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"A Family Tradition for 131 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 9, 1997 - 19 Sketches of Scugog by Paul Arculus Construction on the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway finally seemed to be making progress during the fall of 1871. One of the first indications was report- ed in the Whitby Chronicle of August 3. It gave notice that the last $10,000 of the town's debentures had been handed over to the trustees and the Whitby station for the railway had been built. Track-laying was also in progress and the first locomotive for the PW & PPR had arrived in Whitby. Several flat cars had also been delivered. Oshawa's newspaper, the Oshawa Vindicator, on September 6, 1871, reported the confusion over the con- tractors. J. H. Dumble, the earlier contractor, having extracted all the money he could from the railroad, sold his interests in the contract to C. E. English after mis- representing them. The railway board, however, had decided to go ahead on its own with one of its directors, Edward Major, as the contractor. When Major's men arrived on the project, English's men drove them off and only the intervention of the constabulary had prevented a vicious brawl. This event, as mentioned in previous articles in this series, entertained the press and its readers. It was colorfully reported in the September 1871 issues of the Ontario Observer of Prince Albert, the Standard of Port Perry, the Vindicator of Oshawa, the Whitby Chroncile and the Whitby Gazette. The directors considered English to merely hold the contract of Dumble whom they had dismissed. But a further dilemma arose. When Major continued the work, he found that there was no cash available. Even though he was a director, he was not aware that the debentures, the bonds and paid up stock were all gone. In addition, it was revealed that the directors "on their own personal responsibility had borrowed $10,000 from the Dominion bank and $15,000 from the Ontario bank", and this had also been used. Demands were made for the resignation of Draper, the president, and Bigelow, the vice president. A group of Whitby ratepayers demanded that the government issue a bill forcing the sale of the "unfortuante railway". Faced with losing the entire project and its few assets, Bigelow, Draper and James Holden, a director of the Dominion bank and the PW & PPR together took total control of the project. Bigelow lent the railway $20,000 so that work could continue. Work did continue, but in order to save money, it was decided to construct the track on a narrow gauge. Because of the cost-saving four foot eight inch gauge track, all goods and passengers would have to be unloaded at Whitby and transferred to the broader five foot six inch gauge equipment on the Grand Trunk Sys- tem to Toronto or Kingston. September 1871 became a particularly eventful month for the Port Whitby and [rain finally a completed. On the 28th the Ontario Observer reported that Harrison Maw, a carpenter from Port Perry, had contracted to build the five station houses from Brooklin to Port Perry for $5,000. He had completed three of them and tried to obtain an interim A payment of $3,000. He was ~ ype AY refused. The board of direc- SEAN tors used the excuse that Maw a a: ELL had been contracted by C.E. LN, Vio English, the most recent contractor, who had been dismissed. Maw's labor- ers were among the many still waiting for pay. Maw had earned the contract after build- ing the Anglican Church, the Church of the Ascension, in Port Perry. In spite of the problems of contract dis- putes, on October 12 the Whitby Chronicle reported that the rail- way had been used to ship freight for the first time. The first load was a shipment of oatmeal from Brooklin to Whitby. As the residents of Reach Township eagerly awaited the arrival of the first train to the north, the reporter of the Ontario Observer was among a delegation of digni- taries invited to inspect the work site as it approached Port Perry. He reported on his visit early in November. He watched the men at work under the supervision of Edward Major at the south end of the Graham property just south of Manchester (today this farm is owned by Fred Christie). He commented that "...over the greater part of the road, it has either to be raised or lowered to a greater or less extent. A vast amount of grading has yet to be done. The cost will spoil the face of $10,000.) The train by this time ran as far as the second con- cession of Reach. A number of dignitaries had come up by train from Whitby to watch the workers laying ties and rails. They seemed pleased with the work and the assurances that the rails should reach Port Perry by Friday, November 10. The dignitaries then retired to nearby Payne's Hotel at the corner of the second conces- sion and what is now Highway 12 for a few hours and then returned to Whitby by train. Everyone must have been incredulous when the loco- ng 5 Noo at " LP ~ The locomotive "Scugog" at Port Perry shortly after the opening of the railway. The "Scugog" is photographed here in its early woodburning state. It was later