Through the Window of a Train: Online Lecture

Through the Window of a Train: Hilarious, Hazardous, and Historical Memories from the Steam Era

Join us for our next online lecture, “Through the Window of a Train”, on October 20!

Join us on Wednesday October 20 (8 pm EST/ 7 pm CST) for the next online lecture in our 2021 online series. If you’ve ever been curious about the lives of people on board a moving train, or wanted to take a nostalgic trip back to the steam era, then you won’t want to miss this presentation!

Relive hilarious, hazardous, historical, and romantic moments as Barbara Lange reads a selection of short stories from Through the Window of a Train: A Canadian Railway Anthology (Borealis Press). Get a glimpse into the lives of railway workers, railway families, and train travelers from the bygone steam era when railways reigned supreme. 

Following the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to speak with the presenter and Toronto Railway Museum historians in a live Q&A session. 

Tickets

Tickets are $15 (+HST and fees). Attendees will get access to our exclusive Zoom meeting room, where they can engage directly with the presenter and museum historians in our post-lecture Q&A. Ticket holders will also receive 1 adult ticket to the Toronto Railway Museum (valid until 12/31/2022) and have a chance to win one of several prizes. Stay tuned for details.

About Barbara Lange

Barbara Lange grew up in a railway family in England. Her father worked for British Railways. Train trips meant visits to relatives or friends, discovering new destinations, travelling to school, or a way to reach her office job in London. Most treasured memories were annual family holidays by train to England’s beaches. 

After immigration to Canada, her curiosity about life surrounding Canada’s railways piqued, especially when she landed in Toronto in 1978 and stepped on board VIA’s flagship train The Canadian to complete her journey to Winnipeg. Train travel does not feature in daily life for most Winnipeggers as distances are too great. To help fill the void that she felt, Barbara became a member of the Winnipeg Railway Museum and loved to breathe in that familiar “railway” smell. She also enjoyed riding The Vintage Locomotive Society’s historic tourist train The Prairie Dog Central.

But the idea of collecting railway memories was never far from her mind. She interviewed people whenever she and husband, Larry Lange, a CN carman from the Transcona Repair and Maintenance Shops, travelled across Canada by train. In collaboration with 30 other writers, Through the Window of a Train: A Canadian Railway Anthology (Borealis Press) was published. Soon after its release in 2010 VIA Rail Canada included it in their souvenir selection, thus realizing Barbara’s dream for the book as a travel companion.

In 2019, CN celebrated CN100, its 100th anniversary, and published “100 Years of Building a Legacy Together” featuring memories, photographs, drawings, and historical material from a wide selection of sources. Several quotes from “Through the Window of a Train: A Canadian Railway Anthology” and Barbara’s second book “Memories of the Moonlight Special and Grand Beach Train Era” are included.

Another exciting CN100 event was CN’s Moving Celebration tour, a large-scale “showstopper” train which stopped in Quebec City, Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Regina in 2019, and New Orleans, Memphis, Chicago, Ottawa, Moncton, Toronto and Montreal in 2020. Barbara was thrilled to discover both her books in the “book box container” display. 

About the Toronto Railway Museum

The Toronto Railway Museum (TRM) brings people together by telling stories of Toronto’s railway heritage. The Museum is located in the heart of downtown Toronto and is typically open year-round. TRM presents exhibits, tours, educational programs and publications that broaden the understanding and appreciation of Toronto’s rich railway history. TRM is committed to telling the stories of the railways, and welcoming conversations of its varied experiences through its lecture series, exhibits and integrated programming with a mission to learn from the past to make the future better.