So the Toronto Railroad Heritage Center has acquired a steam locomotive! It was being moved from the CNE in Toronto to the John Street Roundhouse for permanent display there. I just HAD to be down there -- how often do you get to see a steam locomotive traveling the streets of downtown Toronto? Not to mention seeing this piece of history being moved to a suitable location for the love and care it deserves. Went down to see them move the tender on June 4, 2009. Arrived at midnight to check things out. Things went pretty smooth, although we all found out after that fact that the move had to wait until after 1:30am -- so that the TTC streetcars would be off their tracks and power shut down to the catenary. The locomotive will be moved June 9 if things go as planned. City engineers are working on the route right now because there are concerns about the weight of the locomotive and potential problems. Here are a couple of photos-- Getting ready to move out: Exiting the Expo grounds through Prince's Gate: The rest are here on photobucket: 6213_Tender pictures Small update -- here is the TRHA's website showing the tender on the turntable: Toronto Railway Historical Association I didn't stay until the very end though. It was getting really late (early?) and I was getting very cold and even more tired having been up for nearly 30 hours straight at the point of the last photo. They still had to unchain the tender, and run the temporary rails up. I really wish I could have stayed to see them unload, but I'll definately be down next week watching the locomotive go to it's final resting place. Thank goodness for tripods, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten any shots of this beasty. Enjoy! Todd
