Ferguson Street

[omro]

Paging Astroblaster or other learned colleagues.

Can someone explain to me why Ferguson Street is brickwork instead of tarmac and why there is Ferguson Station all by itself. Was it a working station at one point or is it merely a mock tudor marker for a past Station?

I honestly only ever really noticed the Station today, not sure why I glossed over it before.

Perhaps the nice weather and nice walk down King.

[Jon Dalton]

The streetscaping is a tribute to a very unique street in Hamilton history. There was a train station there and tracks on Ferguson from the escarpment to Barton. There were some bad accidents over the years, trains derailing and colliding with streetcars and vehicles. It was the Hamilton and North Western Railway and eventually became part of CN. The tracks went south and east up the mountain along what's now the rail trail, and to Port Dover. North they went along the industrial waterfront past Barton, across the beach strip and northeast to Barrie and Collingwood (on Georgian Bay). It started in the 1860's I believe, with the south line first and the north being completed in the 1890's. Not much remains of it today. The tracks on the beach strip are gone. A short segment of the line was preserved as the South Simcoe Steam Train, which actually runs some of the oldest passenger cars from Hamilton.

[astroblaster]

what jon said.

[omro]

And is the station an actual one upon a time working station or is it just there to represent that one was there?

[LikeHamilton]

This station was built about 10 years ago to represent the station that was there in the late 1800's. The tracks came out about 15 years ago.

[realcity]

I thought there was a historical train wreck near that location?

[realcity]

And I thought there was a grand vision to make Ferguson a cobblestone trail/link all the way to the water?

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by realcity

I thought there was a historical train wreck near that location?

Yes there was at King Street, it is pictoralized (I'm now making up my own words) on the mural across from the Black Forest Inn patio.

I believe that train was full of animals (cows?) heading to the abattoir that was just up the road.

[DC1983]

Looking South:



Looking North(West):


photos by me

[realcity]

thanks for the photos.

but wow Hamilton, was there an evacuation or was that pic during rush-hour....