Welcome to my channel about the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railway. Most of the videos posted here are from my explorations along the former right of way, both in Ontario and Minnesota. My hikes also take me to the sites of industries related to the PAD&W such as mining or logging. I've also branched out and begun exploring two other abandoned rail lines in the area, the Canadian Northern Railway Long Lake and Nipigon Subdivisions (CN Dorion/Kinghorn Subdivisions) and Grand Trunk Pacific Lake Superior Division (later CN Graham Subdivision).
You'll find a few other videos here as well, mostly of sports and travel. Most videos are published under my moniker, "Angry Irish Productions."
Been away for few days. So this section of RoW, clearly gets driven on, it appears a fair amount. Is this actually designated as such or just one of those informal things?
After the line was abandoned, it was owned by a forest products company until 2018. It was technically a private road, but people still used it anyway. In 2018 the RoW was purchased by Wagner Forest Management, a US forest management company. People can use the grade but you have to buy a permit. There are some washouts, but you can travel most of the grade from this point to Sioux Lookout.
Where exactly did the GTP line terminate to the west when the 26 mile section was abandoned? I assume around the Sunshine area if I understand correctly. As well is there video and or photographs where it exactly met up with the CNR line?
It was located near Sistonens Corners and was called Conmee Junction. The junction was there from 1924 when the new section of line opened until 1994 when the Graham Sub was abandoned. The videos are mostly done for this area, but I want to go back in the fall to get some new drone footage. You can see some photos and maps on my website: padwrr.com/grand-trunk-pacific-railway/ padwrr.com/canadian-northern-railway/canadian-northern-railway-west/conmee-junction/
I really enjoy these videos. I can still remember taking the passenger train to Sioux Lookout in the late 80’s as a teen. It’s sad to see the rails pulled on subdivisions around Thunder Bay like the Graham, Kinghorn, etc. What could have been if the PAD&W railway was a success. There could possibly have been a rail link between Thunder Bay and Duluth… These vids are great to show upcoming generations of the regions railroad history.
The Mattabi mine did not have a pellet plant. Those pellets came from The Bruce Lake Mine near Ear Falls. The Mittabi mine ore was hauled out in gondola cars and was almost like powder
You're welcome. This section of the line was in fact abandoned 6 years after the bridge was opened when CN rerouted it. The remainder of the line was in use until 1994. You can see more in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6Syn2lSRFn0.html
11:00 ...the mesh ..confluence is downstream(left side of video) from this location a few km, can be seen from the 102 bridge over the Kam River actually. The Shebandowan River connects to the Matawin many km upstream south of Shabaqua Corners.
Great posts , I will probably never get up there to see any of this railway lore so I appreciate the history . I have been following many electric lines in the south but most have been bulldozed over or are private property . With the building craze here for housing I think it will all be lost to history . Many thanks !
I passed by this place yesterday and there was a car parked at it. Someone must've seen the video and gone exploring! I'm going to check this out soon. What a cool old structure.
My father worked for CN and we lived in the section house close to where the station was from 1964 to 1969. I still have great memories growing up around there! Awesome video.
My father worked for CN and we lived in the section house that was located close to where the station was. We lived there from 1964 to 1969. Very cool to see this video and brought back a lot of memories.
When coal is “fired” at over 2500 degrees it melts and produces a by-product called +++slag. When the slag is cooled through a process called vitrification, it crystallizes, forming sharp, angular granules in a variety of sizes.
Thanks. What you didn't see was the gong show off camera. I picked a decent take off spot, but not so much for landings. It turned into a bit of an adventure!
Yikes, that sucks. I do a lot of flying over water and I'm always worried about that. The worst I did was crash into a tree and now I'm super paranoid when I fly. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AB_pLrM1rw0.htmlsi=7RRD4oRJ-7ds4BnA&t=1229
Yes, I forgot to talk about that. It could have also been the pump house for the tank. Sometimes I have so much stuff running through my mind when I do these explorations that I'll forget things. That's why I carry those pieces of paper with info on it.
mmmm 2:00 thats different.....That road went into an active gravel pit mid 70's and back, may have had a weigh scale setup on the in road...I can't quite recall, need a resident that lived here pre 1975. One I knew is gone now. He lived close by and seen everything I bet.
The Canadian Shield is beautiful, but not easy to get through. There are plenty of documentation of how brutal construction was in this part of the country.
