Field Trip: Celebrating New Year's Eve on the GO Train
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It was cold night for some and for others a night to celebrate the new year. With that in mind a group of TRHA volunteers braved the elements and took part in an excursion aboard a GO train, taking time to sight see around the outer ends of the line. In the attached pictures we see our volunteers enjoying each others company, reminiscing about the year that was. In the second picture, we see two volunteers taking advantage of a layover at Aldershot station by sightseeing around the station. In the last picture, we see our volunteers at the end of our night disembarking at Union Station.
This excursion has become an annual event for TRHA volunteers looking to reminisce about the year and enjoy each others company on New Years Eve when GO transit allows people to ride the system for free.
"A beautiful Tuesday morning on December 27th dawned with a good 3 to 4 inches of new snow. I took out the snow blower and being alone, I pushed it around the layout to clear the tracks. My friend Claude St Laurent arrived and we then took out the club locomotive and away we went for a ride around our layout." - Ron Pelletier
Ron is an avid miniature railway enthusiast with the Quebec Model Railway Society who operate N, HO and miniature railways in Quebec City on property adjacent to a mainline railway yard. In the video above, a Via passenger train makes a special stage appearance. Ron posts information regularly on the Internet about their club's activities. Visit their website by clicking here.
U.K. Field Trip Part 8 – Glasgow Riverside Museum – The Museum of Transport
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On our final day in the UK, we took the opportunity to visit one of the newest museums, the Glasgow Riverside Museum, which opened earlier this year. The Museum is the new home of the collection of the Glasgow Museum of Transport, which for many years was housed at Kelvinhall in central Glasgow.
While the old museum was one of the busiest museums in the UK for many years, despite the volume of visitors, it would not be recognized as a well organized or presented collection. For many years, the museum was housed in the equivalent of a warehouse, with cars parked close together, and trains and tram cars crammed into small spaces on short sections of track within the building. Recognizing this problem, several years ago fundraising began, and a new museum site along the River Clyde was chosen, culminating in the closure of the old museum in 2010, and the opening of the Riverfront Museum in spring of this year. The new museum allows for much better presentation of the exhibits, along with new exhibits, such as a South African Railway 15F 4-8-2 Steam Locomotive built by North British Locomotives in Glasgow, shipped to South Africa, and repatriated in 2007 for restoration and display.
Of particular interest to TRHA Volunteers are the Railway and Transit exhibits. Four former Scottish locomotives are on display, Caledonian Single 123, North British Railway “Glen Douglas”, Highland Railway “Jones Goods” No. 103 and Glasgow and South Western Railway No.9 are all within the museum. In addition, as noted South African No.3007, a 3’6” Cape Gauge monster built by North British in Glasgow is a centrepiece of the collection. Several double decker Glasgow Trams are presented, along with a replica of an 1890’s Glasgow Subway Station in the “Street 1895-1930” recreation of a Glasgow Street from the first quarter of the last century.
The new museum has from all accounts been a huge success, with very high visitor numbers (as evidenced by it being packed during our visit), and is well worth a visit for any rail or transportation fan who finds themselves in Glasgow.
Description of images:
#1 - The Street, Hose Drawn Tram, transit to Canada £2 #2 - SAR 3007 #3 - SAR 3007 Plates #4 - Glen Douglas and Double Decker Tram #5 - Caley Single, Jones Good, Glasgow SW 9 #6 - Wall of Cars
This is the final installment of this series of TRHA News postings about this field trip. To read the entire series, start by clicking here.
Posting and pictures by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger!
Winter & The New York Central's Buffalo Central Terminal
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Christmas is that time of the year when the railways work very hard to ensure that their passengers arrive safely home to their families to celebrate the holiday. Nowhere is that job more challenging than in Buffalo, New York, only 50 miles south of Toronto as the crow flies, but often another world given the paralyzing lake effect snow storms that the city often experiences. This photograph by famed New York Central Railroad photographer Ed Nowak shows the NYC's Buffalo Central Terminal in the aftermath of one of those storms.
Central Terminal was familiar to many Torontonians travelling by rail to various destinations in the United States. At the time this photograph was taken in the early 1950's, the New York Central provided through overnight sleepers between Toronto and Boston, New York City, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. As well, Torontonians travelling to destinations like Washington and Florida would have changed trains at Central Terminal.
Many of the Canadian Pacific and Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo locomotives serviced at the John Street Roundhouse would have been serviced here as well, although in the latter years of steam, not as fastidiously as at John Street. The Toronto crew often complained of the sorry condition of NYC locomotives that were retired several years before the CPR abandoned steam.
