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Page Updated:
July 16, 2006
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STEAM
TRAIN
by F. Bruce Ryans
(53-55,56)
Up | The Army Trucks | Camp Seven | Camp Seven A | Canoe Building | Chief's Paddle Award | HSR Awards: Then and Now | HSR Songs 1981 | Infernal Incinerator | Keith Whiten Memorial Award | Leaving | Lost Kennabi Cabin | Purple Bead Award | Supervisor's Award Recipients | Steam Train | The Victoria Railroad Co.
The book Haliburton by Rail
and the I. B. and O. by Taylor Wilkins is a wonderful collection of local
railway history. That railway was an integral part of Haliburton
Scout Reserve’s early history. When Camp Kennabi first opened in
the late 1940’s, many, if not most groups headed east from Toronto Union
Station by steam powered passenger train. They eventually turned
northward to Lindsay where they disembarked, crossed the station platform
and then boarded the mixed train for the Town of Haliburton. the
steam engine was probably CNR #5610 (p.74), a Pacific type with a 4-6-2
wheel arrangement. It was built in 1910 and scrapped in Dec. of 1955
(p.74). It pulled a mixed train (freight and passenger) that might
include: an express/baggage car, a passenger coach, a box or freight
car, a flat car, a tank car and possibly a caboose. These old, often
wooden-bodied cars, varied in type and number, but invariably included
a coach. We are told that “Passenger service to Haliburton was discontinued
in 1961. Actually, there had not been a true passenger train up to
that time, as passenger service was given by including a passenger car
in the way freight trains.” (p.68). Our troop (135th Toronto) came
by mixed train several times between 1948 and the mid 1950’s.
 I
was surprised to discover that the steam engine on display in front of
the Haliburton District High School was not, as the name on the tender
designates, ...”The Highlander” (p.72). It is without a doubt, an
impostor. Back in the 1930’s, the original train called the “Highlander
Weekend Special” (p.72) was pulled by “Locomotive C.N.R. 649 ...built by
the Grand Trunk Railway in their shops at Point St. Charles, Montreal,
in 1896. It was of the small Mogul type with wheel arrangement 2-6-0
...” (p.72) We learn that “The train fan from Toronto to Haliburton
on Saturdays in the summer and returned on Sunday(s).” (p.72) Engine
#649 was the genuine Highlander, but it never pulled a train with Kennabi
campers aboard, into Haliburton Station. It “...was scrapped August
1940.” (p.72).
The engine “...on display
near the High School ... CNR locomotive 2616 was built for the Grand
Truck Railway by ALCO - The American Locomotive Company at its Brooks Works
at Dunkirk, N.Y. in 1911...” (p.72). (N.B. a built date of 1891 is
also given for #2616 on the same page). We are told that “2616 ...
was of the Consolidation type with wheel arrangement 2-8-0...” (p.72).
this engine “...ran on the Belleville to Lindsay run, and it did not get
to Haliburton until it was retired.” (p.72). It was then “...purchased
by the Rotary Club of Haliburton in September 1960...” (p.72) from the
Canadian National Railways. They then “...displayed...” the locomotive
“...next to the High School.” (p.72). They took an American built
Ten Wheeler and substituted it for a Canadian built Eight Wheeler and labelled
it The Highlander” (p.72).
Locomotive #5610 would have
been a reasonable stand-in for #649. Locally it would have been recognized
as having operated between Lindsay and Haliburton for many years.
It was not perfect since it would have been a Twelve Wheeler substituted
for an Eight Wheeler. Even #5610 was not The Highlander but perhaps
it could have been accepted as A Highlander. Sadly C.N.R. #5610 had
been scrapped in Dec. ‘55, 5 years before the Rotary Club decided to put
an engine on display. They accepted #2616 and wrongly labelled it.
 Incredible,
but nevertheless true, the impostor has sat on display for over 40 years
and it would seem, unchallenged. It not even once, pulled into Haliburton
Station. In defence of #2616, The Impostor, we can state that it
is a fine piece of antique machinery, and ...a real ...steam engine.
How many people, HSR. alumni included, have viewed locomotive #2616 over
these many years, in the wrong light?
The exact year may now be
lost to my memory but not so that day’s events. It was a warm Saturday
in August and the 135th Toronto Scout Troop, in full uniform as required,
was on its way to Camp Kennabi. It was 1949 or 1950 our second or third
camp in Haliburton. We were on the train wending our way through
the farmland, somewhere between Lake Ontario and Lindsay. Due to
the heat, the windows were all up. Far up ahead of us, the engine
belched a steady column of smoke, that rose at first and then streamed
back in a cloud to settle over the fields on the one side of the train.
As the track curved, that black haze came closer and closer to the coach.
I can still hear the cry “Windows!” They were all closed just in
time. Soon the track swung back in the opposite direction and the
windows were all quickly raised. What may have started as a game,
soon became accepted as a necessary routine. In spite of our efforts
the coach became covered in fine dust. fingers soon transferred black
smudges from window sills and seats to the white borders of our bed and
blue scarves. Dirty faces come to mind as well. Being in the
last coach had its disadvantages. No coach was totally safe but the
sooty smoke did tend to pass over the first few cars.
Last coach in a train had
the advantage of a clear view, at times, to the rear. You could stand
in the back vestibule with only a folding chain gate across the doorway.
Early that day a couple of friends and I had watched the city fade into
the distance. The tallest structure back then was the Bank of Commerce
building, and it was the last of Toronto to disappear on the western horizon.
The distinct click of the wheels over the rail junctions made us quite
aware of our slow but constant speed. The slightly noisier clatter
as we passed over a switch, broke the rhythm from time to time.
Our coach had a compartment
at the rear, called a smoker. About three quarters of the car was centre-aisled,
but at the back it jogged to the one side, against the windows. The
smoker had glass windows and a door on the aisle and regular windows on
the other side. That very neat compartment seated perhaps 8 people.
A Toronto Rover Crew of about 6 or 7 boys occupied it as a temporary den
and rehearsal hall. They followed B.P.’s advice in Rovering to Success
... they did not smoke. They just talked, laughed and sang.
Soon they joined the two dozen scouts in the main coach area in one great
sing song. Both groups supplied a song or two new to the other.
I do recall learning additional verses to one of our familiar songs as
well. We all had fun.
 At
some point, still south of Lindsay, that crew introduced us to a new song
with 12 verses. It was destined to have a lasting effect on the 135th.
They willingly repeated verses and explained meanings not immediately clear
to us. by the time we changed trains at Lindsay we had the song down
pat. By the time we reached Kinmount, Tom Corner our S.M., must have
been beside himself. Perhaps around Gelert or Lochlin, those poor
rovers must have wished that there had been a smoker to den up in.
At last we pulled into Haliburton Station. At last we were tired
of repeating that song. Surely we had sung the tune for the very
last time.
Backed into the platform
were two bright yellow 1942 army trucks, our mode of transportation for
the last dozen miles. Awaiting us a Camp Kennabi were two Group Committee
members with our gear on a rented truck. Both trains had been slow
and both of the old Chevrolet trucks even slower. the trip down the
lake by Queen (large lifeboat) to Big Bear Point, the slowest.
Each night around our campfire
on the beach, we performed our skits and sang our old songs. We sang
one new song as well each night. We had learned it on the trains
following the route of the famous... Highlander. It was not however...
I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.... It had 12 verses. We
sang... Green Grow the Rushes Oh!
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