After the long, slow climb up
the face of the escarpment in Hamilton, a triple header propelled extra is shown crossing
over Stone Church Road. Trailing Mogul 902 is sister 924 and Mikado 3708. No
date indicated. No. 902 was the first of 25 E-10-a's constructed by CLC
Kingston in 1910 as GTR 1000. Renumbered CNR 80 in October of 1951, the
diminutive steamer would meet her maker at the London Reclamation yard in
September of 1957. No. 924, as No. 94, would succumb in London in 1955. No. 3708 is from a group of forty S-3-a Mikado’s
(GTR 440 – 479) constructed by Alco Schenectady in 1918. Upon amalgamation GTR
448 would become GTW 3708. According to Don McQueen’s 2013 chronicle ‘CANADIAN NATONAL
STEAM!’, No. 3708 would be transferred to Canadian National in December of 1943,
never to return stateside. To make room number wise for incoming replacement
diesels, she would be renumbered GTW 4050 in April of 1958 and stricken from
the roster eight months later. Most likely, No. 3708 was providing helper
service. If so, she would be cut off at Glanford as the bridge in Caledonia
would not be reinforced until 1953 (by which time 902 would be renumbered 80).
The Moguls do not appear to be working very hard. This is due to the fact that the
extra is at the bottom of a descending grade on the Hamilton higher ground. For
a steam era view of the bridge from the opposite side see page 59 of Ian
Wilson’s marvelous time piece ‘STEAM ECHOS OF HAMILTON’. As previously
documented, transport truck collision damage to the bridge span in 1987 lead to
its removal and the end of southbound service from Hamilton.
 |
| View looking west. The original bridge abutments would
have been cut stone and spaced for horse and buggy passage. Most likely, the
cement cap shapes were added in conjunction with an overall structure upgrade
to support heavier traffic. |
 |
| View looking east. The lower cement work shown was
probably some type augmentation to the original cut stone construction, and may
have narrowed the overall road opening. This was probably not of concern, given
the relatively low historic traffic density on the rural road. |
 |
| Note the descending grade. Upon cresting the
escarpment the former H&NW line immediately dips on the approach to Rymal. No
doubt something of a train handling challenge with concurrent buff and draft
forces in play, both northbound and southbound. Given the unprotected gap, somewhat
surprising that the railway did not provide more in the way of fall prevention. |
 |
| Following the second transport truck encounter, the
bridge span was lifted out of position and placed perpendicular on top of the
south side right of way. |
 |
Details of
the bridge span construction. Somewhat Meccano like! |
 |
While the rail displacement was minimal, traffic southbound from Hamilton was suspended after the transport truck collision with the bridge. |
