CN's London Reclamation Yard

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN - THEN IT GETS RECLAIMED

Scrap that! Rolling stock was re-purposed until it either wore out or could no longer be re-used and was only fit for scrapping. Commonly, revenue equipment became work equipment. CN had reclamation yards at Transcona (Winnipeg), London ON, Moncton NB, Pointe St. Charles (Montreal), Battle Creek, MI and St. Albans, VT. Long-term storage yards were maintained at Southwark south of Montreal; Stratford, Scarboro and Paris West in Ontario. CN got into the reclamation business in earnest in 1928. 

In this post, I look into CN's reclamation operations, specifically the London Reclamation Yard. The place has long fascinated me - a railway's dinosaur boneyard. Prolific bloggers of the White River Division, George Dutka and Peter Mumby, have only whetted my appetite for more scrap. Since I have no photos to share, having only been to London briefly once on CN, check out the links at the end of this post for George and Peter's excellent coverage of the London site over time.

TRANSCONA - 1951

CN Vice-President, Western Region J.R. McMillan initiated a drive to collect iron and steel scrap. The Transcona reclamation yard covered 50 acres. It was the collecting point for all scrap from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North-western Ontario. Iin 1951, over 50,000 tons of scrap came in, at a rate of 150 tons per day: rolling stock, locomotives, work equipment, rail, draft gear and even pot-bellied stoves. Most of the outgoing scrap went to furnaces at Sault Ste. Marie, Montreal, Hamilton, as well as Selkirk, St. Boniface and Flin Flon, in Manitoba.

LONDON - 1957

The London Reclamation Yard earned CN over $5,000,000 in recovered scrap in 1957.  System-wide, scrapped 2,664 cars and 207 locomotives were reclaimed that year. The 106 workers at the London yard were divided into two groups: burners and labourers. Burners were the acetylene cutting-torch operators, and labourers assisted and sorted the resulting scrap. The yard had two cranes, one equipped with a 52-inch electro-magnet that could lift 30 tons. The yard classified 21 types of ferrous metals (those containing some form of iron) and 13 types of non-ferrous metals. Wooden cars were still being burned at this time, before cooling off and cutting up took place.

As diesel power replaced steam, the CN steam fleet was sidelined, stacks capped, rods removed to running boards, appurtenances removed and coupled in long lines awaiting scrapping. Steam engines took 5-6 days for scrapping, requiring both cranes and four men.

LONDON RECLAMATION YARD(s) - HISTORY

There were actually two reclamation yards in London at different times. The first dated back to 1880, as a car shop scrap yard adjacent to the GTW/GTR/CN car shops on Egerton Street, extending along Brydges Street to Ashland Avenue between CN's Dundas and Thorndale Subdivisions. Reclamation operations were phased out here by 1960. 

The 'Sand Pit' became the reclamation yard in the 1950's. Located east of the CN's main yard and east of Hale Street at Trafalgar Street south of the double-track Dundas Sub, the stub-ended yard tracks extended east to an embankment overlooking Potter's Creek ravine. The Fairmont subdivision was developed there in the 1950's and 1960's, and some of its houses overlooked the yard's north side. 'Burning' operations were transferred to Paris West, while wood and metal reclamation operations stayed. There was increased security at the sight due to the ongoing problem of pilferage.

London East yard became a virtual rolling stock museum. Cars for scrapping were moved to the south tracks there prior to scrapping, with their air lines cut to prevent use. Such cars received the D-453 classification by stencil or spray paint, meaning pending Destruction -  Form 453 filled out (top photo).

The London reclamation yard was phased out circa 1991, though the local Engingeering forces still use the site for material storage. Some scrapping for CN is still carried out at John Zubick & Sons nearby. Zubick is rail-served and, interestingly, the scrapyard contains well over 100 surplus Canadian Forces armoured patrol vehicles.

CN S-7 8232 was one of a string of MLW switchers at the 'rec yard' in 1983 (online auction site photo - above and below). In 1982-83, Don McQueen shared some observations as cars and locomotives arrived for scrapping:

July/82: CN 8039 with idlers 146060 and 147318; 8043-8058 with idlers 143237-142906, from Montreal:

Nov/82: CN 8030-8167-8178 

Mar/83: OCS box cars from St. Mary's Junction, most wooden: CN 43606 tool generator; 60322 material; 70988 stores; 64245 stores/fuel; 74370 36-foot; 74680 for crane 800.14; 74909 36-foot; 74298 stores.

Mar/83: five cars from London East Carload Centre: 70046 tool/material; 70852 tool/supply; 70869 36-foot stores; 64309 stores double-door auto; 74318 fuel/stores.

Dec/83: there were 17 S-3, S-4, S-7 and RSC-13 units for scrapping at the Rectory Street yard, 17 more at Castleton Avenue, 8030-8167-8178 dismantled (see above).

George Dutka and Peter Mumby have published several photo-loaded posts on the prolific White River Division blog that they share with Don Janes. Highly recommended for more coverage on the interesting CN reclamation operation! Lots o' links:

• C-Liners in 1967 and 1968.
• More November 30, 1968 photos by Robert Farkas and three CN cabooses.
• White River Division (WRD) part one by Peter Lumby.
  
• WRD posts then and now, part two  and part three plus part four and part five.
• JW Booth photos of switchers to be scrapped.
  
• At Dundas: funeral train of steam locomotives for scrapping.

Thanks to Don McQueen for additional information in this post.

Running extra...

Many modellers say, "I'm designing a layout that will cover Montreal to Vancouver. I have a 4x8 space available." Yikes. This is not that: a well thought-out plan for the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal (B&OCT). At first, jack-hammering hard red clay to gain another 233 square feet did not seem completely rational, but the results show they were!

Perusing Steve Boyko's list of Canadian Train Books revealed a result that spoke volumes. Literally. The following authors' prolific productivity by the numbers: Ian Wilson (16); Donald C. Lewis (15); Kevin Holland (14); D.M. Bain (13); John Riddell (10); Ron Brown, Robert Turner, Don McQueen and Your Humble Blogger (8). OK, that's it! I'm going for quantity, not quality!

I finally made it up to the John Counter Boulevard overpass just east of Kingston's VIA station. It's been in use since November, 2020. What took me so long? Was I afraid of contracting a VIArus? Was the overpass not VIAble? Watch for an upcoming Trackside Treasure post on my epic journey towards the east end (I really need to get out more)! I have lots to share: