Click on each picture for a closer look!
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The pictures above were taken on Doors Open weekend. They show restoration underway on the tool shed that orginally sat beside Cabin D when it resided just west of the Bathurst Street bridge. As you can see this was a substantial structure in its own right with doorways at both ends. There is a partition inside the tool shed which divides it into two rooms with the room farthest from Cabin D being about four feet deep. In the right hand picture we find Tom Murison, the restoration leader, working with his assistant to complete the roof of the structure.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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As reported earlier, the Diaspora Dialogues presented some fiction and poetry readings as well as several dramatic presentations in the east end of the Great Hall. The Diaspora presentations were thematically linked with Union Station or people in transit.
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In the picture at the left above, we first see the Diaspora Dialogues set up on the floor of the Great Hall where literary readings and other performances occurred. In the middle picture above, we see that the dramatic presentations were typically staged out on the floor, including this World War 2 vignette, "Cheek to Cheek." Guided tours began here right after
the dancers departed. In the picture at the upper right, several students from Humber College's theatre program staged "The Bridge We Walk," a performance inspired by the city names carved high above the floor of the Great Hall.
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One of the most intriguing numbers was "Suite Case," where a soprano sings while dragging out a large suitcase. In the picture at the left below we see here making her entry from the waiting room at the west end of the great Hall. After she pauses, a hand emerges from the suitcase ......and tries to crawl away. In the final picture, a Red Cap (actually Laird Macdonald, the DD coordinator at Union Station) is summoned to carry the suitcase away for loading onto a baggage car.
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Posting and pictures by Derek Boles
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Last Tuesday (May 26, 2009) at 10:15 in the morning, our CNR Northern 4-8-4 steam locomotive #6213 moved for the first time since 1960. I conspired to be in the cab at the time and can say that there was not a single squeak or groan from the machinery. It was as smooth as glass. The winch operator said the engine was so easy to move it was difficult to keep any tension on the cable. Congratulations to Grant Kingland and the TLPS (Toronto Locomotive Preservation Society) for their decades of dedicated work and care in maintaining the engine.
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In the pictures above, we find the engine and the tender resting on the platforms which will be used to move them to Roundhouse Park likely later next week. In the picture at the upper right, we see a new picture of the buildings in Roundhouse Park from an interesting perspective high up in the roundhouse. In the movie below, you can watch #6213 very slowly being moved for the first time since 1960.
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Posting, pictures and movie by Michael Guy
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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The longest radial track in Roundhouse Park will stretch from the turntable to the north-east corner of Roundhouse Park. In the picture at the upper left, we find an excavator working on the excavation of the roadbed for this radial track. In the middle photo, we find workers manually excavating the roadbed beside Cabin D. Manual labour works well here as the surface layer of earth in the park sits on large styrofoam blocks in order to control the weight on the parking garage which lies below much of the park. In the final picture, we see the view from the south-east corner of the park which shows the track alignment passing just south of Cabin D.
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Restoration work on Cabin D has been deferred due to concerns about the roadbed work adversely affecting a partially disassembled building. Once the roadbed is complete, work will begin on restoration of Cabin D.
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The pictures below capture the rapid progress as the track laying began today.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Last weekend's Doors Open 2009 event at Union Station was another tremendous success, made even more successful this year by the participation of GO Transit and the added dimension of the Diaspora Dialogues.
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The information table in the Great Hall was staffed by volunteers from the Toronto Railway Historical Association and the Union Station Revitalization Public Advisory Group. There was an archival display of 50 photographs, mostly from the City of Toronto Archives. There were also seven display panels showing the city's plans for the station and four panels depicting the plans for the new TTC subway platform. GO Transit maintained their own information table and display panels in front of the GO ticket counter in the Great Hall that nicely complemented our display area.
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Six guided tours were help hourly each day from 10:15 to 3:15 and were led by Stephanie Holowka, Andrew Jeanes, David Jeanes and Steve Munro. USRPAG members Tony Turrittin and Colin Rainsbury helped at the information table. TRHA members Richard White, Dan Garcia, Jason Pelton, Michael Farago and Lance Gleich helped with the heavy lifting involved with setting up and dismantling the displays each day as well as shepherding the tour groups.
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Diaspora Dialogues presented some fiction and poetry readings as well as several dramatic presentations in the east end of the Great Hall while most of what we were doing was in the west end of the hall. The Diaspora presentations were thematically linked with Union Station or people in transit. The presentations were scheduled for the most part to minimize any conflict with our activities and the whole package of tours, displays and presentations very effectively complemented one other.
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Watch for more information in postings later this week!
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Posting by Derek Boles; Pictures by Russ Milland

