The Portage Flyer
by Andrew Wilson
Title
The Portage Flyer
Artist
Andrew Wilson
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The vintage steam locomotive, named the Portage Flyer, sits outside its barn at Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville, Ontario. The engineer is aboard and ready for the next trainload of tourist visitors. The image is presented in sepia to enhance the vintage look.
The Portage Flyer operated in Muskoka during the first half of the twentieth century and was the smallest commercial railroad in the world, with just over one mile of track. It provided access to the Lake of Bays and the grand old resorts on the lake.
At that time there was essentially no road access to many parts of the the lake. Tourists left Toronto on an overnight train to Huntsville. On arrival in the morning, they transferred to a steamship which took them through Fairy and Peninsula Lakes to the northern terminus of the railway at North Portage. The train would then transport passengers over a 170 foot height of land to South Portage on Lake of Bays. There they would board another steamship to their destination resort on Lake of Bays.
The train was in operation from 1904 to 1959, but by then road access to the lake had eliminated the need for The Flyer and the railway closed. The equipment and track were sold
In 1984 the equipment was purchased by a group in Huntsville ON, and the train is now in operation as a tourist attraction in a new location in the town of Huntsville.
Featured in the following FAA groups:
- Muskoka - January 24, 2017
- Creative Black and White Fine Art Photographs - May 6, 2017
- Black and White - The Art Form - March 18, 2018
- The Road To Self Promotion - April 9, 2018
- Barns Big and Small - July 1, 2019
- ATET Anything Transportation Everything Transportation - April 19, 2020
- Black and White Photography - April 19, 2020
- Canada - June 1, 2020
- Digital Art & Photography for a Simple Imagination - June 6, 2020
- Canadian Artists - June 12, 2020
- Ontario Canada - June 13, 2020
Uploaded
December 20th, 2016
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