.... Click on Each Picture for a Closer Look! . Last Friday was "film and slide night" for the TRHA crews and a delightful evening was spent nourishing ourselves in body and spirit as we drank, munched and watched a series of slide presentations presented by Derek Boles (see in the photo above) and other TRHA members. But the star of the show was some very rare movie footage of the 1939 Royal Tour train which recently came to the attention of the Culture Division of the City of Toronto. . The next day (Saturday) was a lovely warm and sunny day today which brought out our TRHA Roundhouse team (Lance, Richard M., Jason P., Dan, Arno, Dave, Wilson, Jon, James and Michael G.) to continue working on numerous projects. . The power box for the speeder car drumhead was painted bright yellow as we see in the picture above. Jon continued to paint components of the miniature locomotive while Arno focussed on reassembling the locomotive as shown in the above picture.
Today is the birthday of the opening of the original TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) Subway system on Yonge Street and the opening of the extension of the system to York Mills in 1973. Click on the video below to see a 7 minute newscast by the CBC:
Derek Boles, our TRHA Historian provides frequent broadcasts on the ToRyHeritage (Toronto Railway Heritage) Yahoo Group of historic events on that day of the year in the past. 174 subscribers currently enjoy these news items. If you wish to receive frequent updates on significant dates in Canadian Railway history, join this Yahoo Group. Here is Derek's posting for today: . March 30, 1954: . "The official opening of Canada's first subway by Ontario Premier Leslie Frost and Toronto Mayor Alan Lamport. The subway had first been recommended in 1911, approved in 1946, and construction began in September 1949. Prior to the subway, surface traffic on Yonge Street had become horrendous, with streetcars operating on 1-minute headways. The Yonge subway ran 4.6 miles from Union Station to Eglinton with twelve stations. Much of the $67 million project had been built using the "cut and cover" method, causing much grief for downtown merchants. This would remain Canada's only subway until the Montreal Metro opened in 1966." . March 30, 1973: . "The official opening of the 2.7 mile Yonge subway extension from Eglinton to York Mills. Unlike the "cut and cover" method employed for the original Yonge subway, most of the extension consisted of tunneling deep underground, except around the stations at Lawrence and York Mills. The stations were over a mile apart, compared to an average of 2300 feet for the original. At Lawrence station, the connecting bus platforms were built underground for the first time in Toronto. As the first subway had doomed the Yonge streetcars, the extension resulted in the abandonment of the YONGE-97 trolley coach route." . The Engineers . One interesting footnote is that the original subway was designed by De Leuw Cather Canada. This was initially set up as a branch of a Chicago based firm with experience in subway building. De Leuw Cather Canada was incorporated on December 31st, 1953 with offices opened at 52 St. Clair Avenue East in Toronto right by the subway. The company subsequently has had a long history of great achievements in Canada and abroad and eventually became DelCan in 2006 and became headuqartered in Toronto. To view a very innovative timeline of their history click here. I remember them well as I worked summers as a young university student for this firm as an inspector of heavy construction on the building of the Gardiner Expressway from 1963 to 1966. . Posting by Russ Milland
While we normally report here on the history of Canadian railway in our country and progress on the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre, we will also occasionally report on interesting railway oriented news from around the world. Today, we have a most fascinating item as reported in other news media and reported here in chronological order ..... . From the Feb 5th, 2007 New York Times . "Proposed Jeff Koons Train Monstrosity
A giant Jeff Koons puppy (see image below) might be cute and bring smiles to the faces of thousands of people, but a giant train hanging from a crane probably won't do much for people - other than confuse them and make them think that all art sucks.
If realized, the 161 foot tall hanging train would be located at the entrance of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, just like his giant Puppy graces the entrance of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum. . Mr. Koons imagines periodic chugging noises. "It will be absolutely so authentic a performance of a train," he said, that it could fool "an engineer who's worked on a train his whole life." . "Mr. Govan compared the project to the Eiffel Tower, expressing hope that the piece would become a landmark for Los Angeles. "The beautiful thing," he said, "is that we would see it from the 10 freeway and from downtown."