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As reported earlier, the heavy construction underway in Roundhouse seriously restricted visitor access to the facilities. So we had to be significantly innovative and decided to set up a passenger loading area on Bremner Avenue, where we loaded passengers onto our poassenger car and flatbed trailer cars and drove them along the new radial track #34 beside the coaling tower to the turntable. Then we spun the turntable to align it with radial track #17 and took them for a ride into the roundhouse itself. Our TRHA volunteer tour leaders interpreted the facility and the project to the visitors as they rode.
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The visitor count was almost exactly 1200, not a lot compared to other years but every one of those twelve hundred rode in and out again on our train which was a first for us at the TRHC.
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Watch for further pictures to be posted here later this week!
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Posting and Pictures by Russ Milland

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It has been 42 years since Go Transit was launched after years of study and planning. The pictures above capture one of the trains on the first day of service. In today's Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group posting Derek Boles, TRHA Historian, writes:

"May 23, 1967:
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GO Transit begins operations between Oakville and Pickering, with Toronto Union Station as a hub of operations. The Government of Ontario (GO) spent $8 million on 8 diesel locomotives, 40 coaches and 9 self-propelled cars. Another $16 million was spent upgrading track, signals, stations and other facilities. GO owned the trains but operating crews were supplied by CN under contract with GO. The new GO Willowbrook maintenance facility was established in an old CN freight car maintenance depot at Mimico, five miles west of Union Station. The first GO Transit train left Oakville at 5:50 am with Ontario Premier John Robarts on board to welcome passengers. Two rush hour GO trains a day also operated as far as the CN James St. station in Hamilton to replace the two cancelled CN commuter trains. Within three months, GO was carrying 15,000 passengers a day, 50% higher than projected.
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May 23, 1967:
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The new GO commuter service also resulted in several significant alterations to Union Station.
Tracks 2 and 3 were reserved exclusively for GO trains and the old intercity arrivals area under the Great Hall was converted to a commuter concourse. The circular marble information counter with the clock at the center of the Great Hall was torn out to accommodate a four-sided bulletin board showing train arrivals and departures. The baths on the south side of the waiting room were removed to permit construction of a corridor leading to Track One and the waiting room itself was converted to a departure lounge for CN's Rapido trains to Montreal."
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I have a soft spot in my heart for this service. In 1962, as a young engineering student, I worked on preparing detailed analysis of the freight traffic on the Lakeshore line in order to provide the engineering firm I worked for as a summer student with the information needed to convince the railways that a commuter service could be scheduled in between their "high priority" freight trains! It took five years to complete the planning and development of the service for 1967 startup!
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Tp get daily postings of items of historic interest from Derek, join the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group by clicking here.
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In the pictures below taken in March of 1967, we see a closeup of one of the coaches and the coach's interior.
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Posting by Russ Miland; Pictures by John Vincent with permission
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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This week, 6213's tender was rolled out of the fenced compound it has occupied at Exhibition Place since 1960 and onto a special rail equipped float for transport to the roundhouse. The locomotive itself will be loaded next week and will ride to the roundhouse atop a float custom-built for the purpose by Laurie McCulloch Movers.
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Delays are always possible - even likely - for a heavy move and we have just been handed one. The trip for both engine and tender was to happen overnight Thursday/Friday next week but is now on hold for a few days as the City transportation engineering department reviews the permit application with reference to the loading on the Spadina Lakeshore bridge. The route is to be east on Lakeshore Boulevard westbound, which entails crossing the bridge, to avoid passing below the Gardiner with its restricted maximum height and difficult turn at Rees st.
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We will post updates here as they become available.
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Posting by Michael Guy; Pictures by Grant Kingsland

