Riding the Rails

The fog left this morning and was followed by gusty north winds and a real drop in temperature. It was not a day to lounge upon the dock or go swimming. The bathroom debris and bathtub from yesterday's project were ferried off to the dump and then the highlight of the day for my sister and me was going into town for an hour or so. While errands were being run by others, I had a chance to photograph the CPR ( Canadian Pacific Railway) Trestle in Parry Sound ( main and extra) . I know there are folks out there who like bridges, but the residents of Parry Sound really like this one. At 517 metres long and 32 metres high, it is the longest bridge in Ontario and the longest in Canada east of the Rockies. It was built in 1907 and spans the Sequin River as it flows into Georgian Bay. One interesting thing I didn't know about the bridge was that Tom Thompson of the Group of Seven painted it as well as the harbour of Parry Sound in May of 1914!  Who knew?  A lot of people it seems, but not me and I grew up there!  Someone should have told me! 
 
My dad was the CPR Express Agent in Parry Sound and the CPR Station where he worked was just around the corner from the end of that bridge. As kids, trains were a big part of our life; we rode trains as we had a free pass, we had a model train set Dad made for us, and we always had CPR memorabilia around us. One item we have here at the cottage is a vintage Piper Montreal Railroad Lantern of some sort, now converted by my son-in-law to an electric lantern that hangs down at our dock. ( extra) I am not sure how it was used, but I would like to know! It is a bit of the past and a memory of our Dad..