Looking for a nice romantic stroll with your partner, or perhaps a nice family outing? Then look no further than the Brockville Railway Tunnel, located near the waterfront area of the city. As the name suggests, it used to be a tunnel for trains to pass through, underneath the downtown core, from the waterfront to Pearl St.
Opened on December 31st, 1860, the tunnel was designed to give access to the waterfront for the Ottawa Railway. It was part of a line than ran from Brockville to Arnprior, with a branch line that ran from Smith Falls to Perth. The underground burrow runs 1,750ft in a Northern direction. Construction started in September 1854.
The final train passed through in 1969, and the City of Brockville aquired the abandoned stone structure, in the early 1980s, ‘83 to be exact. Then a long process of restoration began, which was eventually completed in August 12th, 2017. The newly renovated tunnel features Wi-Fi, amongst other cool things. A portion of the tunnel shows the cool rock natural rock formations. The rest of the length is stone blocks, a pretty typical style of that 1800s railway era.
There is no track anymore (as you will see in the pictures below) and now the tunnel is filled with various hues of coloured lights, and music echoes through the passageway. Water drips down from the roof of the structure, it is quite a marvel of old engineering. One could only imagine the back breaking work required in that time period. Keep in mind, this was long before we had powerful excavator machines like today! Back in those days it was hard, brutal labour, all done by hand most likely. I’m so glad I live in the modern age of automation for that reason!
One thing I suggest, is bringing something with a hood, be it a raincoat, or perhaps a hoodie, hoodie shirt. If you don’t you will get very wet in certain parts of your walk. I love the shades of interesting lights, that are dynamic, shifting hues constantly. It’s amazing how much light can change the mood or tone of a scene, be it on stage, or even a film. As a singer/songwriter, based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, I find myself taken back to an old live performance when the lights adjust. It feels like I’m back at a concert, or even just karaoke at my favourite local spot, Rendezvous Restaraunt in Cornwall.
There are many great things to do in Brockville. I love exploring the waterfront in the summer months, and as the weather changes (as of writing this it’s getting warm!) things start to open up. Since visiting this weekend, I’ve noticed that the tunnel is accessible to journey into again. I must praise the city, it really developed its waterfront area so beautifully. I often wish that we had a cooler waterfront in Cornwall, it’s not awful or anything, just love going on boat tours and stuff. In Brockville they have all kinds of interesting tours available. Back in 2019 a family friend visited us and we took one of the tours on the fast speedboat. It was quite the adrenaline rush, that craft moved swiftly across the St. Lawrence River.
There are many awesome boat trips throughout the 1000 Islands region, the area in which Brockville is located, along with many other towns that follow the river. I will be exploring more this summer locally for sure! So much to see in our own backyard.
If you choose to follow my blog, you can do that by following my social media links on the bottom of this page, I will be travelling, shouting out great businesses, and also telling stories about my original music. Feel free to like, and comment in the article with suggestions on where to go next in the region! I look forward to hearing your feedback and please enjoy exploring the website to hear my original music, and other projects.
You can learn more about the tunnel and it’s interesting history at:
www.BrockvilleRailwayTunnel.com
I love this Eastern region, and plan to spend the rest of my life here, probably in Cornwall. This community means a lot to me and I want to continue to provide entertainment, with my music, and videos. I also want to continue to work with entrepreneurs to help them succeed. I have a lot of practical experience in music and video production, on a very shoe-string budget typically!
Well that’s it for now everyone, enjoy the photos below!
James
Pictured: The exterior of the tunnel down at the waterfront portion of Brockville. The plaque beside it gives some of the tunnels history.
Pictured: The stone block portion of the tunnel, a traditional style of that time period. Mason workers, had to restore much of it back to its former glory, over the restoration process.
Pictured: The natural rock portion of the tunnel looks truly spectacular, and otherworldly, in the strange light.
Pictured: James Hardiment poses for his new dating app profile picture, inside the tunnel. So far he’s had to turn down numerous marriage proposals! What can I say? It’s got to be those eyes…