Click on each picture for a closer view! . The view shown in the picture at the left above through the door from the machine shop to stall 25 will disappear very shortly when the opening is bricked up. In the middle picture, we see the steel reinforcing mesh laid over the plastic ready for the concrete floor to be poured in stalls 18 to 23. In the picture at right, we find a remaining relic of the old days - the gate to a steel pipe storage rack. . Story and Pictures by Michael Guy
Click on the Picture for a Closer Look! Photo by Sean Lamb from the Wikipaedia Public Commons as found here. . Our decision to purchase a model of a narrow gauge 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotive for our miniature railway in Roundhouse Park has encouraged Derek Boles, our Historian on the TRHA to offer the following from his research into the history of railways and especially Canadian Railways: . "The 2-6-0 first appeared about 1852, about the same time that the railway era began in Toronto, although they were not seen here for some years after. This classification of locomotive was also known as a Mogul. There is no agreement on how that name was arrived at, most likely a prototype that was given the moniker sometime in the 1860's or 1870's and the name stuck. . The wheel arrangement was developed as a more powerful alternative to the 4-4-0's then ubiquitous on most railroads in Canada and the U.S. It was first used as a heavy freight locomotive, but was soon superseded by the 2-8-0's or Consolidations, whereupon the Moguls were relegated to branch line service. . The Mogul was a very popular engine with the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). Photographs of two early GTR Moguls are shown here and here. Photographs of later GTR Moguls can be found here and here. . Most of the GTR Moguls were inherited by the Canadian National (CN). CN had 469 Moguls, more than any other North American railroad. The engines saw frequent service in southern Ontario, particularly on light passenger, freight and mixed trains. . Some CN Moguls survived until the end of steam in 1959 and eight of them were preserved, including three in Ontario, one at Exporail and four in the U.S.A. A 1910 ex-CN/GT Mogul continues to operate at the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. A photograph of this locomotive is shown above.
The Moguls were less popular with Canadian Pacific (CP) , who acquired only 47 of them, the last of which was scrapped in 1954. Photos of some of these CP Moguls can be found here and here." . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The image above is a rendering of the Roundhouse Park area showing what it will look like some time around 2010. The striking view from the Roundhouse depicted in the previous image will not be available much longer once the buildings on the north side of Bremner Blvd. are completed. There will also be considerably more traffic in the area with the opening soon of the Simcoe Street underpass beneath the rail corridor. The numerous condos are key to the City of Toronto's revitalization of Union Station, which will be partly financed by building a new retail level underneath the heritage structure. . Planners estimate that about 50,000 people will live within walking distance of Union Station and hope that many of them will shop and dine there. The dramatic changes to this area are highlighted by the fact that a generation ago, there probably weren't 50 people who lived close to Union Station. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image - WATERFRONToronto. . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts being published here from an article by Derek Boles.
... ... Click on each picture for a closer look! . Steady progress continues to be made at the roundhouse site. In the photo at left, we find that the turntable protective fence foundation concrete is complete. Once completed, the fence will protect visitors from tumbling into the turntable pit. In the middle photo, we see that the plastic sheet has now been laid on the old floor in stalls 23-26 ready for pouring the new concrete floor cap. Finally, in the right hand picture, we find one of the four new locomotive doors under construction by Woodbecker , the contractor selected for this job. . Story and photos by Michael Guy
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The above image dramatically illustrates the Roundhouse's proximity to downtown Toronto and was taken on November 2, 2007. TRHC locomotive No. 1, seen on the right, is framed by Toronto's largest skyscrapers, including the light coloured BMO First Canadian Place, the tallest building in the city since it opened in 1975. The bank towers dwarf the Royal York Hotel and Union Station. The dark-coloured buildings located between the hotel and First Canadian Place form the Toronto Dominion Centre complex, the first modern high rise office towers built in Toronto. The tallest of these buildings opened in 1967 and the former observation gallery on the top floor is hosted and interpreted by Heritage Toronto during the annual Doors Open event in May. The landscape of Roundhouse Park itself changed recently with the 19th century Cabin D interlocking tower and Don Station that were moved here in December 2008. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image courtesy of Daniel Dell'Unto. . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts being published here from an article by Derek Boles.
