Communicating to the public at the annual Christmas Train Show!
Click on each picture for a closer look! . . As announced earlier in the news column, the TRHA was there last weekend at the Christmas Train Show, the largest annual railway themed event in the Toronto Area. Derek Boles updated our traditional display of historical pictures with a new display with both pictures from the past as well as new pictures of the exciting new developments which we have been reporting in this news column. In the picture at the right above, Derek and Ed Levy are manning the booth and answering the many questions posed by visitors to the show. . by Russ Milland & Andrew Jeanes, TRHA
Air motors tested awaiting the first turntable rotation!
Click on the centre button above to watch the video
. The turntable should have moved this morning but did not solely due to a lack of the correct centre bearing lubricant. A five-gallon pail of "the right stuff" is expected to arrive tomorrow. Once it does arrive, we will move the bridge about 90 degrees to check alignments and stop there for the time being. Once Western Mechanical's engineers (and myself!) are happy that all is as it should be, the permanent grout will be placed under the pivot base and allowed to set.
One motor is in fine order but the other requires some running in and one slide valve sounds like it needs adjustment. The various control linkages still require adjustment but this is to be expected and this process will go on over a period of weeks. In the video above, you can watch the air motor in operation during testing today.
It was a dark and stormy night - no wait, wrong fairy-tale. It was a wet and muddy day at the John St Roundhouse as work continued on the turntable restoration, roundhouse interior renovations and a little track-work off in the corner. The turntable has a number of final details under way, the air motor controls need adjusting and floodlighting wiring is being installed to name just two. . The motor air supply pipes are now connected complete with oil mist lubricators and governors to prevent motor overspeed. Today, both motors were run briefly on a temporary air feed to the turntable centre to prove the pipe layout and connections. . By Michael Guy, TRHA
Annual Toronto Christmas Train Show - November 24th and 25th
The largest train show by far held annually in the Toronto area is the Christmas Train Show to be held this year on Saturday, November 24th (noon to 5:00 p.m.) and Sunday, November 25th (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) at the International Centre on Airport Road just north of the airport.
Click on the poster at the left for more details. . The Toronto Railway Historical Association will once again be attending with a gallery of pictures. This year, most of the pictures will be new as we display many of the exciting developments that have happened in the past year. Below is a message from the show organizers.
All Abooaarrddd!..... Visit the largest annual train show in the Toronto area. There will be over 50 displays and operating layouts in every gauge of trains. There will be about 60,000 square feet of layouts, exhibits, clinics showing how to build layouts and scenery, toy trains, steam engines, videos, photos, prints, books, apparel, Railway Historical Associations and train vendors of all kinds. Come and renew those magical memories of our train sets of old or come and get started on a layout for the grandchild (Ok maybe yourself). This is great family fun for all. . By Russ Milland, TRHA
Click on the picture for a closer look! . This picture from the Toronto Public Archives shows Union Station under construction prior to its opening in 1927. . On Wednesday, November 14th, Toronto Mayor David Miller publicly unveiled the city's new plan for the restoration and redevelopment of Union Station. Following the mayor's remarks, the Union Station Revitalization Public Advisory Group's vice chair, Derek Boles, spoke to the assembled media about public involvement in the massive project. The press conference was held in the Great Hall, in the same location where the TRHA sets up its Doors Open displays in May each year. More details on the City's plans can be seen at: http://www.toronto.ca/union_station/revitalization.htm . In a nutshell, the plan differs from previous proposals in that the City plans on building a new level of retail outlets extending the length of the building underneath the existing GO Bay St. concourse, the VIA concourse, and the planned York St. concourse. It is expected that the revenue from this new retail space, a mall if you will, will help pay the estimated $400 million required to build the new level and restore Union Station. . The Union Station Revitalization Public Advisory Group is made up of 19 individuals and was established by Toronto City Council to ensure ongoing public involvement in what happens to one of the city's most important public buildings and a National Historic Site. The individuals that make up USRPAG represent a variety of backgrounds and include, among others, transit activist Steve Munro, Transport 2000 president David Jeanes, and Mitchell Cohen, the developer who restored North Toronto Station. The group is chaired by well known civic activist Janice Etter, who has assisted with the TRHA displays for Doors Open for several years. . The Heritage component of USRPAG is represented by three individuals, all of whom happen to be members of the TRHA board, although TRHA president Orin Krivel is the sole official representative of our organization. TRHA historian Derek Boles serves in his capacity as a board member of Heritage Toronto, and Andrew Jeanes works professionally in the heritage conservation field. More information on USRPAG, as well as a schedule of its meetings, can be found at: http://www.toronto.ca/union_station/publicadvisory.htm . by Derek Boles, TRHA
As the Eastern Finals prior to the Grey Cup next week were being played across the street, the Raptors played a block away and the Santa Claus parade wended its way through Toronto a few blocks away, a TRHA work crew devoted their Sunday afternoon to continuing the process of sorting through the materials uncovered by the firm renovating the interior of the roundhouse in order to save those items which we believe to be artefacts worth preserving and restoring.
