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Michael Guy has provided us with the above dramatic shot of #6213. He reports that it is "a night photo of 6213 floodlit on the turntable with the city lights behind. Superimposed is a multiple reflection of the Leon's roundhouse store interior showing the wood columns and roof. This is one shot taken from inside the glass with a Nikon P80 with a 4.7mm lens at f/2.8, 1/15 sec." Below we also have a recent pair of fine pictures of #6213 in repose at the CPR Roundhouse by Lance Gleich.
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These are timely pictures as the TRHA is also proud to introduce a fine 12 page e-book (electronic book) prepared for us by Richard McQuade with the assistance of R. Sandusky, G. Kingsland and B. Dickson to commemorate the move of #6213 from the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Grounds to its new home at the John St. CPR Roundhouse in 2009. We thank all of the owners of the photos in the e-book for their permission to use them.
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To view, download or print this e-book, visit our new Resources page on the TRHA website by clicking here.
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Posting by Russ Milland
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This article appeared in the Upper Canada Railway Society newsletter Number 6 in March 1942. John Loye was born in Montreal in 1880 and was one of the founding members and the first president of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association in 1932. He was a devoted amateur historian and his florid writing style is more reminiscent of the early 18th than the mid-20th century. Loye was a technical designer and created the logo still used by the CRHA. He died in Montreal in 1962.