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The image above is a colour postcard view that dates from around 1930-31 and is based on a photograph taken from the same location as the previous view. There are dramatic changes evident in just a year. The new Royal York Hotel opened in June 1929 is clearly the most prominent building on the horizon although the taller Bank of Commerce Building, completed in January 1931, is just peeking over the hotel roof in this perspective. The long, low building located on the other side of the tracks below and to the left of the hotel is the Canadian National Express building, opened in 1929. In 1989, the top two floors of this structure were demolished and the Skywalk was built on top. Union Station, the reason the Roundhouse was built, can be seen to the right of the express building. . The two largest buildings surrounding the Roundhouse include the Passenger Car Repair Shop, under construction on the left, and the Stores Building, the pink structure which, from this angle, appears to be enclosed by the Roundhouse. Both these buildings were demolished in the 1990s to make way for the Convention Centre which is located underground and occupies much of the middle third of this view. Bremner Boulevard is located between the Roundhouse and the Repair Shop and is also situated on top of the Convention Centre. . The Toronto Railway Historical Association has been unable to identify the purpose of the narrow building with the red roof located on the north side of the High Line. It doesn't appear to be in the plans for the Roundhouse complex. If anyone has any information about this structure, please let us know. . In 2009, the two other surviving roundhouse structures are the water tower on the far right and, just to the left of it, the sanding and coaling tower. The latter was moved 600 feet to the west in 1995 and is now located near the centre of this view. Also in the centre of this view is the annex attached to the Roundhouse known as the Machine Shop and it too will become part of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image from the collection of Derek Boles.
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Note: This is one of a series of excerpts being published here from an article by Derek Boles.
Click on the Picture for a closer look! . Yesterday, we had a great team turnout as Lance, Richard, Paul, Wilson, Jason P., James and Dave appeared at the appointed hour. The team focused on furthering the building of the passenger car to be pulled by our speeder. The work went quickly. The frame has its deck attached and is upside down with a fresh coat of yellow paint and the seat backrest supports are all cut ready to fit. Next job will be to add the wheels and axles to the frame after which it will be flipped over again for the seating to be added. In order to be able to do that, our work last week to fit a rolling chain hoist to a beam overhead will prove its worth as the assembly will by then be too heavy to move by hand. For the record, it was -12 degrees C with a wind chill of -19 degrees C but fortunately it was somewhat warmer inside the roundhouse. . Story by Michael Guy; Pictures by Lance Gleich
Click on the picture for a closer look! . In this picture, we see the new floor before final finishing in stalls 18-23. Here you see concrete poured on top of plastic sheeting to prevent adhesion to the old roundhouse floor and tracks. . Story by Michael Guy; Picture by Lance Gleich
Click on the picture for a closer look! . Last Thursday saw further progress on the assembly of the tender. The middle image shows the hind bulkhead support plates being welded by Michael Guy to the riveted angle and channel sections. They are not directly welded to the tender sides to avoid any local distortion to these smooth surfaces. The right hand image is the same operation on the fore bulkhead support plates. The use of support plates, rather than direct welding in of the bulkheads, allows the bulkheads themselves to be removed improving access to the plumbing around the tanks. In a further operation metal beading was spot welded along the top of the sides of the tender providing an attractive edge. Next up is the installation of pipe fittings and valves. Once these items are fitted up and copper pipe bent to fit we will be sending the tender frame and body off for painting. . The "tender men" (as they like to be called) did such a great job on the tender riveting (see one of our three Michaels in the riveting picture at left above) and assembly that the team has been rewarded with the opportunity to make the steam engine's cab look just as good with Michael Guy leaving the cab parts for the team as they left for the day. . Story and Pictures by Michael Gibbon
