Photos and Text by: James Bow
Among the many yearly highlights offered by the Halton County Railway Museum is its Fall Extravaganza. There, not only can you ride streetcars, you can ride streetcars through some brilliant fall colours. This popular event brings out hundreds of people, and this year, the museum also offered an extra special schedule, getting as many as fourteen pieces of equipment moving on the line.
Why should you visit the Halton County Radial Railway? Well, here are some of my reasons:
The Colour
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Inside Witt 2786, this author snaps a shot of East Loop, with TP-11 ahead of us, and another Witt in the loop. The colours were great this year. |
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A volunteer disembarks from S-37, with the glorious foliage behind him. |
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The rock garden inside East Loop is a wonderful attraction any time of the year... |
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Witt 2424 returns from its trip through the woods, with W-28 not far behind. TP-11 is ready to depart from Rockwood Station. |
The Equipment | |
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Rail bonder M-4 is probably too small to take passengers, but it was a piece of operating equipment, and it was at the extravaganza, ready to run! |
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Oshawa Railway freight locomotive #45 doesn't usually take passengers, but a few people rode inside the cab on this special day. |
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Here's a shot of Montreal and Southern Counties car 107, through the cab windows of OR 45. |
Revisiting Old Friends... | |
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The crew of this Peter Witt pose for the camera... |
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Of course, the popular Gloucesters would be operating. Here, a passenger enjoys the view as train 5098 and 5099 leave Rockwood Station. |
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An interior shot of the Halton Gloucesters. |
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More people, enjoying the view from the Gloucesters... |
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Many were delighted to see air-electric PCC 4000 in service for the extravaganza. |
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Here's an interior shot of PCC 4000, showing off more fine workmanship. |
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PCC 4000 and Witt 2424 wait to accept passengers at Rockwood. |
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PCC 4600 could not run for the extravaganza, but participated by being pulled out of its carhouse for display. |
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Former Toronto Civic Railway Car and TTC Rail grinder W-28 was also out serving passengers that day... |
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The ever popular Toronto Railway Car 327 was also on hand to provide an air-conditioned ride through the woods. |
...Meeting New Ones... | |
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At the middle of the day, the crowd gathered at #2 Carhouse to be introduced to the museum's latest operating vehicle. With appropriate ceremony, Chicago Transit Authority car 48, with restored trolley poles, burst through a paper barrier and ran to the high-level platform. |
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CTA 48 opened its doors and the people piled on to ride. TTS President Ray Neilson (seen boarding here) was the first official passenger. |
...And Generally Having a Good Time | |
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A final shot of the streetcars waiting outside Rockwood Station. |
Thanks go out to all who made this Extravaganza possible. The people are just too numerous to mention. For advance listing of future events at the museum, visit their web site by clicking here.
