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Virtual BRS Program Nights

For the foreseeable future, the in-person Tuesday evening monthly meetings remain cancelled.

Virtual presentations will be announced as they become available. Please visit our Meetings/Events page for an up-to-date listing of upcoming events.

If you are not already receiving notification of our regular on-line meetings and wish to participate, please forward your email address to us using our Contact Us form

NOW SHIPPING - "OS Don" Recollections of a CPR Telegrapher and Train-Order Operator

Picture of OS Don Book Cover NOW SHIPPING!

“OS Don” is the story of author John F. Mellow’s early years working for the Canadian Pacific Railway in southern Ontario, giving readers a 1960s front row seat as the Canadian railway industry transitioned from traditional Morse-code telegraphy and train-orders to the present age of computer-assisted operations.

Mellow’s career as a train-order operator began at Toronto’s Don station in 1963. Before recalling his own experiences there and elsewhere on the CPR, he presents the history of Don station and its role in the operations of steam and diesel era CPR and CNR trains through Toronto’s scenic Don Valley.

A hardcover book measuring 8-1/2” x 11”, it has 128 pages with more than 160 colour and black and white photographs, as well as maps, steam locomotive assignments and a glossary.

A publication of The Bytown Railway Society.

Click Here to Purchase your Copy

ACCEPTING ORDERS! Canadian Trackside Guide® 2021 - Shipping Mid-March

Completely redesigned!

All the superb content you expect in an attractive new format – larger text, easier to read and to find the information you want, new map drawings.

The 2021 edition of the Canadian Trackside Guide® is the Bytown Railway Society’s 39th edition – contains 760 updated and expanded 5½” x 8½” pages current to Feb. 1, 2021.

The only comprehensive guide to Canadian Railways

Locomotives of CN, CPR, VIA, plus Regionals and Industrials
Preserved equipment
Passenger cars
Urban rail transit

Cabooses
Non-revenue equipment
Radio frequencies
Passenger train schedules
Freight train numbers
Railway reporting marks

Detailed divisional maps and subdivision listings for all Canadian railways and their U.S. components, including station names, mileposts, detectors, siding lengths, locations of cross-overs, wyes and more
Maps of major cities detailing rail lines

Click here to visit our Canadian Trackside Guide page to pre-order your copy.

Annual General Meeting 2021

Typically the first Tuesday in January of the new year the Bytown Railway Society hosts an Annual General Meeting (AGM).

However, 2020 has not been a 'typical' year. The board has made the decision to temporarily postpone and reschedule the AGM later in 2021 so they can use the extra time to research hosting an AGM which includes proper proceeding (like voting as one example) while following COVID-19 Pandemic protocols.

Publications for Sale

April 2018 - All our publications have reduced prices

We are drastically reducing our prices due to the imminent loss of our storage facility, and as such we desperately need to remove our remaining stock.

The current publication listing is available at the link below.