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The above image was taken in early 1929 and the old roundhouse can be seen on the far left. It was located on the lower grade, which was made obsolete by the new elevated Waterfront Railway Viaduct that opened in 1930. The building on the far right with the two tall chimneys was the Central Heating Plant, built by the Toronto Terminals Railway, who also built Union Station. The CHP opened in 1929 and was the largest steam heating facility in Canada. It supplied heat to the Royal York, Union Station and several other buildings and was demolished in 1990. . This photograph was taken from the top of the Toronto Terminal Grain Elevator, which opened in 1928 at the foot of Peter Street and was itself demolished in 1982-83 as part of the $250 million Harbourfront redevelopment. The tracks running along the bottom of this view form the Canadian National Railways "High Line," built so that CN freight trains could bypass Union Station. The road opening under the tracks is for lower John Street, soon to be renamed Rees Street, since the John Street bridge over the railway corridor was being demolished. . The landfill in the centre of this view is for the new roundhouse complex soon to replace the old building on the left. Some of the fill undoubtedly came from the huge pit dug along Front Street for the Royal York Hotel, briefly the tallest building in the city and which was also built by the CPR. The road running parallel to the High Line is Fleet Street, later renamed Lakeshore Blvd. The strip of land between it and the boxcar would be occupied by the Gardiner Expressway three decades later. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image from the collection of Derek Boles. . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts being published here from an article by Derek Boles.
"It's Alive" - A Milestone in the Assembly of The Steam Engine
Click on the arrow to watch the video! . Once the chassis of a miniature live steam locomotive is fully assembled, we test the chassis on compressed air instead of steam to ensure that the steam engine and the running gear work properly. Yesterday, this was done with our steam engine and as you can tell from the beaming faces of Mike and Arno, the test was a great success. Congratulations to the assembly team on a job well done! . Story by Russ Milland; Video by Dave Wetherald
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The above image dates from around 1884 and was taken from the chimney of the water pumping station in the previous image. Roundhouse Park would occupy the centre of this view, with the Gardiner Expressway on the right. Union Station is a lot grimier than in the previous image and St. James Cathedral can be seen to the left of it. The sprawling white structure centre left is a freight shed erected by the Credit Valley Railway, which was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway around the time this photograph was taken. Once the CPR obtained a right of way down the Don Valley to the Toronto waterfront, they began filling in the harbour at this location and built the first John Street roundhouse, which opened in 1897. . Another interesting aerial view of the roundhouse site in 1927 can be seen at Ray Kennedy's Old Time Trains website by clicking on this link. . In that picture, the John Street bridge crosses the railway tracks in the centre of this photo. This bridge was built in 1896 and dismantled in 1929. To the left of it is the Toronto Water Pumping Station, which was considerably modified over the years and moved in the 1980s to its present location further south in order to make way for Skydome. The Spadina bridge on the left is under construction as is the Canadian National Railways Spadina roundhouse, whose circular form is just starting to take shape halfway between Spadina and John. At the top left of this view can be seen much older facilities, some of which date back to the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron, the first railway to operate in Toronto in 1853. All of these were swept away in the months after this photograph was taken. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image from the collection of Derek Boles. . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts being published here from an article by Derek Boles.
