Topic: The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre - The 7 1/2" Miniature Railway

[russ]

You are absolutely correct .. we suspect that he has a bed hidden there somewhere and sleeps there!

Russ

[Ferd]

Hi Russ
Thanks for the updates. Looks like Michael is having way too much fun out there.

Ferd

[russ]

End of Season Maintenance on the Miniature Railway

Early last week, an intrepid crew of volunteers tackled the rebuilding of the miniature railway's approach tracks from the south into Don Station. The weather was great and although chilly in the shade when the wind blew it was warm enough with lots of sunshine taking the chill off the air. We ran a test train using engine #2 and a bench car and everything worked just fine. All together sixty man-hours was invested over the two days to fix the station approach tracks. A train from the depot can now access either station platform as can a mainline train. A train can also back up to the depot from either platform track via the west leg of the Y.
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Later in the week,  a crew of volunteers also tackled the track segments which crossed the bricked paths. During the season, we encountered a problem with the bricks between the rails being knocked out by foot traffic and causing a safety hazard. So we took up the bricks and installed wooden decking between the rails which is fastened to the railroad's ties.
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Russ

[russ]

This coming weekend will be the last weekend we are open this season.  Check out http://www.trha.ca/events.html for details.

After this weekend, all of us volunteers will pile into our workshop areas to continue restoration and development during the cold winter months.

Russ

[Ryan]

This is just a test post and yes the TRHA is opening again this weekened.

[Ryan]

Its almost been a year since Russ updated this post, but alot of things has been happening lately at the Toronto Railway Historical Association.

Russ is keeping everything up to date on the www.TRHA.ca under the News Section, where you can stay up todate with recent happenings at the Round House park.

Also don't forget to join the Yahoo Discussion Group

[russ]

Working out the details as we approach launch date

Our team of volunteers have been busy tidying up the last details on our miniature track by correcting small alignment and gauge problems here and there.  Track testing esting had been held back by the lack of access to all parrts of the railway as scaffolding was being used to finish restoration of the full size signal cabin that is being restored on site and right beside our track.  Below you will find some pictures of our folks doing trackwork and installing the final switch to a track which leads to the full-size truntable.
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The first weekend that Phase 1 of our museum will be open is May 29th and 30th of 2010 which is the City-wide Doors Open weekend where all sorts of places throw open their doors which may not otherwise be open to the public.  We traditionally hold an open house that weekend with a modest train show as well.  We will using that weekend to promote our museum and interact with the public.

Below you will find some pictures of our folks doing trackwork and installing the final switch to a track which leads to the full-size truntable and installing a small water tower for our miniature railway.  The last pictures show a G-Scale model of a GP7 photographed in front of the full size GP7 in our collection.
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Operating hours after that weekend are still being worked out.
 

[russ]

Installing the turntable and a storage track!
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Turning to the miniature railway Train Depot area, last Saturday's work crew addressed the challenge of fitting the turntable bridge. As shown in the pictures, it was all hands on deck in order to carry the miniature railway turntable from stall 16 of the Roundhouse to the turntable pit where we found that it was a wee bit too long to fit! So we quickly re-surveyed the pit concrete to check the centre point and determine the proper length. In these pictures, note also that doors have been fitted to the miniature railway Train Depot thereby protecting it from the elements. We also took the opportunity to work on the addition of a new siding against the north wall of the Train depot as shown in the photographs below.
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We designed the miniature railway to support both 7 1/2" and 7 1/4" gauge equipment. So, on Sunday, we also undertook a test trip around the miniature railway with a borrowed 7 1/4" gauge 1 1/2" scale gondola car looking for issues we might have with this slightly smaller gauge of equipment. A few minor issues here and there with the track gauge will be easily remedied.
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Russ
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Click on each picture for a closer look!

[Tom]

Great to see the railway ready for 2010 operations.  Looking forward to seeing it in person when the weather warms up.

Tom in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

[russ]

A Major Milestone: Driving the last Spike on the TRHC Miniature Railway!
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Monday, December 28th marked a major milestone in the development of Roundhouse Park. While our TRHA team did not drive an actual last spike to complete the miniature railway, they did complete a host of tasks remaining on the railway to render it operational and operated a miniature train around the entire figure 8 to ensure it was now operational.
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Our project manager reports that:

"We ran a miniature train consisting of the miniature F7 Diesel plus one of our new TRHC passenger cars around the circuit numerous times while making track adjustments to reduce the number of nuisance derailments that occurred during the first circuits of the track. Several of the crossings needed tweaking and a few rail joints had slight misalignments which were easily fixed with a grinder. These derailments were caused by the use of used rail with different existing wear patterns at the ends. The good news is that most of the track needed little or no work to be usable. There was plenty of interest from passing visitors, many with small children in tow."
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The completion of the miniature railway, its Sweet Creek steam locomotive and the passenger cars adds to a significant list of major milestones in 2009 for the TRHA.
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Russ

[russ]

More pictures of the trackage
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Her ewe show more pictures of the track being laid in Roundhouse Park for our miniature railway.  As you can see, quite a bit of the track is being laid in concrete.  All of the track laying was done by our teams of vounteers.
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Russ

[russ]

Adding a Crossing Signal

One of the artefacts that we had in inventory in the roundhouse was a crossing signal.  So one of the things we have done is install the signal to guard a spot beside the one of major pedestrian thoroughfares.
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Click on each picture for a closer look!

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Russ

[russ]

Rails and the Station Platform

Our miniature railway will be situated beside the original Don Station.  A passenger platform has been built as is evident in the pictures below to provide a place to load and unload passengers.  The small crossing gaurd's shack shown in one of the pictures guards the crossing which forms the centre of our 'figure 8' mainline track configuration.

Click on each picture for a closer look!

Russ

[russ]

Building a 90 degree crossing!

The miniature railway we are building has a layout in the form of a large figure 8.  This required that we fabricate a robust crossing.  In the pictures below the crossing is being tested on the floor of the roundhouse using a former 15" gauge amusement park engine converted to 7 1/4" gauge.  In the final pictures, our crew adnires their handiwork.

Click on each picture for a closer look!

Russ

[russ]

Laying Track in Concrete

Our miniature railway will traversing many concrete pathways as our site will be a very public area.  In the pictures below, we can see various stages in our preparing our trackwork for becoming embedded in the concreted areas.

Click on each picture for a closer look!

Russ