CANADIAN RAILWAY HISTORY

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Michael Berry snapped AMT GP9RM 1311 and VIA Rail FP9Au 6309 on May 20th as well as an RDC, ex-AMT 800 series car and some MLW's lined up in the background.

Exporail Calendar for June 2012: 

June 1 to 30: Exporail will be open daily 10:00 AM to 17:00 (5:00 PM).

June 1 to 30: View a water-color exhibition by artist Alice Macredie, she paints in memory of her father, who was a railway bridge engineer in western Canada. This exhibition combines history, art and engineering!

Sundays in June: Roussillon, Cradle of Canada's railways - This exhibition retraces the development of railways near Exporail!

The May - June issue of Canadian Rail features an article on the history of the Chemin de fer de Charlevoix and the Le Massif excursion train, Photo Gallery, VIA timetable changes and the heritage Business Car.

Canadian Rail magazine is mailed to CRHA members and is available at better hobby shops.

 

 

On May 10th, Saskatchewan’s newest shortline operation, and first railway tourist train made a familiarization trip for the invited guests of the tourist industry on a run from Ogema west to Horizon, and return.  The Southern Prairie Railway (SPR) pulling the past into the future,  roster includes 44-tonner number 15.  Ex-MEC 15, which later became Conway Scenic 15, was purchased from them by the SPR.

The coach is the Mount Holly.  Along for the ride this day is caboose ex PGE 1836.  The SPR also has baggage car 404925, ex CP 404925 which began life as CP 4747.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SOUTHERN PRAIRIE RAILWAY SITE

Not too long before being shipped to Saskatchewan, Michael Berry caught Conway Scenic Railroad #15 resting in the North Conway Yard, just behind the famous North Conway Station on June 26th 2010. On a nearby track is Conway Scenic Railroad 6516, which will also soon be departing the Yard. The GMD FP9A was built for CN in 1957 and later transferred to VIA Rail. It became Pan Am Railroad PAR 2 about a month after this photo was taken.

Canadian Railroad Historical Association E&N Division

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CHRA E&N SITE

Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE HUNTSVILLE AND LAKE OF BAYS RAILWAY SOCIETY SITE

With regular operations starting on May 19th, 2012 the HLBR employees are preparing the motive power and rolling stock for the Summer operations.  On this day they had removed the roof from the rear vestibule of the coach "Algonquin" as it had a bad case of the rot, and started rebuilding it from scratch.  The evening of May 1st, 2012 the Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway played host to about 40 delegates from the 2012 OSUM (Ontario Small Urban Municipalities) Conference & Trade Show. Since Huntsville was hosting this year's event Mayor Claude Doughty, thought it would be a great idea to show off the Portage Flyer, giving those interested a ride up to Fairy Lake Station where they were treated to some pretty fine food and  beverages. Afterward the train was returned to the shed but not before the photographer Wayne Shaw, who was the engineer for the return trip, managed to fire off a couple of shots.  In one of the shots below, Wayne had posed the train clear of the Forbes Hill Drive crossing while fellow engineman Ron Gostlin, Manager of Muskoka Heritage Place was throwing switches back in the yard. After backing the train into the yard he again stopped and took the shot in front of the water tower while waiting for the shed doors to be opened. The lingering afterglow from a fiery sunset provided some magical light for these photographs, something not easily captured as the train is usually put to bed before 4:00 PM during normal operation.

York-Durham Heritage Railway (YDHR)

CLICK HERE TO VISIT YORK-DURHAM HERITAGE RAILWAY'S HOME PAGE

On May 24th the vintage YDHR RS-3 performed yard switching duties come on by to the YDHR yard in Uxbridge, ON. There were plenty of good vantage points along the way, they were completely reorganizing the yard for the 2012 season beginning on Sunday June 3rd. They were also building a work train to go out on Saturday May 26th to distribute new track ties along the line, consisting of an MLW RS-3 #22, a flatcar, and caboose to transport the work crew. Matthew Erwood was the Yard Foreman (Conductor) and sent these shots he took while on break.

 

Guelph Historical Railway Association (GHRA)

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE GUELPH HISTORICAL RAILWAY ASSOCIATION'S WEBSITE

West Coast Railway Association (WCRA)

CLICK HERE TO VISIT WEST COAST RAILWAY ASSOCIATION'S HOME PAGE

Work on Electric Locomotive BCER#960 Continues.

