Click on each image for a closer look! . In this post, we continue to share information and images of some of the items that were acquired in the David Walmsley collection. Many of the hardware items among these artifacts will be exhibited at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre as space becomes available for internal displays. Some of the paper items are best shared in a forum like this, where people can appreciate them in the comfort of their homes. . 1904 CPR "COMPARTMENT CAR" PAMPHLET . Highted here is a modest little pamphlet published by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1904. The brochure promotes two "Compartment Cars" available for groups traveling together on CPR transcontinental trains and who purchase sufficient sleeping car space to justify the inclusion of one of these cars in the train's consist. It would appear from the description that both these cars were constructed by the CPR, perhaps at their shops in the east end of Montreal. At the time, the CPR also purchased a number of passenger cars from the Barney & Smith Car Company in Dayton, Ohio. Although no dimensions are given in the two floor plans, it would appear that the "Canada" was much longer than the "Qu'Appelle." The latter's name refers to a town and historic area of Saskatchewan on the CPR's transcontinental route 33 miles east of Regina. . Although two detailed books have been published describing Canadian National's passenger car fleet over the years, no such volume exists for Canadian Pacific. Author/historian Dale Wilson has been working on such an exhaustive project for several years. In 1983, Wayner published "A Century of Deluxe Railway Cars in Canada," which included a CPR roster of first class cars. Neither the Canada nor the Qu'Appelle are listed in this book, which is generally regarded as containing significant omissions. . Though most of the railway era, the most basic type of sleeping accommodation was the section, which consisted of two facing seats during the day that were transformed into a lower berth at night. An upper berth then folded down from overhead, with each bed being sold seperately. The vast majority of sleeping cars built over the years featured 12 sections and one drawing room, which was completely private and which cost as much as three times as a lower berth. The lack of privacy in these sections and the fact that everyone shared common bathroom and toilet facilities provided comedic opportunities that were long a staple of Hollywood films, most significantly Billy Wilder's 1959 classic "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe. VIA Rail still provides upper and lower berths on the Toronto-Vancouver Canadian. . For those who sought more privacy and were willing to pay for it, the railways developed the compartment sleeping accommodation. These were complete sections that were enclosed and contained a sink and toilet. The cars described in the brochure each contained six such compartments which the CPR called State Rooms. Given that these cars were marketed towards groups and families, most of the compartments could be interconnected, doubling the size of the private accommodation, a feature still available on the Canadian. . The Canada featured a comfortable lounge area or parlour with leather upholstery in the centre of the car and an amenity only available today on the most luxurious trains in the world, a full bathtub. The car interior was white mahogany and at the other end was a shower bath, which apparently cost extra. The smaller Qu'Appelle contained no bathing facilities, was panelled in dark mahogany and featured the lounge on end of the car. . Although the brochure indicates that the cars were used in Montreal-Vancouver service, it seems likely that they would have appeared in Toronto at some point and would have been serviced at the old John Street facility. . If anyone has any more information on these cars, where they were used, and what became of them, we would appreciate hearing from you. . Derek Boles, TRHA Historian
Click on each image for a closer look! . Dictionary.com defines "panopoly" as a "splendid or impressive array" and our panopoly of projects is just that! Work continued on many fronts this week as we addressed the need to fine tune the ballast around the miniature railway track and complete the trackage leading into and out of the miniature railway depot. We also picked up a donated radiator and oil cooler for the Pyke Crane which will allows us to attack the problem of reinstating the cooling system for the Pyke's Detroit diesel engine which had gone missing before we moved the crane to Roundhouse Park. Work also continued on the restoration of the F7 Cab. . We also took the opportunity to take a little battery electric locomotive out for a spin on the miniature railway track. This locomotive will be called "one-over-two" and numbered 1/2 because it is so small! Despite that, it has enough pull to handle a couple of cars and four people. It is a true 'fine scale' 7-1/2" gauge locomotive and as expected it found a few spots in the track needing adjustment. As we approach the Doors Open weekend, we will be trying out other miniature locomotives on our track to continue to find places to adjust to make the track as accommodating as possible. . In the pictures above, we see the Romulus steam engine coming together after an “overhaul”, the miniature Whitcomb diesel which also is coming along very nicely and a picture of the electric loco 1/2. Below we find an interesting pair of images of our crossing gates and a great image of the back of the Pyke crane where the attractive new paint job is very evident. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich & Stephen Gardiner .
