Halton County Radial Railway

60103

Pooh Bah
107 is one of the regular cars -- it may have been under repair for a while -- because it has a baggage compartment with a large door that can take wheelchairs. The only other cars with level platform loading are the subway cars, and they only run if everyone in Rockwood shuts off their air conditioners for the day.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
107 is one of the regular cars -- it may have been under repair for a while -- because it has a baggage compartment with a large door that can take wheelchairs. The only other cars with level platform loading are the subway cars, and they only run if everyone in Rockwood shuts off their air conditioners for the day.

Thanks, David! My family and I have been visiting the HCRR regularly during the past 3-4 years, so I guess it could well have been in for repairs since then.

I occasionally visited the railway with my parents in the 1970s/80s & I suppose it could have been running then -- I only remember a few of the cars from then.

Cheers, Rob
 
Montreal & Southern Counties was an interurban line that ran from downtown Montreal across the Victoria bridge to St Lambert and west as far as Chambly. I remember as a kid taking the M&SC from Montreal to Greenfield Park to visit friends of my parents around 1952. Shortly thereafter, service across the bridge was eliminated and trains ran from St Lambert east. I believe the service was finished by 1956.

In addition to #107 at Halton County Radial Rail, #104 and #611 are at the Canadian Railway Museum in St Constant QC. I managed to see these cars two weekends ago.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Montreal & Southern Counties was an interurban line that ran from downtown Montreal across the Victoria bridge to St Lambert and west as far as Chambly. I remember as a kid taking the M&SC from Montreal to Greenfield Park to visit friends of my parents around 1952. Shortly thereafter, service across the bridge was eliminated and trains ran from St Lambert east. I believe the service was finished by 1956.
In addition to #107 at Halton County Radial Rail, #104 and #611 are at the Canadian Railway Museum in St Constant QC. I managed to see these cars two weekends ago.

Thanks, Bob. I would be interested in visiting the Canadian Railway Museum sometime -- is it near Montreal? Rob
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member

60103

Pooh Bah
The location of the museum used to be Delson; it's now St Constant (although the museum hasn't moved). It's at 120 St Pierre St (Rte 209 off rte 132).
Delson was named, I think, because it was the junction for the Delaware and Hudson.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
For Father's Day, my family and I visited this railway once again. We always have a great time there -- I find it really relaxing as it's in such a nice rural setting. We were able to ride on 4 different cars including my favourite, the L&PS #8. The threatening thunderstorms held off and we had a great couple hours riding the cars and eating ice cream! Rob
 
Have you considered volunteering at the HCRR? Railway and traction museums are always looking for volunteers. This way, you add another aspect to your enjoyment of the hobby.

In the many amalgamations that are going on with municipalities throughout Canada, Delson got amalgamated with St Constant. All signs in the area refer to St Constant. To get to ExpoRail is very easy when coming from the west (Toronto, Southern, Ontario, Eastern Ontario, New York State, etc). Hwy 401 turns into Hwy 20 at the Quebec border. Past Dorval, keep your eyes open for signs for the Honoré Mercier bridge and Valleyfield. Take the Honoré Mercier bridge. As you exit the bridge, stay on Hwy 132. About 15 minutes later, you will see the blue sign pointing to ExpoRail. A short distance down the road and you will see a little 2-4-0 on a bridge girder. You have arrived!

There are lots of traction jewels at the HCRR that are hidden away in the back sheds. The history of how each one of these pieces was saved is quite a story. It is quite a miracle that we can still enjoy them today. My favourite traction pieces both at HCRR and ExpoRail are the M&SC interurbans. In the Toronto area, there were quite a few interurban lines thanks to entrepreneurs like William Mackenzie of the Canadian Northern and Sir Henry Pellatt. Interurban lines went from the north part of Toronto as far north as Jackson's Point, Aurora and Richmond Hill. A trip to Scarborough was quite the adventure on the interurbarns. The London & Port Stanley is one of the better-known inter-urban lines today.

More books are being published on these long-forgotten lines. Tom Grumley has published a series of monographs/books on the Montreal & Southern Counties, Montreal streetcars, Quebec & Montmorency. David Knowles has also published a monograph on the Ottawa Car Company who manufactured many of the streetcars and inter-urbans that ran in Canada. All of their monographs/ books are published by the Bytown Railway Society and should be available at your LHS or direct from Bytown.

These are very good reads.

Bob M.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Have you considered volunteering at the HCRR? Railway and traction museums are always looking for volunteers. This way, you add another aspect to your enjoyment of the hobby ...

I'd love to be a volunteer either at the Halton Country Railway or at the South Simcoe Railway, etc., but can't really due to lack of time.

Having two young sons, lots of jobs to do around the house and being fairly active at church, there really isn't much time left. Maybe I can help when my sons are older (and even try to entice one of them to join me?!) or when I'm retired! :eek:

I guess another workable option might be to volunteer, say, once a month or something like that (on a sporadic, limited basis). Just wondering, do any other parents find time to help at heritage railways and/or involve their kids?

Rob
 
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