Roundhouse Park - Where the Locomotives Slept

A stop on Toronto Downtown Walk, a free self-guided tour.

The curved brick building in front of you was once a hotel for locomotives. The Canadian Pacific Railway built the John Street Roundhouse in 1929-1931, with 32 stalls fanned around a 120-foot turntable, the largest on the CPR. Steam engines rolled onto the turntable, were spun to face an open bay, and backed in for cleaning and repairs before their next run out of Union Station.

Railways made Toronto rich. The land south of Front Street was once a maze of tracks, yards and sheds, and this is the last big piece of that world still standing.

Today the turntable is the centrepiece of the Toronto Railway Museum, which opened in 2010 in three of the stalls. Wander among the outdoor exhibits: CN 6213, a big steam locomotive built in 1942, the little Don Station from 1896, and a signal cabin that once controlled the switches on the busy tracks nearby. Steam Whistle Brewing fills another part of the building, a fitting reuse for a place built to keep things running.

Getting here: From the base of the tower, walk a couple of minutes southeast along Bremner Boulevard into Roundhouse Park.

Did you know?: The tiny Don Station, now a ticket office for the park's miniature train, has moved twice: from Queen Street East to Todmorden Mills in 1969, and later to this park.

Photo op: Stand across the turntable from the roundhouse and frame its row of curving bay doors with the CN Tower soaring above them.

More on Wikipedia: Roundhouse Park · Canadian Pacific Railway

Roundhouse Park - Where the Locomotives Slept

Stops on this tour