Toronto Railway Heritage Centre Update

Great report, thanks for the update , good to see work progressing on Canadian equipment . When did you get the CPR cars - were they stored in Calgary or have you had them for a while .
By the way - whats that funny white stuff on the ground !!! -- Is that the snow stuff , Canadians talk about - not much of that here on the Wet Coast -- plenty of rain though, fighting the damp & mold -- Cheers from Vancouver --- Richard

 

Thanks Guys,

@Richard - Cape Race and Jackman have been at John Street since the CPR left in 1986. Prior to that, i believe Jackman was a part of the old Canadian Railway Historical Association's brief fling with the Harbourfront Railway Museum where much of our collection originated. Cape Race, finished life on the CPR as Business Car 13, which was the Kenora District Superintendent's car. After that, the Upper Canada Railway Society purchased it and ran it on the tail end of their steam excursions until the late 1970's, when big excursions started to end and the operating costs of the car became too much. The video below shows a UCRS Excursion from 1969 with CNR 6218 (now preserved at Fort Erie Ontario), if you go about 3:30 in and watch the runby, you will see Cape Race on the tail end.

[video=youtube;hqGV939yaX0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqGV939yaX0[/video]

@Martin - Long Term Plans, who knows what enough money and the will could bring Short term plans are a much needed repaint and cleanup, an inspection of the cylinders to be sure its safe to put the connecting rods back on and shunt her with them up. We don't want to do anything that would create permanent damage, we know shunting her with the pistons isolated is safe, we would hate to put the rods on and find the pistons are sized and do damage we can't easily reverse.

@Ralph - Thanks, yeah, its trying, but we make do, ordinarily we wouldn't have tried as big a shunt as we did in the conditions, but necessity of being ready for the spring and the show means we needed to, but in the end it all worked, and we learned a lot in getting there.

 

Couldn't tell you because I have no idea. All the show related things such as that are being handled by the production company. The TRHA only has to make ourselves ready to be good hosts for them.

Once i find out, i'll be sure to post another update.

 

How about using the loco that knows the lines backwards.
Its been in every production for the last 3 - 4 years and I don't think its Equity membership has lapsed yet.

 

So, time for another periodic update on the goings on at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.

As has been amply covered elsewhere on National Preservation, the cat is out of the bag as it were, and LSWR No.563 is on her way from Shildon and the NRM to the John Street Roundhouse and the North American Premier of The Railway Children play, to take a starring role in place of Sterling Single No.1 which had done the star turn at York and Waterloo Station. We are certainly looking forward to the arrival of 563 and the presence of such a lovely locomotive for the summer at our museum, even if she will mostly be busy with 8 shows a week or whatever number a modern theatre company does these days!!



The tent is almost outwardly complete, the big task of fitting out and constructing the theatre inside still remains.

As you can see, the Theatre Tent is progressing, it has covered up a big chunk of the middle of Roundhouse Park. It will seat 1000 people, set up on both sides of Track 39 in the park so that staging and 563 can come in and out of the theatre. One of the consequences of the big tent and show, is that our miniature railway now needs a new route. It can no longer run as a figure 8, as the crossing and a big part of the line are beneath the tent!!! As can be seen in the pictures below, the first of two diversions is well under way to re-route the line around the tent


One end of the first tent diversion, old line running up beneath the tent, new diversion started and laid out on geo-textile to allow removal later.


The other end of the diversion, the track now curves off the patio toward the concrete walkway. The walkway will be crossed with low profile steel bar instead of track as the rest of the loop uses. The yellow lines on the deck indicate the original alignment.

As well as the re-alignment, we have been building four more of our ride-along coaches to double our main stock for the season, by the time we are up and running, we should have two rakes of four cars to allow us to run two trains (give or take 25 passengers max fit on a four car train), a good thing when we are entertaining 1000 people for a Saturday or Sunday matinee at the theatre!

Inside the Museum Stalls 15, 16 and 17 we have been busy as always. We have had to clear space for The Railway Children to set up their workshops and costuming/storage areas, along with our ongoing work on restorations.

We have been slowly but surely making progress on the restorations:

- Our recently acquired CN Maintenance of Way flatcar has had its rotten deck timbers removed, been thoroughly cleaned and given a fresh coat of black paint, in addition to having a corner which was bent severely in a rough shunt replaced. A new deck will hopefully be ordered and installed for the summer. The brake system has been overhauled and works off locomotive air again as well as the hand brake holding tight.

- Stripping of the Cupola end of Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Caboose No.70 has been almost completed on one side. Restoration of the seat/cabinets is underway, and we hope to begin re-building the rotten structure which supports the cupola shortly. This is turning into a bigger project than we had anticipated, and isn't likely to be done for this summer, and even if it is, there is a whole 2nd side of the Cupola to restore. No doubt anyone who has volunteered in C&W in the UK who reads this will understand the nightmares you can find when you start disassembling 100 year old rolling stock!!