The Beautiful Josephine
by John Loye
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This famous locomotive with the intriguing name must ever live in the railroad traditions of Toronto. As among living beings, so also among locomotives have been found those which attain the fame and renown above the ordinary plane of their fellows.
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When we speak of the Josephine it brings to our minds the indigenous scenes of Toronto of another and picturesque day. We can dwell with others in the atmosphere of the 'fifties again, when the busy new railway station at the foot of Bay Street resounded with the traffic of the trains, the clangour of the engine bells, and breathed the wafted odor of burning tamarac blowing from proud and prominent balloon-stacks. When the buff and brown facade of the Rossin House (now the Prince George Hotel) rose rich and new at King and York Streets, and an aspect of new-found glory opened to the Queen City of the west.
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The Josephine in every way deserved her fame. She was the highest expression of locomotive design of the time of her production, 1853. We have often wondered how it came that this particular engine was so superb and superior. Was it that special specifications governed her design and dimensions? It was this super-excellence in size and construction, and beauty and symmetry of proportions, that marked the Josephine is an engine the lone of her kind.
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Josephine was a big engine for her time, and as big as they came up until the 'seventies. She was as smart in performance as in appearance, and, in truth, was far too good for the rail she had to run on. No one ever knew how fast this engine could go. They could never let her out to the limit of her speed on the tracks of the Ontario, Simcoe on Huron, or the Northern of a later day.
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This big and beautiful "narrow-back" with her tilted cylinders and six foot wheels, was built by John Brandt of Paterson, New Jersey. Why the designer and builder of such a magnificent engine should fail to make good in the field of his profession excites wonderment. Was it that he was ahead of the times?
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There were several locomotive works flourishing in Paterson at that time and competition was keen. It has been said that Brandt put everything he had into the Josephine in order to win additional orders. Maybe so, for he did get subsequent orders from the OS&H; but whether or not; he did himself proud when he produced the beautiful Josephine.
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The engine was remarkable always because of the ornamental cab it bore, with three gothic windows and each side, the only example of its kind to be seen around Toronto. It has been said that it was made entirely of mahogany. Of this we are uncertain, but it was elaborately molded and mitered, and in true architectural design.
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When first delivered to the OS&H in 1853, the engine must have been grand in appearance. The boiler lagging was of the silvery hue, and the two steam-domes were like burnished gold. There was a planitude of bright silver and brass trimmings. These gave a glittering appearance in the sunshine. Even up to the day the Josephine was broken up, about 1880, it retained that air of superb distinction that made it an object to admire and forever remember -- the beautiful Josephine.
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(Mr. John Loye is the secretary of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association and was for eight years president. He, one of Canada's leading figures in the field of railway history, wrote this comment on request in order that our members might know more of the engine that is incorporated into the design of our insignia.)
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IMAGES
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#1 - Northern No. 3, decorated with Union Jacks and deer antlers, poses on the turntable south of Front Street circa 1860. In an era when railway engines received individual names, this was the 'Josephine', probably named for or by its longtime engineer Josiah Huckett, the dapper looking gentleman seen leaning on his engine. With its enormous 72" driving wheels, this was the fastest engine in the NRC roster.
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#2 - The front of the locomotive was incorporated into the logo of the Upper Canada Railway Society.
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#3 - Loye also designed the CRHA logo, which incorporated the Dorchester, the first steam locomotive to operate in Canada.
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#4 - In 1932, Loye drew this sketch of the Toronto, the first steam locomotive built in Canada.
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#5 - In 2000, the Royal Canadian Mint incorporated Loye's sketch as a holographic image in its $20 coin commemorating the Toronto.
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Posting by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian
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The TRHA has now added a RESOURCES section (see the image of the RESOURCES page at the left!) to our website. Here we will providing downloadable documents and other files of interest. Our first downloadable resource is the Guide to Railfanning in the Toronto area which we first made available in a News Posting on May 26th, 2009. Here is a reprint of that post:
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"The TRHA has been often asked if they have a guide for the rail fan who plans to visit Toronto and the surrounding area. Derek Boles, our TRHA historian, has produced just such a guide.
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It is now available to you simply by clicking on the link on the RESOURCES page and either opening it up for viewing as a PDF (and then printing it or saving it to your computer) or for downloading and saving directly to your computer for future reference or printing it so that you can take it with you. Downloading the document has been tested on the three major browsers - Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari."
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The new RESOURCES page can be found at the right hand end of the menu across the top of our web pages. Or you can go directly there by clicking here.
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Posted by Russ Milland, TRHA
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Despite forecasts of a rainy day, our work party had sun all morning and it didn't rain until after they were finished.
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As we see in the pictures above, the major project was the installation of the crossing signal mast in Roundhouse Park. This project took most of the day as pulling the necessary cables required a pull line be run into the electrical conduit from the post to Cabin D. The conduit was full of water and it took a long while to get it drained. The 'approved technique' for running the string is to tie a bit of plastic to the end and suck it through the conduit with a vacuum cleaner! This works like a charm except when there is water inside.
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Meanwhile, back in the machine shop, couple of team members conintued to work on the switches one of which is now finally finished and is ready to place. The next switch which is heading for the northern end of the station platforms is only a half day away from being done also.
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Posting and pictures by Michael Guy & Justin Perry
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Don Loucks, heritage architect with IBI Group, has been awarded the 2009 Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP) award for adaptive reuse of a heritage building for his work on the John Street Roundhouse. The award was presented to Loucks at the combined Heritage Canada Foundation and CAHP annual awards ceremony at Toronto's Artscape Wychwood Barns on Friday, September 25.
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Loucks received the award for his work on the conservation and adaptive reuse of the John Street Roundhouse National Historic Site of Canada, a heritage landmark in downtown Toronto. The roundhouse, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929, has been completely rehabilitated and adapted to house a Leon's furniture store, the Steam Whistle Brewery and the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.
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CAHP was founded in 1987 to represent the interests of professional practitioners in many related fields of heritage conservation in Canada. The CAHP awards have been presented annually since 2005 and are intended to honour exceptional work by members of the association.
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Posting by Andrew Jeanes; Photo by Norm Betts

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As mentioned in earlier TRHA News postings, Derek Boles, TRHA's historian, publishes a daily posting on the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group List. These postings document major events in Canadian history that happened on that day of the year. In today's posting, one of the items was:
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September 26, 1964:
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Canadian National steam locomotive No. 6218 makes her debut as an excursion locomotive on a UCRS sponsored trip between Toronto and Scotia Junction, north of Huntsville. The locomotive was paired in a double header with soon to be retired Northern No. 6167. 6218 was probably CN's most famous excursion engine, its range extending from Chicago, Illinois to Portland, Maine. After the engine was retired in 1971, it was stored at Spadina Roundhouse and then donated to the Fort Erie Railway Museum where it receives indifferent care.
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If you wish to read these daily postings from Derek, simply join the Yahoo Group by clicking here.
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The pictures above by John Vincent show CNR #6218 in action on an excursion on the Beeton Subdivision on February 19th, 1967.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by John Vincent