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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In the above left picture, we find the patio paving contractors hard at work organizing the complex task of laying the patio stones between the radial tracks.
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This past week, PNR Railworks has also been continuing to lay the tracks radiating out from the turntable into Roundhouse Park. In the other pictures above, we see the current state of the tracklaying effort.
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At this weekend's Doors Open event on Saturday and Sunday, visitors will have the opportunity to ride our new passengar car for a trip from Bremner Avenue down one of these radial tracks to the turntable and then experience the operation of the turntable as we rotate the speeder and the passenger car for a return trip to Bremner Avenue.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures and Video by Dave Wetherald
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Click on the video below to see how the ballast is distributed down the tracks!
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Click on each picture for a closer look.
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The Annual Toronto "Doors Open" Event will be held this weekend across the city. The Toronto "Doors Open" website offers the following information:
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"The City of Toronto's Cultural Services is proud to present the annual Doors Open Toronto - one weekend, once a year - when 175 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and social significance open their doors to the public for a city-wide celebration. The program allows visitors free access to properties that are either not usually open to the public, or would normally charge an entrance fee. Many locations have organized guided tours, displays and activities to enrich the visitor experience. See Toronto like you've never seen it before!"

Visit here on their website to view all 175 sites open this weekend!

Here are four venues of interest to those of us fascinated by the technologies and stories around our local transportation systems. Do follow the links below to check for hours and days of operation. Some sites are open only for one of the weekend days.

TTC - Greenwood Maintenance Shop

"Greenwood Shop is one of two heavy repair and overhaul facilities for the TTC. It is part of the 31 acre Greenwood Complex which opened in March 1960.The shop covers approx. 190,000 square feet and is the workplace of almost 200 employees. Major vehicle overhaul work and component rebuilds to support the fleet of subway vehicles is done here." ... Read More

TTC Eglinton Garage/Division

"Eglinton Garage/Division opened on March 31, 2002 and consists of 121,000 square feet situated on a 15.7 acre site. The garage services a fleet of 250 buses. The facility also features two bus wash racks, 12 indoor repair spaces and an outdoor bus storage area with a unique heating system which allows parked buses to be connected so that their engines are warm and ready to drive during the winter season." .... Read more

John St Roundhouse

"The Roundhouse and Roundhouse Park are being renovated, in part, as the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre, come visit us and see the progress! Walk aboard our fully restored 1929 locomotive turntable, the largest in the country! Take a speeder ride to visit our railway heritage village featuring Don station. Visit the roundhouse and be amazed!" ... Read More

Union Station

Union Station was built as a joint construction project by the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Railways to replace an older facility west of York St. Officially opened by the Prince of Wales on Aug.6, 1927, the station was designed in the grand manner of the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Paris. The station is massive and takes up an entire city block along Front Street between York and Bay Streets. The Great Hall in the Centre Block is 250 ft. long and 84 ft. wide. The ceiling is a true arch of vitrified Gustavino tile with its centre rising to 88 ft. above the floor. Adding further majesty to this magnificent room are arched thermal windows at either end, each four stories high. Below the cornice surrounding the room are carved the names of cities and towns served at the time by passenger trains of the two major Canadian railways. Union Station is a National Historic Site and was designated under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act in 1989. Originally owned and operated by The Toronto Terminals Railway Company Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of CN and Canadian Pacific), the station was sold to the City of Toronto in 2000. It is the busiest transportation hub in Canada. ... Read More
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Guided tours of Union Station will be offered by members of the Toronto Railway Historical Association and the Union Station Revitalization Public Advisory Group hourly from 10:15 to 3:15pm.
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And best of all, all of these offer free admission!
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Posting by Russ Milland
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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For the past two weeks, TRHA volunteers have been playing a game of "spin the table and shuffle the cars". They have been engaged in a complicated game of "keep the contractors happy" by switching vehicles from track to track and using the turntable to provide a clear path for the PNR Railworks' construction equipment seen in earlier postings to lay and ballast the remaining radial tracks. We thank all of the volunteers for their generous commitment of their time to make all of this happen.
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Posting by Michael Guy; Pictures by Wilson Lau

