In many countries, 18 is recognized as the year that we enter adulthood. It's the number of holes on a standard golf course. Kingston's Scott Arniel, Mike Krushelnyski and Alyn McCauley all wore number 18 in the NHL. In this modern era, the gift of choice for an 18th anniversary is...porcelain. The Chinese began making porcelain objects 2,200 years ago. So 18 seems rather paltry by comparison. Dishes, vases, figurines, bathtubs, dentures are all made of porcelain, and, okay let's just say it, toilets. Porcelain is sturdy, non-porous and water-resistant. It is made at temperatures of 2,200-2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Porcelain can be graded as true, artificial or bone china. My personal shopper at Wayfair told me that "it's a timeless home material", also that "its sleek, glossy appearance elevates any space", and that it's "low-maintenance." Two minutes later, I received an email in my inbox showing this suggested custom gift idea!
...MY SINCERE THANKS!
To celebrate the Enlightening Eighteenth anniversary of my little corner of cyberspace - into which I first rolled out my fern forest and tacked up my macrame wall-hangings way back in 2008 - I need to first turn to my blog partners over the past year. Steve Boyko, George Dutka/Don James/the late Peter Mumby, David Gagnon, Stephen Gardiner, Michael Hammond, Matthieu Lachance, JD Lowe, Chris Mears, the late Marc Simpson and Jim Sloan.
Thanks also need to go to all those who read, contribute, digest, comment, and most importantly keep coming back week-after-week. Thank you all for sharing my Fifty Years Trackside throughout 2026 as I look back on those five decades of diesel exhaust and creosote in my nostrils, time on my hands and observing and recording thousands of trains, all trackside! Trackside Treasure is a space I like to go to, to inhabit, like my new $399 La-Z-Boy. Sometimes I come here to rock, sometimes I come here to recline, sometimes it turns into a nap...
CONTEST TIME!
Wake up! Welcome to this year's inevitable anniversary contest! You can enter one of three ways, if you dare! The news media is all abuzz about Canada's HSR HFR intercity rail project named ALTO. Since it's quite obvious that the route has not been nailed down, with villagers posting NO ALTO signs and preparing to storm town halls with pitchforks and torches all along the potential route through Quebec and Ontario, I'm guessing that the name isn't cast in stone yet, either. It's not too late to be heard! I'm looking for your input on ALTO. I truly believe blogs can be factual and fun.
To enter, simply put on your [non-tinfoil] thinking caps and answer one or all of these questions for which I've created a word-cloud to make it more...visual:
1. Please give us a better name than ALTO. It can be bilingual, unilingual, or in Italian (like ALTO)*
(*Please don't suggest SPEEDY. The Muffler King lawyers will be all over us.)
2. Let me know why you think we NEED ALTO, or conversely, why we DON'T NEED ALTO.
3. What's your favourite sandwich? (Bread preference optional.)
Simply answer by email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca, or as a comment to this post. It's just that easy! Entries will close Friday, August 28, 2026 at noon Eastern Daylight Time. A winner will be randomly selected from any and all entries, and memorable entries will be published in a postscript. Now, rush to your device to enter! The prize will be the oft-desired Trackside Treasure anniversary prize pack!
RULES: There always have to be contest rules - the lawyers absolutely demand it to keep up the lease payments on their Lamborghinis. Here goes. Contest not valid in any of the five countries (we checked!) that end in "-ania". Odds of winning are roughly one in a much bigger number. Trackside Treasure reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this contest if in its sole discretion a bot, virus, bugs or tampering (tamping is OK) of any sort, or if we find out participants are not being nice to pets or not letting old ladies cross the street. No promotional emails will be sent and you will receive absolutely no special offers or anything entitled 'Tips and Tricks'. If any wildfire smoke arrives in your area while you are entering the contest, you will be charged a 50% tariff. Which, on zero, is zero. Do not use crayon to write your entry, it causes waxy buildup on your screen. No AI was used in the creation of these constant rules, unless AI stands for Amazing Intelligence or Artificial Imagination, that is! Family members are not eligible - I've had too many people claiming to be 'your favourite uncle' since I won that big lottery jackpot that I used to purchase my poodle posse (see below).
AWARDING THE ANNIBURSARY!