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The above shows Toronto Harbour in 1873. Railway tracks and related facilities fill most of the newly claimed land between Front Street and Lake Ontario. John Street intersects Front in the middle of this view. Roundhouse Park would be located just above the two masts of the sailing ship at the bottom. At least ten church steeples dominate the horizon, the tallest of which is St. James Cathedral at King and Church Streets. Just to the right of the steeple in the middle ground close to the harbour can be seen the three towers of Toronto's second Union Station, opened in 1873. The bridge over the tracks on the left of this view carries Brock Street as Spadina Avenue was then known. . The large structure to the right of the bridge is the fully enclosed Grand Trunk Railway roundhouse, later replaced by the Canadian National Spadina roundhouse and later still by Skydome, which was obviously not the first domed structure to occupy this site. The smallish building with the chimney located centre view between the grain elevator and the train is Toronto's first water pumping station. This was built to combat the frequent cholera epidemics that plagued the populace when they drank water right out of the badly polluted Lake Ontario. The station pumped water as far away as the Rosehill Reservoir, located five miles to the northeast, just south of St. Clair Avenue. The Grand Trunk Railway grain elevator is the most prominent feature on the waterfront. At the time, Toronto was the largest exporter of grain to the U.S. eastern seaboard, although most of it originated in the American Midwest and was shipped by rail from Collingwood to Toronto to avoid a lengthy voyage through the Great Lakes. There was another huge grain elevator operated by the Northern Railway further to the west, the top of which probably provided the perspective used by the artist to create this image. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image from the collection of Derek Boles. . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts to be published here over the next two weeks from an article by Derek Boles.
"Was It Really That Cold?" - More Progress at the Roundhouse!
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Click on each picture for a closer look! . Thanks to Wilson, James, Lance and Richard we had another success in our series of winter gatherings at the roundhouse. It was -10C outside but with benefit of a gigantic but temporary propane-fired hot water heating system in stalls 18 to 32 the roundhouse interior felt barely above freezing. The heating was installed to allow a new concrete floor to be poured sometime soon and make life a little more agreeable for the construction trades hard at work during the week. . Our primary work today was to move construction forward on the speeder passenger car. The frame cross members are now fitted and bolted as are the steel "V" braces for the frame end timbers. The six cross members are substantial and each of the twelve joints required drilling a hole through eight inches of solid wood. . "Was it really that cold?" In the pictures above, we see our bundled up volunteers as they work. From left to right, we find Richard working on the drill press; Wilson chamfering bolt ends on the linisher; everyone hard at work bolting up parts on the new speeder passenger car and in the final picture, the crew admires their handiwork at the end of the work session. . Story by Michael Guy; Photos by Lance Gleich
Click on each picture for a closer look! . In addition to all of the TRHA-driven activity at the roundhouse and elsewhere and the work to restore the buildings in Roundhouse Park, work has continued to prepare the northwest part of the roundhouse for one of our anchor tenants, Leon's, to use. In the pictures above we see that preparation of the roundhouse floor has now been completed in preparation for the pouring of a concrete cap. . Story by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich
Click on each picture for a closer look! . We have been reporting progress on the assembly of the steam engine in a workshop in Markham in previous posts. Another team of TRHA volunteers is simultaneously working on the assembly of the tender for this steam engine in a workshop in Burlington.
