Canadian Railroads > ex-CN Point St Charles shops burn

Five alarm fire took out the former CN shops overnight

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=1a8446f1-ed63-4bac-b5ff-e38382254cea

Some pretty impressive photographs at

http://www.coderouge.com/interventions/intervention.php?lg=fr&feu=731

Looks like some NJT transit equipment may not be getting refurbished after all!

- Paul

Sad. A real Montreal landmark at least partially destroyed.

The "Point" was the Grand Trunk and later the Canadian National Railways main shop. The big overhead crane could lift CN's biggest steam locomotives.

In the 1970's, the public were invited to visit the facility every Christmas season for the annual employees party. Usually, a locomotive would be suspended above the floor for public viewing.

The district of Point St.Charles is where the Irish immigrants first established themselves after getting of the boat, and was always a rough and tumble working class neighbourhood. Near the shops is a monument to several thousand Irish who died in quarantine on nearby Nun's Island during a cholera epidemic in the 1800's. Many of the nuns taking care of them died also.

A strike by machinists at the GT Point St.Charles and the nearby CP Angus shops lead to the "Railway Labour Act" of 1904 and later the "Industrial Labour Act" of 1907 which gave unions theright to bargain collectivelly with their employers.

As of 1600 Saturday one can still smell smoke even half a mile away. The main shop was most recently used for the filming of the movie "Death Race 3000". American Motive Power of Dansville, NY had recently moved into a more modern portion of the Pointe and was rebuilding locomotives and the ex-NJT commuter cars there.

KG