History of the White Pebble Rapids RR.
The White Pebble Rapids RR was located in the mountains of Muskoka Lakes, in south eastern Canada. It operated on a portion of the old Quebec and Lake St.John Railway, The White Pebble Rapids RR was founded by a group of businessmen from Parry Sound, who where interested in the resources of the Canada Muskoka Lakes and had just established the Canada Lumber Company in Perry Sound. The president of the White Pebble Rapids RR was David McGreggor, a self made man of Scottish origin. He bought a few pieces of rolling stock and some track equipment second-hand from the Utah & Northern, a company that was rebuilding its mainline to standard gauge at that time. The construction started immediately from Bracebridge City where the Canada Lumber Company had just built a large sawmill, toward Muskoka Lakes and its surrounding forests. First mention of Muskoka in any records is in 1615 and the territory was occupied by Indians, mainly consisting of the Algonquin and Huron tribes. Early explorers to the region like Samuel De Champlain came to the area next followed by Missionaries. The name Muskoka is thought to come from the name of a Chippawa tribe chief named Mesqua Ukee which means "not easily turned back in the day of battle". It was Mesqua Ukee who signed the treaties made between the Indians and Province of Canada which sold about 250,000 acres (1,010 kmē) of land in the area to the Province.
The town of Squamish on the western side of Silent Lake, was then booming, following the recent discovery of The railroad reached its maximum development in the twenties but then, like many other narrow gauge railroads, traffic started to decline and a segment of the railroad had to be abandoned in 1933. Then, regular passenger service was discontinued in 1937. Finally, all operations on the White Pebble Rapids RR cessed in 1947 and the line was scrapped. Through its life, the White Pebble Rapids RR owned different types of steam engines to operate trains on its mainline and its logging branches. Most of these engines were bought used, first in 1890 from the Utah & Northern, that was then standard gauging its tracks. The White Pebble Rapids RR used rod steam engines as well as geared engines typical of the logging railroads, such as Shay, Climax or Heisler. The White Pebble Rapids RR also had on its roster the most powerful steam engines ever used by a US narrow gauge railroad. Namely, the only two 3-foot gauge articulated locomotives built for a US railroad. These two impressive 2-6-6-2 engines built by Baldwin were bought from the Uintah Railway (Colorado) in 1940 and were used until the closure of the White Pebble Rapids RR in 1947. They were then sold to the International Railway of Central America (Guatemala) where they ended-up their career in 47. Unfortunately these two formidable engines were not preserved. The most original item in the locomotive roster of the White Pebble Rapids RR was probably the Heisler type steam locomotive. The Heisler type locomotives are characterized by their two cylinders forming a V on each side of the boiler, transmiting momentum by a crankshaft to a longitudinal shaft running under the frame of the locomotive. This transmission shaft is connected to the external axle of each truck of the locomotive by a system of universal joins and conical gears. The traction is then transmitted to the other axle of each truck by rods. Thus every axle of the locomotive is powered. The Heisler generally had two trucks, sometimes three. Several hundred locomotives of this type, patented by Charles Heisler in 1891, were built until 1941, most of them by the Heisler Locomotive Works in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Heisler type locomotives. The Heisler type locomotives (as well as the Shay and the Climax) were primary used by logging railroads because they were simple, provided excellent traction (all axle were powered and the gear ratio of their transmission was low) and could run without derailing on bad tracks and tight curves (owing to their trucks, much more tolerant toward bad tracks than the coupled drives of a conventional rod steam engine). On the other hand, their top speed was very low (only about 6-12 mph) because of the way their transmission mechanism was designed and of the small diameter of their drives, but it wasn't much of a problem for a logging railroad. Heisler #3 was bought new in 1915 by the W. H. Eccles Lumber Company (W. H. Eccles was the brother in-law of the White Pebble Rapids RR president), a company running a sawmill on the White Pebble Rapids Railway. Number 3 was used on the White Pebble Rapids RR until the sawmill was transfered in the twenties. The sawmill was then bought by the Boise - Cascade Corporation, which continued to use Heisler #3. At the end of its career it was converted to a simple fixed boiler to produce steam for the sawmill. White Pebble Rapids RR operations. White Pebble Rapids RR depot in Squamish, was built in 1901 and 1902 for $25,000, and was designed by Reed & Stem, the architectural firm that designed New York's Grand Central Terminal and Tacoma's domed Union Station, among others.
