Toronto Railway Museum, Railway museum in downtown Toronto, Canada.
The Toronto Railway Museum occupies three stalls of the John Street Roundhouse, a brick and glass building completed in 1931 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Its 32 wooden bay doors face a 120-foot turntable built by the Canadian Bridge Company. Outside stand a coaling tower, a water tower and locomotives including Canadian National No. 4803, a 1953 GMD GP7 painted black with a yellow front.
The John Street Roundhouse was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929–1931 by Anglin-Norcross, replacing an 1897 roundhouse on the same site. It could hold 32 locomotives and was last used for its original purpose in 1986, after diesel locomotives reduced business. The CPR donated it to the City of Toronto, and it was designated a national historic site in 1990.
The museum's name comes from the John Street Roundhouse, where CPR crews kept locomotives so well maintained that railroaders called the result "John Street polish". Today the miniature railway, opened in 2010, runs from Don Station, an 1896 CPR building moved here from Todmorden Mills and repainted as a ticket office.
Plan to explore the exhibits throughout the building and allow time for the interactive elements. Roundhouse Park outside features outdoor displays and is accessible without admission, giving you a free preview of the equipment.
The museum preserves a working turntable where locomotives were rotated, a rare example of this technology still in operation. This mechanical device shows how railway workers managed equipment before modern systems existed.
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