Skip to main content

It's not every day that a steam locomotive makes its way through the streets of Toronto. At midnight.

In the wee hours next Thursday, a moving job 50 years in the making is set to roll on a downtown route that includes a tight squeeze through the Princes' Gate at Exhibition Place.

"The railway-museum folks wanted us to bring it through there, so that's what were going to do," said veteran specialty mover Laurie McCulloch. "With eight inches to spare."

Canadian National 6213 - a "Northern-type" steam engine - has idled in the parking lot at the last refuge for orphaned objects of affection, Exhibition Place, since 1960. That's when the railway company donated it to the city. The funereal black iron horse with white pinstriping and a red window frame has been lovingly cared for by volunteer rail buffs who greased its wheels and polished its brass fixtures while waiting to find it a more suitable home. The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre will open in July at Roundhouse Park at the foot of the CN Tower, and that's where the locomotive is headed on its final journey.

The move is scheduled in two stages: the coal tender will go early Thursday morning, just after midnight. The engine will follow the next night. Each move is expected to take about two hours.

Chugging over to its dream home, though, is a logistical nightmare.

Together, the engine and its coal-tender car weigh close to 285 tonnes, so city engineers are examining the route to make sure the roads can withstand the load.

"We're being cautious with this one because it's never been done before," said Gordon Lok, capital works co-ordinator for the city. Height restrictions have forced planners to head east on the elevated westbound section of the Lake Shore. "We need to know that bridge can handle this," Mr. Lok said.

Further examination of the train's route revealed another potential engineering issue: the underground portion of the Rogers Centre below the intersection of Rees and Bremner. "I didn't know it was there," Mr. Lok added.

There's also a subterranean part of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre over which the train will rumble. "It's looking good, it just takes time to check everything out," he said.

To accommodate the engine, specialty mover Mr. McCulloch adapted a custom-built float he used to haul the old Mount Sinai hospital facade in 2004. In his 35 years of moving unusual objects - everything from a lighthouse in Cape Hatteras, N.C., to the Gem Theatre in Detroit - the Whitby-based hauler said a steam engine has always been on his wish list."We're showmen at heart, and in our small fraternity of specialty movers everybody tries to outdo one another."

John Weir of the Smiths Falls Railway Museum has been offered a 100-foot turntable, the rotating platform used to move engines into roundhouse work bays, but he's also here to see the engine.

"The CNR had 200 of these on the rails and they could pull 18 passenger cars between Toronto and Montreal at 140 kilometres an hour. Most of them have been scrapped, so I'm happy this one is still with us."

The cost of the move is estimated at $150,000, which Leon's Furniture Store will donate as part of a deal with the city to sell sofas in the old CPR roundhouse.

As chairman of city-run Exhibition Place, deputy mayor Joe Pantalone is glad to see the engine reunited with its "natural habitat" at the rail museum. "Exhibition Place has artifacts and buildings that people don't know what to do with and we're happy to accommodate them until they find their proper place."

Report on Business Company Snapshot is available for:
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY

Interact with The Globe