Trains… when did I become obsessed with trains? My older brother had a pretty awesome hobby train set in the past, my younger brother still has a train circle under his Christmas tree every year, and my 4-year-old grandson is in love with the movie. Polar Express and love take the train. I guess it’s been such an intricate part of my life for so long that I’ve taken for granted that trains are cool, especially big steam locomotives up close.

The centerpiece of the Elgin County Railroad Museum is the 5700 steam engine. She is a beauty. Built in 1930 by the Montreal Locomotive Works, it was put to work on the highly competitive Montreal to Toronto line as a passenger train. Pulling ten passenger cars, it could reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour. This beautiful and rather heavy train was one of five owned by the Canadian National Railway. It originally had the number 5703 and was also known as hudson gold K-5-to 4-6-4. As passenger demands grew beyond its capabilities, it was eventually reassigned to the less aggressive Toronto-London-Sarnia/Windsor route.

Most of the technical information provided by the host in the engine room. cab aboard the 5700 was extremely interesting. She talked about the 14,000-gallon (18-ton) tender, a Baker valve gear, 43,000 tractive effort (53,300 with boost), and boiler pressure that could reach 275 pounds. I also heard something about 23″ x 28″ cylinders, although 80″ conductors with the complete locomotive weighing 330 tons. Now, I’m not that tech-savvy when it comes to big trains or anything mechanical, so I went to the closest resource in the museum to help me understand a little more of what he was talking about.

Let’s start with the fire box – is the furnace chamber that is integrated into the boiler and generally surrounded by water. Steam locomotives normally had a steel fire tube boiler containing a heat source; energy released by the combustion of a solid or liquid fuel. The 5700 used coal as a combustion material that was introduced through a door by a firefighter. His job was to shovel charcoal into a set of grates where the ashes fall away from the fuel that is burned by the ashtray hopper. Then the water compartment it consisted of a container for the water used by the boiler to produce steam; usually runs out of cylinders. HAS smoke box It gathers the hot gases that have passed from the hearth and through the boiler tubes. Typically there was a ash guard to prevent hot ashes from escaping up the chimney, and usually a blower to help draw the fire when the regulator is closed. When the regulator is open, the steam exhaust from the cylinders is also directed up the chimney through the smokebox to attract the fire. Tea bidding It is the container that contains both the water for the boiler and the fuel, in this case, the coal for the combustion chamber. I was really surprised that both the engineer and the firefighter worked in such tight spaces to control the engine and take care of the combustion chamber.

There were many more components and all sorts of information available at the museum, so if you’re a train buff, you must visit the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas, Ontario. They sure have an amazing collection of all things “Train”. Many of the historical photographs and artifacts are well preserved under glass screens.

and instantly began to pique my interest. The first thing that struck me was the friendliness of the people. I was impressed when I visited them during the Centennial Celebration the weekend of May 24-25, 2014. Two days packed with a variety of activities, food and exhibits to take every visitor back to the last century of railway history in Southern Ontario. What an opportunity to ask questions, talk to the great volunteers, and experience all the neat exhibits. So diverse were its displays chorological from the rich history that it took me several hours to absorb most of the activities, special exhibits, and all of the outdoor displays of railway equipment. All the images I captured were historical in nature. I was surprised to learn that centralized traffic control (CTC) was beginning to appear in southwestern Ontario in 1956 and the large panel could track the movement of trains and even change switches and signals remotely. Some photos showed workers in the repair shop, and their display of working model trains is extraordinary. 1856 is when the London and Port Stanley Railway joined St. Thomas providing port access and international shipments of local goods. Today the Port Stanley Rail Terminal it is a vibrant historic tourist railway with daily operations in the summer months.