Canadian Rail_no525_2008 - Le musée ferroviaire canadien

JULY - AUGUST 2008
133
CANADIAN RAIL • 525
He skipped one of the committee meetings and walked
across the street and down to CPR's John Street
Roundhouse and yards to see what was up.
Of particular interest was a wooden business car,
complete with open platforms at either end of the car,
numbered 38. With memories fresh from the CRHA's
loss of car 37, Leonard sought out the yardmaster. He
waS granted permission to visit the car and , he inspected
and photographed both its exterior and interior. The
yardmaster told him that the car was scheduled to be sent
to Angus shops in Montreal for scrapping with other
wooden equipment. ,
Leonard returned to the Royal York Hotel and
immediately telephoned long time CRHA member and
Director the late Omer Lavallee, who worked in the
CPR's paymasters department in Montreal. . Omer
immediately recognized car ' 38 as , being the
Saskatchewan, Sir William Van Horne's private car. He
told Leonard that he would request that the scrapping
order be rescinded immediately. ~The car was.set aside ,
' and donated to the CRHA with the same condition that it
rriust be removed from CPRpropertyforthwith.
By good fortune,~eonard had a contact at Jhe ,
Dominion Bridge CompanyiD Lachine -JvIs. May Parr,
the private secretary to-the President,· Mr ~ Taylor-Bailey.
, When he explained the situation and the need to find a
1 temporary storage site for the car foraJew years, Ms. Parr
told Leonard to write a letter to the President and she
would put on top of his mail pile. ' This was done and a
favourable response wapeceived back from Mr. Taylor-
Bailey! . , _
, '. ' the car was, soon delivered and placed within
sight of DomiriionBridge's head office building where
. Ms. Pim kept an eye on it from her office window. There
the car was cleaned and maintained by CRHA members.
On one occasion, itwas the venue for alea for members of
the Lachine Historical SoCiety. The Gar resided at
Dominion Bridge ul1tiHt could be movedalid put under
cover at the Canadian Railway MUseUl:n circa 1963.
. This is but one example of how a significant
Canadian railway artifact was saved, partially by sheer
luck, dogged determination by a small group ofCRHA
members, and the kind co-operation of a sympathetic
corporate executive,
It must be recognized that railway preservation
in the 1950's was not in vogue. Scrap lines were
everywhere - if it was wood, it got burned; if it was steel, it
got cut up. CNR's Turcot yards, CPR's Angus Shops,
MTC's Youville Shops, were all beehives of scrapping
activity. 'Why would you want to spare this piece of junk'
was the cry of the day!
Fortunately the CRHA had friends on the inside
- the late Richard Binns at the MTC, Orner Lavallee at
CPR and the late Norman Lowe at CNR All three, who
were noted railway historians in their own right,
Leonard Seton on the
back ' platform after
inspecting ' the ,' car.
Leonard Seton.
Leonard Seton photographie surla plate-forme GlTiere de la
voiture Saskatchewan, suite a l'inspection de la celebre
. voiture. (Leonard Seton)
sorte qu'on la retire immediatement de 'la liste de celles
, vouees3 la ferraflle. Levehiculefut aussit6t mis de cote
et donne 3 I'ACHF a]a condition qu'il soit retire de la
propriete du CPR rapidentent. '
. ", ' Par chance, Leonard connaissait ,des gens ,
influents a la cbmpagnieDominion Bildge. II
communiqua avec· Mile Parr, secreta ire privee dil
president TaylorBailey, et lui expliqua Ie probleme : la <
recherched'un endroit temporaire pourgarer la voiture
38 pendant quelques annees.Mlle Parr proposa a
Leonardd'ecrire une lettre3 M.Bailey. Puis die pla~a · -·
' celle-ci sur Ie dessus de la pile de courrier de son patron,
: quiy repondit tout de suitefavorablement. '
, La voiture fut aussitot Iivree et installee gevant
I'edlfice du siegesocial de la DominionBridge, a Lachine
- Mile Parr s'offritpour la survejller de Iq. fenetre de son
bureau!. Ellefut nettoyee.etentretenue par des membres
de l'ACHF, et servitcomme salon de ·the pour·la Societe '
historique de Lachine. Elle demeura ,3 laDomiriion
Bridge jusqu'a son installation ao Musee ferroviaire
canadien vers 1963.
Voila qui illustre bi.encomment un , artefact
important du chemin de ' fer canadien a pu etre
sauvegarde avec un peu de chance, mais sui:toutgrace 3 la
determination d'un petit groupe de membres,de l'ACHF
et 3 I'aimable collaboratiol1 d'ul1 directeurd'entreprise.
II faut reconnaltre que la preservation
ferroviaire en 1950 n'etait pas populaire. On demantelait
de tous cotes; si c'etait du bois, on Ie brOlait, et si c'etait du
metal, on Ie decoupait. La cour Turcot du CNR, les
ateliers Angus du CPR, les ateliers Youville de la CTM,
partout on s'activait 3 demolir. « Pourquoi vouloir
recuperer cette piece de ferraille? », entendait-on
toujours.
Heureusement que I' ACHF avait des am is bien
places, les regrettes Richard Binns 3 la CTM, Orner
Lavallee au CPR et Norman Lowe au CNR. Tous trois