From Far Afield: 4-8-8-4 miniature steam locomotive enters service
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As a regular reader of the TRHA News you will be well aware of our owning and operating a fairly large live steam locomotive on our miniature railway. However, others elsewhere do operate locomotives significantly larger than ours.
The Diamond Valley Railway in Melbourne, Australia has just such a new locomotive. This is a 7-1/4" gauge railway (same gauge as ours) carrying 100,000 passengers a year. The locomotive is a model of a Union Pacific "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 Mallet articulated steam engine, one of the largest steam locomotives produced in significant quantity in the world. It is not the only model of this locomotive in existence in this scale as there are at least two in the U.S.
8 of the 25 full size Big Boys originally built by Alco between 1941 and 1944 for the Union Pacific have been preserved at various location around the U.S. None are operational. The engine at the lower left is preserved in Pomona, California. The backhead shown at the lower right belongs to another one of these locomotives preserved in Green Bay, Wisconsin. These images are from an article on these massive engines in Wikipedia. I have been fortunate to have visited the Big Boys preserved in Denver and St. Louis and they certainly are awesome engineering marvels.
Weekend Report: Shunting equipment keeps our team busy!
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Saturday featured a series of train movements. The bridge between Cabin D and Don Station was moved to allow Cape Race to be moved in from track 40 to stall 15 ready for later roof work. To allow that to happen the boxcar was moved to patio track 6 and all the stored materiel in the south end of stall 15 had to be removed.
A request from Leon's led to us also moving#7020 to patio 13 and relocating the line of speeder cars to patio 17 followed by clean up of patio tracks 18 and 19 and moving the security fence. Somewhere in there we stopped for lunch and also serviced the forklift battery.
Locomotive #1 is now parked at the far south end of stall 15 to be ready for installation of it's new engine and we just managed to get the doors closed behind Cape Race.
Thanks to the team of volunteers who made this all happen!
CP Holiday Train visits southern Ontario again this year!
Continuing their tradition of operating Holiday Trains which visit communities throughout the CP railway system, the CP speaks to the Holiday Train at their website as follows:
Making a difference, one stop at a time
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train hits the rails again in November, visiting over 140 communities across our network.
Since the program's inception back in 1999, more than $5.6 million and over 2.45 million pounds of food has been collected in Canada and the United States.
The goal of the Holiday Train is to collect food and money for local food banks and to raise awareness in the fight against hunger. At each event, the Holiday Train provides a box car stage, a line up of great musical talents and a corporate contribution to the local food bank. The community, in turn, is encouraged to donate food and funds, all of which stays in the community.
Click on CP's 2 1/2 minute video below to enjoy an animated explanation of this wonderful annual event.
Here are the dates and times for the train's visits in the Toronto area:
Oshawa – 7:15 p.m., 680 Laval Drive, Oshawa, behind the Walmart store off Stevenson Road South
Tuesday, November 29
Toronto – 6:15 p.m., 750 Runnymede Rd, in front of CP Lambton yard office, parking only in Walmart lot
Hamilton – 7:45 p.m. (U.S. Train show), area of Kinnear Yard, opposite Gage Park
Vaughan – 8:45 p.m., North of railway level road crossing at Nashville Road, near the old grain mill
Note that there are two trains. The Canadian train will visit all of the above places except for Hamilton which will be visited by the U.S. Train. For more information on the other stops, schedule changes and more pictures, visit the CP website by clicking here.
Again this year, there were many model railroad layouts on display and operating at this year's show as well as folks showing how to build models. Here are a few images from around the show.
The Toronto Railway Historical Association once again operated a booth at the Christmas Train show this weekend. A new feature this year were the two banners in the photos which displayed a number of images of Roundhouse Park and our assets. The slide presentation on the large LCD TV has been updated since last year and was a big hit with visitors.
This year, our TRHA Simulations team once again brought one of our portable simulators to the show and treated visitors to the opportunity to operate railway trains through the Toronto rail lands of the 1950's.
Christmas Train Show Is This Weekend! The TRHA will be there!
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In the Toronto area, there is only one major Train Show annually and it is held at the end of November at the International Centre across from Toronto's International Airport.
The TRHA will once again be present with our booth to make the visiting public aware of the great progress that we have made in the past year. We will be bringing one of our diesel-electric engine simulation systems to the show as well to entertain the visitors and promote the museum. Here is what the show organizers say about this year's show:
"All Abooarrd..... We are pleased to announce that we have been able to secure space at the International Centre for November 19 & 20, 2011. This will enable us to produce Canada's largest train show. You will be amazed at the over 50 displays and operating layouts in every gauge of trains. There is about 70,000 square feet of layouts, exhibits, clinics showing how to build layouts and scenery, toy trains, steam engines, videos, photos, prints, books, apparel, Railway Historical Associations and Train Vendors of all kinds. WHEW!! It is some great show. Come and renew those magical memories of our train sets of old or come and get started on a layout for the grandchild (OK ... maybe yourself). This is great family fun for all.
This will be our 16th annual TORONTO CHRISTMAS TRAIN SHOW."
Dates and times:
Saturday November 19th - 11 to 4 p.m.
Sunday, November 20th - 10 to 4 p.m.
The show will be located in Hall 3 at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd., Mississauga which is just north of the Toronto International Airport.
Note that you can print off a $2.00 discount coupon for the show by clicking here.
The pictures shown here are from the 2009 Christmas train show.
Weekend report: A helicopter appears to the North!
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While the miniature train was taking on passengers today, everyone was treated to a second surprise bonus with a perfect view of a helicopter lifting building materials onto a site at 145 King Street West.
TRHA volunteers also renovated the wood storage area inside the Roundhouse. The area was rebuilt to help store and display the wood supplies more effectively for our upcoming winter season of work. We were pleased to complete the work all in one day.
