Doug's Reassessment of His Railroad

 The Northland Railroad Abandons a Portion of the Haliburton Sub
aka
"Congestion at Bell" on My Own Railroad

Over the past seasons, we have mentioned and discussed the incidents whenever there was congestion at Bell on the IPP&W.  Well, Doug has his own form of congestion on his own railroad!  The rest of this entry is in Doug's words.

I have been working on the railroad during the pandemic.

Some of you may remember that I had a few problems thrown at me as a result of the serious storm in fall of 2018 (remember those tornadoes that were also spawned by the storm).  I had several trees that were broken but fortunately they fell against other trees and not on the track.  As an example, here is a pic of a tree that was left overhanging the tracks and making the railroad unsafe to operate.

This spring, while April was mostly cool and wet, May has given time to start work on a railroad that has been out of action since September 2018.  First up was the removal and disposal of several mature trees.  In the picture above you can see the trunk left of the downed tree in the previous pic.

In another area, you can see three stumps of mature trees that were removed - the track still needs realignment.

Next was the completion of flagstone walks.  Long ago, I used green slate for building walks but it then became unavailable.  I held back for years but finally decided to finish using Kingston limestone flags.  After loading by hand 3/4 ton of flagstone at the landscapers, then unloading here and finally lugging it to the walkway and placing the stones topped off by moving several hundred kg of stone dust, I can safely say that I'm too old!  

Here is the finished walk.

I'm starting now on track rehabilitation - all this storm related stuff has left a lot of track misaligned or slightly damaged.  At least the three main bridges have all survived unscathed.  Here is Watkins Bridge built in aluminum by none other than our own Lawrence Watkins.

The viaduct in four spans over a garden is a commercial product by Garden Metals set on piers.

Lastly, a 24 foot three span truss bridge.  I designed and cut the pieces plus sand blasted and spray painted while my son handled the welding.  Now onward with track repairs - maybe before season's end, Northland trains will be running!

Thanks, Doug for sending this interesting story our way!

Doug's Updated Notes Regarding the Changes to His Railroad

After a long running battle with Mother Nature, the Northland Railroad conceded defeat and abandoned the trackage of the Haliburton Sub east of Stone Lantern Junction.

During 2009 and 2010, the railroad built the right of way and laid track east of Stone Lantern Junction all the way to Haliburton.  This effort included the construction of a new five track car shed with space for 40+ modern standard gauge freight cars.  The right of way encircled a grove of three large trees as well as passing around several other trees.  Operations commenced in late 2010 and for a time all was well.

By 2014, the emerald ash borer had done its work on the three large trees contained within the trackage.  A portion of the trackage was temporarily lifted, the benchwork removed and those trees were felled.  The track and benchwork were reinstalled leaving three big stumps covered now with honeysuckle and rampant vines.

By the 2017 season, a very large tree adjacent to the car shed began to exhibit some rot near the base and it started to lean toward the car shed.  As the operating season wore on the lean became worse.  Finally, in September, the narrow gauge cars, stored in the car shed at Rosseau, were removed to storage and the standard gauge cars relocated to the now vacant Rosseau car shed.  It was not a moment too soon as two weeks later, during a fall storm, the tree leaned further onto the car shed crushing a portion of the roof.

Over the winter, the benchwork was removed, the track lifted in that area, the car shed dismantled as best as could be done.  The tree was felled in the spring and removed leaving only an enormous stump along with a demolished car shed.  The benchwork and track were replaced to allow operations to resume for the 2018 season.

But Mother Nature was not finished.  In September, 2018, a violent storm hit Ottawa.  Tornadoes did significant damage in the city and although no tornadoes hit the Northland RR, considerable damage ensued as six different trees came down.  One broken tree overhung the trackage at Crown Point Yard rendering the railroad unsafe to operate.  It remained in that state for the 2019 operating season although several trees were cleared.  I reported previously how the problematic tree over the yard was removed in fall 2019 and my progress in rehabilitation trackage working eastward from Crown Point along the Muskoka Sub.

In the area near the now demolished car shed, a tree was blown down.  The benchwork was lifted for a third time and the track removed.  That tree was cleared in the spring of 2020 leaving a sizeable gap in the trackage of the Haliburton Sub.

As is apparent in this image, there is yet another tree with a significant lean.  That tree is currently showing the signs of cracking at the base though it could easily last a century before falling.  

On the other hand, I have lost my enthusiasm for lifting track and benchwork and then rebuilding.  Accordingly, the decision was made to abandon the Haliburton Sub trackage from a point 10 metres east of Stone Lantern Junction eastward through Haliburton Junction and then Haliburton itself.  That will leave sufficient mainline at Stone Lantern Junction still in place for the quarry train to approach the very steep 8% grade to the Vernon Lake Quarry.

The salvage crews worked in the summer heat this week to lift about 70 metres of track, 6 switches plus a 5 way switch.  All that remains is the abandoned right of way awaiting further salvage operations.

Thank you, Doug, for the sharing of this fascinating story!
All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada