Niagara Railway Museum Inc.
21 Warren Street L2A6M9 Fort Erie, ON, Canada

CN Clifton is where the CN Stamford Sub splits off from the CN Grimsby Sub in Niagara Falls. Before CTC was installed there was a small train order office located here. The operator would hoop up orders to the passing trains to give them permission and instructions for their trip. There were 2 types of train order hoops used. The hoop style (shown in the one pic), and the other "Y" style shown being used to get the orders to the train crews. The office was torn down in the 90's along with the history of hooping up train orders.

There's often a fair amount of things that goes on off site, and we've been trying to catch up on some of the archival needs, scanning some of our photos/slides/negatives, and our documents, including our blueprints. Tonight was the start of scanning some of the recently acquired Michigan Central Railroad blueprints from the Region. I's a rather lengthy process as many of them have to be scanned as individual pages and spliced together afterwards. The overall goal is to have many of these documents in an online database, which will put more of our collection in view. For now, here's a few of the blueprints scanned so far.

If you're railroad had a turntable, it's guaranteed that at some point in time, a locomotive, or many locomotives, ended up in the pit. Fort Erie was definitely no different. Here's 2 sets of pics from the early 1980's, showing the unfortunate aftermath of a locomotive into the pit. Thanks to Dan Moffatt for passing these images along to us from his family collection. When a locomotive was in the pit, someone always had a camera.

Going through some documents tonight, need to do some more scanning before they go into storage, but for now, here's a few quick scans. One of the large paper items we have is from the Baldwin Locomotive Company. It is the blueprints and plans for a locomotive for the Woodward Iron Co. in Alabama. Still trying to track down the actual locomotive, which we believe is Builders #52700. Have included some images of some of the pages in the book. The diagrams are bases on plans for the Lehigh valley locomotives. The plans range in years from the 20's to the 40's. Working on scanning another document showing the repairs to piers on the International Bridge, and hope to have some of those posted over the weekend.

The Museum is more than just full size equipment and railway artifacts. We do have an extensive model train collection which is currently in storage (except for a few pieces that we have in the display car). Our main HO collection is about 70 boxes of trains that are from Niagara. The donor was planning to model the Niagara Region and had equipment specific to here, including NYC, CN, TH&B and C&O, with cars from the various industries. We hope at some point to have an actua...l layout to operate and display this collection. Outside of the Museum, many of our members have layouts at home. One of our Directors, Mike Anderson, has HO and models part of Fort Erie, including the area from the International Bridge, complete with the Bridgeburg and B1 stations, and the Fort Erie diesel shop. Since there isn't a whole lot happening at the moment, I thought I'd share some pictures of his Fort Erie locomotive shop. The building has been shortened to fit his space, but the area looks pretty close to what was there. Thanks to Mike for sharing these pics for the page.

With the current restrictions in place, we aren't getting a lot done out at the shop. Allan has taken a few things home to work on them at his home shop, including the cupola windows on the Flanger, and some of our woodworking tools. Elsewhere we've been working on planning what projects will be worked on in 2021. Obviously some of the projects have been pushed back a bit until we can return to full work force out there. New gauges are being acquired to be installed in the T...rackmobile. The next step in the Flanger restoration, the north side boards, will hopefully finally happen in March. We were hoping to have that part done already, but there have been a lot of smaller items that have needed to be dealt with in preparation for the new boards. Here are some pics taken today, Jan 31st of some of the equipment at the shop. Decided to shoot them in black & white, just because. There is no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year, and has caused damage to everything, and everyone. The Museum is no different. We were not able to hold our many events in 2020, and as of right now, 2021 is shaping up to have the same issues. Our March model railway show will not happen, and while we do have dates for our other events, we are not sure at this time if any of those will happen. We will have more information as it becomes available to us.

The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. would like to thank everyone who voted for us in the Niagara Falls Review 2020 Readers Choice Awards. This was our first year being nominated, and we are pleased to say we took Diamond (1st) in the Best Museum category, and Gold (3rd) in the Best Day Trip category. We thank everyone that voted for us as this is really a great honor to be recognized, and a big thanks to the hard work of our volunteers. 2020 isn't over yet, and we look forward to even bigger and better things in 2021. https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca///niagara-railway-museum

10 of us out at the shop today, doing what we can while the weather holds up. James Petroczi and Andrew from Petroczi National Rail Services came down and continued working on the #7 turnout. It's really starting to come together and it's great to finally see one of the points installed with the main line rails spiked down through the frog. They did a lot of work today to get this far, and we thank them both for the hard work and time they are giving to help us get this done.... Inside the shop Allan continued working on the Flanger, installing the step stirrups on the south side. Ken and Rick continued clearing out the back room. Neil and Jim worked on the steering for the Trackmobile, and got it set up and ready, bringing us closer to getting that piece back in service. Nolan was with James and Andrew doing what he could to help out, and learn the finer points of turnout construction. Ken and Mike were working on some smaller projects inside the shop. Very pleased once again with the work done today. Thank you to everyone who came out to help, and to James & Andrew for the work on the turnout. Their time and support on this project has been so very much appreciated. See more

