Video of the Union railway, pre-Colonel By Parkway

Drumbent tipped me off to this 1965 Buster Keaton clip of "The Railrodder" (sic--think "hot rod"). In clip 2 of the film, Buster is seen riding his rail car along the Rideau Canal, under the Laurier bridge, toward Union Station and past Parliament Hill.

Exciting to see what it was like before it all got paved over!

Compare this shot with Laurier bridge and the Chateau Laurier in the background from 1965:


With this shot from 2005 at the start of the construction of the Corktown Footbridge:


Quite a bit has changed! More trees, but also more big ugly buildings (plus the U of O's Desmarais building which has gone up since)

Will rail ever make a comeback, I wonder?