These excellent photos will do much to attract favorable attention to the museum.

Sloan

http://www.blogto.com/travel/2011/10/th ... ay_museum/

We have had some excellent publicity this year, all of which helps our visitor count.
The power of the interent in promoting our operations is also more and more evident.

I toured the author around the property that day and he was quite interested and ended up staying for several hours. As with many of our visitors, he had never heard of the place until recently which ponts to something we know well, we need to do more advertising in major media in Toronto but the costs are out of reach.

Our other big problem is that we are 55 miles northwest of Toronto in a rural area well away from any siginifcant population centres or other attractions. It's a bit of a mixed blessing in that we are away from suburban sprawl and NIMBY neighbours and can provide a very scenic ride experience. The down side is that although we are pretty easy to find, we are off the beaten path. I know many others here have the same probelm.

Gord McOuat
OERHA / Halton County

Hey Gord, when did you convert the CP caboose to TTC gauge? For those of you who don't know, HCRY uses Toronto Transit Commission gauge which is about 2" wider than standard gauge. That's fine for all the ex-TTC equipment they have, but it can pose an expensive problem for any other equipment. It all has to be converted.

It's been in service since late last year, typically pulled by L&PS interurban combine, #8 to give our visitors something extra. What kid doesn't want to go for a caboose ride? It was donated a few months prior by Charles Matthews Ltd., building and equipment movers who have been supportive of the HCRR since our beginnings in 1954.

This class of CP van (Canadian slang for caboose) was often seen pulled behind the steeplecab locomotives of the Lake Erie & Northern and Grand River Railways until the line dieselized in 1961.

This van required considerable renovation performed largely by Tom Twigge, Chris Fox, Ian Smith and a handful of others from our hard core. We found it expedient (and cheaper) to adapt a spare set of Brill 77E1 trucks originally off 2580 series TTC Brill Witts, later modified for to subway work car service. At some point in the future, we will have the original Bettendorfs, reguaged.

TTC's track gauge goes back to horsecar days (1861) and is 4', 10-7/8" between rails. This is still in use on the TTC streetcar and subway network, the exception being the isolated RT line in the east end of Toronto, which is standard gauge.

Interestingly, the streetcar operation at Heritage Park in Calgary is also TTC gauge, this due to the fact that the trucks from these cars were Brill 27E1-1/2 types from former TTC snow sweepers.

There are a number of theories as to why this specific, oddball gauge was chosen. As a shop guy, I believe that it is more than coincidence that the back to back measurement on a set of TTC conventional streetcar wheelsets is 4', 8-1/2".

Future LRT lines in Toronto constructed by Metrolinx, such as the Eglinton LRT, now under construction, will be standard gauge.

Gord