The Halton County Radial Railway is a working
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
of electric
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s, other
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
vehicles,
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es and
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es. It is operated by the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association (OERHA). It is focused primarily on the history of the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC) and its predecessor, the
Toronto Transportation Commission
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
H ...
, Its collection includes
PCC
PCC may refer to:
Science and technology
* Pearson correlation coefficient (''r''), in statistics
* Periodic counter-current chromatography, a type of affinity chromatography
* Portable C Compiler, an early compiler for the C programming language
...
,
Peter Witt,
CLRV and ALRV, and earlier cars from the
Toronto streetcar system
The Toronto streetcar system is a network of nine streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is the busiest light-rail system in North America. The network is concentrated primarily in Dow ...
as well as
G-series and
M-series M series may refer to:
Computers
* M series (computer), a line of computers designed in the USSR
* ThinkCentre M series, a line of desktop computers
* Sony Vaio M series, a line of desktop computers and a line of netbook computers
Mobile phones
...
Toronto subway
The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal transport, multimodal rail network consisting of three Pa ...
cars.
The museum is open to the public, with rides on many of its vehicles. It is located between the villages of
Rockwood and
Campbellville
Campbellville is a compact rural community in the geographic township of Nassagaweya in the Town of Milton, Regional Municipality of Halton, Ontario, Canada. It is on the Niagara Escarpment and is a tourist destination for residents of the ...
in
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada, along part of the
Toronto Suburban Railway
The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.
History
Corporate Timeline
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incor ...
's former
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
. The tracks conform to the TTC's
track gauge
In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many d ...
of , which is wider than . Vehicles from other systems must be
altered to accommodate the tracks, and cars intended for
third-rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...
power must be reconfigured for use with
overhead wire
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipmen ...
. In 1889, electric railway service on routes radiating from
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
began. An Ontario Historical Plaque was erected at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum by the province to commemorate the Radial Railways' role in Ontario's heritage.
Museum Peter Witt streetcars can be seen in the 2005 film ''
Cinderella Man'' on the streets of Toronto to give it a 1930s
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
appearance.
History
The Halton County Radial Railway and the OERHA was formed in 1953 by a group of men who wanted to save Toronto Transit Commission streetcar 1326 from being sent to the scrap yard. After the donation of this streetcar, the dream grew. Land that used to be a part of the
Toronto Suburban Railway
The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.
History
Corporate Timeline
The Weston, High Park and Toronto Street Railway Company was incor ...
in
Nassagaweya Township was acquired, and subsequently, a number of other street and radial cars were eventually rescued. The museum's grand opening took place in 1972.
Since the beginning, the vision of the HCRR was to inform, educate and inspire the public about the electric railway history of Ontario and Canada. Today, the museum displays and operates a variety of historic streetcars, radial cars and work cars, and maintains a collection of photographs, memorabilia and archival materials. The oldest rail car in the collection dates from the late 1800s.
Gallery
Image:Halton_County_Radial_Railway_street_sign_2017-Jul-09.jpg, Entrance sign located on Guelph Line in Milton, Ontario
Image:Halton107.jpg, Montreal & Southern Counties 107 (built by Ottawa Car Company
The Ottawa Car Company was a builder of streetcars for the Canadian market and was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1891 Middleton, William D. (1967). ''The Time of the Trolley'', p. 423. Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing. . as an outgrowth of the ca ...
)
Image:HCRY-Chicago-48.jpg, St. Louis Car Company
The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887 to 1974, based in St. Louis, Missouri.
History
The St. Louis Car Company ...
-built 1-50 series train of the Chicago "L"
The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the fourth-largest rapid tr ...
, originally considered for the Toronto subway
File:Hamilton_Street_Railway_7801.jpg, Flyer Industries E800A trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
used by Hamilton Street Railway
The Hamilton Street Railway commonly known as the HSR is a public transport agency in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetc ...
