Click on each picture for a closer look!
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We lead off today's news post with a picture of a "track waiting for a train" at the left above. In the other two pictures, we see that work has begun on the erection of the walls for our miniature railway's train shed.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy

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On Saturday, August 22nd, Derek Boles (along with Ed Freeman) led a great Heritage Toronto walk entitled "Marlborough to Summerhill". A major stop on the walk was the 1916 CPR North
Toronto Station which has been restored as the Summerhill LCBO store which is Canada's largest liquor store. It is interesting that the LCBO store opened at this location in 1940. So the building has been selling alcohol far longer than it served as a train station, since the last regularly-scheduled passenger train stopped there in 1930. Union Station's opening in 1929 basically spelled the end for the North Toronto station.
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At the upper left above, we find two pictures of the station from across Yonge Street as it is today. The 45 metre station tower was inspired by the Campanile of St. Mark's in Venice. At the right above and in the picture at the lower left below, we find Derek talking about the original 1884 North Toronto station site and also volunteer Diane showing a painting of a train at the station. Finally we have pictures of a couple of the shields found on the building, one of which was found and placed on the north wall of the station during its 2003 restoration.
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Pictures of trains at this station when it was operational are quite rare. If you have any such pictures or know where they might be found, please let Derek Boles, our historian know, by sending us an e-mail at trha@trha.ca
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Posting and pictures by Lance Gleich
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Labels: quite

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It was another busy weekend at the Roundhouse as TRHA crews worked on several projects. As seen in the pictures with this posting, continuing the construction of the miniature railway switches was one priority and all except one of the six switches that we need are now complete except for a few details. Another order of the day was a much needed clean-up of the machine shop. The shop is now much better organized than before. They also managed to get a few more lights working as well. A specific lighting priority was the installation of a temporary light outside the workshop as a deterrent to the taggers who have persistently been spray bombing their "art" on the historic brick. The new lights enable the security cameras to actually see who is defacing the brick.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & James Rasor
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An Ode to a Canadian National Steam Locomotive
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There has always been a long association between railroading and poetry. When the railway era began in the 19th century, poetry was a much more prevalent form of communications than it is today. Some of literature's most famous poets, including Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, wrote poems about trains that are still studied today in high school English classes.
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In Canada, one of our most famous poets, E.J. Pratt, wrote the famous Towards the Last Spike (1952). In the 1920s, Canadian National Railways prevailed upon Pratt to write a poem about one of their new steam locomotives, No. 6000.
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No. 6000
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"His body black as Erebus
........Accorded with the hue of night;
His central eye self-luminous
.......Threw out a cone of noon-day light,
Which split the gloom and then flashed back
The diamond levels of the track.
No ancient poet ever saw
Just such a monster as could draw
The Olympian tonnage of a load
Like this along an iron road;
Or ever thought that such a birth--
.....The issue of an inventor's dream--
.....With breath of fire and blood of steam,
Could find delivery on this earth."
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E. J. Pratt
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From the Canadian National Railways Magazine, December 1931, p. 9.
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When Canadian National was formed after World War I from a collection of bankrupt or insolvent railway companies, the new railway inherited a collection of run-down steam locomotives, most of which had to be replaced in short order so that the railway could remain competitive with Canadian Pacific.
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The 6000-series were 4-8-2 'Mountain' locomotives designed primarily for fast passenger service but equipped for dual use on freight trains as well. The first 16 of these engines were delivered by the Canadian Locomotive Works in Kingston during the summer of 1923. No 6000 became a poster boy for the CNR and figured prominently in its promotion and advertising. The railway even published a special 20 page booklet about the engine although most of it was devoted to the history of early steam locomotive development in general.
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In 1927, CN produced another booklet called Modern Travel in Canada for distribution at the Fair of the Iron Horse in Baltimore. Although the newer No. 6100 was on the front cover, the publication still featured some dramatic renderings inside of No. 6000.
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Eventually CN would order a total of 80 locomotives in the 6000-series, built by Kingston, the Baldwin Works in Philadelphia and the Montreal Locomotive Works. Further refinements in locomotive design led to the 6100-series 4-8-4 'Northerns' starting in 1927 and the 6200-series beginning in 1942. The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's 6213 was part of the first order during World War II.
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Part of the final order of the 6000's in 1944 was MLW No. 6060, the famed "Bullet-nosed Betty" which saw frequent excursion service in the Toronto area between 1973 and 1980 and was the last steam locomotive to operate here in the 20th century.
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Sadly CN's No. 6000 was scrapped in 1962. The only survivor of that original 1923 order is No. 6015, which now resides in Jasper, Alberta.
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As far as poetry is concerned, many people consider song lyrics to be the most relevant form of poetic expression today and Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy (1966) and Steve Goodman's City of New Orleans (1972) are among the best known.
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Unfortunately, the railroad hobby has also produced some rather bad poetry in the last few years. Recently readers of Trains magazine have been subjected to full-page ads featuring amateurish drawings and cringe-inducing poetry, some samples of which appear below.
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"The F7 is on a trip to carry freight
This took place back in September, 1958."
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"Like a long box this locomotive does appear
In doing its work it is very sincere."
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"To lead passengers over Alleghany Mountain a massive engine was sought
And so Ten-Wheeler number 129 was bought."
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IMAGES
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#0- Canadian National No. 6015 is being prepared for display at the CNE in 1923. This was the only preserved locomotive from the first order of the 6000s. - Al Paterson photograph
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#1- Canadian National produced this brochure around 1924 to commemorate the new 6000-series locomotives. - Orin Krivel collection

#2- The brochure actually provided little information on 6000; most of it was devoted to a history of the development of the steam locomotive in Great Britain. - Orin Krivel collection

#3- The 1927 brochure shows the mighty 6000 contrasted with the first Toronto-Montreal train in 1856. The location may be Brighton station. - Derek Boles collection

#4- 6001 is in full flight between Montreal and Toronto in the mid-1920s. -Derek Boles collection

#5- 6000 is hauling a westbound passenger train underneath the Bathurst Street bridge in the 1930s. - Al Paterson photograph
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Posting by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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One item that was missing from our CNR Northern 4-8-4 #6213 steam locomotive was the number plate worn by such locomotives just below their headlights. A replica of the original number plate has been built and in the picture at the left above we find Grant Kingsland and John Mellow fitting the number plate to #6213.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy & John Mellow

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As reported in Derek Boles' daily postings on the Toronto Railway Heritage Group on Yahoo, today is the 25th anniversary of the donation of #4803 to the City of Toronto. Here is Derek's posting:
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August 26, 1984:
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"The Canadian National Great Lakes Region presents diesel-electric locomotive No. 4803 to Mayor Art Eggleton and the City of Toronto to mark the municipality's sesquicentennial. The GP7 was built by General Motors Diesel of London, Ontario in 1953 and operated all over Canada before being retired in 1975. Over 2700 units of this model were built in the U.S. and Canada and many of them continue to operate in secondary service. A brass plaque commemorating this event was also prepared and held by CN pending the establishment of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. No. 4803 remained at Spadina roundhouse until its demolition in 1986 required the engine to be transferred to the CP John Street roundhouse, where it has been displayed outside for the past several weeks."
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In the picture above (taken by Richard Yaremko and from the collection of Helmut J. Osterman), we see #4803 in Edmonton, Alberta in June, 1970. The pictures below by myself are of #4803 residing at the roundhouse today.

To receive all of these daily postings by Derek Boles, simply join the ToRyHeritage group at Yahoo by clicking here! To learn more about #4803, click here.
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Posting by Russ Milland
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Progress continues to be evident in the restoration of these structures in Roundhouse Park. At the left above, we find our restoration contractors working on the upper reaches of Cabin D. In the middle and right hand pictures we find that the tool shed and the shanty now have attractive brick facings on their foundations.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Wilson Lau & James Rasor

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In the appealing (to a railfan at least!) picture at the upper left, #4803 is bracketed by our CLC Whticomb and #7069. In the middle picture, Steam Whistle Brewery has used the space in front of their meeting space to set up for a wedding with #4803 looming above them. The wedding occured last Saturday. It is intriguing that couples are finding Roundhouse Park an attractive venue for their nuptials!
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In the right hand picture, the TRHA crew is operating the turntable to return our work cars to their homes in the roundhouse after a hard day's work. We were impressed by the size of the crowd we attracted to watch.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Stephen Gardiner & Wilson Lau

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We had a great end to the week with the west
loop of miniature track being completed except for final line-up and levelling and insertion of the new wooden flangeway fillers. We are now waiting on Pine Valley to finish the east loop roadbed before we can finish that off too. Switch construction is coming along really well so once we have usable concrete road all the way from the machine shop (expected to happen by Wednesday this week) we can begin to think about how to shift the assembled switches from the machine shop across the park.
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In the picture at the above left, we find our weekend volunteers moving sections of rail in the Roundhouse. In the middle and right hand picture, we find our folks working on one of the crossovers where the miniature railway track crosses one of the the standard gauge radial tracks. In the left hand picture below, we find a volunteer cleaning the threads on some bolts prior to their use. In the final two pictures at the middle and right below, a TRHA crew reinstalls the bumper posts now that some of the radial tracks have been shortened a bit.

Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Stephen Gardiner and James Rasor
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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The pictures at the left and in the middle above are two more images by Norm Betts, the professional photographer who has been chronicling the development of Roundhouse Park through photographic images. They are from the July opening of the Leon's new store. At that time, another Norm - Norm Nelson - captured the event in the following article about the opening as well as the development of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. With the permission of "Inside Toronto", a great website which provides community news online to the citizens of Toronto, we reprint the article here and the headline photo for the article by Dan Pearce (above right) which shows Mayor David Miller driving in the last spike for the $25-million Roundhouse revitalization project Wednesday on July 8th, 2009 :
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Iconic downtown railway heritage site welcomes Leon's
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By NORM NELSON
July 21, 2009 12:36 PM
www.insidetoronto.com
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A 40,000-square-foot furniture super store has now joined a local upscale brewery as the sole two commercial tenants of one of the most revered railroad heritage sites in Canada. The new Leon's Furniture outlet, which officially opened in July, along with already opened Steam Whistle Brewery take up most of the space at the so-called John Street Roundhouse, nestled in the shadow of the CN Tower, just south the Rogers Centre. The cavernous half-round structure sits in Roundhouse Park, a currently fenced-off city park that is expected to re-open later this summer with a railway heritage theme. The site is also known as the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.
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"I have to say I was one of those who paused when I was told that a leading furniture retailer would be the major tenant," Mayor David Miller said at last week's official opening ceremony. "But my staff said to me, 'Wait till you see what they're going to do - it's going to be extraordinary. And they were right." Mayor Miller went on to term it "the most extraordinary, adaptive reuse of a heritage building, probably in Canada."
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Of course, Mayor Miller wasn't about to leave out the building's other major tenant. "I do want to thank and acknowledge and thank our first partner, Steam Whistle Brewing - I've spent many happy hours over there," he quipped.
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Adam Vaughan, whose downtown ward (Trinity-Spadina) encompasses Roundhouse Park, also related a similar conversion as the mayor. "I was one of those that was probably the most outspoken critic, most worried about what would happen when Leon's opened. I can tell you that walking into the store today is matched only by my (first) meeting with Terry Leon when he sat down and explained what the family wanted to do here...and it took me five minutes to be won over. This is an extraordinary commitment to the city, an extraordinary commitment to the culture of the city...it's a real gift to my ward and a real gift to the city." He said the project "is one of the finest examples of the three R's. It's reusing a beautiful old building. It's reducing what would happen if you demolished heritage architecture and simply sent it off to a landfill. Instead you capture the embedded energy and you put it to better use housing a new and revitalized vision for the downtown of this city, and also it recycles the notion of the rail history of this city."
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Orin Krivel, president of the Toronto Railway Historical Association (TRHA), called it a "significant event in the preservation of Toronto's railway heritage." The TRHA is the charitable, volunteer group who, hand in hand with the city, is tirelessly working to bring Roundhouse Park literally on track. "With the opening of the Leon's store, the magnificent 1929 Canadian Pacific Railway John Street Roundhouse is fully occupied, and, thus ensures the economic viability of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre," said Krivel.
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One of the unique aspects of the partnership was the pre-paying of 60 years of rent. "That generated much needed capital to build the museum and do other railway-themed park improvements that you see around us," explained Glen Garwood, project director from the city's culture division.
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One key attribute the redevelopment had going for it, explained Barry Zagdanski, president of State Building Group, which serves as the head landlord, was a well-worn real estate cliche - "location, location, location." "Just look around," he told those assembled at the ceremony. "The CN Tower, the Rogers Centre, the Air Canada Centre, thousands of condominiums built and going to be built. The Roundhouse is just a short walk away, via the Skywalk, from the public transit at Union Station and it's well served by major highways and main roads. "It has the added benefit of having an easily accessed underground parking lot with a pedestrian exit right at our door." As the landlord, he said they were looking for some very specific types of tenants for the Roundhouse.
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First of all, they wanted to ensure continuing public access, which excluded industrial uses. And they also wanted the historic structure to be visible from within which excluded its use as office or small retail space. Retrofitting the building in such a manner, he explained, "would have ruined the heritage character. "The beauty and the impact of the space, which comes from its high ceilings, massive windows and doors would have been destroyed."
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One thing both Leon's and Steam Whistle shared, despite being 10 years apart in their move-in dates, was the same heritage architect, Don Louks. "He literally knew every brick and beam in the roundhouse," said Garwood. Louks said the project represents "something that is very unusual in heritage conservation and heritage preservation...a balance of new and old. If nothing else, when you walk through this building and you walk through this site, you'll see how a building of this quality can be adapted to be used for a number of things."

