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Toronto Christmas Train Show - Nov 24/25
The annual train show at the Toronto International Center was a big success again. There was a large attendance both days as the weather was more like fall than winter and being held closer to Christmas this year helped. With over 20 GHLS members out to help and over 30 locomotives and rolling stock on display, we easily had the largest display at the show.
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| The video taken by Tom Stewart and Russ Milland of action at the track during the summer was a big hit with the spectators. Nothing explains live steam like a video. We also had a display of 'G' scale live steam locomotives with a small track setup by Russ Milland to run some of the engines on. This was a big draw for the little people as they could get up close to see these small engines run on their own under steam power. |  Steve Moore proudly displays his 7-1/4" GW 2-6-0 |
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 (L to R) Norm Makin and Steve Moore discussing whether donuts are now one of the four basic food groups |
The many different pieces of equipment on display gave the visitors a good sampling of the variety and diversity of our hobby. The partially constructed locomotives were of particular interest as the work involved in building an engine |
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| Fran Wilks had his 3-1/2" "Princess Marina" locomotive on display but his working HO scale 0-6-0 generated a great deal of interest. This locomotive has double acting cylinders with inside valve gear and runs nicely on compressed air. Fran had started this project quite a few years ago and just recently got around to finishing it to the point that it runs. If Fran can now figure out a way fire it and run it on steam, we may have to add an HO scale track as well as a 'G' scale track to the club. |  Fran Wilks' HO scale steam locomotive display |
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 Fred Eagle's display of how the valve gear works |
Fred Eagle had his 4-3/4" Atlantic project out for display with a great idea to show how it works while also getting some work done. Fred had his chassis setup with the valve gear installed but the drive wheels were removed and a hand crank install so that the spectators could turn the handle and see how the Stevenson valve gear works. By letting the spectators do the work the valve gear was nicely broken in at the end of the show. |
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| The other partially completed engines included Peter Masefield's 4-3/4" Black Five, Rick Intini's 7-1/4" American, Abe Dietrich's 4-3/4" Atlantic, Barry Graham's 4-3/4" 2-4-4T, Garth Statham's 3-1/2" Rob Roy and Russ Milland's 3-1/2" Consolidation. These displays gave the visitors a good example of the various stages of locomotive construction. |  (L to R) Fran Wilks, Norm Makin, Barrie Ward, Barry Graham, Clive Morgan and Rick Intini (standing) getting ready to show off their engines to the visitors |
 Harry Savile explaining how it all works |
Tom Stewart's entire collection was on display to show how the engines will look when they are completed and Harry Saville had his 7-1/4" Willamette and 7-1/4" Consolidation there to show what the large engines look like and Linc Johnson's Shay display also got a lot attention. Everyone did a great job of explaining how the locomotives are built and how they work while promoting the club and the museum. |
| The weekend was not all work as there was still time get around and see the other displays at the show and to visit with fellow train fans. The train show is a nice way to end the season, with time to talk to the other club members, renew old acquaintances and to make new ones. |  (L to R) Rick Intini and Abe Dietrich discussing Rick's new stainless steel boiler for his 4-3/4" Switcher |
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