Feature Articles

The train stops here: Washago is still a place where passenger-rail adventures begin

by Andrew Elliott

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel on Via Rail’s transcontinental train from Toronto to Vancouver, and of all the stations along the route, there was one that carried with it some mystery: Washago. On my trip, there was a heightened sense of adventure because a couple of American passengers had missed our train at Union Station, and a rumour had spread through our coaches that they were racing north in a hired taxi in an attempt to reach Washago before our train did. Another rumour floated about as the train rattled past Toronto’s sprawl and into farmland and forests: that we might meet another passenger train in Washago, the Northlander, that was coming south from far northern Ontario. (Photo above left: A Northlander passenger train pulls out of Washago last summer. Photo by Judy Shaw.)

Washago is in an unusual location. It is at the edge of two townships – Ramara and Severn; between two lakes – Couchiching and Sparrow; and near the Severn River, which is the edge of the cottage region of Muskoka. Washago may just be that division point where the known and settled southern part of Canada meets the mythical and unpopulated North. And while the intent of many trains going through here is to go west, due to an odd twist of rail construction and geography, the rail line in Washago is actually situated on a north-south axis, and is the junction between two rail subdivisions, one that heads due north, and one that heads northwest.

Crossing Tower Settles Dispute

That was how the railway came to Washago on the west side of Lake Simcoe. On the east side of the lake, a direct line from Toronto came later, and is now called the Bala Subdivision. It had its origins as the Belt Line Railway in 1892, which went from Toronto to Rosedale, then became the James Bay Railway in 1895, with grand plans to extend all the way to Hudson’s Bay. The company didn’t get far. Over the next 10 years the rails went north through stations such as Richmond Hill, Beaverton, Gamebridge, Brechin, Udney, and then Washago and finally, Parry Sound. On July 20, 1905, the James Bay Railway became the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway, which itself was part of the Canadian Northern Railway, and the railway opened to Parry Sound for full service in 1906.

This railway company and railway line became part of Canadian National Railway’s (or CN’s) transcontinental rail network in 1918. It is worth noting that in 1905, the Grand Trunk had a dispute with James Bay Railway over crossing rights near Washago, as the following item from the Toronto Daily Star under the headline “Two railways in a war.”

“The Grand Trunk, too, objected to the application of the James Bay Company for permission to cross the northern division of the Grand Trunk near Washago, on the Rama Reserve, and the Government engineer was dispatched north to settle the dispute. The James Bay desired to cross on a level, but Mr. Cowan said that the derailing device necessary at all diamonds would throw their trains if they were derailed to prevent a collision into the river. They wanted the James Bay Company to divert the line to cross on a viaduct. Both alternatives...were impracticable because of excessive expense.”

The crossing tower that was installed in 1906 was likely the solution to the dispute.

When the first railway came through in 1873, Washago had four licensed hotels, two shingle mills, a large saw mill, a grist mill, plus the first station and section house. The Grand Trunk Railway appears to have built another station here in 1890 and expanded it in 1898 during a period of commercial growth. This station operated until 1922, when it was forced to close due to the GTR’s financial difficulties. The National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada has stated in a 1995 report that it is this GTR station that is still standing, but more recent research has uncovered that the current station was actually built in 1906 by the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway.

From 1906 to 1922, then, two railway stations operated concurrently. When the GTR station closed, the CNR station was moved a short distance south to its current location.

Distinctive Circular Water Tower Marks Train Station

Arrival at Washago has always been filled with drama, for the station is situated beside a grand bend in the rail line, and until recently at least, four tracks would have allowed passenger and freight trains traveling in both directions to pass by. Originally, the station was a smaller structure with a wood siding that would have been painted with vibrant colours, such as dark red on the vertical wooden areas and a lighter yellow on the horizontal clapboard.

A dramatic set of windows as well as a large door opened out onto a wraparound veranda that was sheltered by wide, overhanging eaves, supported by large wooden soffits. A wood-shingled roof was topped off in the centre by a large brick chimney. The overall architectural design was a nod toward the Queen Anne Revival style of architecture.

The station grounds would have been landscaped with circular flower beds planted with lilies, shrubs, and small hedges. Finally, the last distinguishing feature of the station was a circular wooden water tower, which stood just to the northeast of the station building until 1979.

Throughout most of the 20th century, and into the 21st, the Washago Station has seen passenger trains arrive from four directions: Barrie, Parry Sound, North Bay and Toronto.

