Grand Trunk Railway

[Steve]

The second railway to enter Lamton County was the Grand Trunk Railway. It's branch into Lambton, originated in Stratford and entered the county at the Ausable River, just east of Thedford. It was completed the year after the Great Western reached Sarnia and ran in a southwesterly direction to terminate in Point Edward, where it had extensive yards and was the major land-owner and employer in the still young village...

[jeremy]

Back in my mis-spent youth, I was an archaeology studente, extremely interested in ancient things like Stonehenge. One of the techniques that we learned about for discovering archaeological sites was aerial photography - extremely powerful, but not very popular except with archaeologists who were already rich and successful, because of the cost. Nowadays, with Google Maps, the situation is completely different. Archaeologists with nothing more than an internet connection and time on their hands have discovered literally thousands of sites in places like Saudi Arabia. Why not apply the same techniques to Lambton County?

Armed with nothing more than a few words on a dusty scroll (well, Steve's recent entry in the "Field Trips I've Done and Want to do..." board) I set out to find what he describes as "Lambton's Stonehenge", southest of Alvinston. Here it is! You can see the double rows of cut stone foundations, and even a length of the approach to the bridge on the other side of the Sydenham. Steve, if you ever organize another field trip there, I want to go! It would be marvelous opportunity to get some more photos for the board!

Meanwhile, I think I could probably trace a large portion of the Kingscourt Branch of the GTRR just by examining crop-marks in Google Maps...

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[Steve]

Hi Jeremy,

I've been a big fan of aerial archeaology ever since the first low-resolution aerial images came online several years ago. I did a feature post on it here in 2008. Since then, the imagery has of course just got better and more extensive.

Here's an example of some of my earliest work, on the very GTR branch (the Kingscourt Cut-off that CN called the Alvinston Sub) you've been researching above. The imagery is low-res, as it was some of the earliest available on Toporama, but I was still able to indentify and trace the branches' route.


(click on photo to enlarge)


In the first image, I've used red arrows to highlight the indicators of the branch. At this resolution, the visible evidence tends to be the margins of woodlots that ran along the right-of-way. In the second image, I've joined the indicators together to show the route.

As you've probably discovered by now, on Google Earth there's now much higher resolution imagery of most of this area now available, which allows you to follow the ROW in crop marks and soil marks.

Btw, I have lots of photos of 'Lambton's Stonehenge' but I've hesitated to post them up to now, as I'd like to take some LLF folks out there to see it and I don't want to spoil the first impression for them... But, whether that happens this spring, or not, I'll finally post some this summer...

If you, or anyone else, want to go out, just let me know...

[Steve]

Here's a quick pic of "Lambton's Stonehenge" taken in 2004, when I first 'discovered' it... 'bout time for a feature post on it, me thinks...

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[jeremy]

Thanks to Jim Griffin, I got a copy of this picture of the famous bridge over the Sydenham River south of Alvinston:

CNR bridge Alvinston by Jeremy Trolley, on Flickr

[jeremy]

Ever wonder what they old Sarnia Tunnel was like when it was in use? There are plenty of pictures, postcards and whatnot out there to show you, but imagine a video showing a train running through it from one side to the other. Impossible? I would have thought so, but thanks to everybody's hero, Thomas Edison, we really do have video from 1903. Check out the following, from about 6:35 onwards!

[jeremy]

A.J.Johnston’s book Lambton County Names and Places contains the following brief entry on Thedford: “A thriving village situated on the Canadian National Railway some thirty-five miles east of Sarnia and lying in the Township of Bosanquet.

Nelson Southworth, a native of the State of Vermont, gave to the Railway officials the station site, the condition being he was to have the privilege of naming the station Thedford, after a place of that name in Vermont. This village of some 524 souls is the center of a well developed fruit area. Its places of business are well kept and supply the needs of a thrifty community.”

This entry is not quite complete. In 1858, during the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway through northern Lambton County, Nelson Southworth purchased land here on the line, donated a site for a station and laid out a village plot named Thedford. The hamlet which developed, however, took the name of the depot, Widder Station, which opened to serve the nearby village of Widder. During the 1860's Widder Station grew steadily as a shipping point for square timber, lumber, grain and cattle, and by 1869 the community consisted of 350 inhabitants. The addition of several industries, including a steam saw and grist-mill and a planing mill, fostered the village's growth and it was incorporated as the Village of Thedford by a County by-law of 1877.

Johnston has the following to say about Widder Station : “This was the first name of the post office where Thedford now stands. The post office was opened in 1862, with Robert Rae as postmaster. The post offices of Widder and Widder Station were some miles apart.”

The town is named Thedford now, but the local golf course (RCGA approved!) is named the Widder Station Golf Course, so the old name of the town persists, after a fashion…

Here are a few pictures of the Thedford Station in the old days. First, the GTR incarnation:

GTR Station Thedford Ontario by Jeremy Trolley, on Flickr

The station after the GTR was absorbed by the CNR in 1923.

GTR Station Thedford Ontario 2 by Jeremy Trolley, on Flickr


Thedford CNR station 1943

Thedford Ontario Railway Station 1943 by Griff born, on Flickr

[saunders75]

I found this old right of way for the railway while I was working and walking through a farmers field. It is located on Lot 11 Concession 11 and it appears to go over a stream or ditch that was much higher at one time. The line connects with the main CNR line through Wyoming.

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[poohbah03]

Steve - not sure how to contact you - but I have not forgotten about the bridge over what was called Bear Creek. I am still working on the model, but have run into problems trying to make the girders for the towers. Nobody makes them in the size I need. From the only other photo of the bridge that was found, I have got a really good estimate of the size of the lattice girders made by the Hamilton Bridge company for the towers. I have contacted a 3d printing company and they need a good drawing of the girders to work from. I tried drawing by hand, but apparently not good enough. I remember that you suggested using Sketchup.
Can you contact me about using this program to make a plan for the 3d company so I can get on with the bridge. I have the base done and landscaped, the river made, all the abutments and piers complete and the girders and trackwork made - I just need to build the towers. You can contact me at [e-mail]

Jim Griffin

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