John, Marcel and Aaron are seen barring rail into position.

And the progress just keeps on coming!! May 31st was yet another incredible day at the NRM. A 7 man crew worked on 3 different projects, with 2 major milestones reached. The Museum?s 5 man track crew worked to get all the rail laid out on the centre track with a goal of reaching the #8 turnout. While the rail is not yet barred or spiked, the rail is in place to the frog, and the frog was installed and bolted into the track as well.? This is a big step towards connecting the south and middle track of the shop to allow equipment to be moved around when necessary.

Wayne spent the day cutting the trees from around the sand towers and cutting up other wood laying around. In addition to that he also scrapped down some of the railings and stairs of the sand towers to get them ready for painting back to the way they looked when the shop was open. He also built wood covers for the open culverts out in the yard area and repaired the missing bricks in the shop walls.? All this will really add to the historic interpretation of the shop.

Setting up the tow chain to move the out of position rail with the tractor.

But the biggest news of the day by far was the project Rick has been working on for almost 2yrs.? A few years ago the NRM acquired a Whiting 2TMA Trackmobile, basically in kit form. Rick was handed a box of transmission parts and to to make it work.? After replacing all the bearings, welding, machining, etc, our 1970 Trackmobile came to life!! Not only was the engine running at a normal idle, but the machine also moved under it?s own power for the first time in we believe 15-20 years. This was the second milestone reached in the day, and one that will allow us to move equipment outside for display easier.

There?s still so much more happening at the Museum.? Some big news will be coming soon, and we are still working on getting our CP Boxcars moved. We are also seeking donations to help offset the cost of moving the cars over the road, and if you can help, please click on the Canada Helps button on the main page of our website.

At the end of the day, the frog is in place, bolted into the track, although ties still need to be installed under it.

Looking towards the west wall, the cleared out sand towers are ready for painting.

With only 2 weeks to go to our first open house of 2014, NRM members were out to do some work in the office area.? Of course all this work had to be done around the crew from Dead Plumber Pictures who were out for the first of 2 weekends shooting footage for their next short film.? Despite rain, sun, rain, wind, sun, etc. on Saturday, they managed to push through for almost 12hrs outside around the property. Sunday they finished up outside before moving inside for the start of the interior footage. They will finish up their filming on May 3/4, and we will then move in and finish cleaning and getting things ready at the shop. They have been great to have at the shop, and we look forward to seeing the final results of all this work.

? Had to make up a few new signs to label some of the larger items on display. The 2 parlour car chairs (the sign will be changed), are 1930?s vintage, and a bit tattered, but still in decent enough shape, and very comfortable. Doug Wilson contributed the interior shot (CN Photo, Collection of D.N. Wilson)? of one of the CNR parlour cars with the same style chairs. The seats were at risk of being thrown out, so we took them on a whim, and we?re glad they are now part of our collection.? My thanks to Doug for his ongoing contributions to the Museum.? Work inside the shop was ongoing, and included a lot of smaller projects that needed to get done.? The display stand for the HO Niagara Falls Station model, which is a key component to the CN Steam Excursion display, was finished.? The model now needs to be finished off, and it will be ready to go. Ken Jones (below left) did some painting in the office to clean it up a bit, and more will be done as time permits.? We also added a few new lights to fill in the dark spots.? These will be replaced with new, permanent lighting after the open house, which will be more energy efficient, and safer for the artefacts. Some of the old communication wire hanging in the ceiling was taken down, and Aaron White (below right) removed the old breaker panels from the wall.? We have a new breaker panel which will be installed in the office area as we move forward with the new lighting.

The switch stand (below left) that we received from the Komoka Railway Museum last year was mounted on blocks and painted, and had a new sign added. We still have to straighten the mast, and once that?s repaired a switch lamp will be added. Since we won?t be using our Racine rail drill until we get back into the track work, it is also on display. With the arrival of better weather, it was time for our Canadian Flag to fly over the shop once again. Other work included finishing the second track on our small HO display layout.? Scenery still needs to be repaired, but it will at least allow us to operate trains for the open house. Clayton from Attar Metals also brought down their skid steer and laid out some rail onto the ties for our track construction. The NRM thanks Attar for their continued support and assistance to the Museum.

The Niagara Railway Museum open house is on Saturday May 10th & Sunday May 11th, 2014, 10am to 4pm both days.? The event runs rain or shine, and admission is by cash donation.? Come on out and see the changes we?ve made, the new displays we have created, and learn about the railway history of Niagara.

As we are down to just a month before our first open house of 2014, we are already making some BIG plans for the year.

