Airplane Ride (9) - West Ferris area

Click on the photo for a larger image.



Heading back to the North Bay Airport. Looking west towards Lake Nipissing. We can see the end of both the ONR rail yard as well as the OVR rail yard. The West Ferris neighbourhood is in the background.

Airplane Ride (3) - ONR Rail Yard

More from my plane ride over North Bay. (Click on photo for larger image)

Looking south along the ONR Rail Yard. The houses are in the West Ferris neighbourhood.

North Bay Heritage Train

The Heritage Train and Carousel is run by volunteers. Here we see them waiting for some passengers to ride one of the trains.

Heritage Railway & Carousel Company

Here's a photo of the entrance to the carousel and miniature railway. The entrance is located on Memorial Drive (with the beach and Lake Nipissing on the west side).

Train Derailment (west of Verner)

The Ottawa Valley Railway had a train derailment a few miles west of Verner on Sunday August 19, 2007. Nobody was injured. As well there were no hazardous or noxious chemicals aboard the cars that did derail. (As you can see it appears to be goods destined for department stores - The Bay, Zellers and Canadian Tire).

The train was heading east to Montréal. Click the link to check out the daily photo from Montréal.

ONR Apartments on Oak Street

The ONR apartments are located on Oak Street near John Street. The apartment building is for retirees of the Ontario Northland Railroad. It is located next door to the corporate head office and offers fantastic views of Lake Nipissing or the city as well as being near the rails.

ONR Head Office

A little late but here is the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission head office building that I promised I would post a couple of weeks ago.

The building is located along Oak Street and the back of the building has a very impressive view of the rail yard and Lake Nipissing.

Ottawa Valley Railway (OVR) on Oak Street

This is the headquarters for the Ottawa Valley Railway. It is a short line railroad that is owned by Rail America. The line actually used to be part of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) but was spun off to create RailLink which was later purchased by Rail America. The building is not as impressive as the Ontario Northland Railroad's head offices which I will post in the coming week.

Old Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railroad Head Office

Here's the ONR's former head office. The building was designed by architect Henry (Harry) Westlake Angus of London, Ontario. The ONR was originally called the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railroad when it was created in 1902 by an act of Parliament.

The building now houses ONTERA, the telecommunications subsidiary of the ONR.

Happy 4th of July to our friends from the south!

Ontario Northland Railway (Old Head Office on Regina St)

This plaque is in the front of the ONR's former head office. The office building is now used by the ONR's subsidiary, ONTERA. ONTERA is a telecommunication company, offering a wide range of telecommunications and IP-based solutions, including Internet, long distance, local voice, data and information technology services throughout Northern Ontario. In some areas, they are also the cable television provider as well. The ONR footprint is throughout northeastern Ontario and is a very vital part of our past, current and future!

ONR Signals Dept (former building) on Laurier Ave

This building was used by the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) Signals Department for their employees who maintained the signal equipment from North Bay to Tomiko (1/2 way to Temagami). It is no longer used as can be evidenced by the unkept appearance around the building. It is located at the end of Laurier Ave near the entrance to the Laurier Woods trail.

Ribbon of Rail to the Arctic Tidewater

This ribbon of ONR rail stretches about 705 kilometres from the city of North Bay on the shores of Lake Nipissing to the town of Moosonee on the arctic tidewaters of James Bay.

The view is looking northeast by the old North Bay Yard Signals Building near the Laurier Woods Trail.

ONR Yard Engine & GO Train

ONR Yard Engine hooking up GO Transit passenger car to bring to the ONR shops for repair. The Northlander (ONR daily train to & from Toronto) brought the car up from Toronto.


The ONR has a $75 million contract to refurbish some of GO Transit's passenger cars.

Trains & Buses Servicing North Bay

This is the schedule of buses and trains that regularly service North Bay.

Just a little over 20 years ago, there used to be 4 passenger trains running daily through North Bay but with continued government cutbacks, there are only 2 now. It seems that train travel is not being encouraged here in Canada nor in the USA meanwhile our friends in Europe are seeing the benefits and beauty of rail travel. It would be nice to see more trains travelling the rails and less truck traffic on the roads.

Northlander Train & Pedestrian Tunnel to The Mall

The north bound Northlander ONR Train waiting overtop of the pedestrian tunnel from the train station to the NorthGate Shopping Centre.

ONR Bus & Train Terminal

This is the ONR Train & Bus Terminal in North Bay located at 100 Station Road. There is a pedestrian tunnel underneath the tracks connecting the station to the NorthGate Shopping Centre. There are 2 passenger trains running 6 days a week (no passenger service on Saturdays). The northbound train leaves at 2:05pm to arrive in Cochrane at 7:25pm, while the southbound train arrives at the station at 1:25pm to continue on to Toronto for arrival at 6:30pm.

The photo was taken from atop the parking garage at the mall (5th level).

View from 2nd Floor of CPR Station

This picture was taken during Doors Open North Bay day on Saturday May 12, 2007.

It was taken from the 2nd floor of the old CPR train station. The station has been turned into Discovery North Bay (an interactive museum - great place for kids - young and old!!).

You are looking north east up Ferguson St from south of Oak Street.

ONR Engine

ONR Engine 2102 resting at the back of the North Bay Yard (behind the radio stations on the overpass).

I believe that the engine is a EMD SD75I (the former General Motors Electro Motive Division).