Introducing the LSWR and the GER Railways - Part 2!
Click on each image for a closer look! . Introducing the Great Eastern Railway . The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed in 1862 from the grouping of numerous small railways serving the eastern part of England. As with the London & South Western Railway, the GER survived to the “Grouping”, when it became a part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), a line which would be famous for its high profile and high speed pacific 4-6-2 locomotives such as “Flying Scotsman” and the world steam speed record holder “Mallard”. . The GER also served to connect London with the country, in this case, the area north east of London known as East Anglia, serving cities including Norwich, Cambridge, Ipswich, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth. Its main terminal in London at Liverpool Street Station opened in 1874 and continues to service East Anglia today. Modern passengers can travel through on “National Express East Anglia” trains to many of the same destinations served by the GER along the coast of the North Sea in eastern England. The GER served both the very urban northeast suburbs of London, and the very rural East Anglia where the primary role of the line was to transport goods to and from the farms and small communities which dominated the landscape. . The GER also has a strong connection to Canada, leading up to the "Grouping" in 1923, the GER General Manager Henry Thornton was not in line to take that same position with the new London & North Eastern Railway. He would leave the GER to become the Chairman of the Board and General Manager of Canadian National Railways, a post he held from 1922 to 1932. . In the images included here from Wikipedia, we find the shield of the Great Eastern Railway, the Great Eastern Railway T26 steam engine #490, Henry Thornton and Liverpool Street Station. . For more on the GER, the LNER Society has a comprehensive history on their website. . To read about the actual engine and carriage being used in the production, click here. . Posting by Stephen Gardiner .
Intrdoucing the LSWR and the GER Railways - Part 1!
Click on each image for a closer look! . As discussed in earlier TRHA news postings, The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre and Roundhouse Park will be hosting the North American Premier of the acclaimed UK Musical “The Railway Children” starting in May this year. Two of the Stars of the show are a full size Steam Locomotive LSWR No.563 and a teak Directors Saloon Coach GER No.3. These two historic vehicles are coming to the TRHA from one of the premier railway museums in the world, the United Kingdom’s National Railway Museum in York, England. Future news features will detail the individual histories of these vehicles, but first we wanted to introduce you to the two railways in the United Kingdom which constructed these stunning pieces of railway equipment, the London and South Western Railway and the Great Eastern Railway (in the next News Posting on this topic). . The London & South Western Railway . The London & South Western Railway was founded in 1838, and existed until the “Grouping” in 1923, at which time the numerous large and small railways within the United Kingdom were reorganized into the “Big Four” regional railway companies. After "grouping" the LSWR was a part of the Southern Railway and many of the main lines continue to operate today carrying passengers from the southwest of England to the LSWR main terminus at Waterloo Station (see images above from Wikipedia) in London (the modern “International Station” at Waterloo was one of the previous homes of The Railway Children play). . The LSWR ran both long distance trains to Plymouth in the west of England and Boat Trains to the Southampton Docks along with extensive commuter services in south London. Some of the locations which may be well know to rail fans which were built by the LSWR include the aforementioned Waterloo Station, along with the famous steam motive power depot at Nine Elms and manufacturing plant at Eastleigh Works. The T3 locomotive coming to Toronto was constructed at Nine Elms, which was also the locomotive manufacturing plant for the LSWR in the years prior to Eastleigh Works locomotive shops opening in 1910. Many famous types of locomotives including the LSWR “King Arthur” Class, the Southern Railway “Lord Nelson”, “Merchant Navy” and “West County” classes of locomotives. In later years, Nine Elms would be a servicing point for southern locomotives, and as with many of the British Railways servicing sheds, be a magnet for young boys looking to spot locomotives and tick off types or individual locomotives in their spotters guides (an activity referenced by former Mayor David Miller when he was a young boy in England in his speech opening the TRHA last May!!). . Many of the lines built by the LSWR still exist today. Waterloo Station is still a major commuter hub for the south of England, with the train operating company South West Trains providing service over many former LSWR lines into the station. . For more on the London & South Western Railway, visit the London & South Western Railway Historical Society. . Below are a pair of photos that I took on a trip to the U.K. One one is of Waterloo Station as viewed from the the "London Eye". The second is of an LSWR M7 steam engine which is preserved and operational at the Swanage Railway in the U.K. . For Part 2 of this News posting, click here. . Posting by Stephen Gardiner .
Weekend Report: Another productive weekend in the Roundhouse!
Click on each image for a closer look! . It was a terrific weekend with lots of volunteers turning out. Here is a list of most (but not all) of what was tackled this weekend:
The last module, the kitchenette, was finally constructed. Now we have a decent place for tea as well as a permanent place for our refrigerator and microwave. It still needs to be painted, wired, and have its build date added, but that should all be done quickly.
