Teeswater

Wingham

Wingham was also the terminal town for the Teeswater branch. Just outside of town as a wye with the north leg going to Teeswater. Trains into Wingham crossed the Maitland River over a 311 ft combination wood and steel bridge, then swung around under the CNR into town. There was not much in Wingham by the end of steam, but the siding was quite long, some 2000 ft. A freight shed, turn table, station and another shed is all that was there in the 1954 aerial photo. By 1958 hurricane Hazel wiped out the bridge. Since I'm going 1947 I had to have the bridge, all of it. Pics were impossible to find. One from Running Late on the Bruce was from the turn of the century. With a locomotive on top I could measure what I needed to get the bridge as close as possible.

As with all other towns, the track plan was drawn from a 1954 aerial photo, first to scale, then altered to fit the space I had (about 12 by 2 feet).

Unfortunately, Wingham was quite long, some 2000 feet. The sidings went considerably further past the station than I could get. I also added the fuel depot, cattle pen (which cars have to be pushed over the turn table to), and the Maitland Forest products camp.

Station, freight shed, and Western Foundary shed were all scratch built to scale. The bridge has also been built to scale, for 311 feet that's 43 inches in HO scale.

Once Wingham is more completed (DCC, panel, and switch machines put in) then underneath will have Lambton fiddle yard built.

Principle Industries:

Station Freight
British and American Oil Co	Coal and fuel oil
Cattle pen
Station	Mail
Freight Shed
Western Foundary Shed	Wood stoves, cast parts
Team Track
Maitland Forest Products	Pulp wood logs and raw timber

Shipments outbound from this town include:

From Industry

To Industry

Load

Frequency

Shipments inbound into this town include:

From Industry

To Industry

Load

Frequency

Layout Photos

Upon arrival in Wingham, 963 get turned on the turntable. This was a manual job. To the left is British and American Oil Co, while behind that will be the cattle pen.

Over head view looking east as the line comes into town. At the far end you can see the elevated CNR line was it goes over the CP line, then it goes over the Maitland River. The buildings down the line, all scratch built, are the Station, then the small baggage hut, the CPR Freight Shed (no roof) then Western Foundry shed. Just beyond that is the team track. Notice the multitude of tire tracks in the dirt road.

Overhead view looking the other way, end of track. The station will eventually be pained in the two tone gray it sported in the mid 40's. The two down the end were not in the prototype, added for more switching. Notice access to the cattle pen is directly through the turn table. The idea being that there once was an engine shed there (which the CPR moved to Teeswater at some point) and in it's place they built the cattle pen.

963 with her combine prepare to leave Wingham, crew are just waiting for the clearance from the station agent.

Still waiting for clearance, 963 is parked in front of the station. This picture is very close to where Bob Sandusky took his shot of 1081 on her last trip up the Teeswater Branchline.

Just out of town, heading east back to Orangeville, the line passes under the CNR, then over the Maitland river. Maitland Forest Products, which took over the old turn of the century Maitland Hotel, does a brisk business shipping out logs. Eventually there will be a saw mill built behind the hotel.

Most of the river bed is done. You should be able to pick out the flow direction from the trail of sand behind the boulders. More work on the river needs to be done before the "water" is applied.

The full size of the river can be seen in this view. The bridge was 311 feet consisting of wood trestle at either end, with three steel spans over the deep and fastest part of the river. There was only about a 15 foot clearance above the river at normal flow. During high flow the water was known to approach the top of the rails. During Hurricane Hazel in 1954 the bridge sustained enough damage to close it down (as well as the long pin truss bridge at Walkerton).

Another view of the Maitland River bridge. It's not yet fixed into place pending finishing the river bottom. Off to the left the line will go into Laurel, though in reality it went to Wingham Junction that split north to Teeswater and east to Orangeville. At this point a liftout section 2ft x 2ft will be built to join the rest of the layout.