Terry Leon, the grandson of Leon's founder Ablan Leon, said the Canadian company, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, knew at the outset that "in order to make it a success, we had to be both flexible and innovative. Our objective is no doubt to be successful in our own business but more importantly to do honour to the spirit of the Roundhouse and the citizens of this great city. We believe that if you do the latter, the former will follow."
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But, while you can buy furnishings for your home from Leon's and beer for your fridge from Steam Whistle, the heritage centre is not quite yet ready for public perusal although work "is well underway," said Krivel, in an interview after the Leon's ceremony. First to come online should be Roundhouse Park which should be "visitable probably late September, early October. But, it will be fully functioning next year." Two sets of track are already laid, one to shuffle the site's historical trains around and the other smaller gauge track for the miniature authentic mini steam train, which will eventually provide rides for visitors.
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The Roundhouse is a 32-bay semicircular structure, like a half moon, with all parts of the structure equidistant from the historically significant, 120-foot turntable which is again fully operational. In fact, it was used to dramatic effect at the opening as the turntable slowly spun the train to face the assembled onlookers at the official opening. Members of the head table, including Mayor David Miller, then took turns ceremoniously hammering in the last spike to officially reopen the turntable.
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Making the turntable operational was among the first orders of business so the trains still inside the roundhouse could be removed, via the turntable, to make way for the extensive interior renovations. It's these locomotives that are now stored in the park, most of them still covered up in weather-proof plastic.
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In its heyday, the turntable, which looks just like a gigantic turntable but one large enough to carry a locomotive, was used extensively, delivering locomotives to the various bays for servicing. The tracks into the bays are still in place, but of course the only bays the locomotives will now go into are the three retained by the TRHA (bays 15, 16 and 17). Steam Whistle and Leon's Furniture take up, respectively, bays 1 to 14 and bays 18 to 32.
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So meticulous has been the reconstruction that underneath the floor, the original Roundhouse floor - train tracks and all - is still preserved, and could easily be restored, if needed. One key compromise that has been made in the name of progress is a thoroughly modern green footprint. Head architect Louks said "not only is the heating of the building by district heat (a central system which distributes heat to numerous Toronto buildings), the cooling of the building uses deep water cooling (a similar downtown distribution system to the district heat). So we not only saved the building, we made it sustainable."
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There is a reason the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is not called a museum. The heritage centre, which is at the so-called Roundhouse Park, just south of the CN Tower, "has many components," Orin Krivel, president of the Toronto Railway Historical Association (TRHA), explained. The TRHA was formed in 2001, he explained, "by a group of dedicated volunteers determined not to let our rail heritage fade into obscurity. It does get a tad confusing, but the TRHA, which is now a federally registered charity, is the volunteer, charitable group, which is restoring the heritage centre in partnership with the City of Toronto.
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We prefer using 'heritage centre', rather than 'museum', as we have separate locations for various components rather than one location labelled museum." Bays 15 to 17 of the 32-bay cavernous Roundhouse building, which also houses Leon's Furniture and Steam Whistle Brewery, he said, "are being restored to their original use as they existed in 1929 - that of repair and servicing of locomotives. Public viewing of the work will be part of the visitor's experience." Roundhouse Park, he added, is being restored "with a rail ambience. He noted that:

• "We have installed one mile of standard gauge rail linked to our restored and fully operational 120-foot turntable;
• We have assembled a village of Toronto rail treasures to the east end of the park - The Don Station, the Cabin D interlocking tower, a watchman's shanty, and a tool shed, all to be restored not only in appearance, but in functionality;
• A live steam miniature railway will allow visitors to tour the site in a working steam powered train;
• The machine shop, along the western end of the roundhouse, will be redeveloped into a museum-like display area and will house lecture facilities and accommodations for school tours;
• A computer simulator will be built into the cab of an F-7 diesel locomotive allowing visitors to drive the diesel throughout the Toronto rail lands as they existed in 1952, utilizing the actual controls in the diesel cab. This will be in the machine shop area."

The Heritage Centre, he said, "will also have a presence in the revitalized Union Station, as we have been interpreting the building for the public by means of comprehensive tours on a monthly basis. Our total museum functions, including our exhaustive historical, sociological and technical libraries and rail materials will be available to one and all via the Internet. From the outset, one of our core self-defined mandates has been education. If Union Station and Roundhouse Park, connected by the Skywalk, are the bookends, then everything in between will also be focused upon. The entire Toronto rail lands, from Bathurst Street to Cherry Street, will be organized into a series of tours. either guided, or self-conducted via downloadable pod casts."
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Article by Norm Nelson; Pictures by Norm Betts and Dan Pearce

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Yesterday, a TRHA crew completed construction of the last major part of the main
circuit of the miniature railway. In this final section, shown in the pictures above by Michael Guy, some seventy feet of track was required to run diagonally across the mid-park roadway. The metal work is now complete and awaits the concrete pour scheduled for today and Monday.
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The next challenge is to complete all of the switches and cross-overs and of course the train shed and turntable. In the pictures below by Dave Wetherald, we find Michael Guy surveying progress on the train shed and turntable.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy and Dave Wetherald
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Every park deserves a fine playground for the wee ones! The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is no exception. In the pictures above, we see that a playground is being installed in Roundhouse Park and features a steam engine for the kids to climb on. The designers have whymsically named the locomotive as GTRR (Grand Trunk Railroad?) #1929. I am not sure it would be easy to find a real prototype for this model but with a bit of imagination it vaguely resembles the Fairlie engines used on one of the first narrow gauge railways in Toronto although these engine had boilers at both ends.

Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & James Rasor

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One Day at the John Street Roundhouse in 1966, on April 8 to be exact, I made my first extended visit to Toronto with my parents. I was 16 at the time and lived and had grown up in Montreal. I had passed through the city before on my way to visit my grandparents who lived in Fort Erie but this was my first overnight stay in Toronto. We stayed at the Royal York Hotel which, at the time, was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
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The first night, after dinner, I crossed Front Street to check out Union Station. Railway security was very different 43 years ago and I was able to wander up through the trainshed and across the yards to John Street where I took these photographs.
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#1: Canadian Pacific No. 6539 hauls a Rail Diesel Car from Union Station to the roundhouse. RDC cars provided most of CP's passenger service in 1966 and this single car had probably come in earlier from Peterboro (as it was still known in CP timetables). The road crew brought the car into Union Station and the yard crew then hauled it over to John Street. 6539 was an Alco S3 built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1955 and the 2009 Trackside Guide indicates that the unit is in Schreiber, Ontario.
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#2: RDC No 9049 on the turntable. This car was built in 1955 for the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic and sold to CP in 1958. It later became VIA No. 6124 and was sold to Cuba in 1998.
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#3: In 1966 the roundhouse was used for the maintenance and storage of Rail Diesel Cars. This portion of the roundhouse is now occupied by Steam Whistle.
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#4: An obliging engineer (I don't use the term "hogger." I'm not fond of railway idioms that make one sound like a pig) posed on the steps of Canadian Pacific No. 7059. The locomotive was a sister engine of our Alco S2 No. 7020, but built three years later in 1947. It was retired in the 1980s. The structure on the right is the stores building, demolished in the 1990s. The approximate contemporary location of this photograph is the Don Station.
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#5: Canadian Pacific Dental Car No. 69 was used to provide dental care in remote communities along the line. The car was originally the 8- section, 4- double bedroom sleeper Vaudreuil built in 1931 and converted in 1960. There was a Canadian National dental car in the CRHA Toronto collection that ended up at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in Smiths Falls.
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#6: CP No. 6540 is switching piggyback trailer cars near York Street. The locomotive was an Alco S3, the next generation up from 7020 and was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1955. The line of passenger cars in the background belong to the New York Central and are being marshalled for the overnight train to New York scheduled to leave at 8:05 PM. The structure behind the cars is the Postal Delivery Building, now the Air Canada Centre.
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#7: CP No. 8576 was an Alco RS10S built by MLW in 1956. They were only built in Canada and this unit was equipped with a steam generator for passenger service. At this point they were frequently seen hauling The Canadian.
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What I find most amusing about these images is that I completely forgot about them and my 1966 visit to John Street until I came across the photographs a few years ago, long after I became involved with the TRHA. Little did I know I would be back here some forty years after I had taken these images.
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Posting and pictures by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Work continues on restoration of Cabin D. Tom Murison, the restorer, advises that they have made all of the parts for brackets to support the soffit area of the structure. He notes in his reports to us that it s hard to get pine sheathing which is exactly 1" thick these days so he had to buy some that were over 1" thick and then reduce them to size using his planer in his shop. By doing this, the boards will match the original in thickness and character. The pictures above by Tom Murison show the brackets under construction.
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They also rebuilt the wall surrounding the west window on the north elevation, as well as the top plate and window casing. The original bracket was carrying over 1 ton of bricks on two rotten two by fours so they beefed it up substantially. But the original worked for nearly a century so it certainly wasn't too seriously under designed.
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In the pictures below by James Rasor, you can also see the progress to date on cladding the walls of Cabin D.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Tom Murison and James Rasor
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Click on each image for a closer look!
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One of the challenges TRHA faces is effectively communicating to the public about our plans and progress for the development of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre as well as the history of railways in the area centred on Toronto. We have in the past presented monthly tours of Union Station, interpreted Don Station when it was located at Todmorden Mills, presented information displays at Doors Open, communicated historical events through the ToRYHeritage list and of course communicated through the TRHA website which you are now reading.
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Derek Boles is currently leading an new initiative to expand our efforts to dialogues with visitors to Roundhouse Park by establishing an information table at the west end of the turntable. The main purpose of this effort is to engage the public about what we are up to at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. On the table will be a large park plan and a photo display of mostly previously unseen photographs of the roundhouse over the years. Once we resolve various issues regarding liability, access and staffing, we may expand our offerings to include turntable rides and a guided tour of the site. In the pictures above, we find Derek assisted by TRHA volunteers providing our first day of this service last Saturday. We will be providing this service on selected weekend days for the remainder of the summer.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich and James Rasor