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In the images at left, our restoration contractor, Tom Murison, has begun replacement of the doors and windows in the coaling tower. These are new-built replicas of the original steel-framed pane windows.
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Posting and pictures by Michael Guy

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Further to the first part of this posting where we shared John Mellow's pictures of #1057 in the 1970's with you as well as Derek Boles' posting of the anniversary of her first steaming up again at the South Simcoe Railway, we are bringing you a picture of #1057 as part of a triple header. The picture is from a great webpage at yourrailwaypictures.com developed by John MacDonald where he features a number of great pictures of CPR steam locomotives.
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John Mellow, a member of the TRHA Board, also offers the following brief history of #1057:
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"Former Canadian Pacific Railway D10h 4-6-0 No. 1057 was built by Montreal Locomotive Works in December of 1912 and served the company until 1959. During this period, the engine was assigned to Northern Ontario until the mid point of 1938, when it saw service out of Swift Current Saskatchewan for five months. In March 1956, 1057 was transferred to the Ontario District. Assigned to Lambton, it worked many lines such as Owen Sound and Havelock until her retirement in 1959. On May 1st 1960, along with 136 and 815, 1057 provided railfans with an opportunity to experience a triple-headed steam excursion from Toronto to Orangeville and return.
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Later in 1960 she was purchased by the Regal Stationary Company, and placed on display adjacent to their plant in Leaside. In 1970 she was sold to Mr. Herb Hanson of Chicago. At this point 1057 arrived at John St. roundhouse for mechanical and cosmetic restoration. While this work was being done, Ontario Rail Association purchased 1057 from Mr. Hansen in 1973, and did a complete restoration of the engine as ORA volunteers worked side by side with CPR roundhouse staff. The ORA’s inaugural trip using 1057 took place on May 27th 1973 from West Toronto to Orangeville and return, carrying 270 passengers at a fare of just $19.00 each. Locomotive 1057 operated in excursion service until the summer of 1977 when it operated from Guelph to Goderich and return to mark the latter's sesquicentennial. From 1973 to 1977, she operated on mainline and branchline trackage of not only the CPR, but also that of the CNR and the TH&B. For a three year period, 1057 was the power for the steam train operation between Ottawa and Wakefield, sponsored by the Federal Government. In recent years, 1057 has seen limited use as backup power for 136 on the South Simcoe Railway in Tottenham Ontario, and both locomotives remain out of service at this writing."
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Posting by Russ Milland

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In the picture at the upper left, we see that progress continues on the restoration of Cabin D and it begins to return to its former glory.
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The next two pictures above capture a meeting held to discuss the restoration of the cabin D lever frame. In the image at the right, former leverman Derrick Dewar who worked at Cabin 'D' is shown with John Mellow, TRHA board member and former agent at Don Station. John is taking notes on uses of particular levers and operations at the Cabin. Orin Krivel, TRHA President, is seen in the middle photo discussing the work with Mac, our machinist, who has been contracted to do the restoration work.
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Finally, in the pictures below, we get a close-up view of the British-built Saxby and Farmer lever frame from Cabin D. The large levers were used to physically move railway track switches from one setting to another and to control signal lights. The operation of the railway was made safe by the large mechanical 'computer' attached to the lever frame that disallowed the levermen from setting switches so that trains could collide. The lever mechanism is undergoing restoration this winter for display in the restored cabin in 2010.
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Remarkably, this mechanical type of system continues to be in use within the Toronto Terminal Railways system but is finally being replaced by new computer controlled electrically operated systems.
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Posting and pictures by Michael Guy
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As mentioned in earlier TRHA News postings, Derek Boles, TRHA's historian, publishes a daily posting on the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group List. These postings document major events in Canadian history that happened on that day of the year. In today's posting, one of the items was:
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"September 22, 1997:
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At Tottenham, ex-Canadian Pacific D10h No. 1057 is brought up to pressure and operated under her own steam for the first time in twenty years. Built in 1912, the locomotive had been restored and serviced at the John Street roundhouse in the 1970s. Along with ex-CP No. 136, the South Simcoe Railway used the locomotive on its excursions between Tottenham and Beeton."
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If you wish to read these daily postings from Derek, simply join the Yahoo Group by clicking here.
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John Mellow, a TRHA Board member, has provided us with images of #1057 in her Credit Valley RR livery in the 1970's at the Roundhouse. In the picture at the upper left, #1057 moves out of the Roundhouse on October 13th, 1973. In the middle picture, #1057 is parked beside the Roundhouse in May of 1973. In the image at the right, #1057 is passing the coaling tower in October of 1976.
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#1057 was in operation at the South Simcoe Railway until 2006. Since then, the engine has been out of operation for major repairs. The video below shows #1057 in action during her last operating season.
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Watch for an imminent further posting on the history of #1057!
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by John Mellow.
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Click on each picture for a closer look! .
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We hope to be able to re-occupy our three museum stalls soon as the renovations get much closer to completion. Contractors have completed installation of a new wooden roof purlin above stall 15 as we see in the picture at upper right. In the middle picture, we find the electricians at work pulling cables into the new power conduits.
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In the final picture, we find the early morning sun catching locomotives #1 and #6213 from the east across the turntable.
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Posting and pictures by Michael Guy

