The days are getting longer, at least when the sun decides to come out! 698 crosses Old Muskoka Road in Allensville on a beautiful late winter afternoon. The railway line through these parts was constructed in the mid-1880s, followed by the road a couple of years later. Both were instrumental in the colonization of central and northern Ontario. The trees to the right mark the location of Seth Grimes’ Allensville Garage in the early part of the last century, a portrait of which hangs inside the restored Huntsville Station. In 1968 my parents would buy Seth’s brother Bill’s farm about a mile up the road on the left, and in 1973 I would buy their brother Russell’s farm, part of which is about 100 yards behind where I’m standing. Along with frontage on three roads I also have over a mile of track frontage from where I once watched Ontario Northland F units cruising the line, breeding an affinity for the railway which has only increased with time.
