Locomotives
of the Brockville & Westport
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| Locomotives
of the Brockville & Westport
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| The fun part of this railway research is discovering photos and
information of locomotives that travelled these small back-woods railway
lines. My favourites are the 4-4-0s, the 2-6-0s, and the 4-6-0s that
were used before they were taken over by Canadian National and Canadian
Pacific. Discovering the locomotive roster for these lines, particularly
the older 4-4-0s can be very challenging.
Except for two, all of the locomotives of the B&W were purchased used. Most of them had been in service for many years before being acquired by the B&W. This was typical for most of the small lines in Ontario. |
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| As you've been travelling up the Brockville & Westport on our
website, we've been introducing you to the locomotives of the B&W -
whether they were Brockville, Westport & Sault Ste Marie, or Brockville,
Westport & Northwestern. The two locomotives we haven't introduced
are BW&SSM 4-4-0 #2 and BW&NW 4-4-0 #67.
BW&SSM 4-4-0 #2 was acquired in January 1896 from the Grand Trunk. In August 1895, the Grand Trunk purchases the locomotive which was being held in bond by the customs authorities. The Grand Trunk fitted the locomotive and subsequently sold it to the BW&SSM. We can't find a photo of #2 and we know very little of its history - except that it was built by Danforth. BW&NW 4-4-0 #67 went through quite a few numbers and paint schemes over its lifetime. Here it is at Westport, Ont, circa 1906 |
BW&NW 4-4-0 #67 was built new by the Locomotive & Machine Company (later named Montreal Locomotive Works) as their builders #40667, in 1906 and was an identical twin to BW&NW #66. The loco was typical of the "American Standard" locomotives built for that period of time. The 4-4-0 had long been displaced by the 2-6-0 Mogul and the 4-6-0 ten wheeler. However, they were still popular on the smaller backwoods lines of Ontario where lighter rail, steeper gradients, and sharper curves was the norm. These lines weren't built to the same high standards as the Grand Trunk or Canadian Pacific main lines - mainly because they didn't have the money. Photo courtesy National Archives of Canada, Andrew Merrilees Collection, PA-203411. You can barely see the locomotive number in large numerals on the side of the tender (Our previous photos of BW&NW #66 shows the paint scheme better.) The BW&NW lettering is below the cab window. What is obvious is the round brass locomotive plate in the middle of the smokebox. You can slightly see the antlers of some deer mounted on top of the large headlamp. |
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The Canadian Northern took over control of the Brockville, Westport & Northwestern in 1910. However, the locomotives weren't numbered into the CNoR system until 1913. In renumbering the locomotives of the many short lines that the CNoR had acquired, a new number was simply painted over the old number. 
This is BW&NW #67 at Westport, however, it now wears CNoR #54 below the cab window - the tender still carries its BW&NW markings. From left to right, we have Bill Begley, Joe McCulloch, Denny Carty, Andy Gardner, G. Slack. The lettering to the left of the number is "BW&NW". The lettering to the right of the number is its CNoR locomotive classification "A-24-a". This CNoR locomotive classification system was set up in 1912 by Samuel J. Hungerford, at that time Vice-President of Operations. This was the same classification system used by Canadian National Railways. The round locomotive number plate is still on the front of the smokebox but the headlamp has been renumbered #54. Note that the antlers are still perched atop the locomotive head lamp. We suspect the photo was taken some time after 1913 - but we're not sure. Photo courtesy National Archives of Canada, Andrew Merrilees Collection PA-207538. |
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