“GO WEST, YOUNG MAN”: Photos from a short water stop in Hornepayne

Day 2 - Sunday, April 22, 2012

I woke up Sunday morning curious to know where in the world I was. I knew I was on a train from Toronto and headed toward Vancouver. I figured I would be somewhere north of Sudbury, Ontario but where exactly, I wasn’t sure. The man in the lower bunk had no idea either.

[“We would ride through Hornepayne later in the day”]

Before lunch I checked my train schedule and learned we had not yet passed through one town known to me, i.e., Hornepayne. I asked a porter if I could get off there to snap pictures of an old train station. I said I was willing to pay for the privilege. He informed me that everyone could get off, that a twenty minute break was scheduled, so the train could take on water. I quietly slipped a neatly-folded five-dollar bill back into my pocket.

[“My dad, on his way to Vancouver Island, stopped in
Hornepayne with other sailors in January, 1944.
Chuck Rose, Dad's best bud, is lighting up”]

The train (The Canadian) stopped in Hornepayne after lunch and I rushed outside with my camera to see if I could take a picture from about the same spot my Dad did almost 70 years earlier. I only had one photo to provide me clues as to where to stand.

[“My first photo was from afar. But I
knew I had a chance to strike gold”]

I snapped a dozen photos but could not immediately sense I was in the right spot or had the right angle. So much about the building had changed. The side roof over the platform was gone. Additions had been made to the station over the years. I only had a few more minutes to look around so I looked for the wooden sign in Dad’s original photo. No luck. 

[Photo 4: “So many things have changed.
Most windows are damaged. Stink!”]

I wrote the following in my journal for Day 2:

I felt disappointed in Hornepayne. I didn’t doubt it was the station, it just didn’t fit w my memory of it from photo. I’ll compare photos, i.e., Dad’s and mine; maybe I’ll catch it.

[“My last photo. I felt close but not close enough”]

Though I felt disappointed I also knew we would return to Hornepayne on the way back to Toronto. I knew I had one more chance.

Even after that chance, however, and after examining a second round of pictures, I didn’t feel I had the right angle or had stood in the right spot.

Then, yesterday, I found the right photo. I struck gold. Photo 4. The roof over the side platform disappeared years ago but the difference between the sheltered and unsheltered brick is quite clear. Dad and his Navy buddies had stood about where I had stood, I’m sure of it. In my original, uncropped photo, the windows are in exactly the right spot compared to the former roof line.

Of the scores of events or meetings that made my 10,000 km. trip worthwhile, Photo 4 is one of them.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

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Please click here for More photos from along the way Day 1

Please click here to read "GO WEST, YOUNG MAN": Chasing my dad Part 4