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The Huntsville and Lakes of Bays Railway is a wonderful small railway which operates in Huntsville, Ontario. Among its rolling stock are the steam locomotives and open passenger cars used by the original railways to move passengers from one set of Muskoka lakes to another. This year, the railway is not operational due to reconstruction work at an adjoining community centre in preparation for the G8 Summit to be held at the nearby Deerhurst Lodge in June of 2010.
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This summer, they are also cleaning up their area as they rebuilt their rail yard. As part of this effort, they generously invited the TRHA to examine their stockpiles of railway artefacts and choose what we might wish to transfer to our museum. As we see in the pictures above, Michael Guy led an expedition to fetch what we felt was valuable for our use. The parts acquired also included two speeder axles complete with wheels and bearings, a functional 35 ton x 5-inch lift screw jack, three non-functional but restorable fifty-ton jacks, a complete two-wheel CNR baggage cart, a small locomotive headlight and and assortment of small "will come in useful someday" stuff that no museum should be without.
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On Saturday, after we unloaded close to a ton of this rusty stuff, our Saturday crew proceeded to clean and assemble the crossing signal mast shown in the photos below, taking it down to bare metal and sound paint with angle grinders. They then applied two coats of aluminum paint. The result was excellent. One of our TRHA crew's relations was a signal maintainer so he was able to advise us on the refinishing of the black bits which were always just flat-black paint. The crossing signal is now ready for duty in Roundhouse Park.
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Out in Roundhouse Park itself, a TRHA paint team added two yellow safety stripes along the platforms surrounding the miniature railway tracks much like subway platforms have. Another TRHA volunteer beavered away on miniature switch work in the machine shop.

Posting and pictures by Michael Guy
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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Modern diesel-electric engines are essentially powered by very large diesel motors driving a massive generator. This power plant provides electrical power on demand as needed by the locomotive to pull a train. The electric motors which drive the engine are an integral part of the trucks on which the engine rides. Two spare diesel electric trucks which are suitable as replacement rrucks for the CPR switchers at the Roundhouse have been stored inside the Roundhouse for decades. Last June, they were pulled from the Roundhouse and stored outside to allow for Roundhouse renovations. Above we find some closeup pictures of these trucks.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland

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Norm Betts, the professional photographer who has been documenting the development of Roundhouse Park in photos, has sent this great panoramic shot of Roundhouse Park now that the laying of the sod has pretty much been completed and with it the reconstruction sof the park's grounds. As we sweep from left to right, we see:

• Bremner Boulevard with the downtown city skyline behind it
• Cabin D, the Tool Shed and Don Station
• The Roundhouse itself with the growing wall of condominiums behind it
  
• The CPR #7020 switcher and our CLC Whitcomb on the turntable
  
• Our CNR 4-8-4 #6213 Steam Engine in front of the coaling tower
• The Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome)
  

