Historian was fascinated by railways
Charles Cooper wrote two books on ‘Hamilton’s other railway,’ ran rail history website
Charles Cooper gave the Hamilton and North-Western Railway its due.
The award-winning and respected railway historian — who died Feb. 13 at age 89 in Lindsay, Ont. — wrote two books on the pioneering rail line, which linked Hamilton with Port Dover, Collingwood and Barrie in the 1870s.
His first book, “Rails to the Lake,” came out in 1980 and consisted of 158 pages and dozens of illustrations. It was published by the Boston Mills Press.
“Hamilton’s Other Railway” came out in 2001 and was an expanded version of his first book. It consisted of nearly 500 pages and 400 photographs.
Cooper chose the name for his second book to highlight how the rail line was important in the development of Hamilton, nicknamed “the Ambitious City,” but was overshadowed by the Great Western Railway, which opened in 1853-54 between Niagara Falls and Windsor, and later built a line to Toronto.
“The role of the Hamilton and North-Western Railway was to boost the economic welfare of its promoters and the city they represented, but it was also the instrument of Hamilton’s ambitions in its fierce competition with its arch rival, Toronto,” Cooper wrote.
He wrote of promoters, like Sir Allan MacNab, and building the “Million Dollar Gash” up the Hamilton Mountain.
Sadly, not much of the line remains. It became part of CN in 1923 after ownership by other railways. Sections remain between Caledonia and Garnet (near Jarvis), and Burlington and Georgetown. A section between Beeton and Tottenham sees tourist trains run by the South Simcoe Railway. There is also the HN&W Spur in Hamilton’s industrial end.
Canadian railway historian and writer Ralph Beaumont said the “rail fan and railway history community” has been saddened by the death of Cooper. Beaumont was the one who encouraged Cooper to write his first book.
Cooper authored one other book, about the Toronto and Nipissing Railway in 1982, and completed a book about the Canadian Pacific that was started by Omer Lavallee, corporate archivist of the Canadian Pacific Railway who died in 1992. It won the Canadian Railroad Historical Association’s annual book award in 2007.
Cooper ran “Charles Cooper’s Railway Pages,” a website that was a repository for rail history. Beaumont said it had “a tremendous wealth” of material including timetables, newspaper articles and postcards of railway stations.
“The site is used constantly for references,” he noted.
Cooper’s wife, Andrea Percy, said her husband got his love for trains while growing up in Europe.
“Trains were it,” she said. “He wanted to work on the railroads when he was a child.”
He never did work for a railway, but his wife said his research and writing made up for that. Plus, he was also a model railway enthusiast. Percy said he had a large layout in their basement.
“It’s absolutely stunning and I don’t know what’s going to happen to it,” she said.
Cooper was born July 2, 1933, in Berlin. His father was German and his mother was English. The family moved to the countryside during the Second World War and would secretly listen to the BBC. Cooper went to England after the war.
He got a master’s degree in modern and medieval languages at Cambridge. He came to Canada in 1957, just as diesel was replacing steam, and passenger service on branch lines started disappearing. He got film of the last passenger train leaving Meaford in 1960.
Cooper worked for Canada Life (1957 to 1994) in claims and investment administration. He was a trustee on the York Region’s board of education between 1982 and 1991 and served two years as chair.
Cooper is survived by his wife Andrea, stepsons Adam and Eric, and two step grandchildren. He is also survived by his first wife, Gwen. He was predeceased by his two children, Alyson and Jonathan.
Sadly, not much of the line remains. It became part of CN in 1923 after ownership by other railways