. In the picture at the above right, we see Pat, Michael and Michael working on the riveting of the tender body. In the middle picture, we see the dry-fitted tender body. This picture gives you a good sense of the massive size of this tender. There are two stainless steels tanks in the tender, one for water and one for diesel fuel. In the right hand picture, we see one of the tender trucks which have already been assembled. . Story and pictures by Russ Milland
Click on the picture for a closer look! . The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre at Roundhouse Park is scheduled to open later in 2009. The museum is located in the old John Street Roundhouse, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929 to service the CPR passenger trains using the new Union Station. The CPR abandoned the Roundhouse in 1988 and turned it over to the city of Toronto. For over twenty years, there were various schemes to build a museum but only in the last year or so have these plans come to fruition in time for the 80th anniversary of the Roundhouse. . Probably the most unique feature of the museum is its location on Bremner Boulevard between Simcoe and Rees Streets. Most rail museums in North America were built in isolated locations where land values were relatively inexpensive. There are noticeable exceptions: the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, although the latter is located in a run-down and seedy part of town. . However, no rail museum can compare with the prime real estate occupied by Roundhouse Park, located adjacent to four of the most popular venues in Toronto: the Rogers Centre, Metro Convention Centre, CN Tower, and Air Canada Centre. Moreover, the museum is a ten minute walk from Union Station, the busiest transportation hub in Canada. This series of news postings will trace the evolution of the park, from the mid-19th century to 2010. . The image above is of a well-known watercolour by artist William Armstrong depicting the visit of HRH, Edward, Prince of Wales to Toronto on September 7, 1860. The Lake Ontario shoreline was located just south of Front Street and the structures on the right are the Parliament Buildings, which were situated where the CBC Broadcast Centre and Simcoe Place are today. This perspective would have been obtained from a boat, roughly located where the Roundhouse is today. The colourful and elaborate arch welcoming the prince was a typical embellishment of the era and was located at the foot of John Street. . Prince Edward arrived in the city on board the Kingston, the steamship to the left of the arch. The royal visit was the most glittering social event in the quarter century history of Toronto, the first time that a member of the royal family had made an official visit to the city and when the vast majority of Torontonians were still fiercely loyal to the crown. An amphitheatre sitting thousands of people flanked the arch and also functioned as a railway station on the two occasions that HRH boarded a train during his four-day stay in Toronto. . Story by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian; Image Credit: From a watercolour by William Armstrong . Note: This is one of a series of excerpts to be published here over the next two weeks from an article by Derek Boles.
...... Click on each picture for a closer look! . Arno, Brian and Michael met last Wednesday with the TSSA boiler inspector and our engineer. The boiler was looked over and we were given permission to continue to assemble the locomotive and add all the fittings and pipe work after which a 150 psi hydrostatic pressure test will be performed. We still require approval of the boiler as to type and it must have the appropriate number stamped on the plate. . After these gentlemen left, the boiler, smokebox, ashpan, cladding and domes were dry fitted to the chassis to see what went where and if it fits. The parts fit very well. In the pictures above we begin to get a sense of what our finished locomotive will look like. The engine will now be disassembled and the chassis flipped over to continue the assembly process. . Story by Michale Guy; Pictures by Brian Cole and Michael Guy
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Once the parts were all accounted for, the locomotive build team tackled assembly of the chassis. In the picture at the upper left, Bob and Dave assemble brake system components to the upside down chassis. In the centre photo, the bones of the locomotive are visible; frames, driving wheels, bearings, axles, fly-cranks and brakes are in place as are the cylinder blocks, visible at the right. An old lathe bed was used to provide an accurate surface to hold the frame parts straight while bolts were tightened. In the picture at the right, Dave, Arno and Bob admire the fruits of their labour. It took only one day to get this far after opening the crate. The next milestone of having all of the moving parts completed took a good deal longer to achieve. . Story by Russ Milland; Photos by Michael Guy
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Over the Christmas holidays, a 2,500 pound shipping crate containing the kit of locomotive parts was delivered to a workshop where assembly of our steam engine is taking place. In the picture at the left, Arno and Michael inspect the contents of the crate as they prepare to check that everything is present and undamaged. In the middle picture, we can see the completed boiler for the engine. This was built by a professionally accredited boiler maker to comply with TSSA regulations for a pressure vessel of this size. The heating surface is twenty square feet with a steam working pressure of 120 pounds per square inch and is not superheated. Fuel oil will be used initially with a change to coal firing possible at a later date. In the right hand picture, we find Bob, Michael and Dave sorting through the many parts involved in such a complex engine. . Story by Russ Milland; Pictures by Arno, Dave & Michael
......... Click on each picture for a closer look! . Last weekend, yet another work party pushed progress forward! We removed the last of the "heritage lamps" from Leon's space for later use in the museum. In the picture at the left, Jim, Richard and James wrestle a wheel off a speeder axle in preparation for cleaning and restoring the assembly to usable condition. In the picture at right, Wilson shares a big grin with the camera after successfully wiring and testing a large extractor fan to be used on the museum roof.