In the variation on this picture seen below, we can see how the picture was taken using a "cherry picker". Here we see Mike Veri, the roundhouse site construction supervisor, operating the unit.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Norm Betts
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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In the picture at the upper left, we see that the chimney on the tool shed has now been rebuilt while construction continues on Cabin D behind it. In the other two pictures above, the scaffolding used to allow the workmen to build the concrete walls of the train shed are shown. Below we see both ends of the train shed after the scaffolding has been removed.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & Michael Guy
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With the mainline track pretty much complete except for a few crossings and switches, our TRHA crews have been working steadily for the past week to complete the wye which connects the mainline tracks to the miniature railway's turntable and train shed. Being a wye, it will also allow us to turn trains around. In the above pictures we see the progress that has been made towards preparing the wye tracks for concrete pours to set them in place.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & Michael Guy

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While work continues on restoration of the structures in Roundhouse Park, the work on the reconstruction of the grounds is rapidly coming to completion. In these current pictures, we see that the laying of sod is quickly being completed.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy

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Bob Dickson of the TRHA has provided us with the letter below which was submitted to and published in the Canadian Railway Historical Association's newsletter. It was written by his great uncle James Dickson (as pictured at upper left). It describes an amusing story of events at Omeemee Station (see map at upper right). The middle picture is of Omemee Station in 1927 taken by Bob Dickson's grandfather.
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CRHA News Report #129 January, 1962
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Railroad Hog
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"In 1920, ten years before the Welland canal was opened, heavy grain shipments moved from Midland to Lindsay, through Lorneville junction. The Blackwater-Coboconk branch crossed the Midland - Lindsay line at this point. The diamond was protected by semaphores a quarter mile from the station. Each semaphore was controlled by cable which was wound onto a drum to put the signal in “go” position. Changed to “stop” the cable was let out by kicking a release cog.
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One fall day the agent at the Lorneville heard the telegraph key chatter a message that a freight train was leaving Lindsey from Midland. To be sure, dead sure, that the signal was clear, he went to the station platform to check. The chain was wound tight on the drum, the signal arm was straight up, and the light was green.
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A few minutes later the train whistled repeatedly. The agent heard it but, knowing the signal was clear, he thought of cattle on the track or some other reason for the whistling. A few minutes later the train crawled slowly up to the station. The conductor and engineer came into the office and expressed their views on being stopped for no apparent reason. The agent insisted that the signal was clear, and accompanied the crew outside to prove his point.
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But the signal arm was straight out, the light was red. He glanced around for an explanation and saw the curly tailed end of a pig disappearing around the corner of the station house. He said to the conductor, “Maybe the pig did it.” Snorting in disgust, the conductor high-balled his train, and spread the word along the line that the agent at Lorneville had lost some of his marbles.
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A week later the agent called his son to the station window to bear witness with him. Over in the wye his potatoes have been harvested, but many little ones had been cast aside. The family pig was rooting them out and gorging himself. When he completed his meal he crossed the tracks and trotted along the platform, headed for home.
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But for a moment he deviated. He moved inquisitively to the signal lever and drum, thrust his snout into the blob of axle grease on the release cog, then scuttled for his pen and safety behind the house as the drums spun, the cable ran out with a clatter, and the signal jolted from “go” to “stop”.
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The agent at Lorneville was William Roger Dickson, who retired from CN service at Omemee, Ontario in 1935 and died in 1937.
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As told by James William Campbell Dickson"
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If you have artefacts, stories or other items of historical railway interest to donate or make available to the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre, contact us.
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For more information about Omeemee Station and the history of railways in the area, visit Charles Cooper's Railway Pages.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures, story and letter courtesy of Bob Dickson and the Dickson family; Omeeme Map from the Ontario Archives

