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History

Branchline Articles

Oct. 2007

This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of the CHO News

ONTARIO’S FIRST RAILWAY ENGINE DESIGNATION

It made its last run over rails on October 9, 1971 and would have followed several of its companion engines to the scrapper had it not been for Canadian National Railways generous donation to the City of Cornwall. Electric freight motor #17 of the Cornwall Street Railway, Light & Power Company spent nearly ten years under meticulous scrutiny of restoration until it was finally put on display in from of Cornwall’s water purification plant in August of 1981. There she sat for twenty-four years, largely ignored by most of the general public, people whom had forgotten so soon about the locomotive’s heritage and importance to the city. In 2004, it was in danger of being listed for scrap again.

Cornwall’s preserved engine started out as #106 for the Salt Lake & Utah Railroad in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was built for that company by the Baldwin-Westinghouse Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in August of 1930 as a Class S Steeple Cab, a class that was not produced in high numbers so that in itself was a rarity. The locomotive, coloured originally in dark green with yellow trim, served the Salt Lake City area loyally until 1946 when the company ended street rail services. Luckily the engine was purchased by a southern Ontario rail company, the Grand River Railway, and arrived in Preston in July and would be repainted in its familiar Tuscan Red colour with yellow and black chevrons in 1947. When Grand River Railway received the engine, it was immediately renumbered to #230 and remained as such even after its repainting. It made its last run in southern Ontario on September 27, 1961.

The Cornwall Street Railway, Light & Power Company purchased #230 in November of 1962. They decided to maintain the paint scheme and renumbered the engine to #17. It ran through Cornwall city streets until 1971, when Canadian National Railways purchased the rail operations of the company and then retired the service months later. When that happened, the Cornwall operation was the last electric rail common carrier in Canada, a very significant historical fact in itself.

Knowing all this information of #17's history and before it became public knowledge that the water purification plant was to undergo an expansion, Heritage Cornwall decided to propose a designation of the locomotive, a logical step since the city owned it. What was thought to be a near easy task turned out to be a road that had several speed bumps in our path. The first was when we discovered that a "moveable" object could not be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. Our committee was not about to give up and a meeting was arranged with Heather Thompson from the Ontario Ministry of Culture. Heather understood our desire and reasoning to present this locomotive for a designation and managed to come up with a very simple solution...designate the property on which the locomotive rests on and the reasons for designation would be the engine itself, outlining the significant portions of the item in the proposal at that point. Heather’s advice was applied and a new draft by-law was made up for submission.

Just as Heritage Cornwall was prepared for presenting to Cornwall City Council our findings, we hit another snag. We were informed that the water purification plant was to be expanded and the land that the locomotive was sitting on was needed. The plant manager had suggested just moving the engine to the other side of the property, but that would have meant cutting trees down or having it nearly blocked totally from public viewing. The solution was to move it to a new site, but who was responsible for it and would they move it at all? Our research showed that the owner was the City itself by means of the 1971 donation, but when that information was made available, it was then to figure out which city department was responsible for its upkeep. It began a gauntlet of red tape that needed to be weeded through.

During that process, another chore was on the table for Heritage Cornwall. A focus group was needed to be put together to help guide the city councillors in the decision of what to do with the locomotive. The group consisted of all committees and city departments that had an interest and after agreeing to a set of guidelines, several sites were recommended for the engine’s relocation, with a footnote that if none of the locations were acceptable, the option of salvaging the item would be considered, something that Heritage Cornwall did not back. Thankfully, council debated the issue and a site was chosen, the southeast corner of Brookdale Avenue and Ninth Street West, within feet of where the Cornwall Street Railway, Light & Power Company had a rail line. There were a couple of missed moving dates, but the locomotive was finally moved to its new exhibit area on May 17, 2005.

With the move out of the way, the process to designate #17 started up again. After researching more in depth of the engine’s history and with help from the Halton County Railway Museum in Milton concerning what the proper colours and scheme was suppose to be, we submitted our proposal to city council. We needed information concerning the paint because part of our proposal was to also include a restoration in the proper manner. When #17 went on display in 1981, it was painted in a scheme that it never wore, but was the most familiar to Cornwallites. If the designation was to be approved, it would only make sense to repaint the engine in the proper colours. When it came time for our committee to submit a budget for 2006, our chairperson, Dennis Carter-Edwards, and treasurer, Marc Gauthier, were basically told by the council members that work on the designation of the locomotive and its restoration are to be done by the end of the year.

The designation was submitted in May of 2006 and on June 26^th it was passed, giving Cornwall an important distinction of having the first piece of railway rolling stock as a heritage designation in Ontario. This was followed by a repainting of the locomotive on July 8^th and although it was done in the same pattern as the 1981 display, it now bares the correct Tuscan Red colour. Plans for this year to have expert painters come in and print the chevrons on the engine hoods and further research to install new windows had to be shelves due to time constraints getting the new committee familiar with what Heritage Cornwall is involved with. This Phase 2 proposal will be tabled this coming winter instead. As for the surrounding site, last year the original plaque was erected, a couple of picnic tables were added, a garbage can and lawn grooming. Future arrangements that are in discussion still include an interpretive panel depicting #17's life in revenue service, a proper access path and some form of lighting during the night.

There has been a couple of books that are available on railways that briefly talk about our city. Two that come to mind by the same author had stated that "Cornwall has considerable railway history, it has no railway heritage." I am not certain that he actually had looked around the city, but we certainly do have railway heritage here. The work that Heritage Cornwall and the city has put into freight motor #17 and the further plans should be proof of that. There may not be a lot left, but we ae working to preserve what does remain. His statement certainly does not fit since we are now the first community to have, for the time being, the only provincial heritage designated piece of rolling stock.