Doors Open Toronto 2007

Went to Doors open yesterday. Had a great time.:mrgreen:

Checked out the TTC's Lower Bay (opened to the public for the first time in over 40 years) and it was really neat.

Another place that was opened is the John St. Roundhouse. Last year they opened the doors but we were not allowed to enter. This year, we were allowed the enter. What a really neat area to explore.

Afterward, we were over at the Steam Whistle Brewing part and among the really neat displays, there were some O scale trains with live steam. Their boilers were actually coal fired and when one of the engines was being stoked, the glow of the fire coming from the open furnace door was really cool!:thumb:
Pics to follow! I'm still weeding through over 200 pictures and will post the 5 best ones that I have.

Anyone else go?
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
I didn't go to the Toronto one, but did check out the TH&B station in Hamilton a couple of weeks ago. I posted some pictures in The Real Thing - Canada here: TH&B station...
The "Doors Open" programme is on all summer, throughout the province, with the attractions varying from week to week.

Wayne
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Interesting. I went to the John Street Roundhouse last summer and really enjoyed it.

I liked seeing the live steam locos outdoors (garden gauge?), that my son and I rode on. There was also a steam tractor there and several model railroad layouts inside the brewery area -- they had 0 gauge, HO and N scale layouts.
Were there only O Gauge layouts this year?

Also, last year, we were allowed to go inside the old roundhouse and look at the green CN diesl and red CP diesel. I also enjoyed the free Steam Whistle Beer samples!

This was a busy time for our family this weekend so I decided not to go but maybe next year.

Rob
 
You were allowed to go inside last year? Darn! I was told last year we couldn't go in! At least it was definitely worth the wait to go inside.

And there was a really impressive HO layout there too!:thumb:

The live steam locos are really neat! Especially with a miniature working coal fired furnace for the boiler!:thumb: :thumb:
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
You were allowed to go inside last year? Darn! I was told last year we couldn't go in! At least it was definitely worth the wait to go inside.
And there was a really impressive HO layout there too!:thumb:
The live steam locos are really neat! Especially with a miniature working coal fired furnace for the boiler!:thumb: :thumb:

I'm not sure if they changed the rules at different times, but we definitely went inside last year!

Those O guage live steam locos sound really good as well.

I look forward to the day when the Toronto Railway Historical Society (www.trha.ca) might be able to run heritage trains -- maybe even steam -- in downtown Toronto. It sounds like they're making progress although it's slow. I guess it's OK to dream!

Rob
 
I'm not sure if they changed the rules at different times, but we definitely went inside last year!

Those O guage live steam locos sound really good as well.

I look forward to the day when the Toronto Railway Historical Society (Toronto Railway Historical Association) might be able to run heritage trains -- maybe even steam -- in downtown Toronto. It sounds like they're making progress although it's slow. I guess it's OK to dream!

Rob
Amen to that!

Also, I was told the turntable for the roundhouse is being sent to Barrie next month to be refurbished and is to be reinstalled later this year. That will be very neat to see it working!
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Amen to that!
Also, I was told the turntable for the roundhouse is being sent to Barrie next month to be refurbished and is to be reinstalled later this year. That will be very neat to see it working!

Wow, that's really interesting! I can't wait to see it working.

My 6-year-old son is actually going on a field trip to the Roundhouse and the CN Tower. I keep joking about how jealous I am and how I want to go too!

Rob
 

kirkendale

New Member
The doors open is great. :wave:Both last year and this they had a couple of the roundhouse bays open. A couple of years back most of the doors were open although you could not go in. Took a couple of pics of the turntable bridge drive and some end shots of a 1938 Reinhart wooden vineger car tank car. This year we could walk around two of the engines and two passenger cars.
Yes the Steam Wistle Brewery was open. It is always nice to go into their area of the roundhouse.aussie
Anybody coming into Toronto should check out the brewery and have a tour and a sample. As you can see in the one picture the roundhouse is across the street from the Rogers Center ( former Sky dome ) home of the Jays and a short walk from the Air Canada Centre ( Maple Leafs and Raptors )
 

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kirkendale

New Member
Here are some pictures form "401 Richmond St" the former MacDonald Mfg. Co a lithography on tin ware manufacturing plant. I was intrigued by the octagon shaped smoke stack and the 4 steel stacks going up to the new steel smoke stack.
 

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Here's a pic

Here's a shot of the coal fired model train. It looked really neat blowing off steam and when the owner opened the furnace door, that was way cool! He had a really neat little scoop. The handle was hollowed out and slid over a lever which was used to increase the water flow to the boiler. At the bottom, there's a tray to catch the ashes.
 

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RobertInOntario

Active Member
Here's a shot of the coal fired model train. It looked really neat blowing off steam and when the owner opened the furnace door, that was way cool! He had a really neat little scoop. The handle was hollowed out and slid over a lever which was used to increase the water flow to the boiler. At the bottom, there's a tray to catch the ashes.

That's a great pic! I recall seeing live steam in O gauge at the Toronto Christmas train show. I think live steam in O gauge is pretty amazing.

Rob
 
Why does it all happen when I am back home, my daughter lives in Georgetown and I visit often so I have partaken of lots of the Steam Whistle brew, even wear my baseball cap a lot, But the Round house has always been closed.....my envy runnith over....maybe next summer !!! Keep hoping that the Jays will have a good season, had a good laugh after the last NY Yanky game I am also a Maple Leaf fan
 
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