6 August 2009
Steamy Surprise in Store at Tottenham
Ex-CP 136 southbound on the South Simcoe Railway
near Beeton, Ontario - 12 Oct 2003 Scott Haskill.
Tottenham Ontario - In typical fashion of the
bygone heyday of steam locomotives, the South Simcoe Railway excursion pulled out of Tottenham Station nine minutes late for its 3
p.m. tour Monday.
Passengers in the three coaches didn't seem to mind that they were going across the scenic countryside to Beeton in a train powered by
a 61-year-old diesel-electric engine 703 rather than the historic, former CPR steam engine 136 built in 1883.
They were still experiencing a little of what harvest workers from Ontario must have felt as they sat in straight-backed
leather seats on their trek to the Prairies in the early 20th century, where some of them took up homesteads in the
ill-fated Palliser Triangle, and of what many of those experienced on their return to Ontario after they had abandoned
their homesteads during the Dirty Thirties of the 1930s.
Before boarding, they had been entertained by a vintage-clad group from the Toronto Steam Punk Society, a
347-member group of history buffs, part of which makes frequent appearances on the SSR station platform at Tottenham, on
a short surviving stretch of a rail line that once ran from Hamilton to Allandale.
I had gone there on the Civic Holiday not to view the train but to report on the progress of restoring the historic steam engine to
operating condition, but no one was working on 136 and the shop was locked, said a railroader clad SSR volunteer who wouldn't pause
long enough to identify himself.
"We are all busy running a train," he said as he hurried away.
He didn't have a specific comment on progress, except to say that the unveiling of the famous steam locomotive would happen "as a
surprise" for the public.
If you watched The National Dream CBC-TV series in the 1970s, you have seen what is to be unveiled in Tottenham at an
as-yet-unspecified date that the SSR volunteers hope is before Thanksgiving.
Engine 136 is something of a prideful possession of SSR as it is one of the locomotives that helped build the transcontinental
railway, the Canadian Pacific, across Canada in the 1880s. The railway had to be built to bring British Columbia into confederation at
a time when there was pressure to expand the U.S. northwards.
But the other SSR engines are also vintage: No. 136 is a Rogers 4-4-0 steam locomotive built in Paterson NJ in
1883. No. 1057, also long out of service to have its boiler rebuilt, is a Montreal Locomotive Works 4-6-0 steam
locomotive built in Montreal for the CPR in 1912. No. 703, running most of the time these days, is a GE 70 ton diesel built in Erie,
Pennsylvania, in 1948. No. 22 is a yard engine, a 44-ton diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in Kingston in
1960.
South Simcoe Railway Heritage Corp. is a not-for-profit organization staffed by volunteers ever since it was founded more
or less as an offshoot of the local Chamber of Commerce nearly 17 years ago.
It became the only steam-powered rail line in Ontario.
Operating from May to Thanksgiving, it attracts between 35,000 and 40,000 riders each year. The volunteers, all of whom have taken the
requisite courses in railroading, are all from other unrelated businesses and professions.
Apart from passengers, its most pressing need for the moment might be for persons with expertise in the mechanics of steam engines.
Engine 136 will be restored, but its return to service would be sooner if there were a few more hands to complete the task, a recent
statement by SSR indicates.
You can contact SSR by phoning 905-936-5815 or by email at info@southsimcoerailway. ca, or by writing to South Simcoe
Railway Heritage Corporation P.O. Box 186 Tottenham ON L0G 1W0.
Wes Keller.
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