The Niagara Railway Museum’s Plymouth MDT40t touched down at the NRM shop at 925am.? The move went off without a hitch, and the NRM thanks M.J. Jones for doing the initial move 2 yrs ago, and for storing it all this time. Vic Powell Welding out of Dunnville provided the crane for the move.? The Plymouth diesel was originally donated to the Niagara Railway Museum in 2007 by Babcock & Wilcox in Cambridge, Ont. after it was declared surplus.? The engine has not run for close to 20yrs now, but the motor itself is in very good condition.? Thanks to both companies for their work in getting our diesel to our new facility.

The Niagara Railway Museum was invited to have a display at the Greater Buffalo Train & Toy Show at the Erie County Fairgrounds in Hamburg, NY on November 22 & 23.?

We had 2 tables of displays, featuring artifacts from the New York Central, Lehigh Valley, CN, CP, and TH&B, to name a few.? We also had a slightly smaller Great Gorge Route display, which was very well received.? In addition to the paper display items, we had a Pennsylvania RR Marker Lamp, and our very rare New York Central, Detroit River Tunnel Co. semaphore lamp.

The most popular item in our display was my former CP Rail Woodings CBI Railcar.? Most visitors had never seen something like this, and those that had seen one, were never able to get that close.? The car was a big hit, and drew even more attention Sunday when we had the strobe light flashing for the day.? Attendance for the 2 day show was up over 4000 adults, and probably 1500 kids.? Our Sunday location was better than the Saturday one, but it was still well worth the trip.

This is a very big show, held at the Agri-Center at the Fairgrounds.? There were many model railway vendors, a large HO scale layout, as well as a large G Scale layout in a separate room. There was a display of 7 1/4″ gauge live steam equipment, including a beautiful Southern, 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive in the famous Crescent Green paint scheme.

There was a lot to see and do at the show, and the NRM wishes to thank the Western New York Railway Historical Society, who put the show on, for inviting us to display.? We made a lot of contacts, and promoted both the NRM, and our own?Niagara Falls Model Railway Show on March 1st, 2009.

Out in the back of the Fairgrounds is a small display train, which features an 0-4-0 Fireless steam engine,?2 boxcars and a caboose. This display is open during the fair and the one?car features displays from Operation Lifesaver.

The Niagara Railway Museum would also?like to thank Buckland Customs Brokers in St. Thomas, Ontario?for their generous assistance in getting our display cleared across the border in both directions.?To do a show in the US was not an easy task, and a lot of hard work and planning went into it.?We thank them for everything they did for us.

The past 3 months have been somewhat busy as far as acquisitions goes, but slow as far as finding a home goes.? Our display at Canada Day was once again well received, and made us a bit of money in donations.? We have however had some significant donations recently.? A donation of railway lanterns and oil cans came in late July from Lorraine Warner of Genaire in St. Catharines, and helped fill out some of the collection.? Oddly enough, the NRM did not have any of the lanterns that were donated.? They are all in very good condition, and some will be on display at our railway show, and other functions starting this year.? The lamps were from the CNR, PRR, and MCR, and included switch and marker lamps, and CNR steam locomotive water & oil cans. There was also a replica Canadian Pacific Railway passenger car drumhead cover, which will be displayed in a case custom built by Genaire.

Judy Fortune of North Tonawanda donated some very old GTR time books from Niagara Falls.? It seems the oldest date we can find is 1892.? the books are in fair to poor condition, but when the museum is running will be displayed for all to see.? Time books were used for the crews to sign in and out of, and many of the crews that came through Niagara Falls in the early 1900’s are in this book.? Judy said her father saved them from the dumpster and gave them to her, “just in case they were of use one day”.? Well, they are of great use to us, and thanks to her father, we have a part of the railway history of Niagara back.? The photo below shows some entries from November 1915.

Jeff Smith of Simcoe has donated an old CP Express baggage cart.? Through the years, someone tried to paint a wood grain look on the top, but the CP Express is still visible on the sides.? We have also managed to purchase some new photos of CN at Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, taken in 1958.? Some of these shots will start appearing on the website shortly.? Our collection of larger artifacts is constantly growing, and we are running out of places to store our items.? As always, we are always looking for leads, in the Niagara area, for a permanent home for the Niagara Railway Museum.

On behalf of the Niagara Railway Museum, I extend our thanks to all who have donated artifacts to us, and we can assure you that they will be properly displayed for all to see.

Ken Jones Jr.
President

I am pleased to announce that after some time, our change of name has officially taken place.? The website was changed 5 months ago to reflect the new name, but it became official last week.? The Niagara Railway Museum is now the official name, and we are progressing ahead with our incorporation, which was put on hold until the name was changed.? The new name reflects the fact that after 10+ yrs of trying to set up in Niagara Falls, it just wasn’t going to happen.? We have started talks elsewhere in the region, and having the old name with Niagara Falls, wouldn’t work in one of the other cities.? We thank everyone who supported the Niagara Falls Railway Museum, and hope that you will continue to support the Niagara Railway Museum.

Ken Jones
President

The Bay City Railway Historical Foundation of Hamilton recently donated some great items to the Museum.? The group, who also operates the H.O.M.E.S. club HO Scale model railway is moving to a new location, the size of which is quite a bit less than what they had.? Therefore, they had to downsize some of their items, including railway tools, and display cases.? The Museum gained 5 new display cases in various styles.? We also received a dwarf signal, hand crank track drill (which will be displayed with our hand crank bond wire drill) 3 brake wheels, some small pieces of rail, 2 manual car movers, and a semaphore (with blade, but missing the lenses)? The Niagara Railway Museum wishes to thank the BCRHF for offering us these items for display, and we wish them the best of luck in their new location.

The Niagara Railway Museum’s Plymouth MDT40t has arrived in Niagara.? The locomotive was loaded and moved on November 7th, and is currently sitting at Dain City (near Welland) where it will be stored until a home is found for the Museum.? We will work on the engine as time permits, and restore it back to operating condition.? Many thanks to?Babcock and Wilcox in Cambridge for donating the locomotive to the Museum, and to M.J. Jones Hauling and Rigging in Welland? for the safe haulage, unloading, and storage of the engine.? Now that the Plymouth is here, the?rebuilding can begin.

Pictures of the move can be seen here.