Trenton Division

Passenger Service

R.L.Kennedy

1231 No.35

2333 Psgr Extra

2901 John Street

3100 John Street

Canadian Pacific in Southern Ontario by W.H.N.Rossiter

Power Distribution 1956

Public Time Table 1906

Public Time Table Cover 1925 In this time table there were five daily trains (one via Havelock) between Montreal and Toronto with two of them running through to Chicago. There were also two trains between Ottawa and Toronto, onre via Havelock and one via Trenton. There was also a daily except Sunday Tweed-Toronto train via Havelock.

5.00 a.m. Report 1953 shows status of passenger trains operating, delays etc.

Passenger Train Line Up 1957 shows details of outbound passenger trains. (Issued by Transportation Dept.) Trenton Division trains are: 602 Havelock, 34 Ottawa via Havelock, 24 Ottawa via Trenton (still steam) and 22 Montreal. Note that 22 is running in Sections, with the first section originating in Toronto. Page 2 gives details of groups and special moves. ACA = accommodation, DH = dead head.

The Trenton Division has always been important to the CPR forming as it did a crucial link between Montreal and Toronto as well as major destinations beyond, including St.John, New Brunswick, Windsor/Detroit and Chicago.

The original O&Q mainline had two daily passenger trains between Montreal and Detroit, as well as a daily except Sunday Perth-Smith Falls, and a daily exc. Sunday Tweed-Toronto passenger service. Two daily exc. Sunday Bobcaygeon-Burketon Jct. passenger trains and a daily exc. Sunday Mixed train between West Toronto and Lindsay.

Service in later years on branchlines is described under the various original railway names, (see above). While the Mixed train service between Port Mc.Nicoll and Orillia that was said to be in neither the public nor the employee timetable, was unusual, an even more unusual passenger service was operated by Canadian Pacific Express! As part of a regular express route, passengers were only carried between Ivanhoe (9 miles west of Tweed) and Madoc. It was possibly the only such service in southern Ontario, but such service was operated elsewhere, including on Western Lines. The vehicle used is unknown and may have simply been a regular truck and therefore only likely able to carry one or two passengers at a time! Rail tickets were honoured!

The new Lake Shore line beginning June 29,1914 featured one daily sleeper train between Montreal and Detroit. Number 21 the Chicago Express and #22 the Overseas, became the premier train service. Following creation of the CNR it became a racetrack to compete and show off what each company had to offer the travelling public. So important was it that the CPR built two steam locomotives, of a new type and design just for this run! K1 class 4-8-4's 3100 and 3101 built in August and October 1928, respectively, they were impressive looking engines designed to haul increasingly heavier trains on this important route. Montreal and Toronto are the main business centres of Quebec and Ontario, while Montreal was also the System Headquarters of both railways. The best time was 7 hours and 40 minutes for the approximately 335-mile run. Schedules became faster and faster between the two railways until they were reduced on the CPR to 6 hours and 15 minutes! On the Winchester Sub, east of Smiths Falls, the 124 miles to Montreal West was covered in 108 minutes by #38 the Royal York for a start to stop average of 68.9 mph! During the summer of 1931 this was the world's faster scheduled train. This may have surprised the CNR, but it positively alarmed the famed Great Western Railway in England, whose Cheltenham Flyer had held the record on the much shorter (77.3 miles) Swindon-London (Paddington) run at 66.3 mph. Effective September 14,1931 the GWR had instructed its drivers to open the regulator a little more and make the run in 67 minutes for an average of 69.2 mph! The British reclaimed the world record as befitted a nation renown for its high speed steam locomotives.

Heavy traffic often required #22 to operate in Sections from Toronto with a Second 22 being fairly common.

During World War II, a second night train (#23 & #24) was added to the Lake Shore line in the form of an Ottawa-Toronto service operating daily except Sunday, first appearing in the timetable effective June 27,1943. The last run of #23 8744-8563 from Ottawa was made on Labour Day, September 1,1958. This train was hauled by steam almost until its end, with G3 class 2399 being the last regular engine used returning on #23 on Saturday June 28,1958. It remained at John Street as a protect engine for a short while before being transferred to freight service at Lambton.

The old O&Q mainline retained a daily except Sunday Montreal-Toronto day train as well as daily except Sunday Ottawa-Toronto night sleeper train and Peterboro-Toronto trains.