The Project Team, under the guidance of Lead Mike McGaw, continues working on the locomotive in preparation for reassembly.  Mike sends this update on the ongoing progress of the restoration of BC Electric locomotive 960 covering the past two months:

• Cab skirting steel work plus door jams and sills fabricated and welded in place. Cab soft spots being attended to primarily by Randy Lucas (Photo shows new cab skirting in place);

• Sand box bottom wrappings fabricated ready for installation;
• Pilot beams prepped and primed;
• Front deck rust scaling completed with rust inhibitor applied;
• Rear deck batteries, battery boxes and their wood decking removed for repair and or replacement as applicable;
• Doors on home stretch thanks to Bob Gordon who has been assisting fairly regularly - one day a week;
• Rust sandwich filling between deck plate and side frame C channel, plus, a similar steel warping rust buildup of deck plates over ends at pilot beams were literally pounded out by my 22 year old son Corbin with trusty sledge hammer;
• Old air tank utilization vs. smaller rebuilds is still up in the air over various opinions Vis a Vis Fed / Prov. regulations and jurisdictions, even considering the proposed 960 operation likely to be restricted to the Heritage Park;
• We're also working our way through approaches to the thorny issue of utilizing and therefore possible re and re of brake appliances ... Again no shortage of helpfully options and suggestions
• Pressure washing of undersides wasn't as effective as hoped due to low capacity of currently available onsite equipment. Alternatives are being consideration;

• Cab brake gauge replacements lining up from an eastern source, but still need electrical gauges, most importantly, two Golden Glow head lights. Prepping towards reinstalling resistors on front deck and having front hood back in place not long after;
• As the hoods go on we will then do our final vetting of drawings for replacement of hood side panel steel work, which is considerable;
• Only managed to touch on some of the basics of our current focus with 960, but I'm sure you can appreciate most aspects can be projects within projects when you're digging into and rebuilding a somewhat unique electric loco built in the same year as was the Titanic;
• Lots of long work days, two, sometimes three days a week of work being put in by Bill Marchant and myself, with Martin Jergens taking ownership to having our steel fabrication work challenges effectively worked out with the fabricator. Marten has also been manning a drill press at his home shop;
• We also can't say enough about Randy Lucas who has provided input to ensure we have workable on sight solutions to many of our restoration challenges;
• As I've said before, two steps forward with one back, still moves us ahead at one notch, ever closer to the end of the line;

If anyone knows possible sources for parts on Mike’s wish list please send him a note c/o membership@wcra.org – please include BCER960 in the subject line.

Discovery Takes On a New Image

The former BC Rail Business Car Discovery has once again put on a new face. The car was built in 1922 as Reading #1332 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding (Wilmington, DE). By 1980, after serving on the American Freedom Train (AFT #204) the car had joined the BC Rail fleet.

Discovery in North Vancouver 1980

Photo: Claude Prutton June 6, 1980. (From AFT website)

The Squamish Lions Club purchased the car in 2008 from BC Rail for use as their new facility and located it on trackage at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.

Discovery at West Coast Railway Heritage Park, Squamish BC - 2006

This spring the Club decided it was time to restore the roof and repaint the car. At the same time Discovery was formally renamed Lions Club and lettered West Coast Railway. On April 21 the car saw the light of day for the first time in PGE Mineral Red livery.

Lions Club leaving the paint shop.

Lions Club on turntable heading for new home on track between the PGE Carshop and the CN Roundhouse and Conference Center.

Remember when? ...... as we prepare to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the first Transcontinental Passenger train in Vancouver, look back just 30 years to this shot taken in November, 1981 and see what a difference an Expo and redevelopment make! This is the scene at CPR Drake Street roundhouse in that year. With the Provincial steam program in operation the Royal Hudson and 1077 are based there for the winter and CPR is still servicing diesels.   Visible from left to right British Columbia power car Prince George, Steam locomotive #1077 Herb Hawkins, Royal Hudson #2860’s tender, and CP Rail Alco S2 #7042 (built 1946) coming onto the turntable.   In just a couple of years, CPR would vacate the site, the Provincial collection will move to BC Rail at North Vancouver, and the area will become the Expo 86 World’s Fair. The roundhouse will be a theme pavilion during then end up as the Roundhouse Community Centre of today and home of WCRA’s Locomotive 374 Pavilion.

