THE PICTURE ABOVE WAS FROM THE FILES OF THE CANADIAN FROM THE 70’S. Local accident?
ALL Information below is from the Mississippi Valley Associated Railroaders website and Colin Churcher from his website. Join the local MVAR Club!
1870, September 16 – the first official train of the Canada Central Railway ran from the terminus at Lebreton Flats, through what was to become Westboro, to Carleton Place.
1881, June – The Canadian Pacific took over the Canada Central Railway.
1882- A new railway station was built at the junction of the two lines here. Exemption from municipal taxation was granted for the C.P.R. workshops being moved to Carleton Place from Brockville and Prescott.
1884 – Carleton Place became a railway division point. The result was an expansion of the town’s population and of its commercial activities. A large railway station addition was undertaken.
C. 1885 – Carleton Place reached the speediest period of its growth. The selection of Carleton Place by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company for a division point and major repair shop added a third major industry to growing textile and lumber businesses.
1886 – The railway junction and division point town of Carleton Place was a stopping point for the first through train of the C.P.R. from Montreal to the west coast.
By the end of the decade, Carleton Place, with a population approaching 4,500, was second in size only to Ottawa in all of the Ottawa Valley. On the main line of the new railway to the west coast, Carleton Place was the largest community between Montreal and Vancouver, with the exception of Winnipeg.
1990, January 15 – Canadian Pacific abandons the Carleton Place Subdivision between Nepean (m. 9.0) and Carleton Place (m. 28.1) with the passage of the last “Canadian” transcontinental passenger train, hauled by VIA 6409 westbound and VIA 6443 eastbound.
Three photos: David McCurdy, MVAR Library
Sadly, as we look at the end coach on the train, it is the end of an era in Carleton Place. The event was viewed by a few hundred people. The next day, the interchange switch was removed and replaced by rail on the Chalk River Sub. Not long after that, the track and ties were lifted and the Carleton Place Sub passed into memory.
1993, July 29 – Canadian Pacific completes the sale of the Carleton Place subdivision right-of-way between Carleton Place and Nepean to the Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton.
This was the Featured Artifact – February 2014 from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum
Lunchbox
What better way to say “I love you” than with a handwritten note in permanent ink! Verna MacFarlane packed up a lunch every morning in this tin lunchbox for her husband Erwin, who worked for the CPR in Carleton Place. One day she sent him a message in red marker, written on the inside sliding lid of Erwin’s blue lunchbox.
“Verna loves Erwin…My perfect husband xxx xxx”.
lindaseccaspina 