Jan 29, 1976: federal Minister of Transport Otto Lang announces a new federal policy on passenger rail service in Canada. This came as the government attempted to stem the deterioration of CN and CP passenger trains in the years leading up to the announcement. 1/3

Jan 28, 1968: the Upper Canada Railway Society runs an excursion around Lake Simcoe behind Canadian National Railway steam locomotive No. 6218. The train departed Toronto Union Station with 13 cars carrying over 600 passengers and headed north up the Don Valley on CN's Bala Subdivision. 1/3

Jan 27, 1928: the Old Union Station clock tower comes down after Frankel Bros. Demolition Co. gets help from a powerful CN 4100-class locomotive. Unfortunately the cable between the locomotive and the tower snapped, so the tower's supporting timbers were set ablaze to help. 1/3

Jan 26, 1888: the Toronto Street Railway ends its long-running confrontation with shopkeepers over snow removal. After snowstorms, the streetcar company often cleared the tracks by shovelling snow onto the sidewalk, blocking access to the shops. 1/3

It was a winter wonderland last night in Roundhouse Park as close to 60 cm (24 inches) of snow blanketed Toronto.

Jan 25, 1953: the Canadian Pacific ocean liner Empress of Canada catches fire and sinks at Gladstone Dock in Liverpool, England. The vessel—originally named the Duchess of Richmond—was built in 1928 by John Brown & Co. in Clydebank, Scotland. 1/3

Jan 24, 1966: The Canadian National Railway assumes responsibility for all passenger rail service between Ottawa and Toronto as well as Montreal and Toronto, following Canadian Pacific's withdrawal of its passenger trains from these markets the day before. 1/3

Jan 23, 1966: the last day of Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train service between Toronto and Montreal, as well as between Toronto and Ottawa. The Canadian National Railway agreed to take over the Ottawa-Toronto service and CP abandoned all of its passenger trains between these cities. 1/3

Jan 22, 1884: Orange Jull of Orangeville, ON obtains a patent for the world's first successful rotary snow plow. An earlier patent for a rotary plow had been granted in 1869 to J.W. Elliott, a Toronto dentist, but the machine was never built. 1/3

On January 21, 1930, Toronto’s high-level viaduct into Union Station was finally put into service. After years of work and many millions of dollars, the first scheduled trains ran over the new upper-level tracks into the station. #OnThisDay #TorontoHistory #1930s #Toronto #jeremyhopkin

Jan 21, 1856: the Grand Trunk Railway reaches a deal with the City of Toronto allowing it to lay tracks on a 40' (12 m) wide right-of-way on the waterfront. The GTR was not obliged to build road bridges, ramps or crossings as these were ostensibly to be provided by the city. 1/3

Jan 20, 1930: the Toronto Terminals Railway tests the Union Station viaduct structure, a day before the train shed opens for business. Only the north half of the waterfront grade separation viaduct—supporting Tracks 1-6 through the station—was ready by this date. 1/3

Jan 19, 1976: GO Transit begins testing bi-level "gallery car" commuter coaches borrowed from the Chicago & North Western Railroad. The cars first operated on Train 954 between Hamilton and Toronto for a period of four months. 1/2

Jan 18, 1999: Nick Mika, owner of Mika Publishing, dies in Belleville, ON, at the age of 86. With his wife Helma, Mika had published many books about Ontario regional history, as well as several volumes on Canadian railways. 1/2

Jan 17, 1989: the last VIA Rail overnight sleeping cars between Ottawa and Toronto begin their journeys, marking the end of 116 years of through sleeper service between the two cities since 1873—with a brief hiatus in 1965-66 following the end of the pool train agreement. 1/3

Jan 16, 2000: VIA Rail restores overnight service between Montreal and Toronto with the debut of trains 50 and 51, the "Enterprise." The Grand Trunk Railway had first introduced sleeping cars between Montreal and Toronto in 1857. Overnight trains ran for the next 133 years. 1/3

Watch for trains and snow plows! The paths around Roundhouse Park are being cleared and the museum is ready for visitors. Thank you to the City of Toronto for taking great care of Roundhouse Park.

