Ian Wilson 192 pages
Turn back the clock and relive the drama of mainline steam action at the
operational hub of Southwestern Ontario. Witness a parade of trains
pounding along the double track from Windsor and Sarnia to Komoka,
through London, Woodstock, Paris, Brantford and Dundas to Bayview
Junction. At London, visit the service track where steam locomotives are
nourished at the massive coaling trestle, stroll into the roundhouse
and watch the engines being readied for assignments, behold the
switching operations at the large division point yard, or walk along the
station platform. For a change of pace, venture onto the Exeter
Subdivision at Hyde Park. Steam Through London
is laden with dramatic steam era photographs ranging from the loading
of sugar beets in autumn at Centralia to Northerns coaling in a matter
of seconds under the concrete dock at Paris Junction; from freight
truckers muscling less-than-carload packages into boxcars to the night
time repose of locomotives at Windsor in front of a glowing Detroit
skyline; from passenger trains arriving at the majestic Brantford
station to the simmering locomotives on the London ready track; from
doodlebugs slithering along a grassy branchline to doubleheaded freights
thundering up the Niagara Escarpment at Dundas.
