T.I. RR No. 500

[T]

Would this Thousand Islands Railway -originally Gananoque & Rideau Railway-. Locomotive count as a brand X.

Tom

[m a y o r 79]

I would definately say so, any idea who the builder was? I was thinking Whitcomb at first but im not sure.

[Randy Earle]

The logo looks related to GTW and D&TSL.

[T]

Apr 22, 2011 18:11:48 GMT -5 simulatortrain said:

I have an article for building this in brass which comes with a template to etch the parts. I can look for it if you're interested.

Yes please I'll be building this loco in from scraps in N-Scale.

Tom

[mikekieran]

It was a subsidiary of Canadian National and it was originally built as a gas-electric by Whitcomb. It hauled a passenger train (one combine) as well. The engines were later converted to diesel. It resides as a static display somewhere in Canada. There was an etched brass kit of it in HO:

Here's a brief history of the railroad from Trainweb.org:

Thousand Islands Railway Company
3.32 miles. Connects with Canadian National at Gananoque Jct., ON Locomotives (Nos. 44, 271), 2. Web site.

The Thousand Islands Railway was formed in 1884 by the Rathburn family, who controlled a large amount of the mining and logging interests in South-Eastern Ontario. The line ran from Gananoque to Gananoque Jct, where it connected to the Grand Trunk Railway, mostly along the shore of the Gananoque River, to the St. Lawrence River. In 1910, the Rathburns sold the TIR to the Grand Trunk Railway. Thirteen years later the Grand Trunk was merged into what is now Canadian National Railways. From 1884 to 1962, the TIR remained a separate railway. Under Grand Trunk and Canadian National control, the railway operated as a separate subsiderary, with its own board of directors and President.

1958, the Town of Gananoque ended a 74 year tax exemption on the railway. This was started to ensure that the town always had rail service. Once the exemption was ended, the railway started to lose money. By 1962, daily passenger service ended and the Thousand Islands Railway was finally merged into the Canadian National. Traffic ceased to travel the southern portion of the line, from the Stelco (now GFSI) Plant on River Street to the waterfront, in 1981. The rails for that line were removed in 1985.

Flat 500 1
Snow Flanger 460 1

Coaches -- 200, 202

[kcs1967]

Looks like an excellent project, great to see this come along, especially in N scale.