One of the more interesting of these passenger railways is the Ontario Northland Railway, which was incorporated in 1902 as the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, and was a mining railway in far northern Ontario. By 1932, the TNOR had built a rail line as far Moosonee on James Bay. A name change occurred in 1946, to Ontario Northland Railway (ONR). In the 1970s, the ONR was able to purchase a section of CN line between Washago and North Bay and reach an agreement to share CN’s line from Washago south to Toronto. Since the 1976-77 season, ONR has run a passenger service six times a week called the Northlander from Toronto to North Bay to Cochrane (you can go further north on another passenger train called the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee). Until about 1992, the Northlander used distinctive, streamlined looking trains, built in Europe in 1957, painted yellow and light blue. Since 1992, the Northland has used more standard 1950s stainless steel Pullman coaches as well as former GO-transit single-level coaches.

Train Travel From Washago Still Possible

Though Washago is still a rail hub, activity has changed significantly in recent years. The 1990s saw the most changes to passenger rail service to Washago. For example, from 1990 to 1994, GO-Transit experimented with a combined commuter bus and rail service: a bus went from Washago to Barrie, then connected with a GO-transit train to Toronto. A small wood shingle shelter was built near the original Washago Station to accommodate this commuter service. In 1996, CN rail abandoned its line from Barrie and tore up the tracks as far as Atherley, and consolidated its freight service on the Bala Subdivision, thus ending the potential western rail connection. Also in 1996, Via Rail decided to move its transcontinental services onto CN trackage, thus using Bala Subdivision through Ramara Township. For 10 years, Via’s westbound train arrived in Washago around noon and the eastbound train arrived around 7 p.m. For the past two years, Via westbound has arrived at about 1 a.m. and the eastbound at about 7 a.m.

Meanwhile, ONR’s Northlander northbound train arrives at approximately 11 a.m. and the southbound arrives at about 430 p.m. As ONR spokesperson Trisha Marshall told me, the train’s schedule is meant to provide service to those people wishing to get to and from northern Ontario during the day.

Last year, the Northlander’s Washago-Toronto-Washago run carried 788 passengers who arrived in Washago from the North; 133 from Washago to Toronto; 802 north from Washago to various destinations up to Cochrane and Hearst; and 175 passengers from Toronto to Washago.

The Northlander train does not operate on Saturdays because one day a week is needed to complete heavy cleaning and maintenance, and Saturday has been one of the slowest days for ridership. It is also worth noting that since all passenger trains must use CN’s tracks south of Washago, and because all passenger trains must defer to CN’s freights, there are usually delays in their arrival and departure times in Washago.

The Washago station building reflects the changes in rail service over the past century. Now, most of the original details of the station have been completely submerged under later additions and modern “improvements.” First, the open veranda was filled in; next the wood siding was covered in insulbrick; after that, a projecting bay window was built into the north wall of the station. Finally, new aluminum siding, aluminum slider windows and asphalt roof complete the job, doing little justice to the structure’s original esthetics. There have been other insults. In 1978, the station was closed for use by passengers, and was converted into office space for CN and then Via Rail staff. Then, within the past 10 years, the original four tracks that used to accommodate several trains daily have been removed and replaced with one main track. This places the station well away from the trains, and so it loses most of its original esthetic and practical function. Ironically, rail passengers who board or disembark here wait in a much smaller shelter located nearby.

There are some other things to note about the station landscape. In 1979, the wooden water tower was demolished and replaced with a taller, circular structure that is located to the northwest of the station. Instead of providing water for trains, this is now a water reservoir for the town. It is painted with an attractive mural. Also, if you look just to the south of the station, you will see a rusty signal tower extending across what used to be the four tracks. Further south, you will see what appears to be a giant grain elevator standing over the tracks. This is in fact a coaling tower — designed to fuel steam locomotives — built by CNR in 1936. An escaped German prisoner of war was captured in the tower in 1942. The episode is well documented in newspapers of the day.

Despite all the changes, the station is still an important heritage building worthy of protection, and, given the passenger service running through, could even be restored and reused for its original purpose. Despite the reduction in tracks, Washago remains an important stop for two passenger rail companies. So if you live in Ramara Township and think you are not connected by rail to the rest of Canada, think again. Washago is still a place where rail adventures begin.

Andrew Elliott is an archivist, librarian, and freelance writer with a particular interest in architecture and local history. He currently writes for the Peterborough Examiner and the Glebe Report in Ottawa and can be reached at ajg.elliott@utoronto.ca.

