After posting a recent piece about the first steam locomotive in Canada, the Dorchester,
I discovered that I had seen the scale model shown in that particular post.
Canada's First Railway ... Who DID this?!
Last week, during a safari through family slides, I was surprised to find a photo of the model which I had taken in June 1970. The model was built by Harry Allin of Bowmanville for display at the Ontario Science Centre, which was opened in September 1969.
At the end of my first year of Ontario elementary schooling, we had a field trip to the new Science Centre. My Montreal-CRHA-influenced awareness of the first steam locomotive in Canada caused me to take the photo of the Dorchester and, surprisingly, to ignore the more familiar Northern locomotive displayed above it.
... In my defence, this was during the era when cameras contained a finite amount of analogue film, so I was probably conserving my exposures for other exciting displays.
We didn't have a dress code at my scrappy 'small town' public school, so the student to the right is probably from a more prosperous institution. To enrich the experience, as he actuates the model's running gear with low pressure air, he is providing his own sound effects.
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Model photos from: A Thing of Beauty; Duncan Heriot; Canadian Rail, February 1970.
You can see the exacting work of modeller Harry Allin of Bowmanville as he creates the model for the Science Centre.
In preparing this piece, I found the other model of the Dorchester created by Harry Allin - which was designed to be operated by live steam. It was for sale on the internet. According to the article, he was building a 7 1/4 inch gauge Dorchester and intended to operate it on a 1000-foot track to be laid at his new home.
The Canadian Rail article goes into a lot of detail about how Harry Allin built the model and how the 'driver' of a typical Stephenson-designed Planet-class locomotive operated its running gear.
A friend of Harry's from Kingston, Ontario, Harbour Master Edward Phipps-Walker (1914-1985), provided key information for the engine model. In a 1915 edition of Model Engineer he had found an article on Planet-class valve gear.
That edition of Model Engineer is not available at archive.org. However, the book referenced below is available there.
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| from: The Locomotive Engine & Its Development - 1803-1903; Clement E Stretton; 1903; Crosby Lockwood & Son. |
On the railway roster shown above, you can see that this British railway had a number of Stephenson-designed Planet-class engines.
The design of the Dorchester was not always compatible with the rudimentary track structure and pioneer railway operating conditions of British North America. A solitary Stephenson engineer was sent out with the engine to help with assembly and operation. He burned the flues of the Dorchester before the railway's opening.
In 1849, the Dorchester was sold to the Industry Village Railway (near Rawdon QC). It operated until 1864, when a boiler explosion resulted in its scrapping.