Sports & Play
Toronto Model Railroad Club ousted by condos
Terrible news for miniature train enthusiasts: Canada's largest (and best-loved) model railway is soon to be dismantled. The Model Railway Club of Toronto has announced that as of April 30, 2013, the club (in operation since 1938), will be leaving its Liberty Village home in the basement of an old armaments factory. And in particularly disheartening news, the move is prompted by yet another condo proposal which will see several character buildings demolished.
However, this is not the first such move for the Toronto club — it was previously ousted in 1946, following the war, from their original home in Union Station. In 2013, the club will yet again dismantle its O scale Central Ontario Railway, and has stated that plans are already underway to find a new home.
It's yet another David vs. Goliath moment in which dedicated hobbyists get bullied by larger forces (i.e. Lifetime Development Group), but at least the 2013 deadline gives you ample time to enjoy the railway in its current digs. The club is putting on a series of shows — dubbed "Romance of the Rails-the Last Run in Liberty Village" — beginning over the holiday season and continuing on into February 2013 (the club's 75th anniversary).
The last show will be on Family Day (February 18), and following that, the taxing task of dismantling the almost 500 sq. m. railway will begin. All proceeds from the various shows will go towards rebuilding it in its new home.
Photo by Bobcatnorth
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Howzat?
I hope they find some good new digs. Onward & upward.
I regret my earlier sarcasm.
This has to be a provincial and municipal election issue. Enough is enough!
Horribly planned from the start with no change in modus operandi. Toronto is a city built on afterthoughts.
What a colossal joke we have become. Get out while you can.
They have strived to make Chicago the Paris of America and they are doing a pretty good job.
Toronto could have and should do the same... to bad we wont.
The entire character of the area has changed virtually overnight (okay, more like in 5 years, but that's lightning quick for an entire area to change).
I just hope that the railway club can find a new cheap (but large) space somewhere that isn't being uprooted so quickly. Maybe in New Toronto or Mimico?
It is understandable in today's "plug and play" world that few might appreciate or comprehend that it has taken many 100s of thousands of hours over the past decades to build this vast model railroad, Canada's largest and one of the largest in the world. It is not something that one can just buy in a store. With the Club's immenent move, even though some parts can be salvaged and rebuilt into a new location, many things are just not replaceable and any rebuilding effort will literally take years and years.
Show your support to part of Toronto's heritage. You just have to see this amazing miniature world. It is one of Toronto's Hidden Treasures. Check them out at one of their upcoming shows.