United in Atherley:
As Atherley United celebrates its 115th anniversary, a congregation member takes a look back at the history of the church.

By Beverley Baker, Community Correspondent

They worked hard all that summer of 1895. We can picture farmers hurrying away after morning milking, to work for a few hours as they waited for the hay to be dry enough to cut; businessmen might have a quick supper in order to work through the long hours of early dusk, all working cheerfully under the direction of the architect and the stone mason. Labouring with the unsophisticated tools of the day, they were building a dream, those Atherley Methodists. (Photo at left: Atherley United Church - photo by Rod Brazier.)

The previous year they had collected $115 to purchase the plot of land on the corner of Balsam Road and Courtland Street. There they would build a church and a Sunday school for their children. Now they were determined to have the building ready for the beginning of the school year. And they did. On Sept. 12, 1895, the Atherley Methodist Church was officially dedicated. Descendants of some of the founding fathers still worship in the church today.

In those early days of strict Sabbath laws and large families, the church became a thriving centre both spiritually and socially. We can only imagine the despair when the tall, “straight and narrow” steeple was destroyed in a hurricane in 1908. The steeple was rebuilt to a lesser height, but the congregation continued to increase, to a total, in 1931, of 239 souls with 69 children in the Sunday School.

Through the war years and the Great Depression, the church proved to be “a very present help in time of trouble.” After the Second World War, times changed and families changed as well. The strict Lord’s Day laws relaxed and Sunday became more of a day of recreation. For a while, there were still active groups and organizations for all ages.

In 1925 there was a great union of churches, and the Atherley Methodist Church became the Atherley United Church. In 2010, we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the United Church of Canada as well as our own 115th anniversary.

The building itself has undergone many changes and improvements, many of which were funded by generous financial donations as well as hard work. Gifts of beauty, such as the Good Shepherd stained glass window, the communion table and baptismal font have been donated in memory of loved ones. When the Udney United Church closed, many of its memorial treasures found a new home in Atherley.

From time to time, Atherley has worshipped in partnership with other local churches, including Fairvalley, Udney, Uptergrove and Brechin. At present, Atherley and Brechin form a two-point charge under the leadership of Reverend Robin Thomson, the latest in a line of 33 ministers ably supported by 14 volunteers at the organ or piano.

The steeple required repairs and was again reduced in height in 1988.

Like our steeple, our congregation is aging and ailing, and steadily reducing in size. On any given Sunday, attendance may be fewer then 20, and our Sunday School has become a matter of “where two or three are gathered.” Gone are the formal meetings of United Church Women and the groups devoted to youth and children, yet there is still a will to keep the doors open and the church community alive.

As we celebrate this 115th anniversary year, special events each month offer food and fellowship. The Century of Bridal Gowns and Wedding Theme weekend in June gave us an opportunity to look back on our heritage. More events are in store, with the main event being our 115th anniversary service on Sunday, Sept. 12th at 11a.m

Anniversary events

July 17: Chili cookoff
Aug. 4: Salad supper
Sept 12: 115th anniversary service
Sept 25: Roast beef dinner
Oct. 27: ‘Spook’hetti dinner

More anniversary celebration events are planned for Advent and Christmas.

Ramara resident and writer Beverley Baker can be reached at bev.baker@sympatico.ca.

This bud’s for you:
Garlic dominates the garden of prolific preservers Rob Manes and Cathy Errington

By Donna Wood

I have a childhood memory so vivid that every detail is beautifully etched in my mind. I am three, dressed in a hand-stitched, smocked white dress, and covered from tip to toe in thick, dark-smelling mud. I had found a puddle, stirred in some dirt and made mud pies for an hour or so. I had been in ecstasy.(Photo at left: Cathy Errington and Rob Manes at their home garden, with garlic in the foreground. Photo by Rob McCormick)

I have never again been so down and dirty with Mother Earth, yet the wonderful, euphoric feeling that I shared with that puddle has never left me.

While some of us are content with childhood memories of mud puddles, there are others who never lose the joy of working the land and having it produce delights considerably more palatable than pretend pies.

Rob Manes and Cathy Errington are consummate tamers of weeds and tillers of the land. At their home in the south end of Ramara, they have unearthed the secret that the more you toil the soil, the more you cultivate the soul.

