Ottawa
Citizen 3 Sep 1963 p3 c1
Flames
shoot 300 feet as old CNR shop burns
Fire
destroyed one of East Ottawa’s older railway buildings, the vacant
Canadian National two-storey steam repair shop offices, in a matter
of minutes Sunday evening.
Flames
that shot 300 feet into the air drew hundreds of spectators to the
scene, just west of Hurdman Road at Montcalm Street.
Intense
heat kept firemen 200 feet back until the 60-year-old building
collapsed. Yellow smoke billowed skyward and for a time blanketed
Overbrook and Eastview.
‘Going
good
Newell
Wallace, of 117 Concord St., was one of the first to spot the blaze.
He saw flames from his home, and by the time he reached the yards
“the northeast corner was going good.”
Firemen
were able only to contain the blaze and keep it from spreading to an
adjoining one-storey structure, separated by a firewall, and a nearby
roundhouse.
The
buildings, built about 1904 by the defunct Canada Atlantic Railway,
lay in the path of the Queensway and were scheduled for expropriation
and demolition by National Capital Commission this fall
Ottawa
Journal 3 Sep 1963 p3 c7
Crowds
Hamper Firemen
Blaze
Destroys Old CNR Building
Hundreds
of spectators hampered firefighter’s efforts in battling a fire
which Sunday evening destroyed a historic one-time ticket and
administration office of the CNR in Ottawa East.
The
building was empty at the time
Police
were busy keeping the curious away from the fire, as some 60 cars
drove to the area at the end of Montcalm Street near Pretoria Bridge.
Many parked along the near-by Queensway.
PALL
OF SMOKE
A
pall of smoke covered the eastern end of the city, and the blaze
which lit up the eastern sky could be seen from the West End.
The
fire was first noticed by Ottawa Police Constable Harry Leonard at
7.25 p.m.—shortly after the building had been inspected by a CNR
policeman.
Chief
City Fire Inspector Phil Larkin, working with CNR and city police,
said investigators hadn’t too much to go on but “children or a
tramp probably started it.”
E.P.
Burns, liaison officer between the National Capital Commission and
CNR, estimated damage to the destroyed section of the 60-foot long,
one floor building at $800 in salvage value.
The
land and building is scheduled to be turned over to the NCC by the
CNR to make way for part of Stage Five of the Queensway.
UNUSED
SINCE 1956
The
building has not been used by the CNR since 1956 when it was given up
as the main Ottawa office. It included administrative offices and a
repair centre for steam engines. It was built at the turn of the
century by Canada Atlantic Railway, later turned over the the Grand
Trunk and then to the CNR.
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