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Over the past year, TRHA has been looking for an appropriate steam locomotive for the new 7 1/4 inch gauge miniature railway at Roundhouse Park. As our railway engines will run frequently in the warmer months of the year, rugged reliability and ease of maintenance were primary requirements. A locomotive with the power and size to pull heavy trains of passengers was a must. After investigating a number of sources in North America of such engines, we selected the one shown in the above photographs built by RMI Railworks in California.
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. This locomotive design is called a "Sweet Creek" by RMI and is typical of engines that operated on 2 foot gauge railways throughout the world. It is very similar to one built by the Baldwin locomotive Company in the 1920's for service in the Dominican Republic as shown in the black and white picture above. Being of the 2-6-0 wheel-arrangement, it is a Mogul class locomotive and by choosing a 24 inch narrow gauge prototype for 7 1/4 inch gauge track, the miniature engine is built to 3.75" to the foot scale and is almost 1/3 full size. This scale provides a large and robust locomotive suitable for daily operation. . RMI Railworks is the manufacturer of this locomotive and offers it in both bolt together kit and ready to run versions. TRHA chose the kit version for reasons of economy and to provide our drivers and maintenance crews with the knowledge and experience to run and maintain the machinery. . In subsequent news items we will cover the delivery and assembly of this locomotive. . Story by Russ Milland; Pictures used with permission of RMI Railworks; Photo of "Fiume" is from "The Locomotives that Baldwin Built" by Fred Westing.
Click on the image for a closer look! . In an earlier news item, we showed a photograph from the Christmas Train Show where we displayed the Roundhouse Park Master Plan Concept developed by the IBI Group which was recently approved by the Council of the City of Toronto. The image above uses the master plan to point out some of the key elements of the plan. The main museum will of course be located in the stalls as shown and in the original machine shop area. As reported earlier, Cabin D and Don Station are now at or near the locations shown on the plan. They have been carefully positioned to relate appropriately to the miniature railway to be completed in the spring of 2009. . In an earlier news item, we documented the delivery of many tons of miniature rail for this railway. The railway is visible in its "figure eight" configuration in the top right part of the plan. The wye in the lower right will allow us to turn the entire trains around if running in a different direction is required. At the bottom of the plan, a train shed will be built to house and service the miniature railway's engines and passenger cars. It will include a turntable and loading facility. . If you wish to view or download the Roundhouse Park Master Plan in much higher detail click on Roundhouse Park Master Plan.pdf - It is a big file so be patient as your browser loads it! . By Russ Milland, TRHA
Click on the picture for a closer look! . Recently, Bob Dickson, one of our TRHA volunteers, unearthed a bit of the roundhouse's past. Here is his story: . "While talking to a co-worker of mine about the roundhouse he mentioned that his grandfather, Rubin Kerr, had worked there. He also mentioned that he had a group photo that belonged to his grandfather of the CPR Roundhouse mechanical Staff in 1937 posed in front of a CPR steam engine. Mr. Kerr is no. 27 in the photograph, unfortunately eight of the names are unreadable. . The photo was a contact print taken from a glass negative, had been rolled up for a very long time and had many cracks in it. I took it to a professional photographer for an opinion and even though it was cracked, the photo itself was really clear and not beyond repair. It was flattened, secured to stiff cardboard and then scanned. After scanning the cracks were digitally removed and the names on the photo were enhanced. The photo was then reprinted on archival paper and a copy given back to the donor, Mr. Ted Terrion, who has generously presented the original to us to be displayed with a repaired copy in the roundhouse." . TRHA thanks Bob for his fine detective work and for donating a copy of this very interesting photograph to the museum. The above information plus a list of the legible names in the photograph can be found in our "From the Archives" area. . Story by Bob Dickson; Photo courtesy of Ted Terrion
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