History

The Huntsville Subdivision has as its origin the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway (N&PJR), which connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) at La Vase near North Bay. On June 24, 1884, the N&PJR was leased to the Northern & North Western Railway N&NWR; a joint operation between the Hamilton & North Western Railway (H&NWR) and the Northern Railway of Canada (NRC). Although the line was essentially complete in the summer of 1884 the first through train from Toronto to Winnipeg did not operate until Saturday, November 20, 1886 as a consequence of the dilatoriness in ordering the equipment.

On February 24, 1888, the NRC and N&NWR became part of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) System and the first Toronto to North Bay train operated in September 1888. The identity of the NRC and its constituents disappeared on April 1, 1893 following the GTR general reorganization.

The GTR handled the CPR's northwest traffic between Toronto and Callander between July 26, 1892 and January 1898. On November 11, 1898 the GTR granted the CPR running rights between Toronto and Callander, which lasted until a week after the opening of the CPR's Kleinburg/Sudbury branch on June 15, 1908.

During the late GTR era (ca. 1915), the North Bay Subdivision (Allandale to North Bay, 12^th District, Barrie Division) entered North Bay via the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway (T&NOR). From North Bay, the GTR used running rights on the T&NOR to connect with the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) at Cochrane.

In the early CNR era, the Huntsville Subdivision started at Allandale, which may explain why Huntsville—half-way from Allandale to North Bay—rather than Katrine—half-way between Gravenhurst and Nipissing— became the subdivision's namesake.

After the GTR became part of Canadian National Railways (CNR), the Huntsville Subdivision used the former Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) Montréal-Port Arthur main line (CNR era Alderdale Subdivision) to enter North Bay.

The Huntsville Subdivision was absorbed by the Newmarket Subdivision in ca. 1964.

Footnotes

Speed Restriction

		Miles per hour
Passenger trains		55
Freight and Mixed trains		50
Engine with caboose or light engines		40

Permanent Slow Orders

Mileage				Miles per hour all trains
9.7			Highway Crossing (B.T.C. 71287)	10
9.6	to	10.0	Curves	20
33.4	to	34.5	Curves	30
52.2	to	53.5	Curves	45
57.5	to	62.0	Curves	45
81.4	to	86.0	Curves	40
91.1	to	93.0	Curves	30
101.3	to	101.9	Curves	40
104.2	to	104.8	Curves	40
110.0	to	110.7	Curves	30
108.1			Highway Crossing (North and South legs of Wye Callander) (B.T.C. 71287)	10

Engine and car restrictions

Heaviest auxiliary crane permitted.

160 tons

Way freights

No. 528	leave South River	8.00 a.m.	except Sunday	for Gravenhurst.
No. 529	leave Gravenhurst	7.00 a.m.	except Sunday	for South River.
No. 530	leave North Bay	8.00 a.m.	Mon., Wed., Fri.	for South River.
No. 530	leave South River	8.00 a.m.	Tues., Thurs., Sat.	for North Bay.

Manifest freights

No. 452	leave North Bay	7.00 a.m.	daily,	Arrive Gravenhurst.	12.15 p.m.
No. 454	leave North Bay	9.00 a.m.	except Monday,	Arrive Gravenhurst.	2.20 p.m.
No. 453	leave Gravenhurst	2.00 a.m.	daily,	Arrive North Bay.	7.00 a.m.

Diagram showing location of train phone wires

Face direction named: Count cross arms from the top down.

Look North Gravenhurst to Nipissing

Train phone wires marked

Note—

Emergency telephone wire must be hooked up as close as possible to the pole, first scraping any corrosion off the pole line wire in order to establish contact with the train dispatcher.

Chronology

Drawings

End Notes

1. Mileage measured from Toronto through 1929-06-30.
2. ^ Bladen states that N&NWR opened to North Bay on 1886-01-27[Bladen-1934, p. 68].