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The laying of the "miniature mainline" track in Roundhouse Park is complete except for one short section across a walkway as shown in the upper left picture. Only a number of the crossings and switches remain to be installed. In the centre picture we find that the part of the wye where the track crosses a pedestrian thoroughfare has now been concreted and the track embedded. In the right hand photo, we see how the track has been integrated into the parts of the "mainline" which cross areas with paving stone finishes.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Work is also proceeding on the challenging job of cleaning up our CPR switcher in preparation for repainting the engine both to improve her appearance and to prtotect the engine from the elements. James Rasor reports as follows:
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"Various methods of removing the old paint on the CP 7020 are being tested using hand scrapers, wire wheel brushes of various head types, and orbital sanders. Before the work started, the engine was photographed from top to bottom for future reference to any markings, details, etc. The painting crew has marked out the testing zone with green painter tape so that TRHA crews working on other days know where the work is taking place. Two panels were selected for the test and ended with a test of red primer which will be reviewed on the following day for method and success of what the end result will be."
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Lance Gleich further notes (see picture at the upper right):
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"It is especially interesting to see the previous paint layers on the 7020 revealed, including the white undercoat of the action red, maroon below that and yellow at the base."
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich and James Rasor

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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The process of building switches for our miniature railway track is a complex one as much welding, grinding and assembly is required to produce each switch. Our switch building team continued to work this weekend as is shown in the images above. The right hand image shows a completed switch which awaits the addition of the moveable points and then installation in Roundhouse Park.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & James Rasor

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Last weekend was another very productive weekend for the TRHA crew who turned out to drive progress on many fronts. In the images above, we find one of the teams working on our Sweet Creek locomotive. While the locomotive has successfully operated in the "locomotive trials" described in a earlier news posting, there is always more work to do. In the middle picture above, we find the locomotive's firebox pulled out for inspection. At the upper right, painting of the locomotive continues as well.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & James Rasor

Click on the image for a closer look!
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Norm Betts is a professional photographer who has been documenting the development of Roundhouse Park. Michael Guy posed for Norm to allow this artful image of work at the roundhouse set against a dramatic night time view of the Toronto skyline. Afterwards, Norm - always the perfectionist - felt that we should have waited another half-hour as the sky was yet too light for the lights of the city to properly show. It is, nevertheless, a striking image."
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Posting by Russ Milland; Picture by Norm Betts

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In this seres of pictures, we get successively closer looks at the mural on the wall of the pedestrian entrance to the Metro Convention Centre underground parking garage. As reported before, this mural is a reproduction of a painting by David O. Oram. His work can be found on David's website as well as on the TRHA website and in the main foyer of Leon's.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland

Click on each picture for a closer look! .
In the pictures at the upper left and middle above, we see a gigantic concrete pump being used to fill the foundation forms of the miniature railway depot building. In the picture at the upper right above, we see the same concrete pump arching high overhead to fill the formed sections of roadway through the park centre.
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In the pictures below we see the area where the miniature railway track crosses the park centre roadway. These photos were taken before and after the first concrete pour in this area.
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Posting and pictures by Michael Guy
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The main entrance to Leon's new store in the John Street Roundhouse is a foyer which runs the width of the roundhouse as shown in the picture at the left above. In the middle picture above we see one of the display cabinets in the foyer. Some of these cabinets contain a selection of our collection of historic photos of the Roundhouse. In the picture at the upper right above, we find one pf these pictures with its interpretive text. In fact this particular image was used until recently on the front page of our website. In the picture at the left below, we see the other end of the foyer where there is a print of a fine painting by David A. Oram which is shown in the image at the lower right. Below the print is text by James A. Brown which interprets the image and explains the preparation of steam engines such as 2815 within the roundhouse. Here is a copy of the text:
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"It's a crisp winter day in March, 1935. Since late last might, Canadian Pacific's Hudson 2815 has been drowsing in the steamy warmth of Toronto's John Street roundhouse, while the shop forces deal with the myriad task of servicing and light maintenance in preparation for the H1b's next passenger service assignment. Both the locomotive and the shop are just five years old.
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And despite the Great Depression, railways are the preferred mode of inter-city travel for Canadians, from coast to coast. John Street boasts Canada’s first installation of a Direct Steaming System. This means that a locomotive laying over between runs can be maintained under shop steam without a fire on the grates. When the engine arrived last evening, 2815's fire was dropped completely, a layer of fresh coal was placed on the grates and the engine rolled into its stall on the steam pressure remaining in the boiler. Once in the roundhouse, it was connected through its blow-off valve to the direct steaming system.
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Now 2815 is marked up for train 37, due to depart Toronto Union Station at 5:20 p.m. for Windsor. The Direct Steaming connection has been removed. Steam sighs from the cylinder cocks and relief valves. A hostler removes the safety chain from the rear driver and clambers into the cab. And as a helper swings open the great doors of stall 2, the first light of 2815's new day glistens off the tender flanks.
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Outside the roundhouse, the dry coal on the grates will be ignited and within minutes 2815 will be working up to full boiler pressure and awaiting its crew for another day’s work in the service of the "World's Greatest Travel System". By James A. Brown
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland
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This past Saturday, our TRHA teams continued to lay track on new roadbed completed by Pine Valley only the day before. We finished the day on even newer right-of-way compacted just a few minutes before we dropped ties and rails in place. These activities are featured in the pictures above.
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In the middle picture below, we see that an indoor team continued to work on the complex job of constructing the switches for the miniature railway. As well, our paint scraping crew on locomotive #7020 continued their work. Another team attended to a series of small housekeeping projects out in the park. It turned out that three of our full-sized tracks are a few feet too long and must be shortened. This entails removal of six 'wheel stops' which was completed that day as shown in the picture at the left below. Cutting the 100 pound with an abrasive rail saw will occur next week.
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The public has had access through the turntable patio area between Leon's and Steam Whistle for the past week or two and visitor traffic back and forth has been steady. As part of our work day we are now fielding questions (see picture at the right below) and listening to stories ("my grandfather worked for CN/CP" etc) on a regular basis. It is common to see people posing for photos up against equipment and we even saw a woman hugging loco #1 on Saturday as her friend took a picture! These early signs of success are gratifying and augur well for the museum in the future.
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On Sunday, a smaller team completed laying the first part of the very tight curve, part of the 'wye' trackage (see picture at the right above) connecting the miniature mainline to the depot building which is now under construction as reported in a prior news posting.
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Posting by Michael Guy; Pictures by Lance Gleich, Michael Guy and James Rasor
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The pictures above were taken last Friday and show that progress has been rapid on the development of the depot and turntable for the minaiture railway. Here we see that the forms have been constructed for the foundation walls for both the turntable and the depot. Next week, we can expect the concrete to be poured.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy

