Algoma Central locals.

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Note the difference in ground elevation from the front to the rear of the station.

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The rear freight door to the baggage room has been boarded up. Watch your step coming out of the entry door to the right!

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Central portion. I don’t have access to any floor plans of this structure, but the lower window above the entry door suggests the location of a landing on the stairs to the second floor.

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Apparently this station even has a basement.

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Rear of the south wing (passenger waiting room).