Rediscovering our history with the land, settlements, and how we moved from place to place.
The Toronto Railway Museum
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Several years ago, our friend and occasional guest-blogger JetLaggedJaff made a visit to Toronto and the CN Tower, which he was kind enough to share with us.
Recently, we made the trip down to downtown Toronto to visit the Toronto Railway Museum ourselves, which is nestled in the heart of the former Railway Lands, adjacent to the aforementioned CN Tower. For any fan of railway history or urban development, this museum offers a fascinating glimpse into the city’s rich railroading past right in the heart of downtown.
FRRandP photo. Caption from the Toronto Railway Historical Association, "Cape Race was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929 as the River Liard. The car was one of a series of 15 River cars fabricated at National Steel Car in Hamilton for $66,300 apiece. The opulent interiors were finished at CP’s Angus Shops in Montreal and featured individual ladies’s and gentlemen’s showers, leather-upholstered smoking rooms, ladies’ lounge and observation parlour as well as a small buffet to serve snacks and beverages."
From the moment you arrive at Roundhouse Park, you’re greeted by a lovingly preserved collection of locomotives, rolling stock, and historic railway artifacts. The museum itself is housed in the John Street Roundhouse, a beautifully restored locomotive maintenance facility built in 1929 by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).
This roundhouse is one of the last remaining examples of this type of structure in Canada.
Before diving into the exhibits, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the setting.
The CN Tower looms overhead, a striking contrast to the vintage equipment, and overwhelming (in a good way) to the museum footprint below.
Once home to expansive rail yards serving both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways, the area was gradually redeveloped as rail operations moved out of the downtown core.
For those interested in urban history, the museum does an excellent job of exploring the evolution of the Railway Lands. In the early 20th century, this area was a dense web of tracks, roundhouses, and freight sheds, serving as a crucial interchange for goods and passengers. The construction of the CN Tower in the 1970s marked the beginning of the area’s transformation, eventually leading to the mixed-use development we see today.
A 1969 view from Toronto's Public Archives of the former Railway Lands where the railway museum is preserved, but much of the rest has been turned into the are surrounding the CN Tower, such as ScotiaBank Arena, home of the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs of the NBA and NHL respectively.
I'm glad a bit of this history was preserved in the final design of the area, as there are numerous examples of what was formerly railroad property in dense urban areas that have no trace of their history today, such as Chicago's Chinatown Square, once an AT&SF railyard.
The museum’s outdoor collection features several beautifully restored pieces of rolling stock. Standouts include the Canadian National steam locomotive No. 6213, a massive 4-8-4 Northern type built in 1942. This engine was once a workhorse of CN’s passenger service, and it now sits proudly on display. Nearby, you’ll find a selection of vintage passenger cars and freight equipment, each telling its own story of the nation’s railway heritage.
CN 4803
We did not venture inside, but located inside the roundhouse, the museum offers a wealth of interactive exhibits and displays. One of the highlights is the working model train layout, which recreates Toronto’s historic rail infrastructure in impressive detail. The museum also offers a train simulator, letting visitors experience the thrill of operating a locomotive through the city’s rail network.
In addition, the museum houses Steam Whistle Brewing, and while I don't drink much, their Steam Whistle Pilsner is (nearly) worth driving outside the country for!
One of the most enjoyable parts of the visit was the miniature train ride around Roundhouse Park. While it’s a hit with kids, railfans will also appreciate the ride’s route, which passes several historic landmarks and provides great views of the museum’s outdoor collection. It's also really cool to see such small scale rails operating next to the behemoths!
Yep, these are active tracks you should expect a train on!
I'm starting to realize I maybe should have gotten a pic of this train running....
Oh well...here's a video of the train in action!
Canadian National Railway diesel locomotive No. 4803 standing proudly in the background.
The mighty Canadian National Railway steam locomotive No. 6213 stands proudly at the Toronto Railway Museum. This 4-8-4 Northern-type engine, built in 1942, was once a powerhouse of CN’s passenger service. Beside it sits a vintage railway crane, a reminder of the heavy equipment once essential for maintaining and building the vast rail network.
The vintage John Street Roundhouse turntable serves as the main attraction at the Toronto Railway Museum, a necessary piece of equipment once used to rotate locomotives around for servicing. It is ringed by a display of older railcars, including an original GO Transit coach, against the dominating glass-and-steel tower skylines of downtown Toronto. It's this incredible contrast — heritage railway equipment preserved smack in the middle of an ultra-modern city center — that makes this museum so unique. The museum's location between skyscrapers and next to notable landmarks like the Rogers Centre and CN Tower works to highlight just how deeply Toronto's railway heritage is ingrained in its present form.
The Toronto Railway Museum is a must-visit for anyone with an interest in transportation history, urban development, or just a love of trains. With its perfect blend of interactive exhibits, historic rolling stock, and a prime location next to one of Canada’s most famous landmarks, it offers a unique perspective on the city’s railway heritage. If you find yourself in downtown Toronto, be sure to stop by and take a ride through history.
With how much Area 51 has been in the news recently, I figured it would be a good time to talk about one of the facility's more interesting (to me) pieces of infrastructure, at least that the US Government acknowledges exists, its railroad . An L.A Times article from 2014 notes the railroad as well. It states, "[Thornton "T.D"] Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51’s backyard. “Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground." This implies that this is the extent of visible railroad operations at the facility, but more might exist underground for testing purposes. First, let's talk about what we know. In the middle of the Nevada desert, or the "NERVA Test Site" on topo maps, exists a small railroad operation less than 7 miles in combined length. It is west of Groom Lake, otherwise known as Area 51, in an area known as...
It's been awhile since I've made a state level map of any of the US States, but I got a recent request to map the State of New Mexico, and figured it was time to put another feather in my cap! New Mexico's railroad history extends far beyond the busy mainlines that still cross the state today. From mining railroads in the mountains to agricultural branch lines on the plains, hundreds of miles of railroad corridors once connected communities that have long since lost train service. The map below highlights many of these abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines across New Mexico, revealing a hidden transportation network that helped shape the state's development. The map shows former rail corridors stretching from the mining districts near Silver City and Dawson to agricultural branches around Clovis, Tucumcari, and Roswell. Many of these routes served coal mines, timber operations, ranching communities, and small towns that depended on rail transportation during the l...
Almost eight (!) years ago, I came up with my own list of ideas for new rail trails in the Chicago area , that might piggyback off of the success that The 606 Trail has had with regards to community redevelopment, developing excellent bike infrastructure, and connecting neighborhoods across Chicago's North Side. One of the proposals at that time was just gaining steam, the Englewood Trail, which would use a abandoned spur owned by Norfolk Southern Railway between 58th and 59th St in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, and if all goes according to plan, will be opening as a linear park late next year! While projects like the 606 or the High Line focused heavily on recreation and aesthetics, the Englewood project is designed as an economic and ecological engine. It aims to serve the people currently living in the neighborhood by addressing decades of systemic disinvestment through urban agriculture and local job creation. For those following the history of Chicago’s industrial ar...
The stadium near by is the Skydome now renamed Roger's Arena and is home to the Blue Jays.
ReplyDelete