16 July 2007
Steam Whistle Proposing $10 Million to Expand Rail Museum
Steam Whistle Brewery in the John Street Roundhouse at Toronto,
Ontario.
Toronto Ontario - Steam Whistle Brewing is willing to
invest $10 million to expand and improve the Rail Museum at the CPR John St.
Roundhouse.
"The Rail Museum is a tribute to the people who built this city and
country," says Cam Heaps, President of Steam Whistle Brewing. "This building
is one of a kind, and we'd like to make it even more meaningful as a tourist
attraction and special place to preserve our rail history."
Steam Whistle would like the opportunity to quadruple the size of the
Rail Museum to 30,000 square feet, with prominent public access from Bremner
Street at the front of the Roundhouse.
In 1997, the City of Toronto agreed to preserve the Roundhouse as a Rail
History Museum. But now Toronto's Culture Department has outsourced its
decision-making to a private developer, who has scaled back the museum project
to just 7,500 square feet at the back of the building to accommodate its
proposed new tenant, Leon's Discount Furniture Warehouse.
"We're proposing to make the most of the Rail Museum," says Greg Taylor,
Steam Whistle Brewing co-founder. "It should be a showcase, not an
afterthought. This is a project we believe in, and are willing to invest in."
Steam Whistle Brewing is proposing a fully operational turntable to move
locomotives into and out of the Roundhouse. The Rail History Museum would
exhibit as many as ten engines and cars, with audio and visual displays of the
people who built our national railway. The museum would continue outside in
Roundhouse Park with restored out buildings and rail cars on installed rail
lines.
Members of the Toronto Community, including Paul Godfrey, and David
Crombie have formed "Friends of the Roundhouse" urging City Council to review
the status of the lease arrangement and put the Rail History Museum back on
the rails. A motion will be introduced at City Council tomorrow.
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