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Today, we are posting additional images from the Milton Steam Era festival. At the upper left, we find a graden tractor modified to be driven by four gas engines. It is likely that this was built to compete in the popular tractor pull competitions where tractors pulled a special trailer which increased the weight being pulled as the tractor attempted to drive as far as it could before simply spinning its wheels.
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In the middle image above, we find a beutifully restored automobile from the beginning of the last century. Note that these essentially were designed just like horse drawn cariages but with a gasoline, electric or steam engine added. Note also the early Chevrolet from the late 1950's behind it. In the right hand picture above we see the huge fins, in this case of an Oldsmobile, which were so popular in the emerging "rocket age" in the late 1950's.
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In the image in the lower left, we find one of the earliest gasoline-powered tractors. Just as in the age of the emergence of cars, these tractors were simply designed like steam powered tractors and therefore were also huge. In the middle image below of a lovingly restored tractor from the last part of the last century, we see that these huge tractors evolved into much smaller tractors over time. Finally, in the lower right, we have an image of an old bulldozer as there is a small active group of folks who focus on restoring construction equipment as well.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland
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Continuing on our search for steam at the Milton Steam Era show, we find at the upper left a steam tractor put to good use pulling a trailer load of passengers around the grounds. In the middle picture above, we find a large scale model of a steam tractor being prepared for a trip around the grounds. In the picture at the right above we find a rare survivor of the steam era - a steam powered road roller.
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In the picture at the left below, we find a portable steam engine being used to drive a small saw mill. These portable untis were common a century ago as the primary means of providing power to machines. In the middle picture below, we find a large sawmill which was also in operation at the festival. Finally, in the lower right we find a fine collection of steam whistles on display.
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Steam Era is noted for bringing a very diverse and ecletic collection of equipment from the past to one place for all to enjoy.
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Posting and pictures by Russ Milland
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In this news posting, we find Michael Guy and Jon Hull at the Milton Steam Era festival operating a massive Sawyer-Massey steam tractor owned by the Ontario Steam Heritage Museum in Puslinch, Ontario. As you can see from the pictures, these massive tractors take a lot of care and attention in order to keep everything well lubricated, the fire properly managed and the boiler steam pressure under control. During Steam Era, these tractors and other vehicles travelled around the grounds to the delight of visitors and also participated in daily parades past the grandstand.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich
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Many steam lcoomotives such as our CNR 4-8-4 Northern #6213 survived the end of the steam era on our railways. A few of the survivors have been restored into operating condition. Many of these survivors have been put on display in various communities around the world. Some like #6213 are carefully and lovingly maintained by individuals or groups such as our Toronto Locomotive Preservation Society. Others unfortunately are left to deterioriate in the open.
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There is a website - Steamlocomotives.com - which attempts to track all such locomotives in North America and Australia. This is an admirable effort by a single enthusiast - Wes Barris. The website doesn't provide information about how well preserved any of the locomotives are, but many listings are accompanied by photos that give a rough idea of the level of cosmetic preservation or restoration, if not saying anything about hidden deterioration. If you are planning to travel around Ontario and wish to know where you can find these locomotives, this page on that website is devoted to the surviving locomotives in our province.
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In the pictures above from left ot right, we find:

• A Shay under restoration at the Komoka Railway Museum in Komoka, Ontario
• Huntsville and Lake of Bays #2 at the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway in Huntsville, Ontario
  
• A CNR 2-8-0 Consolidation at the Memory Junction Museum in Brighton, Ontario
• A CNR 4-6-0 Mogul in Barrie, Ontario
  

Posting by Russ Milland based on information from Andrew Jeanes

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Occassionally we post news of interest from beyond our immediate area. Here is one news worthy item of interest to those of us who are ardent fans of steam driven vehicles such as our #6213 and our Sweet Creek locomotives.
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Edward's Air Force Base, California: Tuesday August 25th, 2009:
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"Today at 8.19am (California time) Charles Burnett III successfully broke the land speed record for a steam powered car - which has stood for more than 100 years - achieving an average speed of 139.843 mph on two runs over a measured mile. Driver Charles Burnett III piloted the car for both runs reaching a peak speed of 136.103 mph on the first run and 151.085 mph on the second. The new international record, which is subject to official confirmation by the FIA, breaks the previous official FIA record of 127 mph set in 1906 by American, Fred Marriott, driving a Stanley steamer at Daytona Beach." - For more information visit their website.
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A quick trip to Wikipedia to explore land records for vehices on rails reults in the following information:
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"Determination of the fastest rail vehicle in the world varies depending on the definition of "rail". The French TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) is the fastest conventional train in the world, using powered metal wheels riding on metal rails. In April 2007, the TGV broke its own 1990 record with a new speed of 574.8 km/h (357.18 mph) under test conditions with a shortened train (two power cars and three passenger cars) and larger wheels to reduce angular speed in the motors.
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The Japanese JR-Maglev is the fastest non-conventional train in the world, having achieved 581 km/h (361 mph) on a magnetic-levitation track. Unmanned rocket sleds that ride on rails have reached over 10,400 km/h (6,462 mph), equivalent to Mach 8.5. The fastest manned rail vehicle is a manned rocket sled, that travelled at 1,017 km/h (635 mph)."
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Wikipedia also reports that an "LNER Class A4 4468 named Mallard is the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives at 125.88 mph (202.58 km/h). The record was achieved on July 3rd, 1938 on the slight downwards grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line, and the highest speed was recorded at milepost 90 ¼, between Little Bytham and Essendine. It broke the German (DRG Class 05) 002's 1936 record of 124 mph (200.4 km/h)."
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In the two pictures at the left below, we see the Mallard as preserved at the famed National Railway Museum in York, England. We even have one instance of a Mallard class locomotive in our National Railway Museum (Exporail) - the "Dominion of Canada" (see picture at lower right). Click here for a very interesting Wikipedia entry on the "Dominion of Canada" .
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Posting by Russ Milland
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Click on each picture for a closer look! .

