Archive for Meetings

Last Night’s Meeting

By Chris Paxton on October 31, 2024
Last night was our October meeting which was well attended. It was great to see some new faces as well as some we haven’t seen in a while. We had some fabulous shows by Steve Armstrong and Andy Panko. We saw Steve’s slideshow featuring stunning photos of steam excursions from past decades. Andy shared a show of Reg Button’s historic photos of diesels and steam from a bygone era. Andy also reprised his Thorold hill show which was worth seeing again. In addition we had some great draw prizes including some from Scotty’s Tiny Railroads hobby shop. Gerald ran a book auction as well. We raised $120 from the draw and $45 from the book auction.
Looking forward to seeing many out for the historic rail sights rail tour hosted by Andy on November 14th and many more out for the next meeting November 27th.
Categories : Meetings

Railroad Night

By Chris Paxton on September 8, 2024

Are you interested in local railway history, or a model railroader?

Canadian Railroad Historical Association (Niagara Division) and Tiny Railroads present

Railroad Night

Wednesday, September 25, at 7 pm

Lock 3 Museum, Welland Canals Parkway @ Lock 3, St. Catharines

Feature Presentation by model railroader/historian Terry Hughes on
‘How Model Railroading Can Advance
Our Local Railway Heritage’
(a ‘must see’ -the connection between model railroading and Niagara railway history)

PowerPoint presentations also include:

  • Historic NS&T scenes – Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Falls – 1950s
  • Steam and diesel helpers on the Thorold Hill (1950s to 1970s)
  • ‘Never Shown Before’ – Reg Button’s 1960’s local Ontario photos (CN, CP, TH&B, Wabash)
  • Recent local train happenings – making FUTURE history (July to September 2024)
  • 2025 Niagara railway calendar will be available, still only $25

Luckydraws FREE ADMISSION FREE PARKING Railway Book Auction

CRHA (since 1932), CRHA Niagara Division (since 1978)

Categories : Events, Meetings

May 2024 Meeting

By Chris Paxton on May 30, 2024

Last night was our May hybrid (in-person and online) meeting and was attend by about twenty plus folks. Many of us started off with a large group at Ricky-Jo’s sharing a meal a great stories. We whisked through the business portion of the meeting and got straight to the presentations. We had four digital shows and one slide show.

We were treated to an excellent show by Andy Panko highlighting the history of the of NS&T main line through Merritton including maps, diagrams and photos. He also covered the history of the Michigan Central line through St. David’s including the story of a cement plant built on the side of the escarpment, again with many photos. He also outlined an upcoming hike planned for mid-October featuring many historic rail sites in the Niagara Falls and St. David’s area.

We then had a wonderful presentation by Glenn Cherry of his recent trip into the US to see and photograph CPKC’s Hudson steam engine 2816 on its tour through western Canada and down into the US. This was followed up by Tammy’s super presentation which overlapped Glenn’s also covering 2816 with additional photos of American short lines. Then Ricahrd Guitar, one of our ZOOM attendees, shared some of his digitized slides of railway scenes from the 1970s.

Finally we had a slide show by Steve Armstrong which featured some very artistic shots of steam excursions from the 1970s. All in all they were all excellent presentations.

The Longest Day is coming up on Friday June 21st where, those that wish to, will gather on the Laking Garden bridge for breakfast and the morning rush of trains. Our BBQ is also planned for July and a GO trip is planned for August so it should be an enjoyable summer. Our next hybrid meeting is scheduled for Wednesday September 25th at the Lock 3 Museum and over ZOOM.

Categories : Meetings

April Meeting

By Chris Paxton on April 28, 2024

The monthly hybrid meeting was last night at The St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3 with good attendance in person and on line. Plans were discussed for The Longest Day which falls on the Summer Solstice; the CHRA Niagara annual BBQ which is set for July; a GO train trip planned for August and a fall hike set for October. There were great presentations by Glenn Cherry, Dean Brown and Andy Panko. All in all another successful meeting, looking forward to the next one on May 29th. See you then!

Categories : Meetings