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June 12, 2010

Work Session – June 12, 2010

Track 1 construction proceeds west

With the new NRM blog, updates on regular work sessions and progress will be posted on here with just major items posted to the News section.? Progress is constant at the shop, with work crews on site generally 2 days a week Wednesday & Saturday.? Construction is continuing on track 1, working out towards an eventual connection to the CN line, and where a turnout will be to reach track 2.? We are adding to the 140ft of track 1 already laid.?? The rail out from the shop is 100lb, but drops down to 85lb at the sand towers.? The view in the photo is looking west.? The track will start to curve to the right to where a turnout will connect with track 2, and eventually onto a connection with the west leg of the former wye.

The next work session will be Wednesday June 16th.? Work scheduled for that day is the construction of a crossing over the CN yard access Rd.

June 11, 2010

NRM joins the blogosphere!

Welcome to the new NRM blog!? Now that we have a location (not yet open to the public though!), we felt it was a good idea to change the way we keep everyone up to date. There will be lot’s more posts to come…

June 8, 2010

HEPC #46 gains a stablemate!

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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.

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June 1, 2010

HEPC #46 Arrives

46feshopI am very pleased to announce that on June 1st, the NRM brought Hydro Electric Power Commission 0-4-0ST #46 back to Niagara for the first time since 1922.? She is spending her first night in the NRM shop in Fort Erie, indoors, for the first time in well over 30yrs.? There was a massive amount of work that has gone on over the past week to prepare for her arrival, from building, and ballasting track, creating a level surface on which to back the trailer onto, to prepping the engine for loading and movement from Orillia.it28b

I send out a big thanks to our members who have been able to assist with all this work, which couldn’t have been done without thier dedication to the Museum.? David Walmsley & Cecil Byers, the former owners of the engine were of great assistance in the loading?of the locomotive at thier site outside Orillia.? The backhoe performed very well, and the engine never would have made it on the trailer without the skill of both of these gentleman.

Villeneuve’s Steel Wheels of?Sudbury did the move for us.? Their trailer, which is designed to move railway equipment was the perfect fit for this job. Our driver, Rick, was great during the loading of the engine, and obviously takes great pride in his work.? The professionalism of this company is something that will make us turn to them again the next time we need equipment moved.? Everything went well, and the engine arrived safe and sound in Fort Erie.? Beam Excavating donated the use of a Caterpillar IT28B front end loader to assist with the unloading of 46 at the shop, and also shoved it inside when we were done with the photo ops.? The unload was done safely, and Sam, the loader operator, not only kept 46 in control at all times, but also handled her with care knowing the fragile state of the locomotive.

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The efforts of everyone involved made this move a great success.? This marked a major milestone in the development of the Niagara Railway Museum, and we hope to continue this progress with the arrival of our Plymouth diesel, ex-INCo electric, our boxcars, and our GTR caboose.? My thanks to everyone who made this happen.

Ken Jones
President

 

May 27, 2010

NRM Home

The past 2 months have been very busy for Niagara Railway Museum members, as we work to get our new home cleaned up to make the area safe for us to work in.? A presentation to Town Council on May 25th, officially put the NRM out in the open.? Our site IS NOT open to the public at this time, but as clean up and safety improvements progress, we plan to hold?an open house in July to show off the site, and some of our equipment.

 

The Niagara Railway Museum will be located in the former Canadian National diesel shop in Fort Erie, Ontario.? This great facility will allow us to display and interpret our equipment in an actual railway shop building.? There is much work to do at the site, including windows, hydro, and a complete rebuild of the former office area, to make it climatically controlled for artifacts, and rebuilding the washroom for use, as it was completely destroyed by vandals.? Our first locomotive, Hydro Electric Power Commission 0-4-0ST #46 is scheduled to arrive on June 1st, and will mark a major milestone for the Museum.? Our Plymouth diesel is expected to follow on June 2nd.? I thank all of our members who have stood by the Museum all these years as we work towards this goal.? We hope to be a pivitol part of tourism in Fort Erie, and will strive to create an attraction that will promote the railway heritage of the Niagara Region.