Buffalo Central Terminal had its official opening on June 22, 1929. A luncheon banquet was held in the concourse for 2200 invited guests and among the speakers was Canadian National President Sir Henry W. Thornton. The New York Central Railroad chose the architectural firm of Fellheimer & Wagner to design the station. Dominated by a 15-story Art Deco office tower, the train concourse was located on top of the tracks, similar to the later Central Station in Montreal. F&W also designed the TH&B station in Hamilton and their Art Deco masterpiece, the Cincinnati Union Terminal, opened in 1933.
In order to avoid some of the problems that had plagued Toronto's new Union Station, whose approach tracks and trainshed were still under construction because of disputes over property acquisition and grade separations, Central Terminal was located two miles from downtown on 70 acres of land purchased by the NYC. This would later prove to be the terminal's undoing as it was too isolated from Buffalo's central business district for the convenience of passengers and the facility was difficult to recycle for other uses after the station closed. Up to the last full day of operation of the station on October 27, 1979, VIA Rail's daily Toronto-Buffalo Dayliners serviced at John Street called at Central Terminal.
For many years after, this magnificent terminal was an embarrassing urban ruin, open to the elements and inhabited by indigents. After several different owners, the building was acquired by the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation and is slowly being secured and stabilized by a group of dedicated volunteers whose passion for preserving their local railway heritage matches our own.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the TRHA!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the TRHA!
We wish to take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers and especially to all of our volunteers, supporters and visitors who were so instrumental in our museum having had such a great year.
In this painting by David Oram, Canadian National Railways U-4-a #6404 is assaulting the Danforth hill as it heads out of Toronto on its way to Montreal in the winter of 1942. David has generously allowed us to use many of his works on our website and in Roundhouse Park! Click here to visit his website to see more of his great paintings.
U.K. Field Trip Part 7 – National Railway Museum at York
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During a brief afternoon stopover in York, we paid a visit to the National Railway Museum at York. As part of the trip, we wanted to return the visits of Charlie Bird and Adrian Ashby who spent time at the TRHC this spring with the NRM’s T3 563 “Vicky” and The Railway Children production. We managed to catch up with Charlie who gave us a tour of the NRM’s workshop facilities, highlighting the work in progress on a cosmetic restoration “Winston Churchill”, a Bullied Battle of Britain Pacific in advance of the 50th Anniversary of the locomotive hauling Winston Churchill’s funeral train in 2015. We also discussed the ongoing restoration of the NRM’s famous A3 Pacific “Flying Scotsman”, which while not present, a number of sub components were around the works being tested and prepared for re-assembly and a return to steam in 2012 after additional problems were found earlier this year as it was thought the overhaul was nearing completion.
The NRM has been undergoing significant works to improve exhibits and its presentation, and had just finished a major London Midland and Scottish Railway themed weekend in which a mainline shuttle using steam locomotives had operated between their two sites at York and Shildon. This saw many of the locomotives of the collection outside on display still while we were there, along with some being actively shunted to return them to their normal display location.
The NRM is a free museum to visit, and is highly recommended to any railfan who ever finds themselves in York, the collection is fantastic, and as anyone who had the chance to meet Charlie or Adrian can attest, the staff is friendly and welcoming of visitors and happy to answer questions about the collection.
Description of images:
#1 - Great Hall #2 – Mallard #3 – Hardwick #4 - Prince William shunting Duchess of Hamilton #5 - Gladstone Royal Headboard #6 - Harry Potter Memorabilia
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Posting and pictures by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
U.K. Field Trip Part 6 – Severn Valley: The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway
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The railway heritage of Bridgnorth is not limited to the Severn Valley Railway, as the town is split in to into the “High” town on the rocky outcropping, and the “Low” town built along the river, getting between the two parts has been a challenge.Numerous narrow staircases and alleys climb the cliff, but in typical Victorian ingenuity, to address the 200 step climbs, in 1890 a project was commenced to construct a funicular railway linking the two parts of town.Opened in 1892, the Cliff Railway remains an important part of the transportation network for local residents, and a tourist attraction in its own right.The line consists of two compartments, which are linked together and using gravity and a cable pulley system, as one car descends the cliff, the other rises up.The railway operates 362 days a year, and a trip up or down takes about 1 minute and 15 seconds.
Description of images:
#1 - Cliff Railway #2 - Looking up the cliff #3 - On the way Up #4 - Compartment and low town #5 - Cable System
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Posting and pictures by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
Cleaning and painting the engine bay in CLC Whitcomb #1
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Here is a report on some recent activity in the Roundhouse:
"Michael Guy and I completed scraping and cleaning out as much of the accumulated sludge in the #1's engine bay as we could. Then we moved on to preparing it for paint, wiping down the surfaces and cutting away some un-needed brackets and mounts within the engine bay to make future maintenance easier when the engine is re-installed. The cleaned engine bay is shown in the image at the upper left.
