May 30, 1948: the Montreal Locomotive Works outshops the first mass production diesel-electric locomotive built in Canada. Next day, Canadian Pacific Railway S-2 switcher No. 7077 went on display at the Canadian International Trade Fair on the CNE Grounds in Toronto. 1/3

May 29, 1916: U.S. railway magnate James Jerome Hill dies in St. Paul, Minnesota at the age of 78. Hill was born in Rockwood, Ontario and was a counterexample to the trend of American railway executives coming to Canada to make their fortunes. 1/3

Mini train season is in full swing at the Toronto Railway Museum! The train runs Thursday-Monday, 11:30am to 5:20pm. Tickets are $10 per person and children 2 and under ride free.

May 28, 1906: a trainload of provincial government officials leaves Toronto Union Station on a 3-day inspection trip of "New Ontario." The special chartered trip covered territory primarily accessible by the newly built Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway. 1/3

We're excited to introduce our new Ontario Northland merchandise now available in the TRM Gift Shop at Don Station! Discover their iconic features through pins, ornaments, patches, sticker packs, and caps.

May 27, 1931: Governor General of Canada the Earl of Bessborough opens the new CN James Street Station in Hamilton. It is considered one of the finest urban stations to be built during the Depression, when big railway construction projects were rare. 1/3

May 26, 1896: 55 people die when the Point Ellice Bridge between Victoria and Esquimalt BC collapses beneath an overloaded streetcar. The car was carrying 142 people celebrating the Queen's birthday. The dead included the conductor, motorman and many children. 1/3

May 25, 1856: the Grand Trunk Railway’s Queen's Wharf engine house at the foot of Bathurst Street burns to the ground, damaging eight locomotives. The engine house was subsequently rebuilt and expanded and the damaged locomotives all returned to service. 1/2

May 24, 2006: construction begins on a second platform and reconfiguration of the concourse at the TTC Union subway station. Mayor David Miller, federal Treasury Board president John Baird and Ontario Infrastructure Minister David Caplan officially launched the project. 1/3

May 23, 1986: the 10-day STEAMEXPO opens in Vancouver as part of the Expo 86 World's Fair, whose theme was Transportation and Communication. The event celebrated the centenaries of the founding of Vancouver and the first arrival of a passenger train on the Pacific coast. 1/3

May 22, 1926: the TTC begins running the Ferry streetcar route, connecting downtown Toronto with a loop by the new Island Ferry docks. It ran over a temporary bridge built over the tracks between Yonge and Bay Streets while the railway viaduct was under construction. 1/2

May 21, 1926: Canadian National Railway Buffalo-Toronto express train No. 93 is thrown off the tracks when its locomotive strikes four bags of cement on a level crossing just east of the station at Stoney Creek, ON. The train was travelling at approximately 60 mph (97 km/h) at the time. 1/2

Timmins designates H.R. Bielek Building and Transit Terminal as cultural heritage properties, citing original theatre craftsmanship and rail history supporting northern mining.

May 20, 1891: the City of Toronto takes possession of the assets of the Toronto Street Railway after its thirty-year franchise expires. The company had held an exclusive franchise to operate Toronto's municipal streetcar system, which at that time still used horse-drawn cars. 1/2

May 19, 1915: An eastbound Grand Trunk Railway train waits at Sunnyside Station, which stood at the road intersection of King, Queen and Roncesvalles in Toronto. #OnThisDay #1910s #torontohistory #sunnyside #jeremyhopkin

May 19, 1961: the Canadian National Railway moves into a new 17-storey head office at Mansfield and La Gauchetière Streets in Montreal. Designed by H.C. Greenside, the building's steel frame presented many structural problems because it sat atop seven tracks and platforms of Central Station. 1/3

May 18, 1906: track foreman James Logan and contractor J.G. McDonald pound in the last spike of the James Bay Railway between Beaverton and Toronto. The event took place in the shadow of the Canadian Pacific Don Valley bridge, which had been carrying rail traffic since 1893. 1/2