"In these terribly tough times, who isn't cheered up by news of a dangling train on Wilshire Blvd? Talking to the Los Angeles Times, LACMA director Michael Govan drops this nugget in a story about the museum: "He added that money is still flowing for research and development on another high-profile project, "Train," a 70-foot-long replica of an old-time steam locomotive that artist Jeff Koons would create as an instant outdoor landmark for the museum, hoisted high above it on a crane." . Technically, the sculpture is described an "operational replica of 1943 Baldwin 2900 class steam locomotive in stainless steel and aluminum and includes a 160 x 141 x 29 foot Liebherr LR 1750 lattice boom crane." . More information about Jeff Koons can be found at his website and another example of his "train modelling" work can be found here. . What do you think of this creative endeavour. Make your thoughts known on the TRHA Yahoo Group Forum. . Story Researched by Russ Milland
Click on each picture for a closer look! . In this post, we will take a closer look at the details of our new miniature steam engine. . Here we see the steam cylinder assembly in the first picture. Steam at over 100 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure is distributed to each cylinder by the valve in the top of this assembly through the rod at the upper right. The steam then pushes on a piston in the lower part of the assembly which is connected to the drive rod at the lower left which turns the driving wheels. . . . In this picture, we see the chassis and driving wheels. On most steam engines the driving wheels are found on the outside of the frames. But in our engine, they are inside the frames which was commonly done for engines on narrow gauge track, Note the heavy counterweights on the axles. The assembly of linkages in front of the wheels comprise the "valve gear" which are designed to turn the rotary motion of the wheels into just the right movement of the steam valve mentioned early to provide perfect timing for the injection of steam into the cylinders. . This picture is of the water pump which is used to pump water under pressure into the boiler to maintain an appropriate amount of water in the boiler as it is used up as steam. Steam engines often have as many as three systems to pump water into the boiler: steam driven water pumps, axle driven water pumps and steam-driven injectors. . . . . The final picture is of the Johnson bar and brake lever. The smaller lever, the Johnson Bar or Reverser controls the forward and reverse motion of the engine by adjusting the valve gear appropriately. The taller lever controls the braking system for the locomotive. . Story and pictures by Russ Milland
The photos of CNR Northern 4-8-4 #6218, a sister locomotive to our #6213 above were taken by John Vincent back in the 1960's. In the picture at left we find #6218 in repose in January of 1966 in the CNR roundhouse just west of our CPR roundhouse. The other three pictures show #6218 pulling an excursion train in February of 1967. I personally remember these excursions as really exciting adventures. Click on each picture for a closer look! . Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) built 6218 as part of the CNR's #6200 to #6234 series. #6218 had an eighteen year working career throughout Canada. In the east, it serviced the Montreal to Halifax 840 mile run. In the central zone, it performed international service between Montreal and White River Junction,Vermont. In the west, the 6218 crossed the prairies as far as Saskatoon. It was retired from regular service in 1959. . After a brief period of inactivity from 1959 until 1964, #6218 was repaired and rehabilitated at the Stratford Motive Power Shop. From 1964 until 1971, #6218 pulled excursion trains for six and a half years, making 91 trips and thrilling over 50,000 rail fans. #6218 was the last steam engine to carry rail passengers in Canada. #6218 was finally retired permanently in 1973. . The engine and its tender were then given by the CNR to the Town of Fort Erie. It is now a centerpiece of the Fort Erie Railroad Museum. There, it is on display along with CNR caboose #79138 built in 1944. Visit their website for more pictures and information. . Click on the picture for a closer look! . Story by Russ Milland; Pictures by John Vincent
In the picture at left, we find contractors at work pile driving to provide a sound foundation for Leon's loading dock. In the middle and right hand pictures, we find that restoration work has begun on the coaling tower as well to address the deterioration of the concrete over the past decades.
Story by Michael Guy; Pictures by Michael Guy and Lance Gleich
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 10 of 10
This is the last in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland
At left are images of the covers of the new editions of the books released in 2001 and still in print. . Random House re-released the National Dream and Last Spike in 2001 and they are still in print. Despite the fact that the television series was an enormous ratings hit and helped fulfill the CBC's mandate of interpreting Canada's history to Canadians, the National Dream has been unavailable for several years and can't be purchased in a DVD format. . Pierre Berton published 50 books in total, most of them historical in nature and requiring a great deal of research. He received numerous honourary degrees and awards, including the Order of Canada in 1986. On one of his last television appearances, Berton raised eyebrows on the Rick Mercer Report by describing his forty years of recreational use of marijuana and gave tips on how to roll a joint, which he demonstrated on air. On November 30, 2004, Pierre Berton died at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto at the age of 84. . "It was not so much the subject matter of these volumes that made them significant, as Berton’s triumph in claiming the attention of readers across the country. More than the political struggles of Canadian nationalists, this triumph made the idea of a Canadian culture a convincing reality. The books made Canadians believe they shared a historical narrative with depth and drama" . - Philip Marchand, The Toronto Star . "Pierre Berton understood how compelling our history is, and more importantly, was able to bring it to life and share that fascination with all Canadians." . - John Neale, Chairman and CEO of Random House of Canada . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to return to Part 9. Click here to return to Part 1.