- Passenger cars Cape Race and Jackman are now stationed outside for the summer and can't be moved because of the theatre tent. Jackman's re-roofing is complete, and the new membrane is installed. Cape Race has all new structure and covering, but the membrane could not be installed in time for the date it had to go outside, so a temporary tarp covering has been installed for the summer.

- The Toronto Terminal Railways Pyke 18Ton Self Propelled Crane has had work done on its electrical system, we think we might be closer to making sense of the problems with the boom going up and down and the cobbled together repairs made during its service life that bear no relation to the electrical schematic for the crane.

Numerous small projects and works are underway, as with last year, everything is building to Doors Open Toronto, our annual big weekend on May 28th and 29th, though we will likely be commencing some public operations before that to coincide with the opening of The Railway Children in early May.

Cheers from Toronto!!

Stephen

 

Take heart in the fact that you are not alone in having a crane with electrics that are no relation to the diagrams.

 

Fantastic............hoping to make it over the pond next year, will try and drop in.............look after that loco

 

My my, it's been a long time since i've posted a news update on the TRHA and Roundhouse Park.

Much good is happening in terms of ongoing restoration projects and the fitting out of our display spaces inside Don Station, Cabin D and our temporary Museum in Stall 17 of the Roundhouse, but also, much behind the scenes stuff has now gone public.

Save the Toronto Railway Museum!

While a lot won't be immediately obvious, the Hydro ownership and intention to construct a much needed transformer station beneath part of the site is not new, their aboutface on providing the promised space to the Museum is, and the source of Today's launch of the campaign to get Toronto Hydro to live up to their earlier promises to the City and TRHA.

I will post a more details update on the heritage works and preparations for the 2012 season which officially opens May 26th for us in a couple of days when i can get it together.

Regards,

Stephen

 

So, time for a big detailed update on the Toronto Railway Museum (Formerly Toronto Railway Heritage Centre) and our work to prepare a proper, albeit Temporary Museum for 2012 and the interim period until hopefully, we are able to move into our permanent space in the "Machine Shop" area of the John Street Roundhouse after Toronto Hydro has built their transformer station beneath it and re-constructed the building. To try and keep things clear and organized, i'll use subheadings and probably multiple posts.

For anyone coming to Toronto, our season officially starts with Doors Open Toronto on May 26-27, for more on Doors Open Toronto 2012: City of Toronto: Doors Open Toronto

Stall 17 Temporary Museum

The big event for 2012 is the opening of a proper Temporary Museum display in Stall 17 of the roundhouse. We are able to do this, partially thanks to last summers production of The Railway Children in the park. The production used about 2/3'ds of Stall 17 as their storage and wardrobe space, and because of this, a temporary floor across the inspection pit and tracks was installed. This floor along with a false wall behind the stall doors with entrance doors is allowing us to convert the space to a museum display where we can exhibit some of our artifact collection and allow visitors to see the restoration work going on in the stalls. An image of the model to give an idea of what the stalls will look like is below:



The display will be done primarily through the use of "Packing Crates" which will be stacked up three high with some having displays showing, and some not. These are designed so that they can be turned around to change what is on display periodically and to allow displays at different levels to catch the eyes of older and younger visitors with displays at their eye level. A sense of the space and the scale of the boxes (in the background piled up) can be seen below from when the floor was being prepared a couple of weeks ago:



Machine Shop Museum

As noted in my post last week, the TRHA has been in negotiations with Toronto Hydro over the part of the roundhouse known as the Machine Shop. I won't go through everything in detail here, as the Museum's website does a far better job than i could, but for those who want to know more about what has happened and what is happening, the details are here: Read This First! :: Save the Toronto Railway Museum!

For this post, i just wanted to highlight a couple of our display boards, and what the long term Museum goals of the Toronto Railway Museum in the Machine Shop are:


Ground Floor Plan of the Toronto Railway Museum plan for the Machine Shop


Second Floor Plan of the Toronto Railway Museum plan for the Machine Shop

As you can see, we have big goals for the space, and none of them can happen if a resolution with Toronto Hydro can't be found.

Don Station

Back to the positive news, Don Station, the former CNR and CPR Joint station at Queen Street East and the Don River in Toronto, which has been fully restored externally is now being fitted out internally. One of the TRHA Members John Mellow was the last station operator at Don Station in the 1960's, and saved most of the interior fittings of the operators office, which will allow us to re-create the office and interpret the station as it was.

Here is the picture of John at work in Don Station in 1965


And here is the office last week as work continues to re-store and re-install everything:


The passenger waiting room of Don Station will continue to be used as the Ticket Sales area for the Miniature Railway and will be fitted out as our temporary retail sales area once our merchandise selection is sorted and until a full store can be opened in the Machine Shop. The station will have some displays regarding its history as well as displays related to the operators office which people will be able to look into and will be open on special occasions and for groups to actually enter the space.