May 17, 1926: the Globe reports that Canadian National has purchased 300 acres (121 Hectares) of farmland in Scarborough for use as a borrow pit. The pit would provide much-needed fill for the waterfront grade separation then being built to carry tracks to the new Toronto Union Station. 1/3

May 16, 1853: the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Railway begins revenue operations. It is the first steam railway in Toronto—and Canada West (now Ontario) . The original OS&H wooden station was located close to where the eastern Front Street entrance to Toronto Union Station is today. 1/2

May 15, 1860: the colony of New Brunswick issues the first postage stamp in the world to depict a railway scene. The one-cent stamp portrayed a 4-4-0 steam locomotive. Today, railway topicals are among the most collectible of postage stamps.

May 14, 1906: the act establishing the Ontario Railway and Municipal Board receives Royal assent. James Leitch, KC, a judge, former mayor of Cornwall, and close personal friend of Conservative Premier Sir James Whitney, was appointed as the board's first chairman. 1/2

This month’s feature is a heavy wool Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) overcoat. The dark blue full-length jacket was made in August 1954. The coat is complete with eight double-breasted silver buttons, two on each cuff, two on its martingale belt, and one on each epaulette.

May 13, 1951: the Don Valley Conservation Association operates the first of eleven "Conservation Special" weekend chartered trains. They were intended to raise awareness of the historical and ecological importance of the Don Valley and its preservation as a greenbelt. 1/3

May 12, 1941: Sara Delano Roosevelt, mother of the U.S. President, arrives at Toronto Union Station for an informal Toronto visit. Newspapers referred to the 86-year old Mrs. Roosevelt as the ‘Queen Mother’ of the United States. 1/3

May 11, 1896: the newly renovated (third) Toronto Union Station officially opens for business under a new joint management structure. The Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific Railways each employed a station superintendent, while a general traffic master worked for both. 1/3

Tomorrow! Join Yeeman Chen as we explore Chinese Heritage in Canada from the Canadian Pacific Railway to present day rail operations in Toronto. This talk is free and open to the public, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link. www.tickettailor.com/events/toron...

🔢 VIA24 / 🚂 VIA2203 / 🛤 VIA Alexandria Sub / 📆 2026-04-12 / #VIARail

May 10, 1869: the tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific meet at Promontory Summit, Utah—the first transcontinental railroad. The United States finally had a an unbroken line of rails—albeit owned by multiple companies—linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 1/2

May 9, 1971: the former Canadian Pacific Railway Don Station reopens to the public at the Todmorden Mills Heritage Site on Pottery Road. A display in the station at first incorrectly said it was built by the Toronto Belt Line in 1891. It was actually opened by CP in October 1896. 1/3

🔢 VIA50 / 🚂 VIA2216 / 🛤 VIA Beachburg Sub / 📆 2026-04-11 / #VIARail

May 8, 1926: Canadian National Electric Railways abandons 7.53 miles (12.1 km) of the Weston-Woodbridge section of its Toronto Suburban District. It was the first major abandonment of an electric suburban railway in the Toronto area. The line had run for only twelve years. 1/2

The mini train is back on track at the Toronto Railway Museum as we head into our summer season! Please note that the start date has changed. It will now begin operating on Friday, May 15th. The mini train will run from 11:30 am-5:30 pm, Thursdays through Mondays. We hope to see you there!

May 7, 1992: the Ontario Municipal Board issues a decision permitting the South Simcoe Railway to begin using CN's former Beeton Sub from Tottenham to Beeton. Excursion operations on the heritage railway line began one month later, on June 20, 1992.

Our volunteers have been working hard in Roundhouse Park to get the mini train tracks ready for the summer season. Two switches were removed last fall, refurbished, and reinstalled this spring. Mark your calendar - mini train rides start this Saturday, May 9, 2026!