The first major change came in 1954 with dieselization of the premier trains #21 and #22. K1 class 3100 arrived in Toronto on March 11, 1954 and that evening #22 left with GMD diesels hauling it. 3100 was stored at John Street for some months as was 3101 at the Glen. Once the diesels had proven themselves reliable the two engines were reassigned to the Atlantic Limited. new paragraph

F1 class 4-4-4 type Jubilee 2925 hauling #601 April 24, 1956, westbound over the CNR diamond just west of Peterboro station. What a consist! Three era's of equipment; wooden (Steel UnderFrame), modern lightweight steel and old heavyweight steel. Ray Corley Note: 2928 also worked this train. Millbrook House.
NOTE: 2925 blew up on a Peterboro-bound passenger train years before, killing its engineer and fireman.

9050-9051 at Peterboro on May 20, 1955. Ray Corley

Effective September 26,1954 a new high-speed Toronto-Peterboro Dayliner service began using a single RDC, it cut about 45 minutes off existing schedules covering the 77 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes, stopping only at Leaside and Agincourt. Early in 1957 the Peterboro-Toronto service was extended to the division point at Havelock and also became a Dayliner service. In fact, the fast mid-day Toronto-Peterboro short turn utilized an RDC off this two-car train, returning in time for the evening run back to Havelock. This mid-day train was gone by the October 1969 timetable. The one roundtrip remained operating daily, with the weekend schedule altered for the convenience of passengers.

9050 eastbound at the Don station. W.H.Coo Collection.

9049(ex DSSA 500 acq. 5/58)-90xx eastbound to Havelock arriving at Agincourt before Toronto Yard opened. Station is to left, small structure to right was once a shelter on north platform.
Note commuters autos. May 25, 1962 Collection of Gord Billinghurst

Looking in the other direction, same 9049 in newer end paint style, service is now down to a single car
at newer shelter. Station at right. 7400's working on a hump lead. May 24, 1967.
Collection of Gord Billinghurst

Number 36 with 8460 (RS-3) and 8580 (1 year old RS-10s), eastbound
crossing the Otonabee River swing bridge in Peterboro, May 29,1957. Ray Corley

8466 (RS-10) Number 35 westbound at Peterboro, making the last run of this
train between Montreal and Toronto. Saturday, April 23, 1960. Ray Corley

Montreal-Havelock-Toronto trains #35 and #36 made their last runs on Saturday, April 23, 1960. #35 had 1414 (FP9A), two head-end cars and two coaches. #36 had 8466 (RS-10), two head-end cars, two coaches and two deadhead RDC's 9049 (ex DSS&A 500 RDC-1) and 9194 (RDC-2). The Budd Cars were for a new Toronto-Peterboro service and were first used on the second day of this service, Monday, April 25th. Interestingly, this resulted in the turntable at Peterboro being put back into service, unused since dieselization. This was done to keep the baggage compartment of the RDC-2 in the lead.

Pool Trains

Seaview, one of four View series 5 Double Bedroom Lounge cars acquired in January 1959 from the New York Central where this car was the Babbling Brook in their Brook series. Two cars each worked Pool Trains #21 and #22 between Montreal and Toronto and Pool Trains #33 and #34 between Ottawa and Toronto. Initially, the Montreal cars operated through to Hamilton with two other sleepers on #321, returning on #328. Built by Budd in 1949, which company later built The Canadian equipment. All were sold in 1969, this car and another went to the Quebec Cartier Mining Company and one to the Algoma Central as their Canyon View.
Shown here in John Street Coach Yard in Toronto, October 1965 David Hale

Pool trains, brought in to being during the depression to cut costs, were a way of sharing the much-reduced passenger carryings (55-65% less) yet still provide the choice of travel times. It all began April 2,1933, at which time the break-neck speeds were eased from 6 hours on the CNR and 6 hours 15 minutes on the CPR, to 6 hours 30 minutes on both for the Montreal-Toronto service. Pooled services also included Ottawa-Toronto trains. Most, but not all trains were Pool trains. Assigned to the Ottawa Pool trains were the only two 4-8-2 2900's (The only two 4-8-4's were assigned to Montreal-Toronto service.) While this was a complicated system of shared equipment and locomotives, with some CN cars on CPR trains and vice-versa, and CN locomotives serviced at the CPR roundhouse, for the passenger it was simple. A ticket bought from either railway could be used on any pool train.