Click on each picture for closer look!
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In the picture at the above left, we see Cabin D and to its right the toolshed in their original location to the west of the Bathurst Street bridge. Next, we see a pair of pictures of the tool shed as we found it stored in the roundhouse. In the picture at the upper right we see that the recently restored tool shed has now been returned to Roundhouse Park and is now resting near Cabin D waiting for the return of its roof.
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In the pictures below, we see the crossing shanty as we found it in the roundhouse. As reported earlier, it too has now been restored and as of last week is now "unwrapped" and can be viewed in Roundhouse Park.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Russ Milland and Bob Dickson
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Preparing the massive #6213 steam engine for the imminent move to Roundhouse Park is a formidable task. This condensed version of a recent work report from Grant Kingsland gives the reader a sense of the work effort involved and the challenges tackled:
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"After 6213 (engine) was successfully moved ahead, we realized that she was too far ahead and we could not remove the wrist pin from the crosshead. we used our come-along cable pullers to tie on to the tender and pull the engine back - it worked with the help of three car movers as well. We eventually got the main rod off working between thunderstorms which unfortunately lost a lot of time for us.
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The left side coupling rods cannot now be removed as the wheels are in the wrong position to take the knuckle pins. Setting up the come-along for moving the engine is very time consuming so we decided to defer this work until a time when a heavy tow can more easily move the engine on an upcoming weekday."
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In the pictures below we see a platform being prepared unto which the locomotive tender will be rolled to provide a base for its transport to Roundhouse Park.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Grant Kngsland (above) and Bob Dickson (below)
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Today, Derek Boles, our TRHA historian posted the following on the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group today as one of several items of historical interest on this day of the year:

"May 17, 1975:

The Toronto & York Division of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association officially opens the Canadian Railway Museum - Toronto. The opening ceremonies involved CN excursion steam locomotive No. 6060 pulling museum equipment across Lakeshore Boulevard, preceded by the Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada. The museum itself was located in the Spadina Quay area of the newly acquired Harbourfront park. In its heyday, the collection comprised of sixteen pieces of railway equipment. The museum proved untenable over time and began to dispose of its collection in 1987. Some of the equipment was subsequently scrapped; some dispersed to other museums; four pieces were stored in the CP John Street roundhouse. These included TTC Witt streetcar No. 2300, a 1917 boxcar, a 1938 vinegar car and a 1907 TH&B caboose. The streetcar was returned to The Canadian Railway Museum in 2008."
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In the pictures above, see TTC Witt streetcar No. 2300 being removed from the Roundhouse one year ago today on May 17th, 2008 prior to being transported to the Canadian Railway Museum in Montreal.
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If you wish to receive Derek's daily postings in your e-mail or read them online, join the Yahoo Group by clicking here.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Dan Garcia

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The challenge was to remove the newly build passenger car (built on a speeder trailer) from the Machine Shop to be stored with the rest of our rolling stock on our standard gauge track system. The car barely fit through the loading dock doors in the machine shop but as you can see in the pictures above, a little tender care and attention plus the assistance of a fork lift did the trick. The car now is resting comfortably on one of our newly installed radial tracks.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Grant Kingsland and Bob Dickson

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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With the radial tracks all laid out between the turntable and the doors of the roundhouse, the laying down of the patio using red paving bricks which complement the roundhouse itself has begun. In the pictures above, we see the rubber spacers being placed inside the rails which are designed to deform when railway equipment pass over them and then to spring back into position once they have passed.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Photos by Wilson Lau and Bob Dickson

Click on each image for a closer look!
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During my visit to the roundhouse last weekend, I took a number of pictures which could be of interest to the readers of this News blog.
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In the picture at upper left, we see that the long process of switch construction for the miniature railway continued this past weekend with the switches being laid out and assembled on the machine shop floor. In the next picture we see the collection of PNR Railworks tracklaying equipment parked for the weekend. Then we see the window treatments behind the doors to the Leon's showroom which will admit natural light into the showrom. Finally we have a good shot of one of a pair of massive diesel power trucks which are a part of our collection.
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Postings and pictures by Russ Milland