We then had a debate over which garish shade to paint the bay. Given that it appears it was yellow before, and that the bright yellow will show up any future smudge and leaks to allow us to spot them, we went with the lovely Tremclad yellow shown in the image below.
As you can see, it will need a second coat at least, and some of the fiddlier areas around the generator weren't gotten to as we didn't have the right brushes to paint in those small spaces.
Completing the first coat and adding a second coat will be a priority task going forward in order to have #1 ready to receive her new motor in the near future. "
U.K. Field Trip Part 5 – Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala – Heavy Engineering
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Running a railway using steam locomotives, the youngest of which are north of 60 years old (excepting 2008’s Tornado), is a very difficult and time consuming job. The Bridgnorth Motive Power Depot is the main restoration and running shed for the lines steam locomotives, and can do almost anything needed to keep a locomotive going or restore one to operation. While we were there, a Great Western Small Prairie tank No 5164 was in the shop for running repairs, with the motion disassembled to allow the Cylinders to be inspected and re-bored, during the gala the wheel drop was being demonstrated using the prairie’s centre axle. Also in the shop were parts of several locomotives undergoing full overhauls, and Dunrobin, an 0-4-4 Tank Locomotive which was repatriated from Fort Steele in BC this summer using the pallets which delivered Vicky to Canada for her role in the Railway Children.
The back of the shop has a full machine shop, with a wide array of lathes, boring, milling machines, and a full wheel lathe, capable of turning the wheels of a locomotive driver back to true from the wear and tear of regular use. Also seen, was a very similar eye protection sign to those found in the Machine Shop at John Street, and re-created in the stalls by TRHA Volunteers, though it must be said that the UK version has more stylish hair than the John Street Eye Protection sign!!
Description of images:
#1 - West Country Boiler under repair #2 -Running Repairs on the Prairie #3 - Goggles 1 #4 – Dunrobin #5 - Pannier 1501 Wheels #6- Machine Shop 1 #7 - Milling Machine #8 - Stylish Eye Protection #9 - Machine Shop 2 #10 – Taps #11 - Don't steal the tools
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Posting and pictures by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
U.K. Field Trip Part 4 – Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala – The Engine House
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One of the major recent accomplishments of the Severn Valley Railway was the opening of The Engine House in 2008. The new museum aims to cover several goals for the railway, providing a reason to stop at one of the intermediate stations, providing accommodation inside for “out of ticket” locomotives awaiting the time and finances to be overhauled for a return to operation, and to provide an educational centre for the railway. The facility has two tracks, which accommodate several locomotives in both pristine display condition, and straight from service condition awaiting cosmetic work to display standard. The museum has been very successful in its goals of providing an educational facility second to none, and provides opportunities for new viewing locations of passing trains from the balcony of its restaurant and the large patio area around the building. Amongst the current exhibits are a royal saloon used by King George VI (of The King’s Speech fame and the 1939 Royal Tour of Canada), and one of the Flagship Locomotives of the railway, Great Western Railway ‘Hall’ No. 4930 Hagley Hall.
Also amongst the exhibits was a Great Western Handcar, which, when you look is virtually identical to the Handcar in the collection of the TRHC in Toronto.
Description of images:
#1 - Kings Saloon #2 - Prairie No 1 #3 - Prairie No 2 #4 - GWR Hand Car #5 - Brake Lamp
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Posting and pictures by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
U.K. Field Trip Part 3: Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala - Videos
The Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala (Continued)
During the visit, I used my small point and shoot camera to take some videos, I am by no means a videographer, and the combination of my camera and limited video skills, these are not the most outstanding videos, but they capture the general feel of the railway and the locomotives at work.
Click on each video below to watch it!
Video 1: A1 Steam Locomotive 60163 approaches Highley Station
Video 2: GWR 2857 Storms Eardington Bank with the morning goods train
Video 3: British Railways 9F 92212 coasts past Northwood Lane with a passenger service for Kidderminster.
Video 4: Caledonian Railway 828 exits the Tunnel at Foley Park with a train for Bridgnorth
Video 5: Tornado Crosses Victoria Bridge with a northbound train on Sunday morning
Video 6: King Edward 1 Arrives and Departs a station stop at Highley
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Not to be outdone by the CP's Holiday Train, our own Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) is operating its own holiday train. In the video above created by James Hoffman of North Bay, ONR #1809 arrives at the North Bay station with the First Inaugural Christmas Train bringing the holiday spirit to thousands of spectators, children and railfans alike who all came to see Santa and Choo Choo Bear. The train was very colourful and very nicely decorated for this inaugural trip.