May 6, 1886: the Richmond Hill Liberal reproduces (without credit) “The Language of the Train,” a sardonic piece by American humorist Robert J. Burdette concerning passenger etiquette on the trains of the day. 1/2

May 5, 1911: the Dalhousie Navigation Company is incorporated to provide a water connection between Port Dalhousie and Toronto. The Canadian Northern Railway's William Mackenzie and Donald Mann acquired the SS Dalhousie City and leased it to the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Navigation Co. 1/2

May 4, 1992: the National Transportation Agency permits CP to abandon its Port McNicoll sub, 80 years to the day after the line opened. The abandonment was mourned by railfans, who had long appreciated CP's picturesque entry into the port over the wooden Hog Bay trestle. 1/2

A team from HATCH has been repairing the crossing arms in Roundhouse Park in preparation of mini train season. We'll be posting videos soon! Thank you to HATCH for their ongoing support of the Toronto Railway Museum.

May 3, 1933: Over 10,000 Torontonians line up at the Exhibition Grounds railway display track to view the interior of the "Royal Scot." The London Midland & Scottish train consisted of 4-6-0 No. 6100 and eight cars, normally used between London and Glasgow or Edinburgh. 1/3

May 2, 1956: two Canadian Pacific freight trains collide at Galt, ON, killing two crewmen. It was one of the last major wrecks of the steam era. More information and photos of this Galt wreck are on the late Raymond Kennedy's Old Time Trains website: www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrain...

Thanks to the generosity of Deborah Smith, the Toronto Railway Museum has a brand new, custom reception desk. The new space was designed by Regina Sheung and fabricated by Simp-Lux Reno. The design complements the heritage elements of the Roundhouse, blending into the existing structure.

May 1, 2009: VIA Rail further abandons the practice of naming trains except for the transcontinental Canadian and Ocean. The names Chaleur, Saguenay, Abitibi, Lake Superior, Skeena and Malahat were discontinued. VIA had already stopped naming trains in corridor service in 1997.

You’re a day early. It was May 1, 1971. April 30 was the last day of the private system and saw the departures of most of the last trains.

Apr 30, 1971: Amtrak takes over the U.S. intercity passenger train network and discontinues the few remaining cross-border trains. One exception was the Toronto-Buffalo "Dayliner" Rail Diesel Car, still operated by CP, the TH&B and Penn Central. 1/2

Apr 29, 1996: GO Transit trains use CN's 1931 James Street Station as their Hamilton terminal for the last time. James Street was considered one of the finest urban stations built in the Depression, when big railway construction projects were rare. 1/3

Apr 28, 1956: the CPR discontinues trains Nos. 17 and 18 between Montreal and Vancouver, a remnant of the old "Imperial Limited." Once the pride of CP transcontinentals, it debuted in 1899. Originally Nos. 1 and 2, it ceded these numbers to "The Canadian" in 1955. 1/3

Thank you to Larry Broadbent for sharing this photo online! London & Port Stanley Railway (L&PS) #4 had just passed under the Highway 401 underpass which was still under construction in 1955. We have L&PS #4 in our museum's collection and it is currently undergoing restoration.

Apr 27, 1921: the TTC orders 100 motorized Peter Witt streetcars and 60 trailers from the Canadian Car & Foundry Co. of Montreal. These were Toronto's first steel streetcars, bought to replace the aging wooden cars the TTC had inherited from the Toronto Railway Company. 1/2

Apr 26, 1964: the Canadian Pacific Railway opens its new Toronto Yard near Agincourt in Scarborough—which only became part of Toronto in 1998. Under construction for four years, the yard covered 432 acres (175 ha), had 90 miles (145 km) of track and could classify over 3,000 cars daily. 1/2

Apr 24, 1966: the Canadian National Railway consolidates its Oshawa, Gananoque and Cornwall Subdivisions into the newly-created Kingston Subdivision, spanning the entire length of the line between Toronto and Montreal. This route had originally been opened by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1856.