ExpoRail

From Mt. Ste-Hilaire we drove south on the west bank of the Richleau River (it empties into Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont. It’s a beautiful ride with lots of blue water, green grass and trees, nice homes, seaplanes, and boats to view.

We tuned west to Ste-Constant, south of Montreal and stopped at the ExpoRail, a Canadian Railway Museum. It is a huge indoor collection of restored locomotives, both steam and electric; freight cars; trolleys; private rail cars of rail executives; post office cars; and a school car.

The school car was very interesting. In 1928 a passenger car was converted to a school car and was used to provide a schoolroom for children in remote areas of northern Ontario. the car was pulled by a regular train and left on a siding for a week or so for use as a classroom, the it was pulled to another community on a rotating basis. It took about two months to complete the circuit. One half of the car was the school room with desks and blackboards. The other half was a small apartment for the teacher and his family. How clever!


They also have a trolley running the perimeter of their property and you can see how many railcars they have waiting for restoration. Their literature says they have 162 pieces of rolling stock, with 44 of the best inside the pavilion.