Jan 15, 1931: the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway abandons its Lake Shore Division from St. Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake. This was the first abandonment on the sprawling, CN-owned electric interurban system that served much of the Niagara Peninsula. 1/2

Jan 14, 1961: Canadian National's Spadina roundhouse is damaged by fire, believed to be started by a welding torch. The conflagration was largely fed by diesel fuel and prevented entrance to and exit from the building. 1/2

Jan 13, 1883: the Midland Railway roundhouse in Uxbridge is destroyed by fire, along with four narrow gauge locomotives of the former Toronto and Nipissing Railway. The T&N began running standard gauge trains in December 1881, so the loss was not so severe as it might seem. 1/2

Jan 12, 1946: former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives at Toronto Union Station. As the commanding general who planned and executed the D-Day invasion of France in 1944, Eisenhower was enormously popular in Canada. 1/3

Join us tomorrow for our Second Tuesday talk with Dr. Carolyn Harris. The Canadian royal family has held a unique place in Canadian railway history. King Charles III continues a long legacy of royal tours and rail journeys here in Toronto and across Canada.

Jan 11, 2010: work begins on GO Transit's $270 million revitalization of the Union Station train shed. The central 5000m² (50,000 sq. ft.) of the shed has been replaced with a glass atrium floating over the tracks, supported on pillars. 1/3

Jan 10, 1964: an article in the Globe and Mail anticipates the demolition of Toronto Union Station: ”that grimy looking pile of stone with the massive pillars standing like sentinels at its main entrance is slated to go the way of all structures that have outlived their usefulness.” 1/3

Jan 9, 1946: The Landseair (Land/Sea/Air) Club ends operation of its Toronto Union Station facilities with a reception in its lounge attended by Toronto Mayor Robert Saunders, CN vice-president J.F. Pringle and CP Eastern Lines general manager N.R. Crump. 1/3

Jan 8, 1999: Sanborn S. (Sandy) Worthen dies at North York General Hospital at the age of 81. Born in Ayer’s Cliff, QC, Worthen was a member of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association from 1940, serving twice as national president. 1/3

Jan 7, 1966: federal regulators give the Canadian Pacific Railway permission to discontinue Trains Nos. 3/13 and 4/14, the Montreal/Toronto-Vancouver "Dominion." Inaugurated in 1929, it had been CP's premier year-round transcontinental train until "The Canadian" was introduced in 1955. 1/3

Museum visitors can now tour Cape Race, as well as pose for a photo on our handcar. Roundhouse Park is seeing a particularly cold and icy winter and we are glad to be able to share more of our rolling stock with guests indoors.

Jan 6, 1969: CN withdraws its revolutionary new Turbo Trains from operation less than a month after their debut. They went back to the manufacturer, United Aircraft, for design and mechanical modifications and would remain there until their return to service in January 1970. 1/2

Jan 5, 1998: four days of freezing rain begins in eastern Canada, in what would become the most expensive ice storm in Canadian history. Losses were estimated at $1.6 billion. The hardest hit area was a triangle bounded by Kingston, Ottawa and Drummondville, Quebec. 1/3

On January 13, I'll be giving an online lecture for @torailwaymuseum.bsky.social about Royal Tours and Rail Journeys in the Life and Reign of Charles III. www.tickettailor.com/events/toron...

Jan 4, 1926: the Canadian Pacific Railway begins operating a through sleeping car between Toronto and Philadelphia. The car ran via the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, Michigan Central and Pennsylvania railroads. It left Toronto at 5:00 PM and arrived in Philadelphia at 9:33 AM. 1/2

Jan 3, 1889: the Grand Trunk Railway closes Brock Street station, located on the west side of what is now Spadina Avenue. The station was originally built by the Northern Railway of Canada in 1860 after it moved out of the GTR’s Union Station. 1/2

Jan 2, 1884: thirty-one people lose their lives in the most disastrous train wreck in Toronto's history. The wreck occurred at 6:57 AM, when two Grand Trunk trains met head-on in a blinding snowstorm, south of High Park near Grenadier Pond. 1/3

What's missing? CP Cape Race has been moved inside of Stall 15 of the Toronto Railway Museum for the winter. Visitors can now tour it inside the museum, where it's much warmer!