We decide to apply build dates to all the mobile modules recently built. If we do say so, they look great!
One of our teams of volunteers moved the rolling stock out of stall #16, lifted the steel plates out of stall #16 and then set these plates into place on stall #15. They then returned all the rolling stock back into stall #16. This was all done on Saturday - a very good job done in good time.
The south end of stall #17 was cleaned and prepared for the milling machine and drill press on Saturday leaving a clean area for the priming and painting of the new passenger cars on Sunday.
Another crew worked in the machine shop with the forklift to gain access to our solid timber shelving units in preparation for their disassembly and move to stall #15. On Sunday, we moved the milling machine and drill press to Stall #17.
Posting by James Rasor; Pictures by James Rasor & Lance Gleich .
Video: Exporail's John Molson steam engine in action!
. Click on the Video to watch Exporail's John Molson "single" steam engine in action at Exporail driven by a couple of their volunteers. The video was produced by IMAX film maker Stephen Low. . In the video below, we see the John Molson being used to move the magnificent "Dominion of Canada" Gresley A4 Pacific in the Exporail Collection. . Posting by Russ Milland .
Click on each image for a closer look! . There are a number of items yet to be installed which will allow us to faithfully duplicate Don Station. One piece that we still need is a train order signal blade and holder with the proper red and green lenses as show in the attached photograph. If you know where we could acquire one of these please contact us through our TRHA contact page. . Posting by Russ Milland; Photo by John Mellow
Weekend Report: Another busy weekend delivers some impressive results!
Click on each image for a closer look! . Stephen Gardiner, one of our volunteers laboriously documented the long list of achievements by our crews of volunteers this weekend as follows:
The Silver tank at our door was stenciled with "Toronto Railway Heritage Centre" and our address "Unit 15"
The miniature railway "diversion" crew re-decked the area in front of Don Station where the track was diverted and also drilled and curved the flat bar for running across the concrete in between Steam Whistle and the tent
The Pit in stall 17 was thoroughly cleaned and emptied of debris from repair work on the flat car, and the area around the pit was cleared to allow preparation for the Railway Children's use of this area to commence
The paint storage unit was painted, filled up with our painting supplies and organized
Wood drip rails and metal trim for Cape Race were loaded into the box car
The Box car was cleaned and organized in part to make space for the Cape Race parts
The First Aid/Job Info Board was fitted out with signage, clipboards for task lists, and Emergency Contact Information
Emergency Contact Sheets were prepared for the Don Station, Mini Depot and Machine Shop
The end of Stall 15 which had become storage was cleaned and organized, several pallets of F7 Parts and Cape Race/Jackman Roof Vents were temporarily moved to the Machine Shop to make space, other bits were moved closer to the F7 and U33C cabs for safekeeping
Miscellaneous metal bits from various pieces of equipment were re-located into the Stall 15 Pit to be stored beneath the decking for now
The lockers, table, fridge, TV and First Aid board were re-located to their new home at the rear of Stall 15
We entertained a large group of kids on the patio looking at CPR 7020 as they exited the March Break Fun Fair at the Skydome. Because we had such a large crowd, we fired up the turntable and did a single full spin for a large group of happy families
The re-painted flatcar was shunted outside and left outside to allow No.1 to b stored inside once again
Posting by Russ Milland; Photos by Derek Boles and Lance Gleich .
Further progress on the miniature track diversion!
Click on each image for a closer look! . As the week concluded, the TRHA crew continued to install the diversionary track for the miniature railway as the figure eight crossover is now in the middle of the main tent (see photo at upper right). . Progress continues on setting up the main tent. Note that our small Shanty has simply been left in place within the main tent. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Michael Guy .
When I was young, a double header or even a triple header steam excursion was an incredible sight to behold. In Poland, they continue to use steam engines in commuter service. In fact, they offer mere mortals like ourselves the opportunity to buy rides on the steam engine while it is hauling passengers. Michael Guy experienced this personally several years ago. Click below to watch a 16-header go by in Wolsztyn, Poland apparently as a grand finale to a steam festival of some kind in 2008. Like a rare eclipse, one is not likely to see this very often in a lifetime. . Posting by Russ Milland .
Rerouting the miniature railway for the summer season!
Click on each image for a closer look! . As is obvious from the positioning of the Railway Children theatre within Roundhouse Park, TRHA must temporarily modify the route of our miniature railway for the duration of the theatrical season. To this end, a track diversion has been surveyed and marked out. The northern part of this diversion will have an interesting climb to add a little challenge for the steam loco drivers. . Over the last two days a small crew have built all our remaining spare rail into track panels which will be ready to install in the next week or so. On Tuesday of this week, work was also started on the southern portion of the diversion at the station deck. The westernmost platform track has been re-aligned to head west on a 50' radius curve across the concrete roadway. . Also shown here are the two track crossing gates safely stored beside the water tower. . Posting by Russ Milland; Photos by Russ Milland and Michael Guy .
