The Huron Expositor, 1970-11-05, Page 96 (fxpositor the ~unon
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In Grand Trunk Days.. . Waiting For The •Last Train . .
SEAFQRTH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1970— Second Section Pages 9-16
Here She Comes . .
END OF AN ERA NOSTALGIA RUNS HIGH
Number 660 Makes Last Run
This Way Out . . .
A
(by Roll Brady)
A service which began on
June 28 1858 ended Saturday
when the Canadian NationalRail-
way ceased passenger service
on the Stratford-Goderich run.
The last passenger train No.660
from Goderich to Strard arriv-
ed nearly half an hour late.
The C.N.R. has contended the
service has been losing money in
recent years and this made
necessary subsidization by the
government. Plans to close the
service were announced at the
end of September after the Can-
adian Transport Commission ap-
proved the railroad's application.
The announcement came as no
surprise.
At Seaforth about seventy
people were on hand to see the
last passenger train go through.
The eighty-eight seat dayliner
was filled to overflowing as many
area residents took one last nos-
talgic ride on the rails. About
a dozen people of all ages got
off at Seaforth after the short
ride from Goderich but they were
quickly replaced by a similar
number who boarded for the last
leg of the trip toStratford.Among
them was Mrs. W. J. Zerback
of Stratford, one of the very few
remaining regular customers of
the railroad. She said that she
rode the train whenever she could
to visit relatives in the Seaforth
area and that she "will certainly
miss It".
Rev. and Mrs. J. Ure Stewart
of Seaforth were on hand with
their cameras to record the event
along with several other local
citizens. Mr. Stewart recalled
that when a delegation from the
town went to Toronto several
years ago to try and save the
service at that time, the first
question that was asked them was
how they had made the 'trip."We
were forced to admit that we went
to the meeting by automobile" he
said.
Mr. Stewart said the end of
passenger service on the line'
was "our own fault but there Ts
really no longer a need for the
service." Looking into the
future, he wondered if, In another
century, the whole population
might be back on the rails or
something similar to them.
The familiar figure of Mac
McKellar, who served as express
agent for fifty-seven years in
Seaforth, was on hand to see the
last passenger train out of Sea-
forth and to reminisce.
When he first started work
on February 15, 1908 there were
9 passenger trains a day serv-
ing Seaforth, five going west
and four going east as well as
three or four freights which ran
with no schedule at all.
The trains used to be so
thick down here that we needed
a semaphore system to control
them. We had towers placed
about 40 rods to the east and
west of the station to inform in-
coming trains of the situation at
the station" he remembered.
Mr. McKellar said that Sea-
forth was at one time among the
hardest stations to work at due
to the volume of express and
the fact that it .was di ficult to
get heavy wagons over the sid-
ing which runs between the main
line and the station. Today that
siding is decaying under a heavy
layer of rust and not even the
main line could be described as
the "shiny ribbon of steel" with
which so many Canadians assoc-
iate the railway.
After a short nostalgic tour
of the station with present agent
Benny Williams, Mr. McKellar
returned to his son's car shaking
his head and saying "I never
thought I'd live to see the day
I'd see the last passenger train
out of here".
The last person to purchase
a ticket from the Seaforth wicket
for use on the line was William
M. Hart. He bought a forty
cent ticket to Clinton and says
he will keep it with the rest of
his large collection of momentos
of a bygone era.
Mr. Williams, however,
stressed the office in Seaforth
will remain open for persons
wishing to purchase tickets on
other C.N. lines which remain
operational.
Many area people seem to
have lost sight of the fact that,
were it not for the railroad,
Seaforth would not exist as a
community. Miss Isabelle Camp-
bell in her book "The Story of
Seaforth" recalls the circum-
stances surrounding the early
growth of the town.
"During the years that
progress was practically at a
standstill (1854 - 1855) at the
crossroads, two thriving villages
were being firmly established -
Harpurhey to the west, and Eg-
mondville to the south. No one,
in either of these ambitious,
fast-growing villages, ever
dreamed that a rival should arise
at Guide Board Swamp. However,
after the Buffalo, Brantford and
Goderich Railroad whistled
through and was offically opened
on June 28, 1958, many changes
took place in the next few years.
Even after the rails were
laid, none of the three - Har-
purhey, Egmondville nor Sea-
forth - was considered by the
railway company of sufficient
importance to require a station.
Nothing daunted, the people in
Harpurhey built a flag station at
their own expense, as did also
the people of Egmondville. While
an agitation among these rivals
was going on to obtain a regular
station with shipping facilities.
Patton, Bernard and LeFroy stole
a march on the citizens of these
othei villages by offering the land
for a station in Seaforth. The
company agreed, provided the
erection of the building be also
given free. Egmondville and Sea-
forth merchants joined forces and
built a frame station at their own
expense where the present one
now stands. This left Harpurhey
sidetracked as a rail centre. The
location of the station very soon
spelled the doom of both Harpur-
hey and Egmondville, and
Seaforth flourished at the expense
of the two larger rival villages."
Mac McKellar, CN Express for 57 Years
G.T.R. Picture from
Frank Phillips
•
de
Ben Williams Sells Last Ticket
410. • ...A/Y.,