On August 19th, I was fortunate enough to visit the Canadian Railway Museum - Exporail. The museum grounds sit on two municipalities, Saint-Constant and Delson, Quebec, that are on the south shore of the St. Lawrence and only a short drive from Montreal. It is operated by the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (CRHA). If travelling by transit, the local transit authority- CIT Roussillon- provides bus service from downtown Montreal. On the day in question, I boarded a convenient Museum Express train from Lucien-L'Allier station that took me from downtown Montreal right onto the museum grounds. The train returned in the afternoon. These special excursions are offered by the AMT commuter train service on select days during the summer.
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Exporail has the largest museum collection of railway equipment in Canada. The main building (seen above left) was constructed in the 1990's and is fully air conditioned. I found that it resembled a terminus train station with six platforms accessing twelve tracks. Each of the tracks held several pieces of equipment that revolved around a particular theme. Out of concern for safety and the preservation of historical artifacts, most of the equipment could only be appreciated from the exterior. In some instances, special raised platforms allowed visitors inside the trains. In the above centre, we see an old train car that has been cleverly transformed into a theatre.
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Another piece I found interesting was an open-aired streetcar with tiered seating that was used in Montreal. Nowadays people enjoy sightseeing in open-aired double-decker buses. One passenger car of note was outfitted as a classroom. A teacher and his family use to live in the car and would travel to remote Ontario communities to provide lessons to school children once a week. A unique feature of the building is a below-ground pit that lets visitors see the underside of trains and how axles are replaced (see above right).
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The main building also contains restrooms, a small cafeteria, a gift shop, and exhibit space for special events. During the weekend in question, model railway enthusiasts had gathered to show off some wonderful displays. There were at least two model trains that paid tribute to the former CN Turbotrain.
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Likely the most popular of the exhibitors was the Quebec Lego Users Group. QueLUG's setup featured trains, a monorail, buses, and -if you looked very carefully- a subway below ground in the livery of Montreal's STM (see below left).
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Outside of the main building, more stock is displayed outdoors and in a smaller exhibit building. One of the highlights of the second building is a unique plow car that could be coupled in front of a locomotive. To get around the museum grounds, Exporail offers an operating streetcar track that travels the perimeter of the grounds in heritage equipment (see below centre).
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For the young ones (or the young at heart,) the museum also has a miniature railway track. Having been working on the construction of Roundhouse Park's track for the past several weeks, I took a good look at its construction and was surprised to see no visible fasteners connecting the rail to the ties. I have since been advised that the ties feature special slots that hold the rail bar in place. Also similar to Roundhouse Park, Exporail has an operating
turntable (see below right). It is quite a bit shorter than our own, and I was unfortunately unable to see it in action.
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Another special event taking place that weekend was the operation of the heritage John Molson steam engine. I believe the plan was to have the train take passengers on a short journey on a closed-circuit track, but there was announcement regarding technical difficulties while I was in the main building. Nevertheless, visitors were able to see the engine move back and forth on
short lines of rail.
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By the time the Museum Express was ready to make its return trip, I found I had seen almost everything but not spent nearly enough time there (true of both Exporail and Montreal). After arriving at Lucien-L'Allier, it was a five and a half hour VIA train back to Toronto's Union Station, and only a 30 minute ride on the subway home.
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Posting and pictures by Wilson Lau
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