Our new sign at the end of Warren St.

Racor switch stand

Despite a very rainy day, attendance was quite steady until the early afternoon, and was much busier than we had expected. We are always working to improve the guest experience, but adding an unofficial indoor waterpark was not part of that. Anyways, the new displays were a great addition, and by next year there will be even more. We had visitors from across Ontario, as far west as Windsor, and also Toronto, Welland, and Fort Erie.? On Friday our new sign went up at the end of the road, and 2 more switch stands (donated by Ron Pullano) were added for display.

Although the smaller stand will be placed into service once our turnout is complete. With the addition of some new cabinets we are now able to display some of our smaller items like China and freebies that were given away by the railways over the years. We also had a collection of CN Fort Erie Terminal safety award mugs on display. Some work was done as well with Wayne M doing some painting on the west end wall while Wayne G worked on the lawn tractor.

One more day to go, still have Sunday, 10am to 4pm rain or shine.

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Our members were working at the shop over this labour day weekend on many different projects. Saturday saw work outside as our 3 man track crew lined? and prepped the tracks for final spiking.? One more day and the shop will once again have 2 tracks? to move equipment around on.

Before…

… and After

The Museum also acquired the Racor 17B switch stand that was once located at the back door of Niagara Central Hobbies in St. Catharines.? The stand has been given a fresh coat of gloss black, and will retain it?s address on the target as a reminder of the many years of service NCH provided to model railroaders across Ontario.

The NRM also purchased one of the last display cases from the Hobby Shop, and that has been placed in the display car.? The cabinet will hold more of our smaller items, and is already half full. New items include the Fort Erie Terminal Safety Award mugs, some CN china, railway promotional items, and more to come.

CN Fort Erie Terminal Safety Award mugs

CNR railway china

Coasters (used on passenger trains) and promotional items given out by the railways

Figured out a way to display railway pencils too!

CP 401639 has had a base coat applied to the Multimark logo. A proper top coat will be applied at a later date as we are still trying to match the red.

All in all it has been another very progressive weekend. Our final open weekend of 2015 is just a few days away on September 12 & 13, from 10am to 4pm both days, rain or shine. Admission is by cash donation. Come on out and see the work our members have been doing all year.

Just 2 more weeks to our opening weekend at the Museum, and things are going great.? Yet another productive weekend with some major cleaning of the shop going on.? Also, more painting has been done inside HEPC E-7, and the new work area is up and ready for use in the storage car. Most of the grass was cut as well, and the site is starting to look pretty good again.? We picked up our new (old) switch stand, donated by Dave & Suzanne Radley (who also donated a headlight & bell for HEPC 46), and hope to have it painted for the open house. Still lots to do as we move towards opening weekend.

Looking down the tail track. A stop block will be installed here.

May 8th saw our small 4 man track crew work though the 33?c temperatures ?at the shop to spike and gauge the straight side of the turnout.

The turnout is not complete, but is being made operational with what we have. The rail for the tail track past the turnout has also been placed on ties ready for gauging and spiking.

In order to continue with this work, we need to acquire about 40 more 8′ track ties, both to fill in gaps and also to extend the track on the east side of the heavy repair bay (north side of the building) to provide some additional room to maneuver equipment around and give us room to work on our flanger.? We are looking for a hydraulic spiker to use for a day, which would allow us to gauge and spike the diverging track a lot faster/easier than doing it by hand.

Inside the shop, Wayne G was painting a primer coat inside the cab of HEPC E-7, as we work toward having that engine open for display. Ken was also working on the new work bench in the storage car.

Always lots going on and ways looking for new members/volunteers to keep this progress going forward.

We have now entered into May, and every weekend brings changes at the site.  The stairs to 9173 have been painted, as has the entire interior of the cab and control stand. CP boxcar 401639 has had some of its lettering repainted in white. CP 401258 had a start on its lettering, but the rust damage is extensive so we will make a stencil off the other side to ensure accuracy.

The progress continues, with Saturday May 9 being a track construction day. We are always looking for help with the many projects at the site.  No experience necessary. And make sure you mark your calendars for the weekend of May 30/31. Thats our opening weekend, and there?ll be lots of new things to see and do, and probably some surprises as well.

The work session held on April 18th was nothing short of incredible as far as projects and members went.  7 members came out for the day and got working on many different things.

The first great surprise of the day was seeing a new set of stairs built to access the cab of CN F7a #9173. Wayne M has been working on the inside of the cab, and had some contractor friends come down during the week to make the access steps. This will allow visitors to get into the cab during any open days to check it out. Wayne spent the day painting primer on the inside of the cab after spending a few days cleaning all the old flaking paint off.  A finish coat of paint will be applied when we can get a proper paint match to CN #13 grey.

Our new ex-CN Baggage cart arrived at the shop as well on Saturday.  A big thanks to Paul Finlayson of Finlayson Tire in Fort Erie for donating this item to the NRM. They had previously used it for a tire display, rolling it in and out of the shop daily.  After a wheel issue, they left it out back for about 2yrs.  We were told of it by Clayton at Attar Metals, and Paul agreed to donate it to us.  Jim is shown unbolting the tire frame from the cart, which took the better part of the day, and the final product, back to its original look.  The cart needs restoration, but is a great item, with local history, having been used at the Ridgeway Station before going to the tire shop.

Wayne Gibson?s wife Susan managed to get the art teacher at St. Catharines Collegiate to donate this 8ft long CN mural created by the art students at the school.  This was immediately  mounted to the wall above the scale beam, and it looks great. After putting it on the wall, Wayne and Peter got to work inside the cab of HEPC E-7, working on cleaning and paint removal in preparation to repaint the cab and open it up for visitors.  Ken and Aaron reinstalled the brake rigging on the 3 boxcars, once again giving them brakes. Ken Sr started sizing up the new workbench inside the storage car.  Because we are a bit cramped for space in the one room, we will create the work car to allow us to have a proper working space.

So much more going on this year at the Museum.  Work sessions are every Saturday at the shop, and various days through the week. Our first open house is May 30/31 from 10am- 4pm both days rain or shine. More information will be released about that event in the coming weeks.