Click on each picture for a closer look!
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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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