I was in Toronto last week and had a look around the site of the old Roundhouse in Toronto, next to the Rogers Centre.
When my old man worked for CP he was told there were a few steam locomotives still inside there, and yesterday a friend at a preserved railway (who had also been to Toronto recently), was told the same thing. Does anyone know if this is true, or just a urban myth.
And to make this topic slighly applicable to the forum, can anyone recommend a good plastic kit of a roundhouse, say one that can be added to to make an increased number of stalls, say up to 30?
Regards,
Stephen.
Myth!!!
There is a CPR S3 & a CN GEEP7 inside, no steamers!
A few pieces of rolling stock sit inside as well.
1/3 of the roundhouse is being used as a brewery, 1/3 is supposed to be a museum, which will probably never happen, & the other 1/3, who knows!
Last I checked, the turntable is inside as well but that was a couple of years ago.
Gordon
Stephen: I don’t know about the Toronto roundhouse but for a plastic roundhouse in HO There are several available. Check out Walthers , I think that they have 2. I have a 3 stall plus 3 adon stalls from Korber. Also Heljin and Vollmer have kits. You didn’t say what scale so all these are in HO. I think that they are also available in N. 30 stalls? Wow that is going to be some roundhouse. Be sure and post some pictures when you get it done.
The Atlas roundhouse kit is inexpensive (about $20) and provides 3 stalls. It is designed to be added to by purchasing additional 3-stall kits. Each kit includes the extra parts needed to replace the outer walls with an interior structural beam. The kit is nice, but not spectacular. However, it’s a great starting point for making your own detailed model.
The stall spacing, however, is 15 degrees. That would only give you 24 stalls all the way around the turntable, and you would have to use one of the stalls for your lead track. I think the Walthers roundhouse uses a tighter stall spacing angle, but it’s more expensive and you might have to do a bit more kitbashing to combine multiple kits.
The Atlas is designed to use with the Atlas turntable. That turntable is small (9-inches in HO) and it is a flat table, not a pit. Several people have bashed it into much more interesting models.
The roundhouse is now a micro brewery(part of it) it was built in 1929 closed 1986, part of the building was moved, in one area , several diesels locos, a coach and a few vintage freight cars are stored, no one seems to know the plans for the building or the trains.
Thanks for the info guys, shame that urban myth about the steam locos in there is not true, but hey, a few diesel and some rolling stock is better than nothing!
With regard to my model plans, in retrospect a 30 stall shed is way too optomistic, may have to cut that by two thirds! I just want a small diorama to display my collection of US HO locomotives.
Regards,
Stephen.