Saturday Night Classic Show n' Shine

presented by the St. Thomas Lion's Club

Free Registration - First 50 registered recieve a Festival Gift Package!
Entertainment on 3 stages, Ribfest, Crafts, Artisans, Midway, & More!

Saturday August 22, 2009 - 6:10pm
All Vehicles Welcome

2nd AnnualMotorcycle Show n' Shine

$10 Registration supports: Compassion Canada & the Festival
Prize Classes: Custom, Cruiser, Touring, Sport & Vintage
Vendors and Entertainment

Friday August 21, 2009 - 6 - 8pm
Awarding of trophies and prizes to follow
All Motorcycles Welcome

Presented by
International Christian Biker's Association & Southern Cruiser Riding Club 224 - Elgin County
For more information, call Kelly Ripley at 519-633-6796

The Elgin County Railway Museum had its inception in 1988 with the arrival of steam locomotive CNR 5700 (formerly 5703) in St. Thomas, which has become the "crown jewel" of the Museum's collection.

Since that time, we have added various pieces of rolling stock including a 1953 CNR baggage/express car (which is now being used as our "mobile museum"), a 1939 ex-New York Central sleeper car Cascade Lane", the diesel-electric Wabash #51 (affectionately known as "Tillie"), the 1915 London & Port Stanley electric locomotive L-1, and the one-of-a-kind CP locomotive #8921 ("Empress of Agincourt").

Our latest acquisition has been the donation of the former L.&P.S. incline cars, which are now mounted on display at the Museum. These historic cars were used on "Picnic Hill" at Port Stanley. During their peak year, over 1.3 million people rode these cars.

The Museum is currently housed in the historic Michigan Central Railroad Shops which date back to 1913, and saw continuous service for over 70 years. Built by the Michigan Central as a locomotive maintenance and erecting shop, the building features a concrete slab ceiling, concrete floor and brick and steel walls. As one of the few remaining railroad buildings in St. Thomas and area, and one of the last remaining operational locomotive shops in North America, the site lends a true historic note to the Museum. The sounds of on-going work are echoing once again through the structure as various restoration projects are undertaken, with locomotives from the electric, steam and diesel eras all being rejuvenated.

Two large shows are held on site each year: Railway Nostalgia Weekend (first weekend in May) and Railway Heritage Weekend (fourth weekend in August). See Event Calendar for specific details on these events. These shows feature many vendor and display tables, live entertainment, train and gas car rides, and a food concession. We also attend many off-site events, both locally and out of town.

Each year seems to get more hectic as the public support for our site grows. The annual shows draw attendance in the thousands over the two-day period, with visitors from Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

We have many terrific volunteers who have donated thousands of hours towards making the dream of a world-class museum become a reality. The Elgin County Railway Museum welcomes new members all the time, and invites schools, service clubs and other interested groups to come in for a tour of our facility.

If you would like more information on the Museum or are interested in arranging a tour, please call 519-637-6284; or send an e-mail to: thedispatcher@ecrm5700.org at any time. They also have a web-site.

While in St. Thomas, be sure to visit these murals celebrating the rich railroad heritage of the region.

The Canada Southern Railway Station
810 Talbot Street, St. Thomas, Ontario

A campaign is underway to restore the Canada Southern Railway Station, which is currently vacant and in immediate need of repair. This is a unique and historic facility, designated under the Canadian Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act.

A good overview of the significance of the station is provided in a report prepared by Robert Hunter of the Architectural History Branch, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The following contains some edited excerpts from this report. For more details, refer to the original report for the full text, plus associated figures and references. Some recent photos are included to show the current status of the building and site.

Introduction
"The former Canada Southern Railway station in St. Thomas, Ontario ... was built by American railway promoters between 1871 and 1873 to serve both as the local station and as the headquarters of the company. As such, this large and impressive Italianate-style structure served as the symbol of the railway. After 1878 this regional rail line was controlled by the New York Central Railroad and, from 1883 until 1930, under the aegis of one of its subsidiaries, the Michigan Central Railway. Subsequently, the lease was transferred back to the New York Central until 1968 at which time the line was amalgamated into the Penn Central which went bankrupt in 1976. The company was reorganized as Conrail, which owned it until 1983 when it was purchased jointly by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railways. The St. Thomas station functioned throughout most of this period as the company's administrative headquarters and the location of its main shops and yards..."