Really pleased to say that except for 5, 6" pieces at the end platform, and the ledger board across the top (needs to be cut to the proper thickness), the south side of our ex-CN flanger #56323 has all its boards and grab irons installed (the stirrup steps are still being worked on). The boards have all been given a coat of paint with the new paint and colour, and it looks great. Allan finished off installing the grab irons, along with some boards on the end of the car tha...t were damaged. We are trying to get ahead of the work and Nolan spent the day getting as may boards painted as he could. At the end of the day there were 40 boards ready with a first coat of paint. Those will be installed next weekend. Neil and Jim got to work on the new piece for the Trackmobile steering, and it should be ready for installation in a week. Ken Sr. was moving some of our plywood out of the back room, and downstairs for storage. Mike was giving him a hand. Ken Jr. Was helping with the painting and at the end of the day, as light was fading, got the final boards on the flanger painted. Overall, the last 2 days have seen a lot of work done to the flanger it will get a final coat of paint in the spring before lettering is applied. We also hope to start some repairs to the cupola over the winter. A donation also came in today from Ryan Beach. He brought in an older CPR blanket, and a sign off the side of a Southern Railway trailer. Thank you to our members who came out today and got so much accomplished.

Due to the recent theft of our generators and our ongoing battles with site vandalism, the NRM needs to proceed with connecting the museum to a permanent source of electricity. Please consider donating to, and sharing, our GoFundMe campaign to help us raise the $7000 needed to get power installed at the NRM.

4 of us out at the shop on this Friday the 13th, working away on the Flanger. Ken and Ken finished off painting the south side while Allan started removing the old bolts for the grab irons. The last board will be installed on Saturday. The first coat of paint is on and we're ready to start the north side boards. Neil was working on the compressor starter, but is still having an issue with one stubborn bolt. Ken also painted the window trim and that will be installed on 2 windows saturday.

Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, for giving everything to ensure Canada remains the great place it is. We will remember...

November 8th and we're at the shop working in t-shirts. This was the perfect weather for painting. Allan, Neil and Ken spent some time working on the Flanger. Allan finished off all the boards for the north side, adding the proper bevel on the edge. Neil and Ken started painting the car side, and managed to get the first coat on half the car. The weather is supposed to continue to be decent through the week, so it is planned to get the south side finished. Once that's done, we will hopefully be able to finally start placing the new boards on the north side of the car. The Cupola windows will also need to be repaired, likely before winter as they have significant damage. The entire cupola will require a fair amount of work, but that will be evaluated over the winter and repairs made when possible.

Some new pics and video of the narrow gauge equipment lost at the bottom of the Sherkston Quarry. 2 locomotives and cars were trapped down below when the pumps failed and water flooded in. Fairly well preserved. Sherkston Quarry is a very popular spot for divers, and on this day, the diver was lucky with nice clear water.

Really have to take advantage of this amazing weather in November. Ken was cleaning and getting rid of the scrap lumber from the Flanger. Allan was doing prep work on the new boards for the Flanger. We got them without the bevel on the edges, so he's been adding that bevel in and the boards will start going up next weekend. Neil and Jim were working on the steering column for the Trackmobile again, using the lathe to cut down the rod. The morning started out though with K...en, Rick, Neil and Nolan cleaning off the south track. Last weekend we had a load of stone delivered and on Sunday it was spread out, being used to being track one back to level unloading. We also added track level stone to the middle track as we may need to use that door in the future to get vehicles in and out. On Thursday the Museum had an opportunity to acquire some items from the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas. We picked up boxes of blueprints from the Michigan Central Railroad throughout Niagara. There are some great items in there and they will start to be catalogued during the off season. See more

Turned out to be a better day than expected after all the rain last night. Wasn't as wet inside as we thought it would be. Allan spent the day working on the Flanger and is making progress with a different part of that project. He brought out the new top and bottom trim pieces for all the windows and installed one of them. We went to get new paint today only to find out the type we use from Rona has been discontinued. So, off to Home Depot or Lowes tomorrow to try to get a ...paint match to what we have, or as close as possible. Ken was cleaning the wood removed from the flanger. Neil, Evan, Ken, Jim and Nolan were working on the middle track at the shop doors. New bolt holds were drilled and the comp bars installed (comp bars allow 2 different sizes of rail to be joined together). Unfortunately the bars are not the perfect size, but will function safely for what we do out there. While we had it all apart, it was decided to replace a bad tie as this are is going to be covered in stone and will not be accessible after. Before we all left Evan and Neil went over the 25tonner to get numbers and such off the engine. The locomotive will be undergoing some motor repairs over the coming months to fix some fluid leaks. We are also planning some metal repairs to the back of the cab, and a new hardwood floor inside. Lots of work still happening, and we're always looking for new members/volunteers to get involved. See more