Bridge Line Historical Society - Delaware and Hudson RR

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE BRIDGE LINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S HOME PAGE

 The Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society 

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE

SOLRS will soon take delivery of their newest diesel locomotive, ex-CPR S-3 6593, built by MLW. It will be loaded onto a flat car at the National Research Council facility at Uplands in Ottawa and transported to Kitchener by CN and the GEXR,  where it was unloaded and taken on its own wheels by 1556 to St. Jacobs, ON  where work will commence immediately to get it operational again. Earl Minnis snapped her in Windsor, Ontario back in 1985.

Waterloo Central Railway

John Soehner snapped the Waterloo Central Railway's Essex Terminal Railway 0-6-0 #9 which was under steam on Mother’s Day weekend, after some long needed repairs.

N&W ARTICULATED:

Back on September 1st, 1986 George Redmond shot N&W 2-8-8-2 #2156 at the Museum of Transport at the St. Louis Union Station.  The smoke was photo shopped for effect only.

Museums Listing

 

BRITISH COLUMBIA

West Coast Railway Association: www.wcra.org

Roundhouse Museum Project:  http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/roundhousemuseumproject

Kamloops Railway Historical Society:  www.kamloopsheritagerailway.com

Revelstoke Railway Museum: www.railwaymuseum.com

 

ALBERTA

Alberta Railway Museum: www.albertarailwaymuseum.com

Galt Historic Railway Park http://www.galtrailway.com/home/

Rocky Mountain Railway Society: http://www.6060.org/

The Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum Society: www.alberta2005rail.com

 

MANITOBA

Winnipeg Railway Museum: www.wpgrailwaymuseum.com

 

ONTARIO

Waterloo Central Railway   http://waterloocentralrailway.com/

York Durham Heritage Railway. http://www.ydhr.ca/

Canadian Museum of Science &Technology (Ottawa) http://imagescn.technomuses.ca

Chatham Railway Museum http://www.chathamrailroadmuseum.ca/

Bytown Railway Society:  www.bytownrailwaysociety.ca/about.htm

Elgin County Railway Museum: www.ecrm5700.org

Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society: www.steam-train.org

Toronto Railway Historical Association: www.trha.ca

Halton County Railway Museum: http://www.hcry.org

Huntsville and Lake of Bays Railway Society http://www.portageflyer.org/

Guelph Historical Railway Assoc (GRHA)      http://www.ghra.ca

Northern Ontario Railway Museum:  http://www.northernontariorailroadmuseum.ca/

Friends of 6218: http://www.friendsof6218.ca/contactus.php

 

 

QUEBEC

Exporail: www.exporail.org/public/

Montreal Railway Modeller’s Association:  http://www.canadacentral.org/

 

 

NEW BRUNSWICK

The New Brunswick Railway Museum  Hillsborough, NB  http://www.nbrm.ca/en/index.shtml

The NBRM in Moncton, NB have on display ex-CNR 4-6-2 #5270, which  was the first of this type to be used in the Atlantic Region, and for many years it operated on the Saint John-Moncton line in passenger service.  Appropriately, the engine was donated almost 101 years after the opening of the line. On passenger runs it carried a crew of two: Engineer and fireman.  During the Second World War, engine 5270 was used in transporting goods and troops across the Atlantic Region. 

 

NOVA SCOTIA

Nova Scotia Museum of Industry -  Stellarton, NS    http://museum.gov.ns.ca/moi/en/home/default.aspx

Memory Lane Railway Museum - Middleton, NS   http://memorylanerailwaymuseum.com/

Train Station Inn - Tatamagouche, NS   http://www.trainstation.ca/

Orangedale Railway Museum  - Orangedale, NS  http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.com/orangedale.htm

U.S.A.

ILLINOIS

Monticello Railway Museum    http://www.mrym.org/

 

PENNSYLVANIA

Lake Shore Railway Historical Society   http://www.grape-track.org/home

Steamtown National Historic Site:   http://www.nps.gov/stea/index.htm

© CRO June 2012