Caption: British Steam meets Canadian Handyman-ship

From a North American perspective, the ol' British buffer-and-chain coupling system seems a bit ancient, but it probably gets the job done just as well. Volunteers at the Toronto Railway Historical Association hook up their 50-ton CLC-Whitcomb switcher to "Vicky", a 1893 London & South Western Railway steam engine numbered 563. A museum piece shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, it is shown on loan from the Shildon Locomotion Museum in England for a local production of The Railway Children at Roundhouse Park in Toronto.

Used as a switcher (or "shunter" in British terms), the standard North American knuckle coupler and uncoupling levers have been removed off the CLC-W and roped blocks installed to act as buffers for moving Vicky. Once the crew hooks up the coupling link in between, they'll pull the British steamer off of the "tent track", spin it on the turntable, and store it inside the former CPR John Street Roundhouse. A real "Red Green" solution, but when in Canada...