Short hops A well-travelled man and a dog named Big, surrounded by friends 10 Sep 201830 Aug 2018 CUSHING, Que. — The dog’s name is Big. He is black and white with a head the size of a five-pound bag of potatoes. We aren’t out of the car…
Summer The little town of Kapuskasing was founded on fear 21 Aug 201821 Aug 2018 KAPUSKASING, ON — At first glance, Kapuskasing is just another railway town. Yet until the Great War, it was just Macpherson Station, a stop for trains to replenish their water…
Short hops Wherein my romance with rail is nourished in Brockville 11 Aug 2018 BROCKVILLE, ON — The Brockville Railway Tunnel is so old, its builders had to use gunpowder to blast through the bedrock — dynamite hadn’t been invented yet. Maybe that’s why…
Short hops A walk in the park: Fort Chambly 2 Jul 201714 Aug 2017 Part of an occasional series exploring North America’s national, provincial and state parks. I don’t know, maybe Parks Canada employees train alongside the Disney people or something. Because these folks are happy.…
The Other Things How giving a lift to a stranger led me to a murder 16 Jan 201710 Mar 2017 This story was first published in the Montreal Gazette and is republished here by permission. ___ The best tales are the stories within stories. One starts: “I’m trying to get…
The Other Things Skin and bones: How Mad Anthony was twice buried 4 Oct 201631 Dec 2016 ERIE, Pa. Pennsylvania loves its war heroes. Oliver Hazard Perry, Alexander Kelly, Nicolas Biddle, dozens of others. But only one of them had his bones boiled for transport: Mad Anthony…