Allan got 2 rebuilt windows installed in the Flanger today. They still need painting, as the trim and such will too. New sills were also made, and the windows will fit very well when everything is done. Ken Sr was cleaning and continued gathering up some scrap to get rid of. Jim and Nolan were painting and prepping more boards for the Flanger, until they ran out of paint. We have enough boards done at the moment to do about 1/4 of the car, and painting will continue next w...eekend. Ken was working on the handbrake for the boarding car, and also started cleaning the footboard brackets for the gang carrier. Neil was working on the rail drill and had to do some emergency repairs to the compressor when the fuel line started leaking (the hose developed a pinhole leak after rubbing on the edge of the engine block). Easy fix and the compressor was up and running, as was the rail drill. Next week the new bolt holes will be drilled in a few rails in the yard, and new bars installed. We also looked over the boarding car to see what will be the best approach for the restoration work, which we hope to start in 2021. All in all, a fair amount accomplished today. See more

Spent a bit of time out at the shop this afternoon working on the Flanger. Worked on cleaning up the threads on the nuts and rods for the grab irons. We hope to start installing the new boards on the weekend. Allan stopped by and brought the remaining windows for the TH&B boarding car. All 9 windows are now on site, finished and primed, and ready for installation. Allan was able to rebuild the windows from the one original one we had, and used whatever pieces from the othe...r windows he could. Other parts, and some windows were built from scratch. He's also started working on the windows and sills for the Flanger, and already has one window under repair. Really great to see this progress on the wood side of our equipment. We just don't have the equipment, or the experience to take care of all the wood repairs that are needed. Allan has definitely made a difference since coming on scene 2 months ago, and he does nice work. See more

Only 6 of us out today, but we had 4 different tasks happening. Ken was cleaning and gathering up some items for scrap. Allan was working on finishing the removal of the wood on the CN Flanger. The north side is now stripped and ready for the new boards (currently being painted) to be installed. Allan also brought out the new windows sills and 2 of the rebuilt windows for the TH&B boarding car. The windows look great, and will at least allow us to get he car sealed up for t...he winter. Jim and Nolan continued on with painting the new boards for the flanger and got the first coat on 18 more. Neil and Ken were working on the Whiting 2TMA Trackmobile. We fixed one issue and another one came up. The wheel/coupler controls were not working independently, initial was taken apart, cleaned up, and now works as intended. Unfortunately, the water pump then failed and is leaking. We just can't seem to get ahead with this unit. Still having issues with getting the steering column repaired. See more

Good morning everyone. Just wanted to mention a few things that concern the Museum that we have been getting questions about. First off, yes, we will get through this current situation. It IS NOT an easy time right now for many. Which leads into the next item, the October Niagara Model Railway Show, one of our main fundraisers for the year, is cancelled. The hall isn't even opening until sometime next year. This hurts as this is our final event for the year and helps give u...s our basic operating funds for the next year. We are hopeful we I'll be able to do something in March. 2021 Calendars New Calendars will be available as we have already been receiving requests for them. Not sure yet what the theme will be, probably just a mix from the Niagara Region. They will sell for $20, and hopefully not any higher. Sadly even the cost on those has gone up. So more info on that when we have it. They should be available in November, just in time for Christmas.

There's never really an off season when you're dealing with a Museum. The work never ends, and this weekend was no different. Sunday was another early day as Ken, Neil and Ken were in St. Catharines for 9am to pick up a soda blaster. The Museum sends a big thanks to Michael Legall of Garden City Environmental Services http://www.gardencityenvironmental.ca/ for this very generous donation. It will definitely help with our restoration work. Once we dropped the blaster off at ...the shop, Neil and Ken went to another members home to pick up a riding lawn mower. The mower is not currently running, but we'll look at it over the off season to see what can be done. The mower was then taken back to the shop, and Glen was there. He brought out a battery to test out the lights in the new signal we acquired at the Memory Junction auction a few weeks back. Despite falling to the ground, all 3 bulbs still worked, and the signal looked neat all lit up. Need to figure out how and where to mount it. So all in all, this was another great weekend. There is still so much more happening this year. We are always looking for new members/volunteers to help with the many projects we have on the go.