Part 2 to follow with updates on the Miniature Railway, Cabin D and the Heritage Restorations.

 

Part 2 of the 2012 Pre-Season update on the Toronto Railway Museum

The Miniature Railway

One of our biggest attractions has been and continues to be the 7.5" Gauge Miniature Railway in Roundhouse Park. With the conclusion of The Railway Children, the two diversions installed last year have been removed, and operation on the original figure 8 track layout has resumed. We have been operating most weekends in April and May as we prepared for the summer season where the Miniature Railway and museum will be open and in operation five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday. An addition this year is our Romulus Welsh Quarry style coal burning 0-4-0 is back and with a brand new boiler, available for service. This locomotive is valuable to us as it is a surprisingly strong performer for its small size, but also, does not require a TSSA Boiler Certificate to operate, only proper training and supervision (for those interested, the cut off is a 10" grate area for certification i believe), which means that it is functionally our training locomotive for engineers wanting to get certified to fire Sweet Creek (or any other boiler locomotive or tractor) in Canada. I will update this post with a picture from last weekend when i can post them, but the 0-4-0 Lesley was out performing with a full four car train last weekend.

Video of Sweet Creek running in the cold (makes nice steam in the cold, almost no exhaust in the summer season):
[video=youtube_share;uXD03VmT-N8]http://youtu.be/uXD03VmT-N8[/video]

And, proof that i even do some work, we had a big group of scouts show up, and i got caught working as Guard/Conductor on the train with them


Cabin D

As with Don Station, Cabin D, the interlocking tower formerly located just west of Bathurst Street has been fully restored inside and out, and is awaiting us fitting it out with exhibits to interpret it and allow for meaningful public access. To do this, exhibits on signalling will be installed on the ground floor, where the machine linkages of the Saxeby and Farmer lever frame can be seen. On the upper level, half the original lever frame has been restored and visitors will be able to pull the levers and learn about the interlocking and controlling train movements in the Union Station Rail Corridor. As part of this, dispatchers control panels rescued from various locations are being installed upstairs to give a sense of what dispatchers worked with in the pre-computer era along with the interlocking tower.


This is only half the original lever frame, the other half remains in storage un-restored for future use.


The newly built desk for the Dispatchers panels is installed in Cabin D.

Heritage Restorations

While work on the Stall 17 Temporary Museum has been the priority, heritage restorations have taken a back seat, but have not stopped. Work has continued on replacing the Number 1 Engine on TRHA No.1, our primary switcher which failed last year during rehearsals for The Railway Children, and on the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Railway Caboose No.70. Both of these projects will likely be completed in 2012. Number 1 should be back up and fully running in May if everything goes to plan, and the Caboose will see work re-commence in earnest once Doors Open has passed and our volunteers can turn our attention back from museum building to railway restoration.


TRHA No.1 with its "new" engine in place. It has since had the new mount spacers welded in place, been re-connected to the generator and the radiator re-installed


Since this picture was taken, the Tongue and Groove wall is back up, the wiring is installed, and the Conductors Stand (the white frame on the left) is back in place, with its interior walls and shelves back in, and exterior Tongue and Groove sides almost fully re-installed. Once one side is done, we have to do the same on the other side of the caboose. Once the interior work is done, the final major tasks will be making and installing the new windows, putting on the new roof material, and re-painting to look as it did in the mid 1950's


I think that's it for a big update. As always, to learn more and confirm our opening hours once they are finalized and posted, visit our website at Toronto Railway Historical Association More of my pictures of our ongoing activities can be found on my Flickr Account in the TRHA Set: Toronto Railway Heritage Centre - a set on Flickr

If your travels ever bring you Toronto Way, please let me know so i can try to be at the Museum that day to personally greet you and show you around.

Regards,

Stephen

 

Great selection of shots there Stephen , good to see others working hard at recreating Canadian railway heritage , especially on the other side of the country ..

 

Just a quick update, we had a crazy Doors Open Toronto weekend last weekend, thousands of riders on the miniature railway, turntable and visiting the Temporary Exhibition and Locomotive cabs.

As well, in our Save the Museum campaign, we have now started an online petition to try and raise awareness and express concern to Hydro, please feel free to sign and add your voice to those opposing the loss of a National Historic Site to Hydro and their use as a substation rather than as a museum.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/289/226/758/save-the-toronto-railway-museum/

Cheers,

Stephen

 

Hi Ralph, not sure what isn't working, the petition is hosted on a petition site, there is also a link on this page to make sure you are getting to the right place:

Sign our Petition to the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Toronto! :: Save the Toronto Railway Museum!

Thanks for your support

Stephen