Rick and Ken ventured out to the shop through the snow and cold to work on a few projects. Rick has been working on our large generator, as a replacement motor was located and installed.  The only thing remaining is a tune up on the motor, and it will be ready to go.  A new door motor has also been acquired, which we plan to install on the roll up door of the south track, which is the door we use during the open houses.

One of the other projects has been to get the privately owned ex-CP Rail Woodings CBI motorcar back in service. The Museum currently has no cars in service, as our ex-CN Fairmont M19 suffered a failure of some sort in September. Anyways, after some battery work, we finally managed to get the car started, and it moved under its own power for the first time in 4 years.  It was only a short stretch of operation, but it?s good to see the car operating again.  We also managed to get the dwarf signal working, and the Woodings is seen beside the red light of the signal.

NRM?s ex-CP Rail Woodings CBI idles beside the lit dwarf signal.(left)  And the Flanger awaits a call to duty to clear the snow out of the shop. (right)

Because the shop was so vandalized over the years, it is difficult to keep the weather out.  The ex-CN Flanger sits in the heavy repair bay under a few inches of snow. At this rate, the NRM could be the first Railway Museum to use equipment like this to plow out the inside of the shop!

And on a final note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated members and volunteers who come out to the shop during work sessions and open houses, and help staff our 2 annual Model Railway Shows and other off site displays during the year.  We are always looking for new members to help with the many ongoing projects at the shop.  On behalf of the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. I wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and look forward to greater things in 2013.

There hasn?t been a whole lot to report recently.  Mostly just puttering around the shop, covering over equipment for the winter, and getting ready for the arrival of our ex-CP Rail boxcars, which we hope will happen in January.  In order for that to happen, we have to prep the track outside the shop to allow the float trailer to straddle the rail, which means filling everything in with stone, flush to the rail head. Some stone has been donated, and through the help from Attar Metals, has been dumped where we needed it on the track. Ken Sr. and Rick spread out the stone, while Marcel and Ken Jr. did some track work on track 2.

There is still a bit more stone needed,

but its coming along well.

The current plan calls for the display car and the storage car to be located behind HEPC 46 on the south track, while the final storage car will remain outside until it can be moved over to the middle track behind HEPC E-7.

Other work that has been done includes the movement of our ex-CNR Fairmont A4D gangcar (left) from the centre track, over to a storage track between the Flanger and E-7. It is now covered, and out of the way.  It is a difficult car to move around because of its size.  The smaller, more easily moved motorcars are still on the centre track. On Saturday December 15th, the morning sun shines through the haze inside the shop.  HEPC 46 (right) is covered over for the winter while E-7 is to her left.

The Museum has also managed to find and purchase a slide showing our actual ex-CNR Flanger in storage in Peterborough, Ont., back in 1958.  This was a very lucky find, and the above photos show it in storage, and as it looks now inside our shop.  Our goal is to restore the body of the car to the appearance at left, which will be no easy task.  We are looking for any financial contributions, or materials to be used for this project.  The body is all wood, and will need all windows and doors completely rebuilt as well.  If you would like to contribute to this project, please contact us or make a secure online donation by clicking on the link on our main page at www.nfrm.ca

The final Niagara Falls Model Railway Show to be held in Niagara Falls, is now over.  

Our October show is usually the smaller of the 2 shows we hold, but it was still well attended by vendors and visitors.  A total of 5 layouts in 4 scales were at the show, along with a small set up of the wooden Thomas The Tank Engine toys.  Just over 300 paid adults (not including the kids) attended the show, which was fairly decent considering the weather, and such. Sales were up at the NRM store table, and some of our new items were hot sellers.  We are the only show to sell chili, and it was as always, a very popular item with the vendors and attendees.  The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. would like to thank all the vendors who came out, many have been with us from the start, and to those who joined us for the first time.  We could not have a successful show without the vendors. But we also thank everyone who came out to look and shop, and support both the Museum and our vendors.

Jim Cherry brought out a great layout in 5/8? scale,  which makes O scale track 2ft gauge.  The cars are all scratchbuilt, and the locomotives are kit bashed from Atlas Plymouth MDT locomotives (left).  Jim brought his scratchbuild G scale LRC to the show once again this year.  This is an exquisite model, and is one of a kind.  He currently has 3 coaches built as well, and one of the painted ones can be seen in the photo with the locomotive.  Because the curves are such a tight radius, the loco and coach could not run together, but the locomotive was running around the layout for quite a while (right).

The show was fairly busy off the start, and a lot of people were buying, many walking out the door with boxes of trains (left). The Southern Niagara Model Railway Club, who we reported on in another blog post, showed a few of the cars that were completely destroyed by a fire at their club earlier this year.  They managed to raise a few dollars to help towards the rebuild of the club layout.  If you would like to help, please contact us and we?ll tell you how to reach them (right).

After 12yrs the Museum was told last year that this would be the final show at the hall, and we would have to find a new location.  That deadline has since been extended into next year, but the sow planners decided to keep with the new plan, and move to a new location.  Optimist Hall was the most reasonably priced hall in NIagara Falls, and it is a big loss to the many charitable and non-profit groups that have been able to benefit from that.  As for our show, we were not able to locate another hall in Niagara Falls that fit in with our budget, as we wanted to keep our table prices the same. Because of this, we have decided to move the show out of Niagara Falls, and into St. Catharines, where a suitable hall was located.

So, the Niagara Railway Museum Inc. hopes you will join us at the all new Niagara Model Railway Show, at the CAW Hall on Bunting Road in St. Catharines, Ont. On Sunday March 3, 2013 from 10am-3:30pm.  We look forward to having a bigger and better show, and to continue to build on our past 12 years of success.

