Visiting the Toronto Railway Museum

The Toronto Railway Museum is located at the former CPR John Street roundhouse in downtown Toronto. It features an eclectic collection of locomotives, passenger cars and more from the Toronto area, together with interpretive displays explaining their significance. I visited it in August 2021 and took some photos. Here are a few. The impressive coaling … Read more

Trams in Toronto

There have been some form of electric streetcars or trams operating in Toronto since 1892. Initially they were under the auspices of the Toronto Railway Company; the Toronto Transportation Commission (now the Toronto Transit Commission or the TTC) took over in 1920 and has continued to operate the streetcars / trams / light rail vehicles since then.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

September 30, 2021 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Canada had 140 federally run Indian Residential Schools from 1831 to 1998, and the harm caused by these schools reverberates today. This day was created to honour the children of residential schools, their families and communities.

McAdam Train Station at Night

I was in Moncton, New Brunswick recently for business. After that was concluded, I headed to the Fredericton-Oromocto area to visit my mom. I hadn’t seen her since December 2019 due to COVID travel restrictions. I spent Friday afternoon and evening with her, then headed out around 9 PM. I was still internally on Manitoba … Read more

A Better Attitude

Steve burst into the kitchen, slamming the screen door behind him. As he stomped past his mother, up to her elbows in greasy dishwater, she cried out, “Hey! Improve your attitude!”

Chatham Junction

Station at Chatham Junction, NB

Occasionally I get an email from someone who needs some historical railway information. Sometimes it’s an author trying to confirm some details, or see what train was feasible for their character to take; often it is someone doing some research on their ancestors and trying to find out how they traveled across Canada. Recently I … Read more

Kitchener Railfanning, Reloaded

VIA 919 in Kitchener ON

I visited the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario recently to visit my son and daughter-in-law. I’m grateful that the pandemic restrictions have eased enough that I was able to do that, since I hadn’t seen them in a very long time. We managed to squeeze in a bit of railfanning while I was there. On my … Read more

Chasing an SD90

It’s not every day that you get to see a big SD90MAC locomotive rolling down a branch line. I didn’t want to lose that opportunity.

Glimpses of the Huron Central

It’s been a busy few weeks getting my daughter ready to start college in Toronto. College! I remember when she could barely walk and here she is, living in Hogtown without us. Yikes. My wife and I drove her to Toronto via the Trans-Canada Highway through northern Ontario. We would have preferred to drive through … Read more

A Visit to White River

The town of White River, Ontario is a small dot on the Trans-Canada Highway north of Lake Superior. It is known as the “birthplace” of Winnie the Pooh, and rail enthusiasts know it as the endpoint of the last public RDC service running in Canada, the Sudbury-White River train.