Welcome to the Public Domain, THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD (1930) 🚂 💪 Choo Choo Choo! We all learned about perseverance & trying from this iconic train. She thought she could, and she did 🥹 Learn more ➡️ blog.archive.org/public-domai... #PublicDomainDay #CopyrightFree

Jan 1, 1855: the Ontario, Simcoe & Huron Railway officially opens the extension of its line from Allandale to Collingwood. The railway had originally opened from Toronto to Machell's Corners (now Aurora) in May of 1853, extending to Bradford by June of that year. 1/3

Dec 31, 1860: the Brockville and Ottawa Railway opens Canada's first railway tunnel, excavated underneath the town of Brockville, ON. The town sat on a high bluff and the B&O needed the 1730' (527 m) tunnel to reach the waterfront. Begun in 1854, it took six years to build. 1/3

Dec 30, 1938: Toronto Union Station's Ticket Lobby features an organ music recital to “cheer travellers on their way, and to greet incomers.” The Robert Simpson Co. department store and Heintzman Co. provided organists, alternating in two-hour shifts over the New Years weekend. 1/3

Dec 29, 1977: the TTC introduces the first Canadian Light Rail Vehicle to media assembled at the Hillcrest Shops. The CLRV had just been unloaded from a railway flat car on the CN service track, on the north side of CP's North Toronto Subdivision. 1/3

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our annual fund drive this year! You still have a few days left to donate to receive a 2025 Charitable Tax Receipt. torontorailwaymuseum.com/support

Dec 28, 1911: the City Improvement Committee presents city council with a plan to reduce traffic problems and beautify Toronto. At the heart of the plan was Federal Avenue, designed by Toronto architect John M. Lyle—later an associate architect of Toronto Union Station. 1/3

Dec 27, 1942: a troop train plows into the rear of CPR local passenger train No. 550 at Almonte, ON, 38 miles (61 km) west of Ottawa. Thirty-six people were killed and almost 200 injured in the sixth-worst railway disaster in Canadian history. 1/3

Dec 26, 1989: Norris R. (Buck) Crump, former President and Chairman of the Board of Canadian Pacific, dies in Calgary at the age of 85. Born in Revelstoke, BC, in 1904, Crump joined CP as a machinist's apprentice in 1920, earning a high school diploma at night school. 1/3

Dec 25, 2005: the former Grand Trunk Railway (later Canadian National) car ferry Lansdowne sinks at her moorings at Erie, Pennsylvania. The boat was built for the GTR in 1884 and moved rail cars between Windsor and Detroit after the GTR absorbed the Great Western Railway. 1/3

Dec 24, 1905: the so-called Mimico Division of the Toronto & York Radial Railway is extended from Long Branch to Port Credit. This line was chartered as the Toronto & Mimico Electric Railway & Light Company and opened from Sunnyside to the Humber River in 1890. 1/2

Dec 23, 1965: The Canadian National Railway assumes ownership of the London & Port Stanley Railway from City of London. The railway was incorporated in 1853 and used the London & Port Stanley name from 1856, first as a steam railway and after 1914 as an electric interurban line. 1/3

Dec 22, 2009: the former Toronto Terminals Railway Pyke Crane begins its move by truck from CN's Don Yard to Roundhouse Park. The process was handled by Laurie McCulloch Building Movers, the same firm that moved former CN No. 6213 from Exhibition Place several months earlier. 1/3

Dec 21, 1853: the Great Western Railway of Canada opens from Hamilton to London, ON. It had opened from Niagara Falls to Hamilton on November 1. In January, the line was extended west to Windsor. The GWR was only the second steam-powered public railway to open in Canada West. 1/3

Somedays things work out better than you’d hoped by the train not appearing where you wanted it to and having it be parked in a yard instead #Railfanning #TrainsAreCool #TheNorthlander #Drone