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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It took a little longer than expected to start, but last Friday, PNR Railworks was finally able to start ballasting the individual tracks leading from the turntable to the stalls of the roundhouse. With the assistance of our intrepid band of volunteers, the turntable was kept busy moving equipment from track to track.
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In the picture at the above left, we find a crew using jacks to adjust the rail height before the compacting can be done. In the next picture, we see a front end loader being used to straighten the track. This and the previous activity are done before the tamping machine is used. At the lower left, we see the tamper in action vibrating the ballst under the steel ties to settle it and compact it. The next picture is a close-up of the tamping action.
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Posting and Pictures by Jon Hull
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Niall MacKay is the author of the definitive book (By Steamboat and Steam Train, 1982, Boston Mills Press, 0-919822-73-8) on the history of the original Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway. Niall has generously donated a two wheeled baggage cart to the museum. John Mellow, a fromer station master at Don Station, is currently advising us on the station's interpretation. He studied photographs of the baggage cart provided by Niall and concluded that it was the same type of cart used originally in the station. So we happily accepted the gift of the cart.
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In the picture at the above left, we find Niall posing with this fine artefact. Last Saturday, we transported the baggage cart in a small trailer as shown in the next picture. In the picture at left below, we use the baggage cart to move a traveller's suitcase (which Niall also donated) to the museum storage area. In the final picture we find the baggage cart and case resting in the machine shop with our other artefacts.
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If you have any artefacts, documents or photographs to donate to the museum, contact us.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in urban areas across Canada and internationally. The TRHA will be participating this Friday in a CUI session is described as follows:

"Champions, Collaboration and Commitment - The Creation of Toronto's Newest Heritage Asset
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with:
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Don Loucks, Heritage Architect and Senior Associate, IBI Group;
Glenn Garwood, Manager, Strategic Policy and Projects, Culture, City of Toronto;
Barry Zagdanski, Director, John Street Roundhouse Development Corporation;
Orin Krivel, President, Facilities Development, Toronto Railway Historical Association.
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The Toronto Railway Lands, once described as 'isolated and isolating', used to be a gritty reminder of the city's reliance on steam transportation - a swath of underutilized, contaminated real estate that separated downtown Toronto from Lake Ontario. For more than 15 years, however, many individuals and organizations have been working hard to re-integrate this immense brownfield into the fabric of the city. Key to ensuring that the transformation will provide visitors with an authentic experience is the successful adaptive reuse of heritage railway buildings and artifacts.
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Later this year, after more than 10 years of effort, the former CPR Roundhouse - already known as the home of the Steam Whistle Brewery - will open its doors to the public, providing almost 100,000 sq ft of showroom (Leon's Furniture and Home Furnishings), and a workshop/museum for the Toronto Railway Historical Association.
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The designers of this stunning restoration have found innovative ways to flood the space with natural light while respecting the building's cultural significance. They also overcame numerous challenges such as accommodating construction of an extended convention centre underneath the property, integrating a hydro substation in a cost-effective way and assembling a unique set of restored artifacts to bring Roundhouse Park to life.
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Join us for revealing insights into the role played by committed champions, designers and investors in restoring a priceless piece of the city's heritage."
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Meeting details are:

Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Time: 7:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
Location: Toronto City Hall, Committee Room 1, 2nd Floor, 100 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON

Non-members of the Canadian Urban Institute may attend this meeting at a cost of $40.00 by registering at their website.
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Posting by Russ Milland, Photographs by Norm Betts
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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TRHA volunteers continue to make progress on completing our live steam locomotive. In the picture at the above left we see in this side view that the locomotive is starting to look very attractive with its newly painted surfaces. In the next photo, we see the interior of the cab as well. In the picture at left below we see the two tanks sitting on the tender frame. The tender body has returned from being painted but has not as yet been reunited with the frame. In our final photo below, we take a peek inside the snokebox door where we can the ends of the fire tubes.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Today, TRHA crews again rolled out our speeder trailers as you can see in the left hand picture above with the welding machine on one of them. We then proceeded to work on welding up miniature railway tracks to run between the rails on the full size radial tracks leading to stall 16. The stall 16 lead track will allow us to move the miniature railway trains into the museum's restoration area for major work.
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In the right hand picture we see the completed length of miniature railway track on the lead rack to stall 10. Our interpid volunteers completed this track section yesterday (Friday).
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Since the tracks will be embedded in the patio and the sides of the rails will not be seen, we used steel barstock for the rails, welding them as you can see in the middle picture to steel "ties".
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Work was halted in mid-afternoon Saturday as wave after wave of thunderstorms struck the area. Work will recommence on Sunday morning. This work has to be done quickly as PNR Railworks now needs to install patio stone in this area now that all of the radial tracks between the turntable and roundhouse are now in place. The goal is to have the patio area completed in time for our Doors Open event on May 23rd and 24th.
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Posting and Pictures by Russ Milland

