“when the railroad did not run …” This is a lyric from one of the greatest songs ever written by Gordon Lightfoot: “The Canadian Railroad Trilogy”. A fitting opening line to this latest note to you all about Life on Bala Bay in Muskoka. This month, we discovered that CN Rail was to do some major rail repair to our ‘Middle Bridge’ right across the bay from us. So the trains were halted for this repair. The ‘Trilogy’ came to mind, so the track hit the turntable for a nice loud spin. We have a most fortunate and remarkable view across Bala Bay which looks upon a unique, three quarter mile section of undeveloped land. Virtually no cottages, no boathouses, no docks. The reason? The CN rail line weaves north from Toronto and crosses three bridges that join our Muskoka mainland to two islands: Bala Park and Wanilah. The line occupies the western half of Bala Park ensuring no cottage development. This ‘middle’ bridge (seen at top of page) is quite famous, as it was historically a ‘swing’ bridge back in the day, that welcomed, and allowed the steamships passage into Bala Bay travelling from Gravenhurst Wharf. Vessels like Sagamo, Segwun, and Cherokee, adorn posters and old postcards...
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