11 August 2005
Happy 50th Walkley Yard
Ottawa - 9 Aug 2005, is the 50th anniversary of Canadian National
Railways move of their freight marshalling and car repair operations from the downtown Bank St. yards to their newly built
facilities south of Walkley Rd.
CN had been moving their Montreal-Winnipeg through freight traffic over the Walkley cutoff line since it opened on
19 Nov 1953, but it took two additional years to complete the remainder of the yard.
CN only occupied the north side of the yard for about 12 years, moving again to still newer facilities immediately to the
south while the Canadian Pacific Railway relocated their freight operations from LeBreton Flats to the original CN yard in 1967.
The entire yard was built by the National Capital Commission as part of the railway relocation program called for in Jacques
Greber's National Capital Plan.
Today Ottawa Central operates the former CN facilities on the south side of Walkley Yard, while the Capital Railway (AKA OC
Transpo) maintains their O-Train fleet in the former CPR shops, making it the third railway company to operate out
of the north side of the yard. In all, Walkley hosted the CPR for 30 years - their last train out of the yard departing
11 Nov 1997 - and CN for 43 years from 1955 until the OCR took over all remaining CN operations in Ottawa on
13 Dec 1998.
While we may now perhaps regret some aspects of the Greber Plan railway relocations - such as the loss of Ottawa Union Station
as a downtown passenger terminal - Walkley Yard represents a railway relocation success story.
The old CNR (former Canada Atlantic/Grand Trunk) Bank St. and Elgin St. yards were cramped, limited by steep grades on one side
and the Rideau Canal swing bridge on the other, and very inconvenient for through freights that had to depart from the yard
heading in the opposite direction from which they had arrived. CN gained substantial operating efficiency from the new yard, and
didn't even have to pay for its construction. The NCC built it for them in exchange for giving up facilities they probably would
have eventually abandoned anyway.
The CPR gained similar benefits when they moved into Walkley Yard, though these were relatively less significant given their lack
of through freight traffic in Ottawa. But again, they didn't have to pay for it.
The Ottawa Central Railway, through its good use of the yard with facilities like the Rideau Bulk Terminal, continues to do good
business out of Walkley Yard, and the readily available former CPR shop facilities were an important part of the Ottawa light rail
pilot project - and will remain important when light rail service expands.
Compared to many Canadian railway facilities, Walkley Yard is doing very well indeed on its 50th birthday, and though few people
outside the railway industry or the railfan community pay it much attention, it remains a very important part of Ottawa's railway
heritage.
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