In our daily news postings we have been documenting the tremendous progress being made on many different fronts in developing the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. However, we have not posted an overview of what we have done and where we are headed. In the report below, Derek Boles, our TRHA historian, sums all of this up for you!
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"The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is currently under construction and is not ready to accept visitors. As long as the construction continues, provincial safety regulations prohibit visitors from the site. Our volunteers are not in a position to grant visitors exemptions from these regulations.
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Meanwhile, visitors who wish to appreciate the interior of the Roundhouse are welcome to visit the Leon's Furniture store, which occupies stalls 18-32 and is open until 9:30 on weekdays and 6 on weekends. The Toronto Railway Historical Association anticipates that visitors will be able to access most of the site and Roundhouse Park later in 2009. It is also likely that rides on the live steam miniature railway through Roundhouse Park will be possible late in 2009.
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However, the formal opening of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is unlikely to occur before 2010. The Don Station and Cabin D will probably remain off limits until that time since both these historic structures require more remediation and restoration than was anticipated.
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For your information, this is a timeline of various projects associated with the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre:
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Projects Completed

• Computer simulation of 1954 Toronto railway corridor ( Completed in 2006)
• Acquisition of operating diesel switch engine (Completed in 2007)
• Restoration of roundhouse turntable to operation (Completed in 2007)
• Movement of Cabin D to Roundhouse Park (Completed in 2008)
• Movement of Don Station to Roundhouse Park (Completed in 2008)
• Restoration of Crossing Guard Shelter (Completed in 2009)
• Restoration of Cabin D Tool Shed (Completed in 2009)
• Construction of live steam miniature steam locomotive (Completed in 2009
• Movement of CNR 6213 to Roundhouse Park (Completed in 2009)
• Construction of standard gauge railway track (Completed in 2009)
• Historical display in Leon's foyer (Completed in 2009)

In Progress with completion in 2009 or 2010

• Construction of 7.5-inch railway rack through Roundhouse Park
• Remediation of roundhouse stalls 15, 16 & 17
• Deck installation and landscaping around turntable area
• Landscaping in Roundhouse Park
• Restoration of Don Station
• Restoration of Cabin D
• Production of museum orientation film
• Computer simulation installed in F7 diesel cab
• Installation of interpretive plaques explaining history of the site and artifacts.

Long Term Projects

• The 12,000 square foot Machine Shop will house interpretive displays on Toronto railway history, a visitors' centre, a schoolroom and a theatre and lecture hall.
• Restoration of the Canadian Pacific passenger cars Cape Race and Jackman, built in 1929 and 1931 respectively, the same years in which the Roundhouse was under construction.
• The Railway Heritage Discovery Trail will link the Roundhouse and Union Station through the Skywalk with interpretive panels, guided walks and a downloadable iTour.
• The restoration of the glass walled display rooms (otherwise known as vitrines) adjacent to the VIA concourse and the installation of interpretive displays at Union Station.
• Establishment of museum offices, archives, a library, and historical exhibits at Union Station."

