Pretty cool looking demolition at 7100 St. James West. It was a car dealership with a little body shop tacked on the side. For some reason I seem to recall that 10 years ago they used to host bingo games in there. Not very well run bingo games from what I hear.
House is near Mountain & Wellington next to the depanneur/bistro.
ReplyDeleteThat wasnt a picture of St james street...it was the bingo hall on st jacques near the mcdonalds
ReplyDeleteAnother one that's coming down right now is the old Crane building at Dunn and Pitt. I think they're planning to extend La Verendrye through there to St. Patrick.
ReplyDeleteTaken from Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteThe street has had two official names: St. James Street in English (never spelled "Saint") after St. James's, London; and its current appellation, rue Saint-Jacques, in French. Both names are sometimes used in English, though Saint-Jacques is the most common for geographical reference.
7100 Upper Lachine Road once was an International Harvester Trucks dealership back when where-then 2/17 split from URL, the former branching to the left and descending the grade past Raphael Ruffo Motel and CNR Turcot West at the bottom of Brock.
ReplyDeleteThe 2/17 was a divided highway, the lanes separated by grass, one of the first in the Montreal area.
( Back in the Sixties IH marketed the International Scout, a Jeep-like 4-wheel drive at this location. )
Down the hill past Ruffo's and Brock in the Fifties there was only a single-track LEVEL crossing of the CNR which swung around from Turcot West thru Ville St Pierre and Consumers Glass at the foot of STEEP Des Erables descending from Montreal West into VSP.
( The CNR then and now still does, continued East around the back of Cote St Luc, et all, crossing Decarie and the Autoroute thru to Pointe Aux Trembles ( 1944 ), once also joining the CPR South of the Bordeaux Jail at Jacques Cartier Junction.
There was a freight car interchange between the CPR and Montreal Tramways just South of the jail thru 1941, which allowed MTC to bring fuel with their electric locomotives to the jail for heating. )
There was a level crossing at Des Erables in VSP which seemed to be always blocked by a steam switcher shifting cars in and out of the glass works.
As kids, we would ride our bikes down the steep hill on Des Erables from Montreal West, seeing who could go the fastest and speed across the tracks, the crossing guard yelling at us.
( Scary, like descending Cote St Luc from the fire station in Westmount down the long curved hill then hoping to stop before crossing old Decarie by the Orphanage.
Less traffic then, tho'. )
A level crossing also at Avon down to VSP next East, it having a pendulum-like 'wig wag' signal which was mesmerizing to watch in action whilst a train dragged past.
On it's outward swing, the pendulum was often hit by trucks, leaving it bent and askew.
CNR put 4 tracks in here in the late Fifties, changing everything, and removed the CNR line thru Lachine and Dixie to Dorval.
Across from International Truck on ULR was a CPR passenger car yard known at The Glen Extension built in the early Fifties to store overflow passenger equipment for which there was no room at The Glen Yard opposite Westmount Station, now the site for the to-be Super Hospital.
All CPR passenger operations were consolidated at Windsor Station in 1951 with the closing of Place Viger Station.
At the Glen Extension Yard, a large turning loop was constructed and complete passenger trains could be seen turning around on it thru the early Sixties, the switch on the embankment atop a pressed steel retaining wall looking across to IH Trucks.
( There was also a turning loop for trains at Glen/Westmount, it's Southern edge built out over St Jacques on concrete pillars just East of old Decarie. )
By the late Sixties, passenger service had been greatly curtailed and cars were stored at the Glen Extension, then, later, CPR Sortin Yard near the Wentworth Golf Course, before being sent to a siding on the way to Farnham where they were burned for their steel.
On the North Side on ULR West of IH Trucks and the junction of then 2/17 was SKF Bearings hard by the CPR turning loop, and to the West of SKF, a Coca Cola bottling plant, the now-classic red Coke trucks emerging from a large warehouse onto West Broadway facing Harley.
On the South side of St James/Jacques West of the junction over to Elmhurst Dairy were found a warren of sleezy sleep emporiums catering to truckers such as Peg's, then-2/17 being the major truck route from Montreal to Ottawa on highway 17, and Kingston and Toronto on highway 2, they splitting at Vaudreuil.
Many years and many memories ago.
Thank You.
MP&I: Thanks for the very interesting comments.
ReplyDeleteI often wondered about the CNR re-routing from Lachine to St-Pierre…
The Videotron building on Viger being demolished was the site of the taping of the iconic Jay Rubinstein's "Living in Montreal" series...his earlier shows such as "Rubinstein On Business" having emanated from the 2nd floor of the office complex above the Sherbrooke Metro station.
ReplyDeleteCN's tracks through Lachine and into Dorval that were rerouted to Ville St-Pierre in the 50s followed where Bouchard Blvd. was subsequently laid over.
SKF Bearings' building is still there, transformed into a plumbing supply dealer...SKF Bearings were used on CP Rail's Budd Rail Diesel Cars, the best equipment ever used on the Dorion line.
Campbell-Gilday Roofing Supplies were on the hill as the road sloped downwards towards the Raphael.
Husband Transport was where Super C is today...later became Route Canada, moved to Lachine, went belly-up...their Lachine yard on 32nd now home to UPS.
Wig Wags and Banjos.
ReplyDeleteYears ago wig wags or Banjo-type crossing protection signals were fairly common in Canada.
Into the Eighties there were six or eight in dowmtown Moncton, which had to be seen at NIGHT to be believed!
There was one North of Rigaud on the now-abandoned CPR Ottawa line.
One in Montreal on Avon descending from Montreal West High School down to the CNR in Ville St Pierre before that got 4-tracked in 1959.
Primitive, but, captivating to watch rather than count box cars.
Now, I thought they were extinct!!!, but, surprise, there is/was still a set in Canada in June 2010!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xBdep4yRzo
The ones in Moncton resembled the following design, as did the ones at Rigaud and on Avon in Montreal.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2730548710038361265kmJQnV
The swinging Banjo portion with a red light is concealed inside the plates bearing the words 'Look Listen' when at rest.
It appears that there is a fixed signal lamp on top, it's red aspects concealed by 'blinders' which pivot with the Banjo portion, exposing the upper lamp alternatingly.
Hmmm.
Thank You.
Loved seeing that Wig Wag video, MP&I. Thanks for posting that. The design seems to descend directly from a man waving a lantern.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of demolitions, the old Texan restaurant by the old Forum is a pile of rubble today. Looks like they're finally serious about redeveloping that decrepit block.
The little house faces the Atwater Market , across the Atwater underpass ?
ReplyDeleteThe little house looks like a house that I have visited on Allard street in Ville-Emard, near LaCroix street. ;)
ReplyDelete