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July 16, 2020

TH&B X-759

The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. is pleased to announce that we have acquired one of the rarest, if not the rarest, railcars from the Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Railway. X-759 has been in private ownership for decades, and was recently donated to the Museum.

X-759 was built by National Steel Car in December 1913 as wood boxcar #3775. It was renumbered to 3105 in 1941. The car was rebuilt and assigned to MOW Service as the Carpenters boarding car, numbered X-759 by 1947, and retired and sold to Equipment Broker S.G. Paikin in June 1979. It was moved to Welland for scrapping, but was saved from the torch by a local businessman who had an interest in the railway. He moved it to his farm, where he intended to rebuild it into a pool house. However, (thankfully) this never happened, and the car has retained the majority of its original interior.

In December the Museum approached the family to see if they would be interested in donating the car for preservation. After 7 months, the family informed us that the car was ours. We are now working on the logistics of the move and have started fundraising to help with the cost of the move to the Museum site. If you can help the Museum with this great project, donations can be made securely online by visiting:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/niagara-railway-museum-inc/

All donations over $25 are eligible for a Charitable tax receipt. We are pleased to have X-759 added to the collection, and it joins another TH&B car in the shop, the last gondola #2676.

TH&B X-759 out of service.

June 3, 2020

Great Canadian Giving Challenge

The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is a way to support your favourite charity, and we hope you will consider the Museum in this manner. For every dollar donated, we are entered for a chance to win $20000. This prize would get so very far with our restoration projects. It would allow us to finish the cosmetic restoration of our 1920 steam locomotive HEPC 46, and our 1918 electric locomotive, HEPC E7. The Museum operates on donations, and every little helps, but in this case, it could give us a big boost to accomplishing some of our goals.

Donations can be made securely online through Canada Helps, or by clicking the link below to go directly to the secure page.

May 6, 2019

Opening Weekend

Opening Weekend is just a few days away, and we’ve been doing a lot of work recently to get things in shape. We’ve spent a lot of time on our steam locomotive, HEPC 46. We are working on her cosmetic restoration in time for her 100th birthday in 2020. She has new rear wood beams, and the coupler will be mounted shortly. We are also working on getting the cab replaced/rebuilt and are still always looking to raise more funds for this and the rest of our projects. Work will start up on the ex-CN flanger again shortly, just waiting for a bit of drier weather.

Glen installed new lighting over the Easter weekend down the centre platform between the boxcars. Neil an Rob have been working on the Whiting Trackmobile, to get that back in service. It’s been a very busy time for the Museum, and we look to make 2019, our 21st year, a great one.

April 9, 2019

Despite the lack of posting on our website, the Museum has been very active. The most up to date news can be found on our Facebook and Twitter feeds. A lot has been happening since last year.? We’ve had 2 successful model railway shows, one in October, and one in March. This winter was especially cold, and we didn’t get a whole lot done out at the shop, but the plans have been made for 2019.? In February, we held our AGM at the Museum, inside the flanger (a few heaters really warms it up quick), and welcomed our returning and our 2 new board members, Mike Anderson and Glen Morrow.

Jim and Glen removing the last of the boards from the side of the Flanger in February.

Other items over the winter months was a sizeable financial contribution which has been put in reserve for future use.? There have also been some contributions towards our various projects, which include the continued cosmetic restoration of our ALCo steam locomotive, Hydro Electric Power Commission #46.

The Museum sends its thanks to Matt Hingston and Hingston Metal Fabricators in St. Catharines for fabricating and donating the new front plate for 46. This plate goes between the coupler and the wood pilot beam.? This will help preserve the beam as the engine is moved around. Both the new front plate and original rear plate will be cleaned up and painted before being installed. We are also working on getting the new rear timbers drilled and ready for installation along with the rear coupler.

Old and new plates

There is a lot going on in 2019. While we are not yet open for the season, visitors are always welcome. Generally work days are every Saturday, and sometimes through the week.  If you’d like to stop by, just send us an email or give us a call to set something up.  As always, donations can always be made through our secure online provider, Canada Helps.


The GE & 46 outside together on April 6th, 2019. ?

October 4, 2018

Last open day of 2018

2018 has been a fantastic year for the Museum. Visitors count has increased, RailDays was a great success, and we have a lot going on into 2019. Come out for a visit on our final open day for 2018, this Saturday, October 6th, from 10am to 2pm. Admission is by donation and we are open rain or shine.20180922_100927

July 4, 2018

July Open weekend

Lots going on right now. Our July open weekend is july 7th and 8th from 10am to 4pm both days rain or shine. ?Admission is by donation. Elsewhere we’re about to start our biggest restoration project yet. We now have the boards to redo the exterior of the ex-CN flanger that was donated by Genaire Ltd in December 2016. Really looking forward to seeing this project through. The new timbers for the rear pilot beam for HEPC 46 are also on site, and will be getting installed shortly.

Lots happening, and we can always use help. If you’re looking for something to do, why ?it become a member and volunteer some time to help the museum progress. No experience is necessary. We can also always used financial and material contributions.

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The new tongue in groove boards are all cut and ready at Boardmaster Sawmill on Sodom Rd.

The new tongue in groove boards are all cut and ready at Boardmaster Sawmill on Sodom Rd.