Posting by Russ Milland; Photos by Lance Gleich and James Rasor
Today was one step forward and two steps back on the TH&B Van#70 in the conductor stand area. The restoration of the conductor's stand on the right side, which was above the ice cooled refrigerator, revealed that most of the structural wood and plywood has succumbed to wood rot as seen in the pictures. The dense wood, once firm as a rock, now just falls apart at the touch of finger. This was not entirely unexpected. The ice cooled refrigerator's galvanized metal is in restorable condition but the oak and other wood species used for the structure would have been subjected to continuous condensation and heat as the ice was replaced and melted and replaced and melted.
This unfortunately has had it's obvious effect on the wood as we can see. The good news is that most of all the visible parts are in restorable condition and we'll have it looking as good as new in a couple of months. The structural wood will be replaced where necessary. Our plan is to have the caboose restored, interpreted and on display for all to see for next summer's operating season.
The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) expects to take delivery of the first of a new series of streetcars in late 2012. A mock-up of the front half of the new light rail vehicle can now be visited at the following time and dates.
Date: November 12 through 15, 2011 Time: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Location: 1138 Bathurst Street (TTC Hillcrest Facility)
Getting there by TTC:
Accessible shuttle buses will be running between Bathurst and St. Clair West stations. From Bathurst Station, you can also take the 7 Bathurst Bus northbound and exit at Bridgman Avenue. From St. Clair West Station, use the special shuttle bus (LRV Mock-up Public Display) or visit the trip planner at www.ttc.ca for additional routes. There is no public parking available on the site.
For more information:
To learn more about the new streetcars including lots of photos, click here.
Here are some milestones in the history of the TTC. From horses to electricity to the Red Rocket:
In 1861, horse drawn streetcars started carrying Toronto customers to their destinations.
In 1892, the first electric streetcars travelled Church Street.
The TTC was established in 1921 and the "Peter Witt" streetcar was introduced. Peter Witt streetcars carried passengers until 1963 when the last one was retired.
In 1938, the first Presidents' Conference Committee ("PCC" or "Red Rocket") streetcars entered service. The last PCC was retired in 1995.
Our streetcar system got new life when the abandonment program was cancelled in 1972.
In 1979, the first Canadian Light Rail Vehicles (CLRV) entered service.
In 1988, the first Articulated Light Rail Vehicles (ALRV) entered service.
The roof of the TH&B Van#70 cupola is beginning its restoration. The restoration is an interesting study in the construction and materials used over the years to waterproof the Van. All the metal corners for the cupola which sit on the outside of the metal skin have been removed. They were prevented from sitting tight against the metal skin due to the round heads of the skin screw fasteners thus the inside of the metal corners are covered in rust as shown in the photo. This will have to be cleaned and remediated before they can be placed back.
The roofing material at the top of the cupola has been removed and the grab rails are being removed for cleaning. The photos for the fasteners for the grab rails show the construction and waterproofing method used:
Canvas fabric was fitted with a hole and placed over the threaded rod from below
Mastic/tar was placed over the canvas around the threaded rod
Next a large red rubber escutcheon ring was tightly fitted over the threaded rod into the waterproofing
Then the grab rail stand was placed over the rod and bolted into place
Once in place the entire assembly at the base of the grab rail stand was covered in more mastic/tar
Historic Note: The Last Spike driven on November 7th, 1885
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November 7, 2011 marked the 126th anniversary of the driving of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Last Spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia in 1885. Nowhere else in the world has a private railway company been so inextricably linked to nation building as the CPR was to Canada.
Last year on the occasion of the 125th Anniversary of this momentous event, TRHA published a series of articles from many different perspectives. Included among them is an extensive article on the event by Derek Boles, our TRHA historian. Click on this link to read the first of those postings and then follow the links at the end of each posting to the next one.
There is also a fine article online which can be found by clicking here with an in-depth insight into available images of the event plus coverage of the anniversary events.
Weekend Report: Making serious progress in organizing our working environment!
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Keeping our restoration stalls clean, safe and orderly is a continual challenge. James Rasor reports here on the great job that our TRHA volunteers did today as they made significant progress on organizing this area for our busy winter restoration programme.
"The season is winding down and it is time to review what worked this year and what needs to be changed? This means house cleaning! The first two items on the list are the shop wood storage area and the tool module. We have many projects to do this winter and it is important that we know what our supplies are and how much is available as we rely on donations from the public to do most of our restoration work.
The wood storage: Every piece of wood is carefully kept and reviewed before it is deemed disposable. Every piece is reviewed, nails and screws removed from donated stock, and pieces are restocked in their appropriate place. Pieces are kept right down to 12" long. To do this we have two rolling bins for short pieces 4 feet long and shorter, a small shelf for pieces 18" to 12" long, and a wall storage area for plywood sheets and large or long pieces of wood. This winter the storage for the long and over-sized pieces will be rebuilt to be more effective to store different sizes - the easier it is to sort through and see the wood supplies, the easier it is for us to to re-use wood and not waste larger pieces by cutting them up unnecessarily. This weekend we started the re-organization by removing all the wood from the wall storage and laying it out for sorting and accounting - a half day task at best. Next week we will begin to rebuild the wall storage area.
The tool storage: The tool cabinet module needs to be rebuilt to be more effective. The hardware and paint module are working fairly well due to labeling and items being replaced correctly after being used. The tool module has never acquired the tools we really need so it has been in flux most of the year. However, we know the direction we need to go in and after a couple of years of restoration we know the tools we need, so the module will be built to suit including labels and better storage solutions.
During our day of house cleaning we still managed to give a few tours to the public, including several families and to two police officers passing by."
Click on each image for a closer look!
