On Friday June 22, 2012, the John Street Roundhouse was inducted into the North American Railway Hall of Fame at a ceremony held at the Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.  The ceremony began with introductions by Paul Corriveau (past president, NARHF) and Steve Peters (National Selection Committee) and was presided over by Laurence Grant (historian, NARHF).  Guest speaker Susan Ratcliff, President of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario began the evening’s events with a terrific lecture on the Perception and Reality of conservation in Ontario which included recent examples of unfortunate losses to our cultural heritage as well as great examples of restoration and adaptive re-use.  

The main event of the evening were the inductions into the North American Railway Hall of Fame, in the following categories:

Each award was preceded by the reading of the nomination citation aloud to the attendees followed by the presentation of the award to the nominee.  The John Street Roundhouse was the sole building inducted in the Facility/Structures category; yet another reminder of its importance as a National Historic Site and the best surviving example of a roundhouse in Canada.  James Rasor, COO of the Toronto Railway Historical Association, read the citation which was written by nominator John McIntyre.  While most of those in attendance are well aware of the work of the TRHA and our volunteers, the announcement that the TRHA is currently faced with the impending loss of the Machine Shop, the intended home of the Toronto Railway Museum, was met with surprise, regret and no shortage of outrage and bewilderment.

Orin Krivel, President of the TRHA, accepted the award on behalf of the TRHA and all of our volunteers.  Orin reiterated the challenges facing the TRHA and the future of the Machine Shop and Toronto Railway Museum and assured the audience of the TRHA’s continued commitment to work towards the preservation of the Roundhouse as a whole and the establishment of the Toronto Railway Museum, as mandated by Toronto City Council.  The TRHA is pleased to announce this award and we are gratified by the many pledges of support and action that we received from the attendees at Friday’s event.  

In the photo above we see (from left to right) James Rasor (TRHA), Laurence Grant (Historian – NARHF) and Orin Krivel (TRHA)

Posting and photos by James Rasor