i remember riding the hand car, back and forth on the siding there, i also remember the loco it was a CN switcher, not sure what happened to it. I was able to see the equipment for the last time when it was parked on asiding near Old Fort York in the late 80s 88, or 89, hobos were living in the cars, some of the cars ended up in the Smiths Falls Ontario collection. The CN dental car is there, the vingar car is the roundhouse in toronto, I do not remember any of the other cars. I did hear the switcher was torched for scrap because of the trucks and bearings. I use to visit the museum a couple times a summer when visiting my grandparents. Then one summer it was gone. I remember the street running tracks along queens quay, never saw a train there, but was cool...now street cars have replaced them.
The museum use to be at the water front very close to the flea market, on sundays it drew a crowd because of the flea market. Then the flea market moved due to rebuilding the waterfront area, then the museum was moved to very remote part of the waterfront. That seemed to be the end of the museum.
here is what i learned from another yahoo list.
The locos were part of the collection for the still born railway
display at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. Locomotives stored
downtown were a CP 2-8-2, (5361) a CP 4-6-4 (2839) and a CN 4-6-2
(5107) if I recall correctly. .CN 4-6-0 1520, CN 2-6-0 91, CP 4-4-0
136 and CP 4-6-0 1057 werte also part of the collection although I
don't think they were assembled downtown. Also includes were a Shay
two or three 0-4-0 tank engines and a couple of 0-4-0T Welsh slate
mine locos.
Only one of these latter engines became a display at the Science
Scentre and it is cut in half to display the inner workings of a
steam engine. The CP 2-8-2, 4-6-0 and 4-6-4, and the CN 2-6-0 were
auctioned off to US bidders although the 4-6-0 was reprieved and
stayed in Ontario. The CN 4-6-2 went to Kaspuskasing, the CN 4-6-0
to Prince George, the CP 4-4-0 joined the CP 4-6-0 and eventually
ended up at Tottenham, the Shay at Komoka, I'm not sure fate of the
0-4-0t locos except I think one is near Orillia and one of the Welsh
engines returned to Wales.
I hope this helps. I'm sure others will correct any errors as I am
just going from memory.
The 2-8-2, 5361 is now privately owned and has been sitting on an
industrial siding just outside Buffalo, NY for years.
http://www.steamloc omotive.info/ vlocomotive. cfm?Display= 900
The Royal Hudson, 2839 is now stuffed and mounted at the Nethercutt
Museum in California
http://nethercuttco llection. org/EndPage. aspx?page= train
The CN Mogul, #91, is at the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad in
Pennsylvania in running condition.
http://www.steamloc omotive.info/ vlocomotive. cfm?Display= 1031
so there is some info , but no one seems to remember the locos parked in a siding down town
i also remember a locomotive parked at the carleton card factory in toronto on eglinton ave east i think, it was gone from that site. I use to see it from the Lesile street bus after it turned to go to the subway station.
Another locomotive i remember seeing in toronto when i was a kid, was the GE Factory near Landsdowne ( saw itfrom the Keele 41 bus route, when the bus went to Landsdowne subway station) it was parked ina parking lot on what may have been a siding or just on the ground , it was later tarped. I never saw it again because we took the 106 bus to Wilson Station instead when I went to my grandmother's office.
I also remember a loco at the former army base at CFB Downsview, ( Keele and Shepard area) it was that the Supply Depot there, it was land locked the tracks were pulled up and no more rail service to the supply depot. The military kept the loco there, it was 44 ton GE i think if memory serves me right. I was later stationed there and the loco was parked near a door, then it was taken inside. Friends who were army EME they use to have to do the yearly tech inspection on the loco, i do not know what happened to it, I had left the base before it was closed and I never saw it again.
If any one from the museum reads this, there are 2 pieces of toronto railroad history that might be able to be found for the collection if not gone already.
There is also or maybe gone now a air powered locomotive looks like a 0-4-0 little tanker loco at a heavy equipment and building movement company some where along old highway 7 between Jane street and dufferin street. I hacve pics of it some where, do not recall exactly where it is on the map. it is in rough shape, but looked whole, good coat of paint and some glass required for the windows in the cab and it could be on display.
if i lived in the toronto area i would be very happy to join and help do what kind of grunt work the museum needed done.
But i live near Ottawa and too far to commute to but i will visit and explore when it opens
stuart warren
renfrew ontario