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In the picture at the upper left, we see a lot of such material on the floor of the roundhouse. In the centre picture, we use a forklift to move some of the larger items to the machine shop area which is being used to warehouse these artefacts. At the right is our intrepid "TRHA crew of the day" .... from left to right .... Russ M., Dave W., Michael G., Bob D. and Jason P.
Western Mechanical have now removed all of the lifting devices used to position the turntable. They will now spend the next week or two finishing the deck structure and rendering the turntable operational. Above are some pictures of the turntable as it looks today!
Today we feature some of the team from Western Mechanical who made it happen this week. At the upper left, we see four of Western Mechanicals finest ... from left ot right, technicians Joe and Matt, lift boss Nick and project engineer Rob. In the centre photo above, Nick checks underneath as the turntable touches down on the rails. In the photo at the right above, the sheer size of the job becomes apparent in this shot as Rob checks the centre bearing. At 120 feet long and 340,000 lbs in weight, we believe this will be the largest working compressed-air-motor driven turntable in existence today.
In the news item below, we noted that the turntable move bgan at 9:07 a.m and included a video of this happening.
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By 11:47 a.m. today, the turntable had been moved into place and the center bearing had been bolted into place without having to force any of the bolts, a tribute to the great engineering skills of Western Mechanical. The turntable was now fully supported by it's own wheels and the center bearing for the first time in many years.
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In the picture at the above left, Western Mechanical's adjustment yesterday afternoon of the lifting system on the North gantry to use a two beam system instead of the one beam system is clearly evident. It handily righted the tilt of that end of the turntable allowing for a smooth install.
This video shows the turntable bridge beginning to move along the gantry crane's track at 9:07 a.m. today as the Western Mechanical team carefully monitors its progress. Click on the button in the middle of the image to start the video. . by Dave Wetherald, TRHA
The Western Mechanical team completed their installation of the gantry crane and at 2:30 p.m. today made their first test lift of the turntable. At the south end, the turntable was very level when lifted. However, at the north end there was sufficient deviaton from level that the team decided to order in another beam so that they could upgrade that end to a two beam lift structure to address this issue.
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In the picture at the above left we see the turntable with the hydraulic lifting devices installed at each end. In the picture at the above right, we have a closeup view of the lifting device with two hydraulic jacks holding up the turntable. These devices will be pulled down the gantry tracks 18" at a time stopping to make adjustments after each "pull".
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In the centre picture above, we have a bird's eye view of the turntable bridge ready to move.
. In this movie, you will see one of the air-driven motors used to drive the rotation of the turntable in operation at the Western Mechanical shops. It is being tested before shipment to the roundhouse for installation. Click on the button in the centre of the picture to watch the video.
Click on the picture for a closer look! Western Mechanical has chosen to use one of their gantry cranes to lift and move the turntable bridge into position in the turntable pit. In the picture at the left above the northernmmost track for the crane has been positioned as of mid-day today. In the picture at the centre above, the Western mechanical team position the first of the southernmost gantry rail pieces. These are being position on large heavy steel plates to distribute the load carefully as the turntable pit is actually located directly above the parking lot for the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. In the picture at the above right you can actually see the turntable pit in the parking garage positioned on pillars so large that we can safely support and move a massive steam locomotive such as Toronto's CNR 6213 4-8-4 Northern steam locomotive.
As the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre moves towards reality, TRHA is guiding the process of restoration of several wooden buildings that formed part of the railway heritage of the City of Toronto. One such building is signal cabin "D" which is presently preserved in an un-restored state behind the roundhouse.
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In the photo at the left above, we see Cabin "D" near the end of its days in its working location just west of Bathurst Street. The photos in the centre and right above were taken inside cabin D yesterday during an inspection visit. The levers were used to operate the track switches through a complex set of mechanical linkages. The same system is used today for the approach tracks to Union Station and are operated from the remaining signal cabins which are still operational.