converted to a coal burning unit. ITIves In Port Perry motive, without any cars, made its ¥ way into Port % Perry a day » ahead of sched- ule. A number of people turned out to welcome the lone locomo- tive. The engineer and his com- panions on the footplate were treated to a quickly pre- pared banquet. But even this simple event was shrouded in controversy. The Port Perry Standard stated that the banquet had been paid for out of the generosity of Joseph Bigelow, but the Observer discovered that the bill of $80.52 had been paid out of the railway's account. It should be noted that 1871 was an election year and Mr Bigelow was among those seeking office. He was sup- ported by the Standard, but the Observer was not among his supporters. Nevertheless, Mr. Bigelow was successful a few days later and became the Reeve of Reach. All the problems of the railway's incredible history seemed to be completely forgotten on November 23, 1871, as the first official train made its way to the northern terminus. There were speeches and joyous celebrations to com- memorate the occasion. The Whitby Chronicle of December 7 gave a detailed account of a run from "Lake to Lake" on the PW & PPR. "The locomotive Scugog, with one of the temporary constructed box cars and some platform cars loaded with freight, left Whitby at 11:40. At the four mile post, wood was taken in occasioning a stoppage of four or five minutes. From this point the road is as straight as an arrow and a most beautiful view of the lake and sur- rounding country is obtained. At 11:55, another start ... and Brooklin, 3-1/2 miles further on is reached in 8 minutes. A further delay of five minutes and additions to the company on board. The eleven mile post near Myrtle reached at 12:23. A delay of 25 minutes in taking in water, etc. - the pumping apparatus as yet being in an unfinished state. From Brooklin to Myrtle there is a long and heavy grade reaching as high as 90 feet in the mile (1.7 per cent) and for the four or five miles from Myrtle to the summit at the ridges, the grade ; Ol i S54 il of Fare aE MT ! ; Port Perry Railway. On September od Lom Towa. Jovrloy H | r, ! 1s also long and steep. The cutting at 14, the Whitby Chronicle reported fecoans-» a 2 l. RE Ei 3 Toop Sade (ren, the summit for about a quarter of a that the railway's first locomotive, _-- {co Lp I ] IE ETE Lo ™y A mile is made in some places to a depth which had been named the "Scu- hice ort me Le he mm ----| = a = +4 = of 50 feet through clay and sand which gog", had been fired up for the first ----- ho DTTRLIY. wR LAE NN wliiilat Rat rae i 18 inclined to Sip anc give way at ary i ws Lint Rl U7 tiara 2s oa PO] J IE on the four miles of track whic ' RCT nar - rar - had been laid north out of Whitby. |W A2!es" |» a. : | pe . rage | wm Tmo] tions, Port Perry is reached at ¢ On Wednesday, September 15, {= - 1 - == nian RS "w= 2%] minutes past one, and allowing for stop- 1871. an impetus to complete tho etpa g Pos Ze | Hers Heda EH a eZ oe BD vil Aoozw I pages, the whale distance of 22 miles railway came from another source. [amstssmmn = a © sey 1 -s; oo J accomplished in one hour and four On that day, the Toronto and LT igivnd : . LAG wo grey . Vrs Anypas 1 sev ~ar] minutes.' Nippissing Railway made its first ] the Ronen - [ © aoe arioe 1 ee a The reporter went on to comment on official run from Toronto to redhat mye 2 ee, | "a ged AA NCW a v/ ~~" various problems with the line includ- Uxbridge. This was accomplished em ae ! oh --p--l ee on Ri a A 6 ris] ing "badly constructed culverts and i with considerable publicity. fe oven r 3d var mr Ww ravplon varmen \ [$heory pow 80 LLL _=~«| dangerous unfinished embankments : The T & N promoters took every [#™¢ fre" «|, 17 ill | vig " - [ e037 Th +n. 2 -.| However, he reached the conclusions opportunity to deride the Whitby PO Bl I I Eads od Masa | LT TN Fm - - N --- that". with these drawbacks, which to Port Perry railway for its pro- Re SN IEE rf Ah Wa TPR Derk mrn ~~ 7 are only a matter of little time to get blems. Chester Draper, the director AP dare wmpns « PBRm An Nairn SATIN on Xo over and set right, the road is a good of the PW & PPR attended the ---- [4 mL fe YE NTT Pe TET] the celebrati d th i - pr cee : " uheenes LAL BENE oan Mvividiginiod 1 ure ro nce the celebrations an e suc- inaugural run and made a congrat - na ar | wh? Ss Nou c f the initial f the rail ulatory speech but was drowned a. i Wee Oymn by ess of the initial runs of the railway out by laughter, derision and the % Sana, { RR £ damn HIS seed, were over, the board had to settle in general apathy of his audience. ara rhs dnre _ yr m-- pc ce 157 and complete the line and try to bring C. E. English had asked foran | * er ETE 1 : about its efficient operation. injunction to prevent the PW. & rte Le JEN JF TE adi. TP ad 2 Natt Unfortunately, as we shall see, this was PPR from continuing with the EC weld ow 4 (FA eimnen oar § : a task well beyond their capabilities. work, since he had not been paid for the work which he had A map of the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway in Reach Township Next month: More and greater problems for the PW & PPR.