The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. is aiming to be a key attraction for visitors in Fort Erie and the Niagara Region.? As we develop the site, adding to our collection, restoring our equipment, and acquiring the property, we are in need of many different things to keep things moving forward.? 2015 is coming to an end. While the Museum has made great progress this year, we also had some sadness as at the end of November I personally lost my biggest supporter, and the Museum lost our long time treasurer, my Mother Karen. She was at all of our Model Railway shows from the start, often found keeping things moving in the kitchen/canteen area. While this is a sad moment for the Museum and she will be greatly missed, we will move forward, as it?s the way she would want it.

Each year I put together a Christmas wish list for the Museum, a list of items that we are looking for to further our progress in the coming year.? Here is our wish list for 2016:

– Caboose ? An integral part of the railway system, and a necessary item for any Museum. Our number one item needed for specific plans in 2016.

– Track materials ? 100lb rail, plates, bars, also regular and turnout ties and 100lb turnout material .

– Cash donations ? operating the Museum requires funding.? Donations can be made through www.canadahelps.org

– Building supplies ? lumber, insulation, screws, etc.

– Local artifacts ? we?re always looking for new artifacts, photographs, etc. for donation and display.

– OLD luggage ? for display on our baggage carts, some old luggage and trunks.

– Other railway equipment ? with the addition of our GE from a local industry, we are hoping to acquire more local equipment (locomotives, railcars)

If you feel you can help the Museum in any of these above ways, please get in touch with us. The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. is a registered Charitable Organization, donations are eligible for a Charitable Tax Reciept. We thank you for supporting railway history in Niagara.

Ken Jones

President ? Niagara Railway Museum Inc.

Car# 395 all lit up.

Saturday December 12th, 7 members worked all day in fantastic weather to get more projects cleaned up for winter. The main task for the day was moving some equipment around the shop for winter work. Inside however, work continued on the former Niagara Central Hobbies donation.? Garry and Ken worked on rewiring the trolley coffee bar, and by the end of the day had the interior ceiling lights rewired, reinstalled, and lit up again. A little more work is required to finish the job, as the wiring was the original from 1974, and cracked when flexed. This is one more project that is near completion, and allows us to move onto other things.

Gary and Ken working on the Coffee Bar from Niagara Central Hobbies.

The other members spent the day clearing track 2, installing joint bars on 3 more joints and making sure everything was ready for the big move.? December 12th was another historic day for the NRM. This marked the first time we have been able to switch equipment between 2 tracks with a locomotive.? It?s also the first time a locomotive has operated in the shop since closing in the late 1980?s. And finally, ALL of our equipment (except for the 30? gauge ingot car) is inside. However, before all the big switching was done, our new GE 25tonner, Plymouth MDT40t and ALCo 0-4-0 steam engine posed for their first picture together.

The 3 locomotives pose together for the first time.

Red, Yellow and… Black

While the locomotives sat outside together, Aaron, Wayne M, Wayne G, John and Ken worked on the track and other items to prepare for the move. The Trackmobile was moved from track 2 to in front of the boxcars on track, still over the pit for repairs.

3 locomotives outside, taken from the sand tower platform

The GE under the track 2 sand tower.

Because we have never actually had anything heavy over the majority of our track, we felt it would be best to move as few pieces at a time as possible. The CP boxcar was moved first to the end of the track. HEPC 46 was moved back inside on track 1 but left it a bit closer to the door for better viewing. The Plymouth was pulled down past the turnout to switch everything onto track 2.

Aaron and John remove the bars to switch from track 1 to track 2.

The final move, the GE is ready to move the boxcar inside.

Our turnout is a little different, but functional. It was built specifically to get this job done and will have proper switch points installed in 2016. It?s essentially a stub switch. in order to change it between tracks, the joint bars are removed and the panel is slid over to the other track, and joint bars reinstalled.? It worked quite well. Once the track was shifted, the Plymouth was moved back into the shop, and electric E7 was moved down to the end of the track.? The Plymouth was left 10ft out from E7 over the pit. The boxcar was moved in next, and was left over the drop table to allow us to move around. The car can be moved forward towards the door with the tractor for cleaning and rebuilding.? The GE was also left over the pit on track 2 as it and the Plymouth will be undergoing some mechanical work over the winter.

We have made a video of some of the switching that was performed on December 12th. It can be found here: https://youtu.be/xgtB57nc8bA

The GE is in its new home for the winter

The new equipment line up on track 2.

This was a weekend of so many firsts for the Museum and everything went exactly as planned. Our equipment is inside, our newest addition, the GE 25tonner is a great addition, and will be very helpful around the shop. There is still much work to do throughout the off season. But we are making great progress at the Museum, and there is much to look forward to in 2016.? A big thanks to our dedicated volunteers who have worked so hard to make everything happen. The Museum?s wish list will be coming soon.? Check back often to see all the work happening over the next few months. We are always looking for new members, no experience necessary.

Over 2 weekends, museum members helped move some rather large items from the now closed Niagara Central Hobbies in St. Catharines, ON. Owners?Mark & Cheryl Lounsbury donated an ex-CNR baggage cart, the store’s HO layout and scaled down trolley replica coffee bar.

On November 14th, we were able to?move the HO layout and baggage cart to the museum. Manouvering the layout out the back doors, up the stairs and into the trailer was a tricky job. Many of the buildings and some scenic items had to be removed, but they have since been replaced on the layout for pictures. The layout is?temporarily sitting on tables, but will be put back together with?the end cabinets and?will take up residence in the office.? The baggage cart was moved in 5 pieces, and has also been reassembled at the shop.

November 21st was moving day part 2, when we moved the large trolley.? The trolley was built in 1974, on site, and has never been outside.? It was not meant to move, and it was certainly never meant to go through the front doors.? Mark was able to carefully remove the roof and our crew disconnected the electrical. Using heavy duty rollers, we were able to roll the body to the front door, only to find out, it would need to have a bit more removed.? The counter was taken off for the width, and we were able to sneak it out the front door and into the daylight for the first time ever. It took 9 of us to get the trolley out of the store and into the trailer. Needless to say there were a lot of people slowing down to see the car outside, and even those walking down the sidewalk stopped to take a look (of course they didn’t have much choice, we had the sidewalk blocked!).

It was a fairly slow trip to the Museum from St. Catharines, and thankfully the weather held out for the day. Our small Clark forklift came in very handy during the unloading, as we needed to spin the body 180 degrees to go up the ramp and into the front display area. Using the equipment rollers, we were easily able to roll it up the ramp and to the office door, where it just managed to fit through.? The body was moved into position against the wall by the entry door. The roof and counter (both removed to get through the door), have since been put back in place, as has the roof top trolley pole. Like the layout, the trolley will be worked on over the winter, including new electrical, and repairs to some of the minor damage sustained during the move.

Thanks to Mark & Cheryl for passing these items on to the Museum to allow the legacy of Niagara Central Hobbies to live on.? Thanks also to our members who gave their time over the 2 weekends to get everything moved out to the museum.

Come out and see all our new displays in 2016.

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