Section house!! That's huge!! I'm used to some small, basically sheds. Big enough to hold maybe two giggers and various hand tools with maybe one having space for the foreman's desk, chair and filing cabinet. Was this meant to actually be 'home', with living facilities for the section crew? Or multiple crews?
I'm not quite sure what the situation was, but I'm guessing it was meant to more of a home. You can see a photo of it on my website: padwrr.com/grand-trunk-pacific-railway/dona/
Not sure if you are using a mic on an arm, but to cut the wind noise try using a piece of foam rubber. If you have a AV guy at your school ask him or he may be able to tell you of a proper product.
I don't use an external mic. They don't necessarily play nice with GoPro cameras and I can't imagine having another piece of equipment strapped to me. The camera on the helmet can be awkward as it is. Usually the GoPro is pretty good at mitigating the wind noise, but not always perfect.
right at 11:49 a now over grown narrow road went west and crossed 102 and I think ended up at the railway lines and old Kam train station by the river.
starting at 3:17 the Silver Falls road started here ran there until 102 was upgraded back in mid 70's and the road changed to its present intersection at 102.
Your drone footage is awesome. Tough to put music to it. I almost wish those little drones had a mike. Watching you and your dog go to the edge of it makes me wince every time. It makes me think I could probably shake that bridge down by just placing both my feet like sitting in an elevator and shaking back and forth. Got a question.Where do you think the material came from to build that bridge? Did you notice the color of the stones of the deteriorated spots. Not a color from local areas here. Could swear that came from either Manitoba.Or Geraldton area . Obviously that's just a guess. Thank you for the. Video
Thanks. This one was a bit tough with the drone because it's not an overly long bridge and there is so much growth around it. You can't see as much of it as you would think. Don't worry, there wasn't as much looking over the edge as you think. Lots of sticking the camera over the side and hoping it turns out okay. I actually get nauseous watching the video back and seeing the height. That being said, despite its outward appearance, that bridge is pretty solid. I don't think they were fooling around when they built it. I doubt anything built today would last that long without any maintenance. Not sure about where that aggregate is from. Could have been brought in from somewhere else. I was just reading yesterday that they imported ties from Minnesota when they were building the line. I know the old Canadian Norhern station here was faced with stone from Manitoba and brick from the US. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qb8pzEG1hsA.html
Thanks for the interesting video! Every time I see videos of old structures like this I pause in the thought of all the man-hours and very hard work that was put into their construction lost in time. Just imagine the effort of getting materials there to build it out in the middle of nowhere? Cutting the rebar, building all the forms, mixing tons of concrete etc etc. Back when MEN WHERE MEN for sure!!
We've crossed that bridge in a car many times back in the 1980's, used to hunt that line for chickens. Very cool bridge indeed! I was just thinking last week of doing a video on it LOL!
I was little young for that timeframe, but it certainly is a unique structure. Sad that it was only used for a short period of time before it was abandoned.
Very cool!.....thank you for sharing. I think the bolts and washers hanging down were possibly bolting down the ties. After the ties, either rotted or removed allowed the bolts to hang down?....
You're welcome. I'm not an engineer or an expert on railway construction, but I've never seen the ties bolted down on a gravel pan bridge/trestle. They may have been used to secure the concrete forms when they were pouring the bridge.
I have to agree with L72. I didn't do forming, but I did work in construction for near 35 years. I think what they may done is use the bolts to hold wooden cribbing to keep the road bed materials in place, running the length of the bridge and also use them to spike the ties to. It wouldn't be normal to use them for forming, strip the forms and leave the bolts. One of the main issues with this structure is, lack of drainage of the deck. It's all very well to make it out of concrete and fill the deck with ballast, but where a regular section of roadbed can drain moisture away, this bridge deck can't. There is no means of any kind to allow moisture to not get trapped. I would bet if drainage had been accounted for it would be in much better condition today. That or a different design to the deck. As for all the extra concrete piles. It occurs to me they are primarily on the up river side. I think perhaps the engineers may have tried to account for the river flow and ice and debris. Piles may have been installed at the riverbank to steer things into the main channel and it's all deteriorated. The concrete in under the base of the one pier may have been pushed there during many winters or during a very high water event.
The only way to know for certain is to dig down and see what those bolts are doing on the up side. This is the only structure like this around, so there is nothing to compare it to. I tried running it by my brother who is an architect, but it's hard to make a determination without seeing it up close. There were a few things underneath the bridge that could have been drains, but it hard to know for certain as it is difficult to see and there is a lot of deterioration.
