Although the present John Street Roundhouse opened in 1929, the history of the site extends back to 1860 when a ship carrying the Prince of Wales docked at the foot of the street. The royal connection extended to 1939 when the Royal Train was serviced at the roundhouse during the first visit of a reigning monarch to Canada. Today the roundhouse is all that remains of several dozen buildings and hundreds of miles of track that once serviced Canadian Pacific and Canadian National passenger trains at Union Station. This presentation will explore the history of roundhouses in Toronto and the transition of John Street from the largest combined passenger car and locomotive facility in Canada, through its decline and dereliction in the 1990s, to the Toronto Railway Museum that now hosts over 60,000 visitors a year.

This is the last of three Toronto Railway Museum presentations by TRM chief historian Derek Boles. Each of these fast-moving lectures is illustrated with hundreds of photographs, original animations, maps, diagrams, railway documents, advertising and other ephemera collected over the years by Derek Boles and combined with his insightful commentary on Torontos railway history and its importance in establishing the city as Canadas leading commercial centre.