Exploring the Walmsley Collection - Dominion Express Sign
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Continuing with our presentation of artefacts from the David A. Walmsley collection, we present the following: . THE DOMINION EXPRESS SIGN (see image at upper left) . Today when we think of express, companies like FedEx, Purolator and UPS immediately spring to mind but until the mid-20th century the parcel delivery business was a virtual monopoly operated by the railway companies. The Dominion Express Company was incorporated in Winnipeg in 1873 and taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1884, when the headquarters were moved to Toronto. The company provided the first all-Canadian express route between Eastern and Western Canada. . Dominion's principal competition was Canadian Express, which had connections with the U.S. Wells Fargo and American Express companies. The Canadian Express Company operated mostly over the lines of the Grand Trunk Railway and built an express facility adjacent to Toronto Union Station in 1884. CEC introduced the first money order service in Canada in 1891. In 1921, CEC was taken over by the Canadian National Express Company. . The sign in our collection dates from before 1926 as that was the year that Dominion Express was renamed Canadian Pacific Express. This sign could have been located in any CPR train station or ticket office. Up until the 1960s, express and money order services would have been available in our own Don Station. In an era before credit cards and the Internet, money orders were a safe means of transporting funds to distant places rather than incur the risk of mailing cash. People often headed for the nearest railway station when they needed to send money and the hours were far more convenient than banks which, in that era, were only open on weekdays and closed at 3 PM. Money orders had a $100 limit and in 1937 the service charge for that denomination was 24 cents. Today, Canada Post will charge you $5.50 (plus GST) for the same denomination. Other services offered by the railway express companies included Travellers Cheques, Foreign Remittances and Money Transfers by Cable. Many of these services are becoming increasingly obsolete as more people embrace telephone banking, PayPal and the Internet. . Canadian Express occupied several facilities in downtown Toronto. One was at King and Simcoe Streets, now the site of Roy Thomson Hall. Express was usually carried on passenger trains so the main express facilities were located close to Union Station. The principal Toronto Canadian Pacific Express building was just east of Union Station, between Yonge Street and Bay Street, demolished in 2000 to make way for the Union Station GO Bus Terminal. The CN Express building was west of York Street and was modified into the Skywalk in 1989. . The railway express business began to decline in the 1960s as both CN and CP discontinued numerous passenger trains along with the baggage and express cars that were part of their consists. The final nail in the coffin was in the 1980s when the railways abandoned the labour-intensive less-than-carload freight business. Today's express companies utilize trucks and airplanes exclusively. FedEx currently operates the second largest fleet of commercial aircraft in the world with 660 planes and Toronto's Pearson Airport is its most important Canadian hub. . The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre is pleased to include in its collection this reminder of an era during which Canadians depended on the railways for far more than train travel. Here some captions for the additional images related to the Dominion Express Company which we have posted here as well. . 1901 Ad: (image at upper right) . This advertisement for Dominion Express appeared in a 1901 CPR timetable. . 1910 Poster: (image at lower left) . Also dating from 1910 is this poster showing a passenger train with two express cars being loaded at a station somewhere in the Canadian prairies. Express was extremely important to Canadians living in isolated rural communities. They could order merchandise at a reasonable cost from a big Toronto department store like Eaton's and have it delivered to the nearest CPR station. . CNE: (image in middle below) . Dominion Express was prominently displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1910. This was the Railways Building, which was built by Canada's three major transcontinental (or soon to be) railways in 1907. The three domes covered three inter-connected pavilions for the Canadian Pacific, Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern railways. From 1907 to 1950, with the exception of a few years during WW2, the Railways Building exhibited innovative displays promoting the wide variety of services available from the railways. The structure became the Music Building in 1968. Following a fire in 1987, the building was restored and is now rented out to a commercial sound studio. . Dominion Express: (image at lower right) . Canadian Pacific's Dominion Express built this structure on the northwest corner of Simcoe and Wellington streets in 1914. Canadian Pacific facilities occupied the entire block bounded by those thoroughfares as well as King and John streets. This site was previously occupied by Government House, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario until 1912. For many years, the lead track crossing John Street was guarded by the Watchman's Shanty that is now one of the four historic buildings making up the railway village in the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre. Canadian Pacific vacated this block in the 1970s and Roy Thomson Hall is on this site. . Posting and pictures by Derek Boles & John Mellow .
Weekend Report: Cranes, Cabs, Cabeese, Locos and Turntables!