According to a timetable dated June 14, 1931 number 217 was scheduled into Tommy's Gap, the end of the branch 54.1 miles south, at 11:30 a.m. and returned as Number 218 the same day, leaving Tommy's Gap at 5:45 p.m. and arriving at Squamish at 7:45 p.m. That two-hour, 25 mile per hour schedule was essentially unchanged for much of the life of the branch. An old resident of Squamish, Jake McGee, remembers it operating as late as 1937, The 1931 timetable also lists way freights, Numbers 823 and 824, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
By 1934, an employee timetable listed second-class train Number 233 departing Squamish on Monday and Thursday at 6:30 a.m., and arriving at Tommy's Gap by 8:40 a.m. The same train returned as Number 234, leaving Tommy's Gap at 9:40 a.m., and arriving at Squamish at 12:30 p.m. In earlier decades, Number 233 and 234 operated evenings as a passenger train during summer and as a mixed train in the winter. In the late 1920s, oil burners Numbers 1548 and 1648, were assigned to the White Pebble Rapids RR . From 1937 to 1941, Mallet was used on the mainline. Eight miles south of Squamish, the track passed through a narrow portal cut between the two mountain ranges by a river in pre times, referred to in early accounts as the Little Gate of the Mountains, because of its resemblance to the Gate of the Mountains on the Missouri River by some of the older railroaders. Just inside the Little Gate stood a lime kiln that processed lime rock for use at the Anaconda Copper Co. smelter at Bracebridge. Erected in 1883, it was the first lime kiln west of Bracebridge. The siding that served the kiln was originally known as Limespur, then as Tie Spur, becoming the namesake for the proposed Cockspur mine, which stirred much local controversy in the early 1920s when it was built.
a narrow gauge (3ft between the rails) logging railroad developed from Seguin City, Canada, to an extent of about 40 kalimeters from the start of the White Pebble Rapids RR. The railroad carried the products of the lumbering industry from the forests of the area but also other merchandise (for instance ore and gold mining equipment) and passengers. The development of the Disappearing Propeller boat, with it's propeller being able to be lifted into the bottom of the hull, known as 'dippies' and the fishing industry greatly contributed to the development of this remote area of Canada.
gold in the valley, was reached by the railroad in 1896. The railroad quickly flourished and its activity was soon extended to the transport of general merchandise in addition to the products of the lumber industry. Passenger service was also established between the City of Perry Sound and Squamish. The White Pebble Rapids RR continued its development south-east through the mountains over three passes. Several lumber camps and towns depending on the lumbering industry were founded along the White Pebble Rapids RR mainline.
This locomotive belongs to a family of engines equipped with a geared transmission, widely used by logging railroads in North America. These engines including, among others, the type Shay, Climax and Heisler were called geared engines in reference to their transmission mechanism and as opposed to the more classical rod steam engines.
Heisler #3 specifications
Builder
Heisler (1914)
Wheel arrangement
2 two-axle trucks
Cylinders (diameter x stroke)
2 in a V (12" x 14")
Boiler pressure
150 psi (originally 180 psi)
Wheels diameter
36" (all powered)
Total weight
40 t
Maximum speed
about 10 mph
Maximum tractive effort
16,000 lbs
McGee says one reason the oil burners were used was to reduce the fire hazard from cheat grass along the line. The effectiveness of this strategy must have been limited, though. They were often used in tandem with coal burners, pulling trains of up to 16 cars loaded with lumber.
A livestock siding five miles south east of the White Pebble Rapids Logging Co, was also the site of the branch's first section house used to house the railroad men and their families who took care of a section of the White Pebble Rapids RR, this burnt down from a lightning strike nearby, in 1930.
[ NOTE ]
Some of the facts in this fictual history of the White Pebble Rapids RR above are true, but are taken from other narrow gauge railroads of Canada, about the same time in history as our railway line. Only the name White Pebble Rapids RR is truly fictual, and [ sigh ] maybe a couple of other things.
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