Panoramic Photos as the Railway Children tent arises!
Click on each image for a closer look! . Views of Roundhouse Park have changed dramatically over the past week or two. In the panoramic photo above by Michael Guy taken about a week ago, we see the framework for the Railway Children tent arising in the middle of the park. Also seen in this view are our two passenger cars parked on the track between Don Station and Cabin D for the duration of the show. . In the second panoramic photo below by Norm Betts taken from the turntable area, we see the partially covered tent as it appears today as work continues to complete the covering and the interior. . Posting by Russ Milland .
Weekend report: Making a big dent in the workload!
Click on each image for a closer look! . It was another productive Saturday as almost a dozen volunteers appeared for part or all of the day to make a dent in the formidable workload we always have in front of us. Among the tasks undertaken were:
Another miniature railway passenger car frame was completed bringing the number of completed frames to three while a significant amount of work on the fourth new car was begun.
The steel for the deck of the flatcar was thoroughly cleaned using a combination of impact chisel on the rust and brooms and scrapers. Next step is painting it.
The TH&B caboose cupola boards that have been cleaned up, the shelf boards are ready, and the seating area boards need to be flipped and have primer put on their opposite side. The cleaning of hand grabs and other metal parts for the caboose was also tackled today.
Our first aid/job board platform by the door to the three stalls was painted grey. We also built yet another the cabinet for storage of our paint. It too is now ready for painting.
One of our volunteers also did an outstanding job of cleaning tools and sawdust from the work area and starting the process of cleaning up the stalls so the Railway Children Production can move in and we can organize our space better now that the work/storage stations are almost done.
In the picture at the lower right, we see that Stall 15 is now clear. The Railway Children Production will be using part of that stall. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Stephen Gardiner & Lance Gleich .
Click on each image for a closer look! . As can be seen in these images captured by Stephen Gardiner, the framework for the tent structure for the Railway Children theatre has grown appreciably this week. Our volunteers moved our passenger cars into their final positions for the summer as the tracks where they sit will be inaccessible during the theatre season. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Stephen Gardiner .
Click on each image for a closer look! . A team people, led my myself, developed the Toronto Rail Lands Simulation as a TRHA project a few years ago. That simulation has been operated by thousands of people around the world as it has been packaged with the last few releases of the TRAINZ software simulation system. Six members of that team continue to meet to this day, usually virtually online. . A number of the volunteers who worked this past weekend noticed that a group of us appeared and occupied Don Station hiding behind closed windows and doors (it was a bit cool in there despite the electric heaters). It is a tradition for our software simulations team to meet in person every once in a while for a day or two in a workshop setting. Our group did that this weekend. The highlights of what we tackled on our agenda are:
Updating each other on the latest status of simulations under development by each of us
Teaching each other some of the new advanced approaches available in the latest releases of the simulations software to create dramatically more realistic 3D models
Sharing of some great train videos that each of us have (as they are difficult to share online due to bandwidth limitations)
Updating our plans for further development of the Toronto Rail Lands Simulation and associated simulations
Experimenting with our portable simulators to explore ways of improving the simulations experience for the public and ourselves
Here are a few of the specific projects targeted for completion in the near term by this specific team:
Upgrading the Toronto Rail Lands model to use new super detailed track, advanced models of double slip switches and improved yard signal placement
Developing a simulation of today’s Roundhouse Park
Rebuilding all of the existing signal cabins in the Toronto Rail Lands
Rebuilding the CN and CP roundhouses
Developing a highly detailed model of TH&B #70 (and eventually all of our equipment)
Rebuilding the existing model of #6213
Expanding the repertoire of simulations available for public and group experiences
Automating the public experience to make it as self-service as possible
We also for the first time connected our simulators to a computer driven projector onto a large slide screen and much to our delight discovered that the experience was much enhanced by the large display. This has set our creative minds going on how to further develop this for the TRHC.
Of course, in addition to all of the above, our U33C Cab restoration team led by Jay Larkin and our F7 Cab restoration team led by Dan Garcia are continuing to work on further restoring these cabs as well. We are also working on further evolving our two portable simulators into simulations platforms which are quite mobile and can be moved around Roundhouse Park and taken more easily to events to promote the TRHC. . Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures by Russ Milland, Dave Lawrence and Lance Gleich .
Click on each image for a closer look!
