Throwback Thursday - CN London Reclamation Yard, Part One

This is the entrance to the Reclamation Yard off Hale St in London, Ontario.  The photo dates to May 10, 1991.  Apparently, when wooden cars were being cut up, local residents would have access to free firewood.

By Peter Mumby.

By the time I started paying attention to London's Reclamation Yard, it was basically being used to cut up outmoded or surplus rolling stock.  I have seen pictures from earlier times when steam locomotives and first generation diesels were being processed, but I won't be discussing what I didn't witness.  The yard was created in an era when the scrapping of railroad equipment was highly centralized.  As time wore on, more of this reclamation work was locally sourced, and the need for this large facility diminished.  The closure of this plant came about at the end of June in 1991.

The Rec Yard was situated east of the London Yard along the south side of the double track Dundas Subdivision.  The entrance to the west end was near the Hale St level crossing and the CN control point called Highbury.  Highbury (mileage 75.5) was where westbound freights left the south main to enter London Yard.  On the south side of this yard lead was a separate track that was used both for switching and for access to the reclamation facility.  To the east, the premises were bounded at mileage 74.0 by the control point known as Frauts and the Clarke Road level crossing.

In this view we are looking eastward with the Dundas Subdivision mainline tracks to the left.  The yard lead heads off the south track at Highbury near the Hale St level crossing.  The "pit track" headed across Hale St towards the Reclamation Plant on the right side of the picture, which was exposed on March 11, 2006.

In later years the Hale St level crossing was replaced by an interesting overpass which incorporated a traffic circle.  CN 2194W, #435, is about to head into London Yard off the south track of the Dundas Subdivision.  To the right of the train you can see both the pit track and the roadway which used to access the Reclamation Plant.  This activity dates to August 05, 2015.

A convenient berm along the south side of the Reclamation Yard permitted views over the fence, which at this location was fashioned from recycled boxcar doors. This was how things looked on February 23, 1991.

The camera is looking to the north east in this February 23, 1991 view.  The red trailer in the foreground probably belonged to Zubick Scrap Metals.