Hawkesbury
21.02 miles from Glen Robertson
Description
Stations
The original station was a frame building with shingle roof, post foundation, measuring 51 3/4' x 19 1/2' x 9'. The platform measured 41' x 51'9" and had an area of 3000 square feet. The station and platform were built in 1891 and listed first class condition in 1908 [GTRB&B].
The Canada Atlantic station was replaced by the Grand Trunk by a standard pattern station similar to Algonquin Park. This building lasted until the end of passenger service when it became a retail building supply outlet.
Engine Houses
The original roundhouse was destroyed by fire in December 1898 [Fleming:Renfrew Mercury, 1898-12-02]. It was replaced by a single stall frame shed with gravel roof that by 1908 was listed in only fair condition [GTRB&B].
Bridge
The bridge at Hawkesbury was built by the Great Northern Railway and was completed by about 1900. It was subsidized with a $52,000 federal subsidy from the Laurier Government and was essential to the Great Northern Railway of Canada's linking up with J.R. Booth's C.A.R, with its access to the U.S.A.South, Ottawa and on to Depot Harbour on Lake Huron to the West, and interchange agreements via the Grand Trunk to Eastern Canada. Built from Grand Piles, P.Q. (with working rail access to Quebec City) up the St.Maurice River. The bridge crossed from the high bluffs at Grenville over the Grenville Canal and the river 85 feet above mean river level on a multi-spurred steel truss bridge, seated on the stone piers to the south bank at Hawkesbury some 3,768 ft distant. There, the rails were supported on timber trestling, crossed Main Street East and abutted on a long curved embankment (later concrete used in part) to Higginson Street and west along Higginson Street to the C.A.R tracks and yard.(City of Hawkesbury, Ontario 1859 to 1984, pp88-92 (Thanks to Ian Walker))
The bridge was removed with the construction of the Carillon Dam, which was built between 1959 and 1964 (wikipedia). The tail track and embankment remained until at least 1963, when an engine and refrigeration/baggage car ran off the end of the track (Ottawa Citizen, 1963-08-26 (thanks to Colin Churcher)).
The stone abutments of the canal crossing are still there today. The north abutment of the river crossing may also exists, but it is not possible to get there on foot as the flooding in 1962 created an island between the river and canal.