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Thanks to a baker’s dozen of volunteers (that is 13 of them!) forming our work team last Saturday, we successfully tackled our usual wide array of projects. In this week's report, we will provide more details than usual to give you a deeper insight into the scope and depth of the great work being done by our teams. Highlights of the day included: . In the realm of full size equipment restoration:
The Pyke crane is looking quite smart in fresh black paint on the lettering and boom
The F7 cab panelling and interior finish colour application is proceeding well
The TH&B caboose was the focus of lots of woodwork activity (see report below)
In the realm of the miniature railway:
The Romulus miniature railway locomotive is almost fully reassembled and looking forward to a test run later in the week
The miniature railway turntable has had push-bars installed and painted
The miniature railway turntable was also tweaked to align the turntable and its approach tracks to eliminate level changes that tend to derail equipment.
The miniature railway depot building also has some new power outlets to reduce the need for extension cords all over the place.
To provide a sense of the immense amount of careful work required to restore equipment such as our TH&B caboose, here is a full report from one of our volunteers, James Rasor, on the work undertaken this past weekend: . “Work proceeded very well this weekend on the TH&B van with the help of Jim, Bob, Lance, Sergio, Michael and James. Jim and James started the early day by working some epoxy on the front guard rail where we couldn't reinstall one bolt - we'll checkout the result next week. Bob and Jim then relocated the radial arm saw from the machine shop to stall #17 with the caboose, while Lance and James completed the re-installation of the caboose flooring on the right side after Michael helped relocate the temporary electrical wiring for them. With the radial arm saw now conveniently set up next to the caboose, Lance was then able to nearly complete all of the column notching for the sills and headers in one day while Bob and Jim ripped all the wood down to the sizes we needed for the columns. Sergio was a very welcome and very busy presence this weekend assisting both the team on the F7 Cab and the caboose team with his table saw while even managing to continue to his own work of rebuilding the caboose window frames. Next week we will be able to re-install all the caboose right side structure and re-install the metal sheathing screws which will allow us to pull the right side in and straightening it up just like the re-built left side in preparation for the new tongue and groove siding.” . Finally, we would like to make you aware of the fact that this great work does not just happen on Saturdays and Sundays on the weekends. Smaller groups of volunteers can be found throughout the week continuing to work on these projects. you will notice them in our occasional mid-week reports. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Lance Gleich . .
Click on each image for a closer look! . Last Friday, a team of TRHA specialists in the art of running a miniature railway steamed up our Sweet Creek locomotive and took it out on the track for a first trial run on our home steel. Other than some predictable first time teething troubles the day went very well. The locomotive ran trouble-free and was reliable. The track was also very good with no major problems to report. We do have an issue with excess ballast in some places and there are a couple of slow-order locations but these are minor items easily corrected. . Posting by Michael Guy; Pictures by Lance Gleich .
Interview with John C. Clarke, John St. Locomotive Shop Foreman
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Even before work began on converting the John Street roundhouse into the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre, we realized that our high profile location would attract numerous visitors, among whom would be those who actually worked at John Street prior to its closing in 1986. We recognized this factor as a unique opportunity to fill in the sometimes sketchy history of the roundhouse as work went forward on its restoration. We also acknowledge that those who worked at the roundhouse are as important a part of Toronto's railway history as the buildings, rolling stock and locomotives that normally attract the attention of railfans and preservationists. Many of the so-called "rivet counters" that are sometimes ridiculed in our hobby forget that it's the human connections and stories that are of most interest to the general public. At least one of the historic plaques being installed in Roundhouse park will commemorate the employees of John Street. . In April 2010 a gentleman named John C. Clarke approached TRHA vice-president of operations Michael Guy and introduced himself. Mr. Clarke was the locomotive shop foreman at the roundhouse during the 1970s and has graciously shared his story and some photographs with us. . John C. Clarke is the third of four generations of Clarkes who have worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Charles L. Clarke, John's grandfather, began the Canadian railway dynasty and was a bridge and building master for the CPR in New Brunswick for forty years. John's father, Donald G. Clarke was a CPR express messenger for 47 years, working mostly out of Toronto. As of 2002, four out of five of John's sons continued to work for Canadian Pacific. . John C. Clarke was born on June 1, 1925 and began working for the CPR at John Street as a machinist apprentice on June 1, 1942, the day he turned 18. He earned 30 cents an hour and worked six days a week with Sunday off. This probably would have been the busiest time ever in the 81-year history of the roundhouse given the incredible pressures put upon the railway during World War 2. There were 50 CPR trains a day scheduled in and out of Union Station in the summer of 1942, each of them hauled by a steam locomotive that would have needed servicing at the roundhouse. Also, during wartime, there were several special movements requiring additional steam power. John's birthday continued to resonate in his career and he was appointed assistant foreman on June 1, 1951 on the 4 to 12 shift. He