<POUR PARTAGER LA PISTE>
Seriously though, if that's possible at this point, I believe in giving back. Oddly enough, one reason I started blogging was because when I began in 2008, blogging was pitched as a money-maker! Turns out it can only be successfully monetized with a ginormous and devoted fan base, tons of posts daily and hosting advertisements. Um, no thanks. So I started blogging my own way, pleased to have no editor or rules. If it weren't for Trackside Treasure, there would be no loyal Trackside Treasure readers. There would be none of the amazing connections I've made across the country and even 'round the globe with like-minded readers, and the amazing opportunities and interactions with you that I continue to enjoy. There would be none of the eight books I've created that enabled me to share information with other enthusiasts offline. There would also not be my beautiful backyard castle-themed Ye Olde Grande Halle of Suits of Armour, my 17-volume leather-bound compendium of pudding recipes (Volume Six - Tapioca!), my three-building AI compound, my richly-appointed, high-threadcount matching fez/smoking jacket/pointy slippers I'm wearing right now, nor my Honus Wagner baseball card guarded 24/7 by a highly-effective yet poorly-trained team of irritable poodles who would make any Doberman deferentially retreat in defeat!
In 2023, in order to give back and to celebrate Trackside Treasure's Crystal Anniversary, I proudly announced The Trackside Treasure Annibursary. Each August anniversary forthwith and thereafter, I bestow upon a fellow blogger, enthusiast, reader, community group or preservationist group a modest bursary to fuel their initiative, interest and ingenuity in blogging or other railway-related activity. The bursary can perhaps be used to pay for expenses incurred in sharing information, research costs for travel or materials, preservation efforts or any way the honoree decides upon. The honoree and/or Trackside Treasure will be free to publicize this award as they so choose.
TIME TO CUT TO THE CRYSTAL!
The Trackside Treasure Annibursary comes with a curvaceous crystalline trophy inscribed with the recipient's name and year as well as the fancy French motto that describes all railway bloggers, researchers and enthusiasts and loosely translates as "To Share The Track". No-one controls cyberspace alone, we need to share: knowledge, enthusiasm and information. That is our lofty goal to which we all ascribe. (Oh, and the 'crystalline trophy' is only a jpeg file, so don't look for a soapstone carving, gold-plated trophy or any achingly-weighty tchotchke in your mail, nor some huge brown paper-wrapped package you have to pick up at the post office, or arriving at your door with accompanied by an armed escort. There's even free shipping. It gets mailed via domestic Canada Post First Class postage!)
The 2026 recipient of The Trackside Treasure Annibursary, the fourth recipient ever, is...
The Larry Paikin Literacy Express at the Eva Rothwell Centre in Hamilton, ON
Housed in imaginatively-renovated former VIA baggage-coach 9301, children step aboard to discover books, imagination, and possibility. The project's goal is to improve low literacy rates in the Hamilton's north-end Keith neighbourhood. The Larry Paikin Literacy Express provides children and youth a quiet location to interact with staff and volunteers to take the next steps toward learning. Reading programs, social media writing, and homework tutoring are offered. As published in
the previous post profiling 9301's journey from idea to reality - it's a truly inspirational story of service above self, as well as being a railway preservation success story!
Congratulations to everyone at the Eva Rothwell Centre as they celebrate the centre's 20th anniversary,
and keep up the great work!
-Eric
Don MacVicar, Founding Chair of the Eva Rothwell Centre kindly responds:
"This is such an honour as your Trackside Treasure blog is so well-presented and records the history of rail in an exceptional way. Thank-you for the bursary [...it will be put] to good use. The Larry Paikin Literacy Express has been a wonderful success as it has enhanced the literacy levels of the children from the K to 8 grades and also we have two adults who are currently at a reading level of grade one and love being on the train car with a one-on-one tutor. Thanks ever so much - you have made my day."
Don also shared a favourite image showing reading leading kids on to success in myriad fields, "...seeing the joy of a child eagerly wanting to read is so special. This drawing always brought so much joy to me."
The Eva Rothwell Centre's executive director Sam Campanella graciously responds:
"Your support of the Eva Rothwell Centre’s Literacy Programs/Larry Paikin Literacy Express helps provide children and youth with access to tutoring, literacy resources, and meaningful learning opportunities that build confidence, strengthen reading and writing skills, and encourage a lifelong love of learning. Through the Tutoring Program, we are able to provide additional support to help young people improve their literacy skills, succeed academically, and reach their full potential. Every donation...helps ensure that children and youth in our community have the tools, encouragement, and support they need to thrive."
