Save the Toronto Railway Museum!

The Future of the Toronto Railway Museum is Now in Doubt.

In 1986, the Canadian Pacific Railway made the decision to close the John Street Roundhouse and Machine Shop and donate the facility to the City of Toronto for its use as a municipal railway museum.

The Toronto Railway Historical Association was established in 2001 to fulfill its mandate, as directed by the City of Toronto, to establish a meaningful railway museum at Roundhouse Park.  The Machine Shop has been the intended home for the Toronto Railway Museum since that time and constitutes the only remaining space available to the TRHA at the Roundhouse Park. To date, TRHA volunteers have completed over 50,000 hours of work, including the restoration of rolling stock and associated rail buildings as well as the construction and operation of a large miniature railway. Over $22 million has been invested in the restoration and development of Roundhouse Park by the Roundhouse Stakeholders. 

Toronto Hydro currently has plans to build a transformer station on the Machine Shop site which will put an end to the use of the Machine Shop by the TRHA and eliminate any possibility for the establishment of the Toronto Railway Museum. This proposal utterly negates years of planning and effort by the TRHA and our volunteers and jeopardizes their continued work at the Roundhouse Park.  We cannot let over 25 years of planning and effort go to waste.

We petitioners call upon the Mayor and Toronto City Councillors to cause Toronto Hydro to revise the design of their proposed distribution facility to preserve the federally designated heritage nature of the Machine Shop and allow the Toronto Railway Museum to use the facility as a Museum.