Click on each image for a closer look!
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In an earlier TRHA News posting, we visited the Fort Erie Railway Museum which houses a preserved railway station as well as CNR Northern #6218, a sister locomotive to our #6213.
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Today, we are bringing to your attention a new railway museum which is also being developed in Fort Erie. The Niagara Railway Museum (NRM) has been the dream of a dedicated group of volunteers. NRM volunteers have been acquiring locomotives and other railway artefacts associated with the Niagara region for many years. The NRM has stored them at various locations around Ontario.
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Recently, they have leased former railway servicing facilities in the heart of Fort Erie, Ontario as a new home in which to consolidate their collection and build a museum. As can be seen in the aerial photo above (from Google Maps), the NRM building is of a substantial size and will be able to accommodate in due course quite a large collection of railway artefacts. Note the signs in the aerial image of the turntable and roundhouse that once existed there as well.
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In the past few months, their volunteers have been engaged in a massive cleanup of the facility and have made remarkable progress. They have also begun to lay track as well to accommodate their rolling stock. This has also allowed them to begin the process of relocating equipment to the site as shown in the other pictures. Their 0-4-0 steam locomotive and their Plymouth “Critter” diesel are now on site. The two-truck electric locomotive shown is the sole surviving locomotive of those used in the construction of the massive hydro-electric facilities in the Niagara region. Its return awaits successful fund-raising to cover the costs of moving it from Sudbury where it was last used by the Inco mining facility.
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The Niagara Railway Museum will be holding their first public open house each day from July 2nd through to July 4th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission will be by donation to help them with the massive costs of developing the museum. They advise that:
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“At this time however, the majority of the shop will be off limits, although our equipment will be out for display. Visitors will be able to see what we have to work with, and what the future plans are, and may be able to take a short ride on a track car. We will also have some of our artefacts on display.”
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To find the museum in Fort Erie, find them on Google (Their address is 21 Warren Street, Fort Erie) or enter it into your GPS. That will get you close to the museum site. Follow the signs once you are on Warren Street which leads into the site. Here also are some specific driving instructions from the “rest of Canada”:
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“From points west of Fort Erie take the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) to the Gilmore Road exit in Fort Erie. Turn left onto Gilmore Road and go all the way past the race track. Then after you cross a set of tracks, take the first left which is Lewis St. Go through the stop sign and take the next left which is Warren Street. Turn right at the gravel road and follow the signs.”
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For more information in the NRM, visit their website by clicking here.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures courtesy of the Niagara Railway Museum
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