Kingston Repeater Office

CNT/ CNCP REPEATER OFFICE – KINGSTON, Ont.

Photographs by: Gord Smithson, retired Dist Eqpt Techn, Kingston.

CNT/CNCP Repeater Office building located at 810 Montreal St Kingston, Ont. 

The District Equipment Technician’s white1979 Dodge Aries station wagon carries the new CNCP colour scheme replacing the former Montmorency orange colour associated with the CNR.  The small 12’ X 15’ cement block structure on the right was erected in the early 1960’s as a "bomb shelter". It later served as a storage area for the CNT lineman who formerly stored his track motorcar in the brick building, in a very small area under the inside stairwell to the second floor.  In this photo, you can see the area that was bricked up in the 1980’s just to the right of the white rear door entrance. That new brick covered in the lineman’s former entrance. (It is interesting to note that some of the original windows have recently been filled in with concrete.) The brick building’s interior has been under periodic renovations over the years.

This CHEV Vandura Van was brand new and was used by the Kingston DET (Gord Smithson).  The date of this coloured slide view is the Fall of 1970, on a nice sunny day near Landon Bay, a short distance east of Gananoque, Ont. The St. Lawrence River is behind the photographer.  Two years later, the van was sent elsewhere and Kingston received a new 1972 AMC Hornet sedan as a replacement vehicle for the DET.

Kingston DET’s 1972 AMC Hornet - CNCP service vehicle No. 1254-72

A 1979 view of the CNT/CNCP Repeater Office brick building.

A stairway to the second floor of the CNCP Repeater building was removed in 1973 during renovations.

Interior view of the District Equipment Technician’s work room.  The wall was removed in 1973, creating an open space into the T&R plant area of the building.

(On a recent 2003 visit to the office, I note the wall has gone back up!)

Kingston Plant Technician’s work area – during renovations in 1973.

Storage counter, desk with phone, monitor Model 15 printer, order wire Model 15 teletype, and a Western Union type switchboard. The door behind the counter opens toward Montreal Street.

Don Harris, District Plant Technician at work at the switchboard, Kingston, Ont 1973.

View from DET’s room into plant area of the building – 1980.  Bell Telephone cables terminate on the frame behind the teletype.

A fire that consumed Gus’s Railway Restaurant at the corner of Hickson Avenue and Montreal Street, Dec 17 1981, caused some concern to personnel at the CN Telecoms Repeater Station located next door.  All downtown CNCP Telecoms customer circuits were threatened because of the close proximity of the Bell Canada cable that carried the CNCP circuits, was routed overhead quite close to the burning building.

CNCP Line Gang – They were replacing poles in the Kingston area. Photo date 1983

l-r Arsene Witty, sub-foreman; Jake Kirkham, gang foreman;Brent Strong; Gerald Warrington.

Arsene was a native of Actonvale, PQ; Jake was an ex CPT employee at Smiths Falls,Ont, who came over to CNCP about 1969; (the other two younger men were ex CPT from Maberly, Ont., worked for CNCP for couple more years after this photo, then they both went to work for Ontario Hydro).  Jake Kirkham had been injured some years ago when a train crashed into some CPT boarding cars at Cobourg, Ont. Jake Kirkham died of heart problems about a year after this photo was taken.

Ernie Hollister, Radio Technician from Belleville, Ont. and Dennis Roch, Plant Technician- Kingston.  In centre rear, near door of building is Bob Breton, Plant Technician- Kingston. June 1981.  Ernie has a portable radio such as those used by the train crews.

Mel Kealey, Cablesplicer/Lineman, Kingston, Ont. at work replacing a crossarm while eastbound VIA passenger train passes by. This view is about half a mile south of Highway 401 just east of the Montreal Street exit.

l-r Bob Paquette, Outside Plant Supvr, and Mel Kealey CSL/Lineman Kingston, Ont. (Bob was in Kingston enroute a nearby Microwave site) April 1980.  When Bob Paquette reached retirement age, he retired to his home at St.Foy, PQ.  Bob was really familiar with CNCP trackside facilities throughout Ontario District. About 1982-83 he did a physical inventory of all the telegraph poles in Ontario, having walked the tracks the entire distance between Brockville and Toronto, and other locations throughout Northern Ontario.  To each pole along the way, he attached a metal number tag. He also wrote in a written ledger the condition of each pole, whether it was satisfactory or if it should be replaced.

l-r Bob Breton, Plant Techn Kingston, and Bruce Freeman, District Equipment Technician, Kingston.

Photo date- 1982.

Gord Smithson , DET Kingston and his company vehicle. Mel Kealey’s truck on right. 1982.