U.K. Field Trip Part 2: Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala
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The Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala (Continued)
After a day on Friday spent mostly riding the trains, Saturday and Sunday were days out in the field with the galleries of photographers looking for shots and opportunities to get good pictures, as always, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it gave an opportunity to talk shop with many railfans, some of whom now know of the TRHC and will hopefully come and visit us should they ever find their way to Toronto. Many were curious about the state of museums and heritage railways in Canada and the US, and were surprised to find that the culture is very different than in the UK, especially with regards to mainline tours and the reluctance of the major railways over here to run steam excursions, which is a regular occurrence throughout the UK all year long.
For anyone who has never been to the UK, the heritage railway industry in the UK can not be appreciated without being there. I have been many times, but it only really dawned on Heather just how different it is from our museum at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre when we were on the first train of the day on Friday morning, and we came through a field with a gallery of 30ish photographers already there and shooting!!! If the opportunity presents itself to any railfan to go to the UK in the spring or autumn gala seasons, it should not be missed as it is unlike anything you will experience locally in Canada or the United States.
Description of Images:
#8 - 9F at Speed #9 - GWR 2857 on the Night Goods #10 - Flying Pig at Rest #11 - Bridgnorth at Night #12 - Tea on the Footplate #13 - Tornado at Speed #14- Oldest and Newest
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Posting and Photos by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
U.K. Field Trip Part 1: Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala
Click on each image for a closer look! The Severn Valley Railway Steam Gala
In September of 2011, TRHA volunteers Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger took a trip in September to the UK to visit family, but as part of the trip, we made time to visit the Severn Valley Railway for its Autumn Steam Gala and partake in some railfanning at the Gala. The Severn Valley Railway in England is one of the major preserved lines, linking the towns of Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, the 16 mile line follows the Severn River, running along a former Great Western Railway Branch line through the scenic West Midlands. The line with its two major termini at Kidderminster Town Station (a completely new station built in the 1980’s) and Bridgnorth (opened 1862), an original Great Western Railway station also serves four intermediate stations, the country junction at Bewdley and intermediate stations at Arley, Highley and Hampton Loade. Highley is the home of the “Engine House”, a new museum opened in 2008 which houses the lines out of ticket steam locomotives in an enclosed setting to protect them until their time in the queue for overhaul arrives. A separate report will follow on the Engine House.
The Autumn Steam Gala at the SVR is one of the major events in the UK Gala Season, in no small part because of the scope of the operations, from 8am on Friday morning, until around 7pm on Sunday evening, the railway operates non stop, with intensive all-steam services through the day, down to a limited service all through the night, with many choosing to forego accommodations and sleep on the cushions through the night on the trains. For the Gala, the railway turned out no fewer than 11 steam locomotives, 10 scheduled for service and a spare (which would be needed throughout the weekend). Included in the group were locomotives dating from 1899 for the Caledonian Railway 828 visiting from the Strathspey Railway in Scotland, to the new build A1 Pacific Tornado which was completed in 2008 visiting for a break from mainline railtours. Operations include local services at the north and south end of the line, full line main passenger services, and a demonstration goods train service, complete with shunting at either end of the line as the train is re-made to return the other direction.
One of the more interesting experiences we enjoyed was the chance to ride the line in luxury in a Great Western/British Rail inspection saloon at the end of the train being hauled by new-build pacific Tornado. This afforded a fine view of the line, along with food and drink, and the opportunity to talk shop with the owner of the carriage, who is the owner of a Bullied Pacific Locomotive 34027 Taw Valley. His locomotive is based on the Severn Valley and undergoing a £1,000,000 plus (north of $1,700,000 Canadian) overhaul to service at the current time. He was working as the VIP Steward on the Saloon Coach, and provided an interesting history on the coach, the line, his locomotive and along with some of the other passengers on our trip, on the state of the Heritage Railway industry in the United Kingdom in terms of the many railways and their ability to meet their motive power needs while funding future overhauls and maintaining safety standards. There are growing concerns that there are too many preserved lines, and that they are not all going to be capable of being financially self sufficient to keep running without risking safety standards or relying on the government for heritage funding to keep going. These are not dissimilar issues to those facing museums around the world, and how heritage railways and museums deal with them will become more important in the coming years.
Description of images:
#1 - Caley 828 approaching Highley #2- King Edward 1 Departing Highley #3- Saloon Car Style #4 - Photographers Gallery #5 - Caledonian Climbing Eardington Bank #6 - 9F on the Goods Train #7 - Locos in Service Board
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Posting and Photos by Stephen Gardiner and Heather Meger
Click on each image for a closer look!