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 9 of 10
This is the ninth in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . The books and TV series made Canadians aware of the contribution of the Chinese railway workers in building the CPR.In the picture at left from the movie, Chines workers are portrayed at one of the work sites. Click on the picture for a closer look! . The previously obscure contribution of the Chinese railway workers became common knowledge to every school-age child and even generated its own mythology, enhanced by a frequently broadcast television Heritage Minute. "They say there is one dead Chinese man for each mile of track, that's what they say," intones the old man to his granddaughters. Click here to read more. . . While the heroic sacrifices of the Chinese railway workers are undisputed, they did not build all or even most of the CPR across Canada. They were employed to help build a 200 mile section in British Columbia only, albeit one of the most difficult and dangerous sections of the 3,000 mile transcontinental railway. The Chinese Railway Workers Memorial commemorating this contribution was dedicated here in Toronto near Skydome in 1989. . In the picture at left, we see the Chinese Railway Workers Memorial on Blue Jays Way south of Front Street . Click on the picture for a closer look! (Photo by Derek Boles) . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 10. Click here to return to Part 8.
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 8 of 10
This is the eighth in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . In the image at left we see the National Dream featured on the front cover of the Windsor Star newspaper's TV Times magazine. The National Dream premiered on March 3, 1974. Click on the picture for a closer look! . The books and the TV series appealed to Canadians' longing for a sense of national identity, especially at a time when our own history was often buried by American popular culture. With their colourful, larger-than-life characters, the gripping drama of political and financial intrigues, and the chronicle of astonishing engineering feats, the books also struck a chord in generations of Canadians whose experience of studying Canadian history in school had led them to believe that it was boring. . The books were responsible for creating a Canadian mythology that considerably benefited the reputation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, already embellished over the years by the company's highly effective public relations department. Unfortunately in Toronto, whatever good will the CPR may have accrued was almost instantly dissipated in 1982 when the company callously demolished West Toronto station while efforts were underway to preserve the structure. The CPR made amends a few years later when they donated the John Street roundhouse to the city for the establishment of a railway museum, a goal finally being realized in 2009. . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 9. Click here to return to Part 7.
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 7 of 10
This is the seventh in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . At the end of July 1973, No. 136 and its train were returned to Toronto's John Street Roundhouse. In December, the train was called into action once more near Havelock, Ontario to film the winter conditions depicted in the scenes of Canadian troops crossing Lake Superior along the uncompleted stretches of the railway. . In the picture at the far left we see actors William Hutt (Left) as Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and Joseph Shaw (Right) as CPR President George Stephen. In the picture at the left, we see actor John Colicos as CPR General Manager William Cornelius Van Horne with #136. Click on each picture for a closer look! . Stratford actor William Hutt starred as John A. Macdonald, and dozens of other Canadian character actors filled out the cast. Pierre Berton was by this time a bona fide Canadian media celebrity and the CBC used him as a narrator and on-air host who framed each episode. . The eight hour-long episodes began on March 3, 1974 and were broadcast each week until April 21. The show was a tremendous ratings hit with three million viewers. McCelland & Stewart exploited the popular show by releasing yet another condensed edition of the books, illustrated with several colour photographs from the CBC production. . In the image at left we see the cover of the condensed version of the books. . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 8. Click here to return to Part 6.
This week, Jon, Mark and Michael G. formed a small work team and addressed a number of tasks. Mark finished painting the underside of the speeder car and then assisted in turning it over as shown in the picture above.
Jon made several visits to the roundhouse this week and spent his time applying gloss black enamel paint to the miniature locomotives driving wheels. This is a slow and tedious job due to the spoked design of the wheels. Jon and Michael then stripped the boiler and smoke box off the mainframes to make the frames ready for Jon to paint as well. In the picture above we see Jon applying paint to the wheels and chassis.
In the right hand picture above we find Richard M. and the restored bench. The bench had been stored in a delapidated state in the Roundhouse for many years.Here is his story about the bench:
"I have finished the repair of the broken heritage bench I took home from the machine shop. I pulled it all apart, removed the finishing nails (my father insists the nails are not that old and show that someone tried to fix the bench in the last 50 years or so), scraped off the dried heritage glue and applied new glue, and replaced the nails with 2" stainless wood screws, countersunk and hidden with putty to blend with the antique pine finish. The bench is now reinforced with a 1" x 4" pine stretcher board glued beneath the seat, stained to match and anchored in stopped dado grooves chiseled into the inside of the ends. My wife is convinced that it is a church pew as she noted the little round "rubber thingy" at the base, which likely held the mechanism for the drop-down cushion the worshippers kneeled on."
