Story & photos by Doug Switzer, Moto/ology Publisher.
It’s one of those perfect summer days, not too hot, slightly breezy and very comfortable. We load up the grandkids on their day off and steal them away from their parents for a proper day of spoiling them rotten! “Where are we going, Poppa?” says the oldest. He’s ten, by the way. “We’re going to see how Nanna and Poppa got around before we had our driver’s licences or someone to drive us. As a matter of fact, we’re going to see how your great-grandparents did it as well!” “Wow! Really?” says the youngest… (he’s seven.) “Didn’t you guys all ride horses?” Very funny, kiddo!
Nope, we’re off to the Halton Radial Railway Museum near Rockwood, Ontario to check out some vintage streetcars, commuter trains and subway cars. This rolling museum is a wonderful place where the younger set can see how things were in the days before computerized everything took hold and us folks of a more mature age can relive some of our old memories.
Located within the boundaries of the town of Milton, the museum is located just south of Rockwood and west of Acton, Ontario, Canada. This interesting collection has quite a large and varied selection of transit vehicles to admire and explore. There are even several vintage streetcars that you can climb aboard and take for a ride. The museum has set up a charming closed-circuit route through the forest that’s on the property, so you can relive what a daytrip to a local Toronto park would have been like in those grand, bygone days.
The Halton County Radial Railway (HCRR) is owned and operated by the Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association (OERHA) which is a non-profit, educational outfit that was the first and at present, is the largest electric rail museum in the province.
It was set up initially in the mid-nineteen fifties when a group of retired Toronto Transit Commission employees decided saving some old streetcars from the scrapheap would be a noble thing to do. After the acquisition of their first vehicle, Streetcar No. 1326, the group acquired some land formerly owned by the defunct Toronto Suburban Railway and their dream of a proper museum was established.
The group continued to rescue old and obsolete streetcars and service vehicles until the museum opened to the public in 1972. Since then, the collection has continued to grow and now has a rather large and diversified selection of transit vehicles for the public to explore. Among the streetcars and other vehicles, there are subway cars, buses, several old service vehicles and a large number of signs, track switches, lights, replica stations, office supplies and other memorabilia. Oh! There’s also a well-outfitted gift shop!
Entertaining the grandkids…
Upon our arrival at the museum, we were pleased to see a large uncrowded parking lot with easy access to the grounds of the museum.
Of course, the old streetcars doing the rounds on the closed-circuit track immediately caught the eyes and interest of our two grandsons. When we said we could take them for a ride, they wanted to do that now…and I mean right now! Unfortunately, at the time, the line-up was a bit too long for my liking so I managed to convince them that they should see some of the other attractions first! When I told them that there was lots for them to see and do in the nearby garages, they agreed right away. Off we marched to the large group of buildings with the tracks leading into them and the large, opened doors allowing us a tantalizing peak inside.
When we went inside, the kids were blown away with the number and variety of vehicles and items on display. There were streetcars of course, but they were old, some very old… from over a hundred or more years ago. They gleamed in the dull lighting, restored and resplendent with their polished wood and leather interiors. You must remember these vehicles came from a time when people had some manners and considered it bad form to knife up upholstery, smash things and deface public property with graffiti. As a result, we got to have nice things.
Along with the streetcars, there are subway coaches from the 1950s and 1960s, a bus simulator and a selection of track servicing vehicles, including a track snowplow.
If you want to see something really, really old, there’s even a horse-drawn street carriage from the 1800s! I had to assure my grandsons that I had never actually rode on one of these!
The very fact that these old public transit vehicles show such fine hand-wrought workmanship and attention to details speaks volumes about their rich history and lasting utility. To me, it stands in stark contrast to much of today’s disposable items in our society. I originally thought that’s just me being an old fart, but when I saw the look of awe on my grandson’s, I felt there had been a connection made there as well. A connection that impressed on them the value of quality that is sometimes lost in our present age.
Now, with that said, it is also fascinating to see how far the development of technology has taken us and how the modern transit cars offer so much more in comfort and safety compared to the old wooden wonders. The older machines did their job admirably back in their day, and while we may be smitten with their nostalgia, the fact remains that the modern systems are indeed much better and no doubt more reliable but are also built on the foundations of what went before and that’s where the old technology still deserves our respect.
But enough of my philosophical ramblings, we’re more concerned with what the museum offers in terms of educational value about that technological past and the entertainment value that it offered my grandkids on their day off with Nana and Poppa. For those contemplating a day here with youngsters, I’ll have to give the place two thumbs up! While I can’t guarantee your experience will match ours, I can say that it was a most pleasurable day and downright fun for the bunch of us!
Interior rooms, playhouses for the kids and a ticket to ride…
After we’d had our fill of wandering about in the garages sampling all the incredible rolling stock and displays there, we went back to the restored period train station to get our OK to ride the rails on the wonderful old working streetcars. The museum operates several different vehicles at different times on their very own 2 kilometre track that winds its way through the picturesque forest on the property. There’s a turn-around at the west end, just beyond the station and the entry area and at the opposite end of the loop is a charming re-creation of another country station in a park-like setting. Oh! …and they also sell ice cream and refreshments there so you can disembark, wander around, enjoy a snack and the ambiance, then return on the next tram! Very cool!
Once we returned to the main station, we disembarked and decided to stroll around the entry area. We noticed some diminutive buildings arranged in a loose row and at the urging of our grandkids, went over to investigate. These are charming little playhouses roughly approximating a small village of the kind you’d expect to find along an old rail line. Well, there was no need to encourage the kids to check them out, they were off and into them like a shot! There were several other children there enjoying the display as well.
Time to Go…
Once the kids had their fill of the playhouse area, we sauntered back to the main station and made our way toward the exit. Of course, like any well laid out attraction, you wouldn’t simply leave without having to exit through a gift shop…so we did!
Wandering through the store we looked at books, artwork, mugs, bric-a-brac and other memorabilia that was associated with the railways and transit industry. The kids found a number of things that struck their fancy and my wife, coming from a family with roots back in the Canadian railroads, found several items of interest. After collecting and paying for our small treasures, we left the place, very satisfied and quite a bit wiser than when we entered.
If you want to enjoy an interesting day out, by all means check out the Halton Radial Railway Museum. For more information, tickets and hours please visit their website at: https://hcry.org/