 

If you would like to become involved with one of our work parties, or would like to donate to the NRM, please contact us by following the information link in the “Contact” section.

 

 

 

March 30, 2010

New Artifcacts Acquired

February and cnr8366platesmMarch were?good months for the Niagara Railway Museum.? We acquired some very good artifacts for the collection.? At our Niagara Square display in February, we talked to a few people who said they had things they would donate to us.? Well, we often hear that, but unfortunately, more often than not, nothing happens.? This time it was very different.? At Niagara Square we were given a small CN First aid kit.? This was great as all of our first aid kits were stolen from our boxcars when in storage with the contents?dumped out on the ground.? Also at the Square we got a unique donation out of the blue.? We had always been looking for info on the Centennial Train of 1967, and someone came up to us on the Saturday and gave us the actual brochure from the train.

This was a great addition.? At our March show, James Crooks brought out a satchel full of old rule books & timetables from various lines around Niagara, including the C&O in Canada.? The final donation came in the form of the brass # plate from CNR P-5-f 0-8-0 #8366.? The plate was donated by Evan Court, who was a hostler down at the CN yard in the Falls.? CN8366He said that was the last steam switcher in service, and the day it was to be retired, they dropped the fire, and had just enough steam to get it out of the roundhouse, where it was switched into a train, and hauled to London for scrapping.? Evan removed the plate just before it left the City.? The photos here show CNR 8366 working in Niagara Falls in front of the Station on July 3, 1957, and of the actual plate before restoration/cleaning.

The Niagara Railway Museum wishes to thank all these people who have donated artifacts to us not just recently, but in the past as well.? Thank you for helping us save a part of our railway history.? Of course, the NRM is always looking for donations, both of artifacts, and monetary.? If you would like to donate to us, we can issue a charitable tax receipt.

 

November 24, 2008

NRM displays at the Buffalo Train Show

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.? buffalo1

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.buffalo3

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 buffalo2made 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.buffalo4

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.

 

September 20, 2008

Work Session ? September 20th, 2008

On Saturday September 20th, 2008, a small gang of volunteers from the Niagara Railway Museum travelled to Aylmer, Ontario to remove a 300ft long unused siding at a feed mill. The track was donated to the NRM by Elgin Feeds, and arrangements were made to get the track out of the ground and ready for movement back to Niagara. The NRM crew consisted of President Ken Jones Jr., V.P. Aaron White, Ryan Grimes, Ken Jones Sr., and Jeff Smith.

It was a perfect day weather wise, and despite a 1/2 hr delay while the rented skid steer wouldn’t start at the rental shop (something that would haunt us thoughout the day), things went fairly well. We did our best to save as much of the other track materials as we could, but many of the bolts ended up being chopped off. The rail is a mix of 80lb & 100lb, with much of it being more than 70yrs old. Some pieces of the 80lb rail have some damage to their heads, but since we aren’t planning on using it for running rail, it will not pose a problem.

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The skid steer is crucial when moving around track materials due to the fact that a stick of 80lb rail can weigh upwards of 800lbs. It is needed to drag the rail over to the pile, and stack it neatly.

With this donation, we will have enough track length to store all of our current equipment. This will greatly aid us when we are ready to set up the museum site. We will still need to acquire ties and bolts.

The majority of Saturday was spent removing, sorting and stockpiling the track materials. Sunday morning was spent spreading and leveling the recycled asphalt we used to level the parking area where the track was. The skidsteer was used to backfill the low spots and fill in the ruts in the driveway.

The Niagara Railway Museum wishes to thank Wilf Saarloos, Owner of Elgin Feeds for donating the track to the Museum.

August 30, 2008

Recent Happenings

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 onlanternsce 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.?gtrtimebook 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

February 29, 2008

Name Change is Now Official

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

 

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