On Friday, engineers from Western Mechanical attached the south-end wheels and air motor to the turntable bridge. In the left hand pciture above, we see the motor on its frame cantilevered out from the frame carrying the wheel bearings. A wheel-bearing housing cap and retaining bar is visible between the bridge steel and the brake drum.
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The picture in the centre above is an "ant's eye view" from below the rail head location looking upward. Three of the four wheel treads are visible as is the drive gear on the last wheel. A close look will reveal that all the support steel in this area is new, the old structure was so badly deteriorated as to be unusable.
. The last photo on the right shows the centre pivot assembly. The threaded rods are temporary supports to be removed. The brass fitting is an oil level gauge, behind which is a new steel overflow catch ring. The unpainted pipe is the oil feed line to the bearing from track level. Behind that, the horizontal bar is the side of a slide fitting that allows the entire bridge to be shifted slightly sideways. This is - we think - to allow both ends of the bridge to be properly aligned should the tracks not be perfectly lined up.
Today the re-cut timbers were returned from the mill and PNR resumed work on the deck installation. The deck is white oak made seven inches thick to bring the walking surface up to rail-head level. Deck completion is expected this weekend.
This afternoon, the turntable wheels and one air motor arrived at the roundhouse from Western Mechanicals Barrie workshops. By days end, one end of the installation was complete. The remaining wheels and motor will be installed over the next two days.
Last Sunday was spent inside the roundhouse moving artefacts from stall 32 into the machine shop and dismantling about two-thirds of the large wooden racking in stall 31. Orin K., Andrew J.and myself did much of this work with help from a Brook Restoration crew and a small forklift from Western Mechanical. The rack material, mostly 5 x 6 inch clear fir timbers 12 feet long, has been stored against future use. Amongst the items moved were a large motor-generator set, an Ingersoll-Rand air compressor and motor, the Elwell-Parker crane, a railway safe, two skids of ties for the miniature railway, a wheel (axle) jack from one of the wheel drop pits and a host of smaller items.
At 10:30 this morning both air drive motors were tested in the Western Mechanical shops in Barrie. The motors were extensively rebuilt and functioned flawlessly. They have amazing torque. An artificial load simulating the bridge and locomotive weight was placed on the motors by applying the mechanical brakes full on. The motors handled this load at 25% air supply. The four beat per revolution exhaust sound produced by the D valves were sheer music. . Kudos go to Paul of who did the critical machining, valve timing, and final calibrations. He replaced all of the babbit surfaces and gravity oil feeds with lubrication fittings so that maintenance becomes foolproof and pollution from excess oil is eliminated. The base frame was entirely rebuilt. The motors are scheduled to be joined to the turntable and the turntable placed in the pit next week. . By Orin Krivel - TRHA
The standards adhered to for the turntable restoration thus far have been very high. TRHA and Western Mechanical have both worked hard to make it so. Today the decking timbers were found to have been milled outside the required dimensional tolerances and at five p.m. they were loaded onto a transport truck for shipment back the the mill for reprocessing.
The busy week began last Sunday with a large TRHA work crew turning out. From left to right in the picture at the above left, we have Jason P., Michael G., Knox H., Orin K., Dave W., Derek B., Scott W., Richard W. and Rod W. Our thanks to these volunteers and the many others who have helped on other days.
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By the end of the week, rail and tie installation on the turntable bridge was completed by the PNR crew as seen in the middle above. Green-preserved Canadian fir ties support original 1929 rails on original tie plates with new rubber pads, all held with three new spikes per plate and rail anchors at each tie. This represents top-quality track construction for bridges using as much original John St material as possible. Next week installation of the walkway decking will commence.
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Meanwhile, in Roundhouse stalls 30 & 31, a passage has been created as pictured at the above right to allow TRHC artefacts to be moved to secure storage for the duration of the renovation efforts.
The centre picture is one of the best pictures in the City of Toronto archives of the John Street CPR Roundhouse near the end of its operating life. A few days ago, Michael Guy took the picture at the right of a major part of the roundhouse with several walls having been removed revealing the expansive majesty of the roundhouse as it once looked. The dust in the air is the result of soda blasting during renovations being undertaken to clean and restore the interior. At the left, Michael has also captured the sun as it shines through the roundhouse windows making a beautiful pattern through the dust.