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The Toronto Society of Model Engineers (TSME) has just celebrated their 75th anniversary having been formed in 1933. They have always been focussed on all aspects of model building and engineering and associated areas of craftsmanship. Their meetings are always enjoyable evening where the focus is on sharing knowledge and networking with each other.
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Tomorrow (Friday, May 8th) Michael Guy and Russ Milland will be presenting a grand overview of the TRHA and the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre at their monthly meeting.
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In addition to the TSME Logo (above left), we have a picture of two model engineers operating a live steam locomotive in 1934, a year after TSME was formed as well as a picture of a model steam tractor as displayed at a recent meeting.
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Guests are always welcome at their meetings so we invite you to attend.
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Here are the meeting details:

• Friday May the 8th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. (to about 10:00 p.m.)
• Toronto Aerospace Museum
• Located off Sheppard Ave. West of Dufferin at 65 Carl Hall Road.
• Free parking available on the north and east sides of the museum.

Here is an excerpt from their an overview of TSME meetings as found on their website:
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"The main things that members seem to enjoy most is the exchange of ideas and tips on techniques which are happily shared. The traditionally successful format for our meetings is the description of members models brought in for exhibition, whether complete or partly built. Occasionally we arrange for a visiting speaker to talk on a special item of particular interest. Topics concerning new machinery, historic machinery, and engineering ingenuity have grasped members' interest over decades, whether by talks, exhibits, or pictures... More ...
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The extensive TSME Website is well worth visiting by clicking here. Especially enjoy their wonderful collection of historical photographs.
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Story by Russ Milland; Images from the TSME Website.

Click on each image for a closer look!
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In a recent news posting, we reported on the initiative to develop the West Toronto Railpath.
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In the above left image above, we see the rail corridor viewed from the Dundas Street Overpass looking south. In the middle image, we see the Wallace Street pedestrian overpass which provided me with a spectacular viewpoint in my youth to watch the steam engines in all their glory in the 1950's. In the final image we see some wonderful detail in the lights on this pedestrian overpass.
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Derek Boles, the TRHA's historian, offers the following historical insight into this important rail corridor:
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"The Railpath has an important and rich railway history. It is a wide rail corridor that once accommodated four different rail lines, which is why part of it has become redundant. The actual path runs on what was the route of the Toronto, Grey & Bruce (1875). This was taken over by Canadian Pacific in 1884 and I am told that railroaders continued to call it the "Old Bruce" up until it was abandoned in 1996.
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The section from Strachan Avenue to Lansdowne parallels the original Ontario, Simcoe & Huron (1853). At Lansdowne, the OS&H branched north and the Grand Trunk (1855) continued to the end of the path at Cariboo Ave, just before the junction with the North Toronto Sub. The fourth railway that ran along this corridor was the Credit Valley (1879).
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The new Railpath will cross over Queen Street on the very first subway (underpass) built in the city in 1885. The subway cost so much that it almost bankrupted the Town of Parkdale and delayed its takeover by the City of Toronto, who didn't want to assume the debt."
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Posting by Russ Milland; Images from the West Toronto Railpath website.

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Last Thursday, #6213's right side connecting rod and valve-gear eccentric rod made the trip to the roundhouse today by trailer. The left side rods will be removed also before the locomotive is moved. The purpose in removing these is to allow the locomotive to roll on it's wheels without pushing the pistons and valves back and forth in their respective bores. Removal of the rods reduces friction and prevents damage to parts that have not moved in a half-century.
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Story by Michael Guy; Photos by Grant Kingsland

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Click on each image for a closer look!
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To the North and West of Roundhouse Park is an interesting new linear park development called the West Toronto Railpath. Railpath is a partnership of the Evergreen and the Community Bicycle Network who have joined forces with the City of Toronto in the planning and development of this project. Both organizations are dedicated to making environmentally friendly community-based projects happen.
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When completed, the proposed pathway will run diagonally from Cariboo Avenue (just North of Dupont) southwards across Bloor, Dundas, Landsdowne, Brock, Queen and King to a point close to Strachan Avenue near the western end of Wellington Street bicycle path network.
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Railpath will run along an abandoned railway roadbed which has been out of use for over 40 years. Because the rail corridor is extremely wide in this corridor, the Railpath will not interfere with existing train routes or with the proposed Air-Rail link to Pearson Airport.
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For more information and to explore the map in more detail, visit the Railpath website by clicking here.
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Story by Russ Milland; Artwork by Scott Torrance Landscape Architects