went back to day shift work on June 1, 1972 when he became the shop foreman at John Street. . During the 1970s, a number of steam locomotives then being readied for excursion service were restored at the roundhouse. As steam had only been finally retired at the end of the 1950s in favour of diesel power, there were still a number of Canadian Pacific employees at John Street who were familiar with these locomotives, including Mr. Clarke. As well, the roundhouse still contained the facilities and equipment necessary for this sort of restoration as other roundhouses in Canada had either been demolished or had their steam maintenance equipment removed. . Two of the steam locomotives whose restoration was supervised by Mr. Clarke were CPR Nos. 136 and 1057, both now belonging to the South Simcoe Railway in Tottenham. Both engines had participated in the famous triple header excursion on May 1, 1960. In 1972, No. 136 was restored for the filming of the CBC television series The National Dream, the production of which was extensively covered on this website in 2009 beginning with this TRHA News posting. . We're happy to share Mr. Clarke's story with you and we hope that many other CPR employees who worked at John Street will come forward and share theirs as well. As always, photographs are most welcome that will enable us to illustrate these chronicles on our website to the widest possible audience. . CAPTIONS for IMAGES . All images are courtesy of John C. Clarke . #1 - This photo was taken in 1941 during a promotion to encourage shop employees to buy Victory Bonds during World War 2. John Clarke is right of centre and this would have been shortly after he began work at John Street. Handing John the bond is General Foremen Bob Scott. The women on the right were a mother and daughter who were employed cleaning locomotives in the shop. Thousands of women worked at railway jobs during the war while the men who normally occupied these positions were away fighting. This is the first photographic evidence we've seen of women in the locomotive shops during the war. . #2 -John C. Clarke just before he was appointed shop foreman at the John Street roundhouse. . #3 - John Clarke on the pilot of No. 1057 at stall 19 of the roundhouse. Stall 17 on the left is the westernmost bay of the three occupied by the TRHC. The wooden passenger that can be just seen on the far left may have been one of the cars restored for the filming of the National Dream, the production of which was extensively covered on this website in a multipart series beginning March 11, 2009. Photo by John Mellow. . #4 - John Clarke in the cab of 1057 at John Street in 1971. The gentleman with him is retired CPR Superintendent of Motive Power Len. N. Winslade. The clipping on the bottom left from the CPR News is apparently a notice of Mr. Winslade's passing in 1999 at the ripe age of 93. . #5 - 136 & 1057 poking out of stalls 27 and 28 at the roundhouse on May 4, 1974. Photo by Bob Donaldson . #6 - John Clarke and TRHA's Michael Guy on the turntable at John Street in April 2010 . Posting by Derek Boles, Railway Historian; Pictures from John Clarke with orginal attributions noted above where known .
Click on each image for a closer look! . Earlier this week, two military helicopters dropped in very close to the Roundhouse as can be seen in these images. They were there as part of the planning for the G20 Summit to be held on June 26th and June 27th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre whose facilities lie right under Roundhouse Park. . The G20 is a group of twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from different countries and was established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy. They meet twice a year. They were to meet in Huntsville along with the G8 Summit but supporting facilities were insufficient.
The G8 Summit is described by Wikipedia as follows:
“The 36th G8 summit is to be held in Huntsville, Ontario, from June 25-27, 2010. The meeting will take place at the Deerhurst Resort. It will be the fifth G8 Summit hosted by Canada since 1976, the previous four being at Montebello, Quebec (1981); Toronto, Ontario (1988); Halifax, Nova Scotia (1995); and Kananaskis, Alberta (2002). The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of world political leaders. The event has become an occasion for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations, activists and civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues.” . These Summits will have two impacts on the local railway scene. . In Huntsville, rebuilding a community centre to support caused the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway (See our earlier TRHA News posting) to suspend operations as their station was moved to the other side of their railway yard and the yard taken up until the construction is completed. They likely will not resume operation until after the Summit has ended. . In Toronto, security will be incredibly tight around the Roundhouse Park premises and we will likely suspend all TRHA and museum operations for a period around the dates of the G20 Summit. Please also note that Derek Boles “last Saturday of the month” Union Station tour at the end of June will be cancelled due to the Summit. So if you want to take the tour soon, catch this month’s tour this Saturday or one of the shorter tours during Doors Open on May 29th and 30th. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Norm Betts
Exploring the Walmsley Collection - Number Plate, Picture & Train Order Board Signal
Click on each picture for a closer look! . Continuing with our presentation of artefacts from the David A. Walmsley collection, we present the following:
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE NUMBER PLATE #6247: When the Canadian Northern Railway was amalgamated into the Canadian National Railway System in January 1923, the newly formed company adopted the locomotive number plate as designed for identification and use on Canadian Northern steam power. The word ‘Northern’ was replaced with the word ‘National’ reflecting the name change. This design remained on CNR power until steam was officially retired in early 1960. Plate number 6247 is an example of a U-2-h class Northern 4-8-4 type engine, the same wheel arrangement as our U-2-g class engine 6213.
GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY: Framed picture titled 'Moose Lake B.C.,Canadian Rocky Mountains, Canada's Grand Trunk Pacific Railway': This is an example of railway decor from the very early decades of railroading in Canada. While many of these frames were made of hardwood such as oak, this one appears to be made of chestnut. The railway name was most likely stamped, perhaps with a hot embossing plate under pressure, which appears to have compressed and burned the fibres of the wood. They would usually contain a very early image of spectacular scenes through which the railway operated, sometimes as viewed from the train window. Most often they were displayed in railway offices and stations. One lettered for Canadian Pacific Railway could be found on the wall of the CPR Bolton, Ontario station late into the 1960's.
TRAIN ORDER BOARD SIGNAL : This operational tool represents an early form of train signal used at stations to indicate to train crews that they must stop, or have the right to proceed. One such station that used the two aspect configuration of only displaying red and green was our own Don station, which never received a three aspect signal board. Under instructions from the train dispatcher, the Station Agent or train order Operator would be instructed as to the signal required to be displayed. If the signal was at 'stop', the engine would not be allowed to pass until the proper authority was issued by the Train Dispatcher and orders received by the train crew. Order Board signals without the third aspect of yellow, were allowed to supplement a yellow flag by day, and a yellow flag and lantern by night. Our collection now includes both types of train order board signals. Some will be placed into operation at the appropriate locations..
Historic Note: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania & Turbotrain Speed Record
Click on each image for a closer look! . Derek Boles, TRHA's historian, publishes a daily posting on the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group List. These postings document major railway oriented events that happened on that day of the year. Two of today's items are as follows: . “April 22, 1975:.The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania opens in Strasburg PA, long a mecca for railfans with its operating steam-powered common carrier railroad. The museum was housed in the first building containing comprehensive facilities designed and built specifically for a train museum, rather than converted from an existing structure. The building was doubled in size in 1995 and its design influenced the new exhibit building at the Canadian Railway Museum near Montreal, now known as the Angus Pavilion at Exporail. The Railway Museum of Pennsytlvania, Exporail and the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento are now widely regarded as the finest rail museums in North America. . April 22, 1976:.CN's Turbo Train sets a Canadian land speed record of 140.6 miles per hour between miles 104 and 84 of the Kingston Subdivision (roughly between Prescott and Cornwall). The event was staged to promote CN's new passenger subsidiary, which they called VIA. All crossings were flagged and all switches were spiked along the route. (Thanks to Jason Shron for this item)” . See our earlier three part TRHA News posting on the Pennsylvania Museum by clicking here (part 1) and here (part 2) and here (part 3) and on Exporail by clicking here. . Find out why Jason Shron is so knowledgeable about Turbo Trains by clicking here. . If you wish to read these daily postings from Derek, simply join the Toronto Railway Heritage Yahoo Group List by clicking here. . Posting by Russ Milland; Images from the Pennsylvania Railway Museum's media kit and from a Via Turbo Train poster
TRHA Guide to Railfanning in Toronto Updated for 2010
The TRHA has been often asked if they have a guide for the rail fan who plans to visit Toronto and the surrounding area. Derek Boles, our TRHA historian, produced just such a guide a year ago. He has now updated it as a 2010 version. . This 16 page guide is available in the "Resources" section of our website where you can view it as a PDF (and then print it or save it to your computer) or download and save it directly to your computer for future reference. Right clicking and downloading the document has been tested on the three major browsers - Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. . Click here to access it directly! . Posted by Russ Milland, TRHA
Next TRHA Union Station Tour on Saturday, April 24th, 2010
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.
Weekend Report: Final Miniature Railway Switch in Place!
Click on each image for a closer look! . We had yet another successful work team effort this past weekend. The last and final track switch was installed on the miniature railway. Some adjustments were made to one of the curves in the miniature railway track to ease up on the radius of the curve. Work continued on the restoration of the TH&B caboose. In the pictures accompanying this news posting we also see that the switch lever frames are now in their proper position in Cabin D. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Stephen Gardiner .
Click on each image for a closer look!