January 4, 2018

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. 2017 was the best year ever at the Museum, celebrating our 20th Anniversary. We saw a decent increase in visitors, and our 2nd Annual Rail Days event in September was our biggest event at the shop every.? The NRM now moves into 2018 celebrating the 70th birthday of our GE 25ton diesel, which was built in January 1948. 2018 is also filling up with a full schedule of events both on and off site.

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newproject46sm 46smRestoration work will continue this year on HEPC 46. In 2017, thanks to a donation from Derek Costello, 46 received an all new front pilot beam and footboard. The coupler was mounted and she is now able to be moved around, and brought outside for display. We are looking to do the rear pilot beam this spring and would like to raise extra funds to start the cab rebuild. Donations can be made to Project 46.

Other work around the shop will be TH&B gondola #2676, which involves returning the car back to its as delivered TH&B lettering. CN flanger 56323 will also start to receive work, with new wood on the outside, and some on the inside as well. The goal will be to have one side restored in 2017 as time and funds permit. September will see the 3rd Annual Rail Days event, and we are continuing to work on growing this yearly event.

 

raildays18smHowever, before we can get to any of those events, we have the Niagara 18th Annual Niagara Model Railway Show in St. Catharines.

The Museum is a Charitable Organization, and can issue tax receipts for any donations made. We are always in need of financial contributions to help further our many restoration projects, and of course, those projects can’t get done without our dedicated volunteers/members, and we’re always looking for new members. Material donations can be made by contacting us dierectly to arrange for pick up or drop off. Financial contributions can be made through our secure provider,Canada Helps at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/niagara-railway-museum-inc/

All in all as we head into our 21st year, the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. has another busy year ahead, and we hope to see you out at some of our many events.

September 4, 2017

4 days to go!!

It’s now just 4 days to go until Rail Days 2017 and this weekend we had 2 good work sessions at the shop to get things ready.? We’ll still be out there a few more times this week to finish off some things, but everything is starting to look great.

Saturday was a big cleaning day mostly, with some painting being done on 46 as 6 members were out, Wayne G, Jim, Nolan, Mike, Ken & Ken. Monday however was much busier. Ken, Wayne G & JT worked in the office, cleaning, painting, and organizing things for the weekend. Need to make rooom for 3 more small layouts and a few vendor tables. Elsewhere in the shop, Wayne M cleaned, primed, and painted our ex-CNR steam locomotive rerailers, and they will be on display from now on. After that he started working on the TH&B gondola, masking off and getting a basecoat on the TH&B logo on the one side. Hope to have that done by the weekend.

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Wayne M cleaning the rerailers.

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Primed and ready for paint.

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All painted for display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Masking the TH&B logo.

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Base coat on the logo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken and Glen worked on 46. Stencils were cut and the striping was masked off and painted. It was a very long project, but it turned out fairly well.? It’s not perfect, but it really doesn’t make a big difference in her appearance.

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Glen masking the cab stripe.

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Engineman’s side.

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Fireman’s side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who came out to work this weekend.? We’ve been making some great progress the last 2 months, and it’s really starting to show. Really pleased with the amount of work on HEPC 46, she’ll be looking good for the night photo shoot during Rail Days.

August 19, 2017

Major progress on many fronts

Today (August 19th) was an absolutely incredible day. 10 members were out and everyone was taking on a project. The big news today was the arrival of the new front pilot beam for Hydro-Electric Power Commission ALCo 0-4-0ST #46. Derek Costello has been working on this for just over a month, and we have been eagerly awaiting this delivery. Needless to say, we were definitely NOT disappointed. It looks great.? Derek had to fabricate the new coupler cut lever and mounting brackets, a grab iron across the length of the beam, and one of the spindals for the grab iron. The beam was installed easily, but we ran into an issue with the coupler installation, so we need to make some adjustments to that next week. All in all, this is a great step in the restoration of 46. There is still some work to do on the front, but it really does make a big difference, and we’re really pleased to be able to show this progress off at Rail Days in 3 weeks.

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Derek arrives with the new beams.

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Unloaded from the truck.

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Getting ready to lift the beam in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The beam in place for the first time in decades.

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Footboard brackets installed, footboards are next.

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Checking the coupler height. everything looks great on the engine.

Elsewhere at the shop, Wayne M was outside working on the north track, spiking and gauging track so we can move the TH&B gondola outside for the event in 3 weeks.? Wayne G and Ken worked in the office, painting and cleaning, Adam and Colin worked on the brush cutter, and managed to get it to fire, but could not get it running, but it’s a good start. Mike, Ken, Jim, Glen and Nolan all worked on 46 installing the beam and cleaning up in the area.

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Need a few adjustments, but it’ll do for now.

So very pleased with how much work got done out there today. Everyone jumped in and helped out and we are starting to accomplish things with the help of some of our new members. I hope to have more news coming in regards to HEPC 46 very soon, and am very excited to see this project getting the attention it so very much deserves.

August 7, 2017

46 Pilot beam progress

Wow, Derek has been moving right along with the front pilot beam and it is looking really good. Derek has created an impressive looking front beam in just over a week, and we can’t wait to see it on 46.

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Derek drilling through the pilot beam.

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3/4 view of the new beam.

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Head on shot of the new beam.

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