Canadian Railroads > When was Nakina not a crew chenge

Does anyone know about when Nakina, ON was eliminated as a crew change for most or all CN freights.thanks,
Dick Eisfeller
Working on a video on CN around Nakina
Big "E" Productions 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/15 07:20 by Dick.

After visiting Nakina..which I enjoyed, it's hard to believe many crew members lived there. Did they stay in Geraldton?

There was and still is a crew dorm at Nakina that is currently used by maintenance of way crews.  And yes for those who haven't been there, "Nakita Mosquita" - the nickname that the town uses, is at the end of the highway network in Ontario.  Still a neat place for a railfan to visit and videotape trains.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/15 07:32 by Dick.

Nakina ON. became a crew change point after the "Longlac Cutoff" was built between the former Canadian Northern and the National Transcontinental in 1923.

This 30 mile connection between two transcontinental CN routes caused massive traffic changes.  The former Canadian Northern lines to Toronto and Montreal became the CN's main lines east of Nakina, and the former National Transcontinental/Grand Trunk Pacific became the CN transcon. all the way to Red Pass BC.

The NTR east of Nakina became a secondary main line east to Charny QC and the CNor west of Longlac to Edmonton AB. became a secondary main line. Portions of both secondary routes have been abandoned starting in the 1990's.

The crew districts were changed after the cutoff was built.  Hearst ON. (Mile 702.9) was the home terminal for crews running on the former NTR, and they ran west to Grant ON., (Mile 828.1). Nakina was at Mile 844. (west of Quebec City) and was simply a siding on the NTR.

Hornepayne ON. (Mile 572.2 west of Toronto) was the home terminal terminal for crews running on the former Canadian Northern.and I think Longlac (Mile 673) was the crew change point.Longlac remained a home terminal for crews running to Fort William (Thunder Bay) on the former CNor.

The "Montreal Agreement' between the CN and the unions partially merged the seniority districts and work rules of the component railways.  By establishing Nakina as a crew change location, the former NTR employees ran a further 20 miles, the CNor a further 30.

When Nakina became the crew change point, CN helped move many of the buildings from Grant, most were wooden frame buildings and were partially taken apart for the twenty mile train ride. Looking on Google maps, there is not trace of Grant today, and the former NTR is abandoned east of Nakina to Calstock ON.

During the "Cold War" folowing WW2,  the US and Canada established the "Mid Canada Line" of radar stations adjacent to the CN throughout much of northern Ontario. This helped maintain passenger service, and public timetables of the 1960's and 70's showed numerous flag stops as simply DND (Department of National Defence) and a CN subdivision milage. US and Canadian airmen staffed these remote radar "golf balls" and were rotated in and out of service on CN passenger trains. I rode trains of this era, and young men would detrain at virtually unmarked locations and dissapear into the forest. Facing weeks of isolation, they would often fortify themselves in the lounge car before detraining.  One of the airmen was a railfan, and took many fine photographs during the late steam era.  Although Nakina was a tiny town, it offered a taste of civilisation for the radar station operators who would come to town on days off. The Dew, Spruce and Mid-Canada line of radar stations were decommisioned with the advent of satelittes

Prior to that, several landing strips were built along the CN in northern Ontario for the pioneer airlines of the day to land and refuel.  Before aircraft like the Douglas DC-3 came into use, the smaller aircraft did not have the range to fly over much of Canada without re-fueling. Oskaleano River east of Hearst on the CN was one such landing strip. Occasionally weather would strand aircraft at these landing strips, and the passengers and mail would carry on by rail.


I'm not sure when crews started running through Nakina to Armstrong ON.

For many years, Longlac ON. was the furthest east served by Greyhound Lines of Canada, although the buses ran further east, the drivers changed off with non-Greyhound drivers at Longlac.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/15 09:30 by eminence_grise.