Local History
"... Following years of local agitation the Legislature of Upper Canada passed an act to establish the County of Elgin in August of 1851. St. Thomas, in its role as county town, became the site of the county buildings, a courthouse and a jail. Throughout these years St. Thomas served as the distribution centre for the area, but when the Great Western Railway was built through London joining it to Niagara Falls and Windsor in 1854, and ultimately to Toronto in 1855, this was a blow to the village. Despite many years of efforts on the part of townspeople to facilitate the construction of a railway through their town St. Thomas had been spurned by railway companies. Desperate to be served by a rail link to potential markets, St. Thomas supported, and provided substantial sums towards, the construction of the London and Port Stanley Railway which opened in 1856. The effect was the complete opposite of that which had been hoped for, however, as merchants and businessmen lost customers to larger stores and firms in nearby London.

After years of economic stagnation which saw an actual decline in population, St. Thomas energetically boosted the establishment of the Canada Southern Railway. In 1870 St. Thomas voted a bonus of $25,000 to the railway to ensure that it establish its headquarters in the town. London, which at least partially owed its economic prosperity to its location on the Great Western Railway and its role as terminal point of the London and Port Stanley Railway, worked to deter the construction of the Canada Southern. The Great Western offered to build a branch line to St. Thomas and, when the Canada Southern commenced construction, the GWR proceeded with this scheme in an effort to protect its business. After years of endeavours to gain a rail line St. Thomas got two lines. This led to a race to complete the tracks, won by Great Western which opened its route to St. Thomas in February 1872. The Canada Southern opened its eastern section on 1 August 1872, the first train from Amherstburg reaching St. Thomas in December 1872. ..."

ARCHITECTURE
Aesthetic/Visual Qualities
"The St. Thomas train station was constructed between June 1871 and April 1873 and exists today as a particularly large, well-preserved and handsomely detailed structure in the Italianate style. A local contemporary account claimed:

In point of substantial construction, in the means of solid comfort, convenience of internal arrangement, adaptation to the purposes for which the structure is designed, and in point of dimensions, there is no passenger station the property of any one Railway Company in Canada at all equal to it; and only in New York, Chicago and a few other such large centres of population is there one on the continent excelling the Station House of the Canada Southern Company at St. Thomas.

Constructed utilizing 400,000 buff bricks, the station is 354 feet long and 36 feet wide, and two storeys in height with a cellar and attic. The extraordinarily long front and rear facades are divided into 44 bays defined by a shallow grid of piers. Each bay contains a round-arched window enriched by a brick hood moulding and keystone in the upper storey and a basket-arched window on the first storey. Two broad, basket-arched passageways provide access directly through the station to the tracks. Detailing of the simplest nature with vaguely classical allusions such as the line of dentils at the first and second storey line of each bay add distinction to the structure. The gable roof allows for the two short three-bay ends of the structure to be capped by an enriched pediment with oculus. Below each pediment the end facade is defined by the same vocabulary as the rest of the structure. The heavily dentilated pediment is supported by ornate large-scale paired brackets. Similar brackets support a heavy cornice running around the roof line of the station.

The one major alteration to an otherwise amazingly intact structure was the removal in 1969 of the canopy which ringed the station at the first floor level. The essentially flat-roofed canopy was supported by iron pillars with ornamental capitals and cast iron brackets. Early photographs also show eight tall chimneys located along the roof ridge but these were removed in 1962. At some point dormers were added on the roof but they have also been removed. Two low brick fire-breaks now punctuate the roof line and divide it visually into thirds. Although the station is constructed of buff brick it was painted brick red at an unknown point. The peeling away of this paint has left the station with a light reddish hue and some darker patches.

While the sheer scale of the structure (still likely the largest building of any type in St. Thomas almost 120 years after its construction) is one important aspect of its aesthetic effect, it is the extreme length of its facade which has the greatest impact. While there were functional considerations in this scheme (see Functional/Technological Qualities), clearly the prime consideration was the symbolic visual impact of arriving at a station with such an enormous frontage. This structure clearly achieved these desired goals.

The St. Thomas station may be broadly categorized stylistically as Italianate. An eclectic style based loosely upon an interest in the forms of Italian Renaissance architecture, with several distinct sub-types, the Italianate is generally recognized as having been developed in Britain in the period 1800-1820. The wide range of plans and detailing encompassed within what was labelled Italianate made it a desirable option not only for residences but for a range of public structures. Among these public structures were new building types such as men's clubs, public libraries and railway stations, for which there were no stylistic precedents.

