Rail preservation history was made on Monday in
committee room 1 at Toronto City Hall at about 11.30 AM. The Council
Committee on Economic Development adopted Commissioner Joe Halstead's
report and recommendations on an adaptive redevelopment proposal for
the former CPR John Street roundhouse in downtown Toronto. The
decision of the committee can only be overturned by a 2/3 majority
vote of the whole Council, which is highly unlikely. The next Council
plenary is in mid-February.

In brief, this approval means an initial $17.5 million investment in
general rehabilitation of the roundhouse will be made by the selected
developer. In addition, prepayment of rent on the portion of the
roundhouse devoted to commercial purposes will provide $2.725 million
for museum purposes. The City already held approximately $3 million
on account for a future railway museum at John Street from previous
commercial transactions, and the settlement of another commercial
matter will likely yield another $1 million or so for the fund. Parks
Canada will be providing approximately $400K and perhaps more. In the
aggregate, we are looking at about $7.5 million becoming available
for the establishment of the museum and development of its collection
over the next 12 months. Included in proposals for the display
components of the museum is an HO scale model railroad representing
John Street at its height in the 1950's. The first meeting of the
working group planning the layout took place on January 19.

Planning for the museum, which has already been underway for several
months, will greatly accelerate in the coming weeks. If you are
interested in making a constructive contribution to our work or just
learning more about our plans, please don't hesitate to contact the
undersigned.

David Garon
President
Toronto Railway
Historical Committee



Ahead of the Torch
trains@robertjohndavis.com