Next TRHA Union Station Tour on Saturday, March 28th, 2009
Click on each picture for a closer look!
The TRHA offers tours of Union Station on the last Saturday of each month at 11 a.m. Cost is $10 each payable on arrival for the tour. Reservations are not necessary and those interested should meet by the Traveler's Aid counter in the centre of the Great Hall at 10:50 a.m. For more about these tours, click here.
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Click on each picture for a closer look!
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In prior news items, we described the covering of the original floor with a new concrete cap to provide a base for the new Leon's store space.In the picture at the left above, we see this finished floor with a pattern of cuts in it to provide expansion joints to accommodate expansion and contraction of the floor.In the middle left picture we see the floor surface after being ground smooth.In the middle right picture, the floor has been further polished.In the right hand picture, note that some of the expansion joints have been carefully placed to follow the path of the rails to the roundhouse doors, a nice touch.
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Story by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy and Lance Gleich
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 6 of 10
This is the sixth in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . Filming began in the spring of 1973. In typical Hollywood fashion, one of the last scenes in the production, the iconic driving of the Last Spike, was filmed first. Although this seminal event had occurred at Craigellachie, BC, the scene was filmed 2,300 miles to the east on CN's disused Beeton Subdivision near the village of Caledon East, thirty miles northwest of Toronto. . Another scene shot in Toronto was the departure of Canadian troops to quell the Riel Rebellion. This was filmed at the 1878 Great Western/Grand Trunk/Canadian National Parkdale station, which had actually hosted the real event in 1885. . In the picture at left, we see Toronto's Parkdale station, built by the Northern Railway in 1978. It was used to film the departure of Canadian troops to quell the Riel Rebellion in 1885. . Click on the picture for a closer look! . Locomotive No. 136 and its wooden cars were assembled in Calgary and "Work Extra 136" was dispatched to the western locations under its own power. The flat prairie required to show tracklaying progress across Saskatchewan in 1882 and 1883 was filmed along CP's Cassils Subdivision in Alberta. The scenes of trains traveling through the Rocky Mountains were filmed on the Carmi Subdivision east of Okanagan Lake in the Penticton B.C. area. Both these lines saw little rail traffic at the time and CBC crews were able to film for days without interruption. . In the picture at left, we view the filming of construction scenes on the Prairies . Click on the picture for a closer look! . No. 136 and its train were then sent back to Calgary for exhibition at the annual Stampede. Meanwhile, the camera crew moved to the Coquihalla Gorge area of the CPR's former Kettle Valley Line, east of Hope, B.C. The railway had abandoned this line several years previously and the track had been removed. The cleared right-of-way, unlined tunnels and partially dismantled trestles proved ideal for depicting railway construction through the mountains. . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 7. Click here to return to Part 5.
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 5 of 10
At the far left, we see a picture of Locomotive No. 136 at the South Simcoe Railway in Tottenham ON (Photo by Royce Mabee). . At the left we see Pierre Berton perched on locomotive No. 136 while filming the National Dream (1973). . Click on each picture for a closer look! . . . . This is the fifth in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . The most important "prop" used in the production was an operating steam locomotive authentic to the period. The CBC approached the Greater Winnipeg Water District for the loan of their 4-4-0 built in 1882 but they refused since the engine was still being used for excursions on the Prairie Dog Central tourist operation. . The locomotive finally settled on was ex-CPR 4-4-0 No. 136, leased from Ontario Rail. Although the engine had been built by Rogers in 1883, it had been heavily modified early in the 20th century and was no longer authentic to the period required for the filming. The locomotive was refurbished at Hume Equipment in Milton, Ontario, then moved by truck to Canadian Pacific's John Street Roundhouse in Toronto for final commissioning work and paint. Several cosmetic alterations were made, including a wooden cab, long pilot, oil headlight and several different smokestacks. Removable numbers on the cab and tender and other embellishments enabled No. 136 to portray at least three different locomotives in the production. . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 6. Click here to return to Part 4.