World War II brought traffic back to far above pre-Depression levels, the railways left the pool arrangement in place, perhaps to avoid a return to the "race" mentality.

Termination of the Pool Agreement became effective October 31,1965. At this time the CPR introduced new trains between Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto, using old train numbers. The latter trains were RDC equipped day runs via Havelock leaving each terminal at 9.00 a.m. The Lake Shore service via Trenton featured equipment once used on The Canadian, including Skyline dome cars and Park observation dome cars. Departing 5.00 p.m. from each terminal, they were deluxe name trains; Royal York to Toronto and Le Chateau Champlain to Montreal, where CP had hotels by the same name. Their reign was short, embarrassingly so. The high-priced deluxe service didn't catch on fast enough and the trains were gone in a matter of months! Sunday, January 23,1966 saw the end of Montreal-Toronto trains #21 & #22 and Ottawa-Toronto trains #33 & #34. On that day #21 operated with engines 8579 and 8471, and 9 cars. #22 had 1412 and 1903, 9 cars. #33 had RDC's 9020-9060 and #34 had 9072-9021 conductor R.J.Wing, engineer Gerry Greenham, after being delayed 23 minutes meeting #33 (scheduled at Kaladar) and running 80 mph in a very severe snow storm arrived in Ottawa at 2.23 pm only 8 minutes late with 43 revenue passengers and one pass (LBC). The end.

In this 1964 scene, 1416 leads an RS-10 on 21 arriving in Toronto from Montreal with two unique headend cars. An RDC-4 handling Windsor express and side-loading container flatcar (with only two of four containers)
carrying London area express, followed by ordinary headend cars and other equipment. Charles W.R.Bowman

A unique but brief experiment with intermodal containerization involved trains #21 and #22 whereby some express was handled in containers and trucked by CP Express for part of the way. To handle these containers on passenger trains a few old passenger cars were converted to flat cars still equipped with such features as steam heat and communicating air lines to allow them to operate with other headend cars. Express was picked up by two tractor trailer trucks in the London-Galt-Kitchener area and driven to John Street Coach Yard where a simple loading pad was built. Two each of these containers (four in total) were quickly side-transferred from road to rail.

Around the same time another unique arrangement for express involved the use of RDC-4's. Effective with the April 26,1964 public timetable trains #21 and 22 between Toronto and Detroit were changed from conventional locomotive-hauled trains to self-propelled RDC Dayliners #339 and 340 and utilized an RDC-4 (no passengers) for express from Windsor to Montreal, in addition to RDC-1's for passengers. At Toronto the self-propelled RDC-4 was added next to the locomotives of the conventional style train and became an ordinary (not self-propelled) express car. Another RDC-4 worked in the opposite direction. This unique operation did not last for long. RDC-4 9250 at east end of Union Station, Toronto, August 1964. RDC-4 in conventional train.

VIA Rail

VIA 6109 on eastbound #189 on a 1981 Sunday in Peterboro. David Onadera/JBC Visuals.

VIA Rail took over CPR passenger trains effective September 28,1978. In November 1981 the Federal Government instituted a major (19%) cut in passenger trains operated by CN and CP. It gave a few runs (ones largely commuter dependent), a one-year reprieve, which resulted in the last run of the Havelock RDC run on Labour Day week-end September 1982, with VIA 6135-6215 shown at Peterboro. VIA's mandate was for inter-city service, not commuter. This train had been a popular service for daily commuters from Peterboro and points west thereof. Two RDC's were required to handle the load from Claremont and west with about 200 passengers in total, daily. In spite of a fierce campaign by commuters they were not successful in saving it, nor were they able to get it reinstated after further efforts. Eventually, with the changing political winds from Ottawa, a re-instatement of the Havelock RDC began June 3, 1985 and commuter and week-end service continued until new VIA cuts saw the last runs again on January 14, 1990 with #190 a single RDC, VIA 6120. During this time the RDC's were serviced and CPR crews based at VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre in Mimico. From time to time over the years there has been talk of it returning, but to-date (July 2002), it has not happened.

Night approaches as Sunday Only #189 with 3 RDC1's arrives at Peterboro enroute to Toronto
March 1981 Bruce May

RDC's did not operate in passenger service on the Trenton Sub.

GO trains did not operate on the Trenton Sub. but, GO units often did.

Station Gallery

Back