Work continued on the Flanger today. Ken and his son Eric were removing the old boards and 1 damaged window. Jim and Nolan were painting the new boards for the car and got 2 coats on 18 boards (the car needs 82/side). Neil was working on the PTO for the Ferguson tractor, and Ken was cleaning and sorting stuff for scrap. Mike and John were in a meeting at the shop. Work is also being done off site, as Allen has been has been rebuilding the windows for the TH&B Boarding car. They look great. They will be primed and have windows in them before goin back on the car. Great job by everyone today. Lots of things still happening this year, and more news coming soon.

Another busy day today. Mike and Ken had to make a run to Brighton to pick up the remaining items won at the auction a few weeks back. The items brought back included a rerailer, derail, and a signal. The signal is complete, but other than the make, we don't have much information on it. Not even sure where it came from. We do know what railroads used them in the US. Elsewhere, Neil, Ken, Jim and Nolan worked at the shop on the orth side of the CN Flanger these boards need to be removed to be replaced. They got a fair amount done, but still have quite a bit of work to do. This project will be worked on during the fall, providing we can get enough boards prepped and painted.

Our track work weekend is over. We didn't get as far as originally hoped, but we got things done we didn't expect. The flanger was shoved down the onto the newly constructed track with no issues. This will allow us to replace the 80lb rail to the shop, making the entire north track 100lb. The biggest work came from James Petroczi, owner of Petroczi National Rail Services in Guelph. He came down both days and spent the time laying out the number 7 turnout. All of Saturday was... was spent just sorting and organizing the ties. Sunday he brought help, his wife and one of his friends Andrew, They managed to start to get trail in place, and figured out what rail goes where so we can continue to move forward with the construction of the turnout. This was a huge step for us in moving forward to connect all 3 shop tracks. All in all, it was a very productive weekend, and we're really pleased with how everything went. Thanks to everyone who helped the Museum make this possible. As previously mentioned, Ian Wall and PNR Railworks for use of the power pack and hammer. James Petroczi for coming out and starting the turnout construction. Halton County Radial Railway for use of their spare hydraulic hammers, Sunbelt Rentals of Niagara Falls for the skidsteer, and Jake Baker of Lock 8 Salvage for once again moving the machine for us. Of course, our most important help, all of our members, including our 2 newest members, Allan and Evan, who both jumped right in and worked on both the track, and the turnout. Also thanks to Neil, Mike, Jim, Nolan, Glen, Ken and Ken for putting in so much time this weekend. With the progress made this weekend, we are on track (no pun intended) tie in all 3 tracks this fall. Still a lot of work to do, but we're getting there, and any progress is good progress. See more

One of our biggest track days yet. We didn't get quite as far as we had hoped, but still had an incredible day. All the ties for the #7 turnout are in place, the rail will go on tomorrow. We will continue building the north track throughout the fall to make it connect with the turnout. As of the end of today, we are now able to at least use the track to pull equipment out of the shop. Day 2 will come Sunday, finishing with cleanup around the yard. More info and pics on this weekends work when we wrap it up on Sunday.

Spent some time tonight moving the number 7 turnout material over where it needs to go. All the rail and half the ties are moved. Thanks to Jake from Lock 8 Salvage for delivering the skidsteer again.

Having the hydraulic power pack and hammer makes life soooooo much easier. Mike and Ken spend 4hrs at the shop this afternoon and manged to get a head start on this weekends planned track work. They managed to get over 100ft of track spiked, that's 6 pieces of rail. There are still about 6 ties to finish up, only because there is ballast on them and they were extremely low. We are ready to move onto the next 8 sticks of rail, and that starts on Saturday morning. There is ...also about 60ft between the 100lb and the shop, where the Flanger sits, that needs to be connected, and eventually changed to 100lb from the current 85lb. The plan is also to start laying out the ties and rail for the #7 100lb turnout that was donated by OWS Rail earlier this year. We have a railway contractor who offered to help us out, coming on Saturday. We hope to have them assemble the turnout and we'll move it into position later. If we can get the turnout built, that would be a huge task to check off the list. We want to get as much of the north track done as possible. What doesn't get done this weekend we can work on over the fall. We will post updates during the work on the weekend as we work towards connecting all 3 tracks together again for the first time since the early 90's. See more

Things are starting to come together for this weekends track work. Thanks to Ian Wall and PNR RailWorks of Guelph for loaning us a hydraulic power pack and hammer for the weekend. We also send thanks to our friends at the Halton County Radial Railway for loaning us another hydraulic spiker so we can have 2 of them going. It really is great when a Railway Contractor and another Museum offer to help out. This will definitely allow us to get the most work done that we can this weekend. Will be posting throughout the day on Saturday and possibly Sunday as well.