............ Click on each picture for a closer look! . A large team of volunteers (James R., Jim G., Paul A., Mike S., Arno, Bob D., Jason P., Mark P. Lance, Wilson, Richard, Jon, Michael G. and Dave W.) came out despite the lure of a balmy sunny day to help with a number of work projects. . Mike S., Jon and Arno disassembled our steam locomotive in preparation for painting, marking all the parts with stamps with location and orientation date to assist in reassembly. The locomotive has now been stripped down to the bare frame and boiler. The partially disassembled engine can be seen in the left hand picture above. . Lance and Jim did a great job repairing a number of the large heritage electrical outlets over in Leon's space. These were variously missing parts or were in some way mechanically incomplete. All are now mechanically complete as shown in the middle pictures above where we see Lance working on these fixtures. These are now to be painted and left in place as historic display items. . James R. and Jason P. worked on the miniature track project addressing the need for some advance survey work. . Everyone else worked on the speeder car as shown in the remaining pictures above. Dave W., who had already carefully cut the wood components for the speeder rail system earlier in the week, headed up the woodwork team with Wilson. Wilson later finished off the paint with Paul, Jon and anyone else available. . Story by Russ Milland, Pictures by Lance Gleich & Michael Guy
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 4 of 10
This is the fourth in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . The National Dream was published in 1970 and The Last Spike in 1971. Both were immediate runaway best sellers and the first Canadian books chosen as featured volumes for the U.S. Book-of-the-Month club. The Last Spike won the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction.
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The books were so popular that a combined and condensed edition was prepared in 1972 for the U.S. market titled "The Impossible Railway: the Building of the Canadian Pacific." It was then and still is highly unusual for a book about Canadian history to be published separately in the United States.
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Pictured at the left is the cover of the condensed U.S. Edition published in 1972.
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Given the tremendous success of the two books and the fact that neither of them included any photographs, an illustrated edition "The Great Railway - Illustrated" was also published by McClelland & Stewart in 1972, featuring hundreds of photographs, maps and engravings from the period.
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Pictured at the left is the cover of the illustrated edition also published in 1972.
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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation adapted the books into a television series in 1973. The script was written by award-winning author Timothy Findley and his partner William Whitehead. CPR Historian Omer Lavallee provided much of the reference material and photographs that were used by the CBC production designers to recreate the 1880s period.
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The challenge was then to locate old railway equipment that could be used for filming the production. The CPR's Dominion Atlantic subsidiary in Nova Scotia provided two open-platform boarding cars, which were former 100 series suburban coaches modified in CP's Weston Shops in Winnipeg to create first class coach No. 141. The railway also located and modified a wooden boxcar and then fabricated a truss-rodded flat car at Ogden Shops since no such car could be found anywhere on the system. An open-platform baggage car built for the Intercolonial Railway was provided by the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association since these types of cars had long disappeared from Canadian Pacific's inventory, even in work train service.
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Pictured above is the 1880s-era CPR passenger train assembled from all over Canada for the filming of the TV series.Click on the picture for a closer look! .
By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 5. Click here to return to Part 3.
Pierre Berton and the National Dream - Part 3 of 10
This is the third in a series of ten posts from an article prepared by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the Groundbreaking TV "National Dream" Series - Russ Milland . By 1969, the National Dream story had become so vast with such a panoply of characters and interesting incidents, that Berton decided he would need two volumes to tell his story. He called the first book "The National Dream: The Great Railway, 1871-1881" an earlier title that he had originally discarded. The book emphasized the political machinations that were going on in Ottawa, including the Pacific Scandal; the harrowing adventures of those who surveyed the 3,000 miles of vast uninhabited wilderness; and the choice of a rail right of way through the Rockies, all leading up to the incorporation of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1881. The principal character around whom the drama revolves is John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister. . In this picture we find colonists on their way to settle the Canadian West. Click on the picture for a closer look!
The second volume was "The Last Spike: The Impossible Railway, 1881-1885." This book dealt with the actual building of the CPR, the near bankruptcy of the company, and its rescue at the last minute through the transport of thousands of troops over the unfinished railway. The narrative mostly revolves around William Cornelius Van Horne, the general manager of the CPR. The title of the second volume was a homage to E.J. Pratt's epic 1952 poem "Towards the Last Spike." . The book's title also acknowledged the fact that the photograph of the actual driving of the Last Spike in 1885 is probably the most famous 19th century image in Canadian history. . In the picture at left below, we find one of the most famous photographs in Canadian history of the actual event at Craigellachie, BC, on November 7, 1885. In the picture at the right, we see the the recreation of the driving of the Last Spike, filmed near Caledon, Ontario for the National Dream movie. Click on each picture for a closer look! . ..... . Berton uncovered interesting information about this photograph, which shows a young boy in the foreground directly behind Donald Smith as he's swinging the maul to drive in the spike. The ceremony was decidedly not a family affair and historians had been perplexed as to the identity of this boy. Berton was able to track down a Revelstoke newspaper article written in 1940 in which the then retired Colonel Edward Mallendaine recounted how he happened to be present at one of the most important events in our nation's history. . By Derek Boles, TRHA Historian . Click here to read Part 4. Click here to return to Part 2.
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