Image:HCRY-Toronto-Civic-Railways.jpg, Toronto Civic Railways
Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway ...
55 is one of the few surviving Preston Car Company
The Preston Car Company was a Canadian manufacturer of streetcars and other railway equipment, founded in 1908. The company was located in the town of Preston, Ontario (now part of the city of Cambridge). Preston sold streetcars to local transp ...
-built cars
Image:HCRY-Peter-Witt-TTC-2984.jpg, This Canadian Car & Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F), also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry" or more familiarly as "Can Car", was a manufacturer of buses, railway rolling stock, forestry equipment, and later aircraft for the Canadian market. CC&F history g ...
Peter Witt streetcar 2894 restored into the TTC’s original 1921 livery
Image:HCRY-TTC-327.jpg, Car 327 is a 1930s replica (built by Toronto Transportation Commission
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
H ...
) of the original 1890s Toronto Railway Company
The Toronto Railway Company (TRC) was the operator of the streetcar system in Toronto between 1891 and 1921. It electrified the horsecar system it inherited from the Toronto Street Railway, the previous operator of streetcar service in Toronto. ...
vehicle
File:Toronto_Transit_Commission_8058.jpg, 1975 GM New Look bus
The GM New Look bus is a municipal transit bus that was introduced in 1959 by the Truck and Coach Division of General Motors to replace the company's previous coach, retroactively known as the GM "old-look" transit bus.
Also commonly known by ...
T6H 5307N #8058 from the TTC [https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Halton_County_Radial_Railway Halton County Radial Railway on CPTDB. Retrieved November 24, 2019.]
TTC Collection
* TTC
CLRV streetcars 4003 (built by SIG), 4010, 4039, 4040, 4053 and 4178; acquired 2019-2020.
* TTC
ALRV streetcar 4204; acquired 2019 and one of two last ALRV operating in 2019
* TTC
G1 subway cars 5098 and 5099
* TTC
MLW M1 subway cars 5300 and 5301
* TTC
CCF-built Peter Witt streetcar 2894, 2424 and 2786, 2984
* TTC
PCC streetcars
The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...
CCF-built 4000 (A1), 4386 (A6), 4426 (A7), 4600 (A8 / A15), 4611 and 4618 (A8 / A15); 4684 is an A12 St Louis Car built ex-
Louisville Railway #509 and ex-
Cleveland Transit System
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is t ...
#4259
See also
*
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
*
Hamilton Street Railway
The Hamilton Street Railway commonly known as the HSR is a public transport agency in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name is a legacy of the company's early period, when public transit in Hamilton was primarily served by streetc ...
*
History of rail transport in Canada
: ''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series.''
The history of rail transport in Canada began in the early 19th century. The Canadian railway system saw several expansion "booms" throughout history, as well as a ma ...
*
List of heritage railways in Canada
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of museums in Canada By province and territory
* List of museums in Alberta
* List of museums in British Columbia
* List of museums in Manitoba
* List of museums in New Brunswick
* List of museums in Newfoundland and Labrador
* List of museums in the Northwest Terr ...
*
Northern Ontario Railway Museum
The Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Centre is a rail transport museum located in the community of Capreol in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The museum's mandate states it is, "focused on the preservation of historical artifacts t ...
*
Toronto radial lines The Toronto radial lines were interurban lines radiating from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All are now defunct.
* Toronto and York Radial Railway acquired the following companies converting each into an operating division:
** Metropolitan Street Rail ...
*
Toronto streetcar track gauge
*
Toronto subway track gauge
*
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
References
External links
Official web site of The Halton County Radial Railway
{{authority control
Culture of the Regional Municipality of Halton
Heritage railways in Ontario
Rail transport in Milton, Ontario
Railway museums in Ontario
Streetcars in Canada
Rail transport in the Regional Municipality of Halton
History of rail transport in the Regional Municipality of Halton
Museums in the Regional Municipality of Halton
4 ft 10⅞ in gauge railways
Tram museums