First past the post:
I am dedicating this post to Carole Anne MacVicar. Between the time of Don's initial email to me and this anniversary post, Don's wife Carole left us. Don notes, "Carole was with me in everything we did for 40 years. A great visionary and passionate gifted lady." Carole worked with children, youth and young moms on a daily basis as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Inner City Outreach Ministry (ICOM) for the past 35 years. Carole organized Community Christmas dinners for up to 350 people and supervised the delivery of 150 Christmas Hampers each year. Through the work of ICOM, 2,500 children have had the opportunity to attend summer camp and over 1,000 teens have taken part in winter retreats. What a remarkable life of service.
Running extra...
This weekend marks the tenth anniversary of the final August 20, 2016 concert in Kingston by the city's own The Tragically Hip that was broadcast across Canada on CBC. The City of Kingston was asked to this past June to approve $350,000 worth of events throughout the summer in commemoration. Voted down by councillors, the final approved total was a more reasonable $100,000 for scaled-down schedule of events
spanning three days - Forever Hip.
A lot has been said about the Hip being Canada's group, providing the playlist of fans' lives etc. The band was tight, Gord Downie was the front man, singing sometimes like he was possessed, and they clicked. Together yet separate. Tough to sing backup with a lead singer with that phrasing. Howling, not growling like that last concert ten years ago. You may have detected a few Hip hints in other Trackside Treasure posts throughout this summer.
Believe it or not, if you live here and are caught saying, "I'm from Kingston but I don't like their music", the Kingston Police send someone to your door. You are zip-tied and driven outside city limits and dropped into the ditch. It's that big a deal. It's also Kingston's longest street sign outside our downtown arena (below - Mark Charlebois photo) that often gets bent by 53-foot transports driven by roadies trying to make the corner (below - naming rights have gone to local radio station K-ROCK, Leon's furniture, now the incorrectly-spelled Slush Puppie, and who knows, if things work out your humble blogger might scrape together the $1,350.00 annual naming rights fee to get 'TRACKSIDE TREASURE' splashed across the side of the barn in six-foot neon someday! Oh wait, I just re-read that more carefully. It's $135,000. Forget it.)
They shot a movie once in my hometown/
I'm not going to debate the Hip's obvious fame, Kingston's ownership of the group, nor even the demise of its lead singer, Gord Downie. I knew Gordie. He was a grade behind me at Amherstview Public School after he transferred from Fairfield Elementary School. Born the month before me, had I not been put ahead a year into Grade 2 we would have been classmates until he left Ernestown Secondary School and
went to KCVI, which is where the Hip formed. I prefer my memory of him to be the grinning, tousle-headed, happy kid who loved playing hockey (top photo - Gordie is the goalie on the left). Not the JAWS shirt-wearing worn-out front man who was trotted out like an equally-declining Glenn Campbell for just one more show, despite his obvious condition and reliance on teleprompter. His brain tumour was diagnosed in our laboratory. How's that for bookends?
/everybody was in it from miles around/
In between those elementary and ailing years, the group travelled the world, just as Gord travelled to Toronto for treatment. We saw him one last time walking Ontario Street with his family and friends. I had a few other Hip sightings here. Gord Sinclair accompanied his stepchild to my daughter-in-law's music recital, dapper in blazer, though my Dad referred to his as
'Doctor Ballard' because he was a vet appointed Queen's University Dean of Medicine. Rob Baker's house was the site of a food-bank drive stop during which my wife cut her hand and Rob's mother generously gave her a band-aid. I saw Rob and his companion walking Ontario Street with their big dog. Giving him his celebrity privacy, I was able to overhear these following immortal words, "Did you bring a bag?". Brush with stardom. Or is that stardump?
/well I ain't no movie star / but I can get behind anything/
I wrote the following in an August 20, 2016 email: "I will be watching the Hip [special] on CBC. All over Canada, streets will clear, television sets will click on, folks will arrange themselves with refreshments on their sofas, and after five minutes, people will click them off and say 'I'm not listening to that for three hours!!' Maybe I'm wrong."
Sacrilege. It's ten years later. The cops are probably heading here right now. When Justin comes to your town to hear the final concert, you know the Hip were indeed hip. Kingstonians who couldn't get tickets rallied in the market square, thumbing their noses at the big-city elite ensconced in the air-conditioned arena with expensive canned beer, and proud to be second-class citizens because they were marking the milestone in the city they shared with The Tragically Hip.
-- It's been a long time coming / it's well worth the wait --
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