“It is so gratifying, so fulfilling, to open a jar of homemade salsa and spoon out the scent and taste of summer in January,” coos Cathy. As soon as Rob starts to harvest the garden, Cathy heads for the kitchen to start the preserving process. Cathy praises her Bernardin Home Canning Guide as her Bible of do’s and don’ts. She is adamant that canning steps can not be compromised or altered. “The Bernardin Guide outlines safe, easy canning products and procedures and it has never failed me,” she says.

Cathy is a prolific preserver. She stocks her shelves with more than 100 jars of sauces, salsas, pickles and jams. She has enough of everything for 12 months or longer, plus a generous stash for gifts. She is particularly proud of her recipe for Hot Peach & Pear Salsa, which won first place several years ago at the Beaverton Fair. (She shares here recipe below). Along with the salsas and sauces, Cathy and Rob make soups. They use their own fresh parsley root, which Rob says is like parsnip, but stronger tasting and great in soups. He brings the plants indoors in the fall, sticks the roots in a large container of sand to help keep them moist and picks them as needed. The root will keep all winter in cold storage. The leaves will stay green and can be used as well. Viola, fresh produce in February without shoveling the driveway or starting the car. No carbon footprint in the snow here.

Organic Gardening Practices Are Implemented

Rob and Cathy know that while it ends at the table, it begins in the garden. Rob says they started their home garden for practical reasons. “We moved to our country home 14 years ago. We had all this land and wanted to put it to good use. Now we grow what we like to eat, and enjoy the health benefits that go along with it. We use organic procedures as much as possible. No chemical pesticides or insecticides.”

They love their garden and everything it yields, growing tomatoes, peppers, parsnips, and fresh herbs — basil, rosemary and thyme, just to name a few.

But it’s the garlic that dominates. This pungent plant occupies more than half the space in their 1,400-square-foot garden. Why garlic? It goes back about 15 years, when Rob and Cathy were asked by a local farmer to help with the harvest. They were placed under the guidance of an agriculturist from California, who had been hired by the farmer and who took a great interest in both garlic and Cathy and Rob’s enthusiasm. He taught them everything garlic.

Rob admits that they were rather ambitious when they started their own garden. “We had 6,000 heads and eight strains, but that was too much. We are now at 1,500 heads.” They also pared down to one strain, Music. Rob calls it the finest garlic, the cream of the crop. Music grows and stores very well, tastes “magnificently strong,” he says. It has a large clove that is easy to clean and “labours easily.” In the fall, Rob makes a raised bed, which allows good drainage, and covers it with straw, which prevents weeds and retains moisture. Rob plants the best bulbs. He says garlic winters well, pops up in the spring, grows profusely all summer and is harvested in August. All 1,500 heads of garlic are used, and not one bit of the bulb is wasted. Rob and Cathy eat it whole, coated in olive oil and baked. They put it in sauces, salsas and even on their breakfast eggs. Everything is edible. The scape, or flower stalk, is a gourmet item, and only appears on the finest garlics. Garlic scapes curl upward when they grow, and when they are in full curl, they are tender and delicious. A delicacy when pickled; divine in a Bloody Caesar. Cathy and Rob also use garlic as a natural insecticide. They make their own garlic spray and mist other crops and flowers to deter critters and crawlers.

Garlic may take the lion’s share of Rob and Cathy’s garden, but tomatoes and peppers also have their place. Rob speaks glowingly about their favourite choice of tomatoes, the Heirloom. This strain is great raw and in sauces, has few seeds and can grow larger than a big grapefruit, and so has an abundant yield.

They begin the growing process in March, starting the seeds indoors, and when the plants start to sprout, they are moved outdoors among the herbs, hot peppers and other crops.

In this manner, Rob and Cathy produce foods that provide healthy, delicious meals throughout the year. Long before it was popular, Cathy and Rob made a life choice to bring healthy, fresh food into their lives.

“We look after the garden,” Cathy says, “and the garden looks after us.”

Cathy’s Peach & Pear Salsa

4 cups chopped, cored, peeled tomatoes (let juice run out through a colander)
2 cups chopped, pitted, peeled peaches
2 cups chopped, cored, pitted pears
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup red onion, chopped
4 jalapeno peppers finely chopped, seeded
1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped (optional)
½ cup loosely packed, finely chopped cilantro
½ cup liquid honey
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Grated zest and juice of one lemon
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. finely chopped mint
½ tsp. ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Boil gently, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars within ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles by sliding rubber spatula down the side.

Put the lids on and boil the jars for 10 minutes, with the water just covering the top, to create a seal.

Ramara resident and writer Donna Wood can be reached at donna_wood@rogers.com