Some of the exciting things happening so far include:

-??A private film shoot over 4 days at the shop. It’s great to have the exposure of outside media to further the Museum efforts.

– A display on the Canadian National steam excursions from 1960-1980 featuring photographs and artifacts of the trips done with 6167, 6218 and 6060. That display will be in the shop for all of 2014, not just for the open houses, and may end up?being a permanent display.

– Our 3 ex-CP Rail boxcars will be moved to the site soon, as final preparations are being made for their transport.

There are a few other items in the works, and they will be announced as the details are finalised.? Stay tuned to the NRM Blog, or find us on Facebook for the latest details on what is already shaping up to be a fantastic year for the Niagara Railway Museum Inc.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty positive day at the shop. We had 2 groups through looking at the facility for future projects, and made progress on one of our out of service generators and the HO layout. Clean up inside the shop has been started as well, since our first open house will be here before we know it, the second weekend of May.

Our small HO layout, damaged by vandals 2yrs ago, has been receiving some much needed attention.

There?s a lot going on at the shop this year already. We are gearing up for a small film shoot at the end of April, as well as the movement/arrival of our 3 ex-CP Rail boxcars.? There is also another piece of equipment coming, but that announcement will be made in the coming month or 2.

We are also working on new displays for 2014, including a feature on the CN Steam excursion program from the 1960?s to 1980.

The first train to operate on the layout was this Athearn Genesis CP MP15 with sound, which was part of the recently acquired collection from our late member Garry Rigby. It was fitting to have one of his engines operating first, he would have been happy to see it out there.

This display will have some original artifacts from the trips, pictures, models, and reports of where the trains ran in what months.? We plan to have this display ready to go by May, and is just one of the new things happening this year.

So come on out to the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. this year and see what we are doing, what we have planned for the future, and what you can do to help.

The 14th Annual March NMRS is over for another year, and despite a snowstorm overnight, it was still a decent show. The weather did hamper things a bit, and 3 vendors didn’t make it in, but the hall was still full and the vendors reported a good show.

Thanks to all who came out to support the Niagara Railway Museum Inc., there were a lot of very positive comments from visitors.

Ticket sales for the CN Grimsby station print really took off during the day, and turned out to be a great fundraiser for the Museum. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets, but of course there can only be one winner. The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. congratulates John Weylie of Ancaster as the winner of the draw for the print. We will be having a draw for another of the same print at our October show.

We can now turn our attention to the Museum Open House weekends starting in May. Come and see new displays, visiting attractions, and a part of Niagara’s Railway Heritage.

The first phase of the long awaited move of the Museum’s 3 CP Rail boxcars will take place on Tuesday November 19th. They will be moving to temporary storage for future forwarding by road to the Museum site.

We are accepting donations to help offset the cost of the road move. If you would like to contribute, please contact the Museum. Donations will receive a charitable tax receipt, and have a plaque on our project donor wall inside the display boxcar.

Ken, Ken and Jim were out at the Museum today working on some planning items, and ended up looking after a couple of small, simple restoration projects.? First off was to plan where equipment will be going, and how it will all fit inside the shop when it arrives.? For years there were 2 signs in the shop that were painted over in plain sight.

Jim Cherry uses some varsol to remove what we believe was tar covering the lettering on the sign.

The finished product, visible for the first time in years.

The above sign hung directly below the main shop clock, located above the Shop Foreman office, hence the saying. We have recently acquired an original CN clock, which once repaired, will be placed above the sign replicating the original arrangement.

This is one of the signs on the Whiting 90ton drop table which has been damaged by graffiti.

After some elbow grease, it’s looking like it did when it was new.

These were both small projects, but are part of the advances made by Museum members this year.

In other news, we have received word that our boxcars will be moving from Niagara Falls very soon. We are hoping to have the cars at the Museum site by the end of the year.? They will make the final part of their journey by road.? This will not be an easy or cheap move and the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. is currently seeking donations to help defray the costs of the move to the shop.? If you would like to help, please contact the Museum.? All donations are eligible for a charitable tax reciept, and donors will recieve a plaque on our donor wall inside the display boxcar .

The Fall Niagara Model Railway Show is this Sunday, October 27, 10am – 3:30pm At the CAW Hall at 124 Bunting Rd. St. Catharines. Model railway vendors selling trains of all sizes, railway artifacts, books, etc. something for everyone. Also model trains layouts and Thomas the Tank Engine play area

Admission is $5 (under 12 free with paid admission).

contact the Niagara Railway Museum for more info.