I was out this morning doing some dirt fishing and came across an old railway tie. These ties are very common throughout the world, however, each of them has a unique bit of history. So since it was my first rail tie discovery

I decided to keep it and do a little history check. Since this item was found on the Cataraqui trail which was an old rail system, “now used as a walking trail and snowmobile trail in the winter” it is most probable that this rail tie is the new, oldest piece in my small collection of junk.

I’m guessing it’s likely this tie was installed when the railway was first laid down, it would date this item somewhere between 1880 to 1890. Making this rail tie approx 132yrs old. That is almost double the age of my 1950 Canadian penny.

How the CN itself came to be is part of Canadian history,

The Napanee through Yarker to Tamworth section (21 miles) opened for traffic Aug 4th, 1884. (The NT&Q RR) above was renamed the Kingston, Napanee and Western Railway Co. April 24th,1889 when a linkup of 4 miles between Yarker (where this tie was found) and Harrowsmith and 19 miles of running rights on the Kingston and Pembroke Railway gave access to Kingston.

The extension to Sydenham was completed in 1890. A turntable existed in Sydenham to turn the engine for the return run back to Yarker.

So it’s just a rail tie right? but still a little bit of Canadian history.