A Visit to the John Street Roundhouse in 1932
The hobby of capturing trains with photography – sometimes known as railfanning, trainspotting, or ferroequinology depending on who you ask – has existed for almost as long as trains and commercially-available cameras have existed alongside each other. The hobby gained a significant amount of popularity at the start of the postwar era, partly due to a desire to capture the final years of steam locomotives in revenue service. The individuals who took part are responsible for many of the historical photographs you can find on websites like ours. However, it was in the decades before this that we see some of the trailblazers of the hobby. Otto C. Perry was easily among them, capturing trains as early as 1914 at the age of 20. By the time of his death in 1970, he had amassed a collection of over 20,000 photographs which can be viewed at the Denver Public Library Archives. A resident of Denver, Colorado, most of his photos were naturally taken in the United States. However, on one occasion in the summer of 1932, he took a trip north of the border and toured the grounds of the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto – camera in hand.
At the time of his visit, the John Street Roundhouse was brand new and had only been in operation for three years. Perry’s style was something that’s now known among railfans as the “roster shot”; typically a 3/4 wedge or side shot where a piece of railway equipment – usually a locomotive – takes up most or all of the frame. The locomotives were Perry’s primary interest here, and this gives us a glimpse at what a typical day looked like for workers at the John Street Roundhouse in its first few years of operation. These photos were taken at a time when diesel locomotives hadn’t yet appeared in Toronto, and even some of Canadian Pacific’s largest steam locomotives hadn’t been built yet. In the background of each image you can often see some recognizable landmarks – the coaling tower, the Royal York Hotel, and the roundhouse itself all make appearances.
Slideshow
In the slideshow below, you can click the arrows or swipe through each of Perry’s photographs at John Street.
Canadian Pacific 2507 with the roundhouse’s coaling tower in the background at right, and the roof of the Royal York Hotel just visible in the distance. Courtesy of the Otto C. Perry Collection. 
The eastern side of the roundhouse, now occupied by Steam Whistle Brewing, is visible on the right of this photo. Despite a rather different outward appearance, 2238 is the same type as 2507 and was built by the Angus Shops in the same year. In its later years, 2238 was often seen pulling trains on the Orangeville Subdivision. 
Canadian Pacific 2238 is refilled with a water column at the John Street Roundhouse in 1932. Courtesy of the Otto C. Perry Collection. 
Another 4-6-2, numbered 2325, sitting in the yard. Now completely obscured by other buildings, the Royal York Hotel made for an excellent backdrop in 1932. 
CPR 2303, yet another 4-6-2, is seen elsewhere near the roundhouse. At the time these were taken, there were hundreds of the 4-6-2 Pacific types on CP’s roster. They were the primary mainline passenger locomotive until larger engines took their place in later years. 
One of the more interesting wheel arrangements on Canadian Pacific could be found at the John Street Roundhouse. Canadian Pacific only had two of these 4-8-2 Mountain types, and at the time both would pull passenger trains out of Toronto. 
Not all of the yard switchers at John Street were the more common 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 wheel arrangements. 3476 is a 2-8-0 that, along with other locomotives in its class, spent most of its life switching in yards. Some were even given the sloped-back tenders of older yard switchers. 
2066 was probably one of the oldest engines at John Street when this photo was taken, built in 1902 by Canadian Pacific’s own Angus Shops. It was retired and scrapped in 1938, six years after this photo was taken. 
One of the common, yet seldom-photographed yard switchers at John Street getting hosed down. These engines were permanent fixtures of every major rail yard, and in this case were used to assemble or disassemble sets of passenger cars prior to their next run.