The Italianate style was enthusiastically adopted in the United States by the 1830s and at the end of that decade it appeared in Canada. From 1840 until approximately 1880 it remained a popular design option for Canadian buildings. The classically regular elements of the Italianate vocabulary lent themselves to large scale commercial, public and industrial structures, drill halls being a frequent Canadian example. The Italianate style was not, however, often used for railway stations in Canada, at least certainly not on the scale of the St. Thomas station.

The aesthetic qualities of the interior can still be perceived despite the virtually uniform application of "hospital green" paint and the introduction of some dropped ceilings and plywood partitions. Again, the scale of the rooms seen by the general public on the first floor was tremendous. These waiting rooms and dining room were distinguished by over 20 foot high ceilings supported by columns with capitals, while the walls were panelled. Major elements of the rooms still exist, including some pieces of the original furnishings.

The architect of this station was Edgar Berryman (1839-1905), who also worked as a surveyor and civil engineer. Little is known of Berryman's early career, the first available reference being in the Toronto Globe in 1863 describing Berryman as "Provincial Land Surveyor, Draughtsman, Conveyance, etc.", with an office in St. Catharines, Ontario. By May 1872 The American Builder reported that:

The old friends of Edgar W. Berryman will be pleased to know that he has been for the last year architect for the Canada Southern Railway, and that the important works of that company are designed by him and erected under his superintendence. By 1878 Berryman was living in Montreal where, after 1882, he was a civil engineer with the Grand Trunk Railway, by whom he was employed until his death in April 1905. The construction of the St. Thomas railway station was carried out under the direction of Canada Southern's master builder, Mr. Mchafley of Erie, Pennsylvania."

Representative Qualities
"When the Canada Southern Railway was granted its charter there was vigorous competition from the towns, villages and hamlets of the region as to exactly where the line would pass and who would get a station. Thirty-one stations were constructed in the 1871-73 period, of which the St. Thomas station is the only one known to exist. The other thirty stations of the line are thought to have all been modest in scale and finish. The St. Thomas station was not only an anomaly on the Canada Southern line, due to its status as company headquarters, but is highly unusual in the history of Canadian railway station design. While this structure is visually impressive, it does not fit within the broad confines of the generally accepted stylistic options for railway station design. Stations of this scale in Canada, which were only rarely built, usually tended to follow the Romanesque Revival, Second Empire or later the Beaux-Arts styles.

The Canadian Inventory of Historic Building has recorded only a handful of two storey brick or stone train stations which date from the 19th century. With the exception of one or two structures in major urban centres, such as Montreal's Windsor Station (1889) there is nothing existing in Canada today to compare to the St. Thomas station. As a major railway centre St. Thomas had two other stations, both far more typical of railway structures in Canada. The former Wabash Railway Company (later part of the CNR) station of circa 1897 and the London and Port Stanley Railway station of 1920 have now both been demolished.

Somewhat rare as a combined station and railway company headquarters, the St. Thomas station due to its architectural design and surprisingly large scale must today be viewed as unique in Canada. The removal of the encircling canopy, a prime character-defining feature, has diminished its visual identification as a train station. ..."

Excerpts from: Railway Station Report, Former Canada Southern Railway Station, St. Thomas
By Robert Hunter, Architectural History Branch, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (undated copy - 1989 ?)
Unless noted otherwise, photos were taken February 10, 2002 - DM

The Walk and Chalk event will bring an explosion of colour and a sense of community spirit to the Festival streets this year as volunteer artists demonstrate their talent with chalk. Designated areas of Talbot Street will be the artists's canvas rain or shine.
Under the supervision of Gail McNaughton, Dog & Pony Productions Inc. and her team, visual artists will work collaboratively in teams on 6-foot areas as designated through a formal registration procedure. There will be other specified areas for the general public to try their hand at chalk art.
Each day from 12 noon to 4pm, visitors, neighbours and community organizers can watch and admire art being created on the spot - or roll up their sleeves and jump in to create their own masterpieces. "To find the artist within" is a central theme. At the end of the Festival, the art squares will be judged by an independent panel and winners will be notified. First prize is $250.00 with smaller cash prizes awarded for runners up.

Now you can back track through St.Thomas’ rich railway history with its first railway walking tour. Take a relaxing walk through the many historic sites and see why we are proud to call ourselves "The Railway Capital of Canada."

Being the mid-point between Chicago and New York, St.Thomas became the favorite stop over for some 86 trains a day during its railway prime. So treat yourself, whether you plan to cover a lot of ground or prefer to concentrate on a few choice sites, you’ll be delighted with what the St.Thomas Railway Walking Tour has in store for you!

Download and print out this handy guide to the sites and history of our venerable city.

Walking Tour of St. Thomas