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The best way to monitor ongoing progress at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is to access the TRHA website and especially the "News and Events" page which is continuously updated.
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Posting by Derek Boles

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Our TRHA team has begun to work on our CP Switcher #7020 to stabilize any deterioration and to perform some cosmetic restoration. In the above pictures, we can see her current condition as our volunteers begin the restoration effort. One of the first tasks was to use a galvanized bucket as shown to cover the exhaust stack in order to keep rain out. We also manufactured a black cover to go over the hood-top air louvres to protect them as well. In the pictures below, #7020 has been used as a platform to take pictures of our CLC Whitcomb switcher, our "high-nose" GP7 and our 4-8-4 Northern.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Bob Dickson and James Rasor
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In the picture at the upper left, we witness a derailment in Roundhouse Park! A bit of enthusiatic pushing over a mud-clogged crossing resulted in our speeder work car hitting the ground. It took the combined efforts of four of us to get it back on the rails. In the middle picture above, we find the carpenter crew hard at work laying the deck past the north side of signal cabin D. In the photo at the right above, we find that the shingling of the sides of Cabin D is progressing well.
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In the pictures below, we find that the foundations for the miniature railway depot building and the accompanying turntable have now been laid. In the final picture at the lower right, we find TRHA's VP-Operations Michael Guy tossing his hat in celebration of the start of the miniature railway depot construction.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy and Wilson Lau
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Many years ago, the old iron bridge at West Toronto (also called the Junction) was an excellent spot to view and photograph trains working around the diamond. In these four pictures taken from that bridge, we find CP switchers doing what these locomotives were designed to do. Their primary job was to pick up and drop off freight cars at industries along the railway.
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In the picture at the left below, we find CP Rail #7020 working West Toronto. CP #7020 is a Class DS10-b locomotive and carries serial #72855. It has been preserved as part of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre collection. More information about #7020 can be found here on our website
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Pete Mackintosh
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Many news posts ago, we posted a map of the layout of Roundhouse Park. It showed that the "mainline" of the miniature railway was configured like the figure 8 with the track crossing itself just to the north of Don Station and just east and south of the crossing shanty. In the picture at upper left, we are looking north and can see the crossing under construction. In the picture at the upper right, we have a view of the same crossing looking towards the south. The middle picture shows that the railway will also run through the treed area in the southeast corner of Roundhouse Park.
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Progress on tarck laying is currently paused as we wait for the contractors to complete sufficient additional trackbed for us to continue.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich

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Periodically, major railway festivals are held in North America. One such festival was recently held in Owosso, Michigan from July 23rd to 26th. Lance Gleich of our TRHA team attended this festival and here is his report on his experience.

"While much attention was focused on the eight operating standard-gauge locomotives in attendance at the festival, the grounds actually featured trains of all sizes down to Z scale model equipment on sale. For an extra fare, about 3,000 people also rode the all-day excursions pulled by either Portland, Oregon-owned former Southern Pacific "Daylight" 4-8-4 #4449 or former Nickel Plate 2-8-4 #765 visiting from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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However, for no extra fare beyond admission to the Festival, one could ride behind a miniature live steam locomotive of the same gauge as the miniature railway that we are constructing at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. While no Canadian prototypes were noted at the miniature live steam gathering, a wide variety of American prototypes were represented - steam, diesel, and electric.
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Attracting a substantial amount of attention were the one-eighth scale models of Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261 owned by John Jaros, Southern 4-6-2 #1396 owned by Joe Holbrook, and "Manatee River Railroad" 2-4-4-2 #28 owned by Bill Bherens (shown in the pictures from left to right above). Diesels (as shown below) ranged from early EMC switchers to Alco FA's to GP30's, and there was even a classic trolley car serving as a locomotive.
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The constant parade of trains kept switch tenders and stationmasters busy throughout each day of the festival, as consists constantly pulled up to two stations on the grounds for loading and unloading. It has not yet been reported how many of the 36,000 festival attendees rode the miniature trains, but they certainly numbered in the thousands. The total length of track at Owosso, listed in the program as 4,000 feet is about double the planned length of our trackage in Toronto, but many more sidings and storage tracks were in place."
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We at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre can learn much from these festivals and can look to forward to possibly hosting festivals of our own in future once our facilitiy is complete.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Report and pictures by Lance Gleich
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Norm Betts is a professional photographer who has been commissioned to photograph the development of Roundhouse Park and the Roundhouse itself. He has generously allowed the TRHA to share these photos with our readers. In the picture above, Norm has taken a panaramic photo of the opening of Leon's. In the panoramic picture below, we see the current state of the three bays to be dedicated to restoration activities within the museum. The nature of the panoramic image provides a very interesting distorted perspective on this space.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Norm Betts
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Given the usefulness of our speeder trailer cars in support of track maintenance, our team built a work car for the miniature railway. It is shown in the picture at the upper left and has been named "Chester". In the middle photo, we see a completed miniature railway crossing of one of the concrete paths being developed in the park. In the right hand photo, we see some of the extensive concrete formwork being built throughout the park as the concrete paths are rebuilt to accommodate the new buildings, the new radial tracks and the miniature railway.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Russ Milland and Wilson Lau