The past few weeks have been fairly busy out at the shop.? It all started on October 8th with Ken, Ken, Aaron and John heading out to a friends farm in Niagara Falls. We were offered some used railway ties, which were in a rather large pile outside. Thankfully we used his John Deere skid steer to sort through the pile, and inspect each individual tie.? What we were able to gather were about 100 fair to decent relay ties, which will be more than suitable for our use out at the shop. 30 ties have been moved to the site and laid out in preparation for continued track construction.? Despite having a bearing disintegrate on us while we were on our way back for another load of ties, getting 30 out to the site and somewhat in place was pretty decent.

Ken Jones operates the skid steer, pulling down the pile, laying out the ties, and discarding the defective ones back into another pile (left).? Aaron White and John Weylie inspect each tie as its pulled from the pile.? The final result was about 100 ties to be used to finish off the middle track to the turnout, and some track beyond the points (right).

30 ties, ready for the rail to place on top and spiked down. This will allow us to get closer to our goal of being able to move equipment from track to track for display and work purposes (left).? The new window covers on the west wall of the shop. This is a test to see how the corrugated plastic will hold up over the winter (right).

?October 20th started out cloudy, but then the sun came out and despite a bit of wind, it was still a good day to work.? Unfortunately, that was not going to last, as the clouds and rain rolled in.? Still, a small crew of Rick, Aaron, Karen, Ken & Ken came out to put up some corrugated plastic on the west wall.? The window was framed with 2×4?s and the plastic secured to that. This will be a test to see how well it actually works.? Even with a pretty good downpour, we still managed to get the windows covered in.? There is still about an hours worth of work to be done, but this is a great start.

The final open house of the year is now behind us.  Despite torrential rain, and high winds on Saturday, the Open House turned out fairly well in the end.  There were some different displays for this event, including a G & N scale layout, more pictures and artifacts, and as always, the ONR Technical & Historical Society. Sunday was a much better day weather wise, and that was reflected with the amount of visitors. The comments were positive, and the NRM was able to show the amount of progress made over the past 2 years. The Museum?s steam locomotive was also fitted with her headlight for the event.

HEPC 46  with her headlight

There are still lots of things going on at the shop.  It is hoped that the remaining NRM equipment will arrive within the next 2 months, starting with the ex-CNR Flanger frame, which will be evaluated for restoration. The ex-CP Rail boxcars will hopefully follow.  Work is also progressing on the Plymouth MDT40t diesel, with just the compressor awaiting rebuild.  The Museum is open most saturdays, 10am-2pm or by appointment by calling the number on our contact page.

Saturday was a fairly productive day at the shop. Rick has started getting the proper air lines for the Plymouth cut and threaded, and also worked on one of our new (used) weedeaters.  Our Miller welder is also now at the shop and being worked on to get it into operating condition.  The big job out there Saturday was putting the dome back on HEPC 46. It took 4 of us, Rick, Ken Sr., Ken Jr. and Aaron to get it set back on top of the water tank, and bolted down.  It?s currently in grey primer, and will receive a coat of flat black in the next week or so.  New end beams and running boards are being looked into, but the are not cheap.  The end beams are 12?x16?x9?4?, and need to be made out of hardwood. Price seems to be in around the $400/piece range.  Even the running boards, 2?x10?x16? are close to $100 each.  We are still pricing these out, but ideally, we would like to try to get the end beams back in place before the end of the year.  When the new running boards are installed, we will be able to reinstall the air tank and other appliances.  The cab will be the last repair, and we are also currently looking into that rebuild as well.  The cab rebuild is not just the deteriorated steel, but also all the wood windows and doors, which we do have patterns of.  We just need to find someone who an do the work for us.  46 is slowly starting to look like her old self again.

Rick lifts the dome in preparation to swing it over 46.

Aaron and Rick look on as Ken tightens the bolts on the dome.

HEPC 46 with the steam dome reinstalled.

Lots going on at the Museum. The shop is open most Saturdays, between 10am-2pm, so if you?re in the area, feel free to stop by and see what we are doing.  Admission is by donation.

It?s been a busy few weeks at the Niagara Railway Museum. 2 displays in Fort Erie on the Canada Day weekend, one being our open house, the other was the Friendship Festival. Restoration continues around the shop, with new work being performed on the Plymouth MDT 40t diesel, and HEPC steam locomotive #46. Work sessions are held at various times during the week, and members are usually out there every Saturday.NRM?s ex-C&O Fairmont M14 ?Dale?, was finally moved to the shop this weekend.

The NRM would like to congratulate the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum & Heritage Centre in Capreol for their successful acquisition of ex Temiskaming & Northern Ontario. 4-6-0 #219 from Ontario Northland. They are now working on moving it to their site. For more information visit www.normhc.ca

The Halton County Radial Railway, near Milton, also received ex-London & Port Stanley Railway interurban car #4, which came from the now defunct Ossawippi Express dining cars in Orillia. HCRY now has 5 pieces of L&PS equipment. Car 8 is operational, while box?cab L2 is displayed at the front gate. Trailer 3 and caboose C-2 are stored out of service. Info on the museum is at www.hcry.org

The Beiseker Railway Museum in Beiseker Alberta finally got the ex-CPR station from Bassano Alberta moved to their site this week after a very lengthy delay. This will allow them to continue the development of their museum site. Visit them at www.alberta2005rail.com

And on a sad note, the NRM?s close friends in the Southern Niagara Model Railway Club in Thorold suffered a loss of part of thier HO scale layout due to an electrical fire 2 weekS ago we wish them the best in rebuilding more than 7 years worth of work that was lost. Contact us for more information on this group.