Buying and Moving 1143 Equity

How does one buy a railway car? Here is my story. It starts with my cousin's wedding in Ottawa in 1993. After the wedding, there was an afternoon get-together on the following day which left me a free morning in Ottawa. I decided to go to the Museum of Science and Technology and discovered it was an Open House day which included walkthroughs of the Governer General's railway cars. The cars were laid out like a small home with living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms and bathroom. What a neat cottage these would make, I thought.

Driving home from Ottawa, I purposely followed Hwy 7 to see what the area looked like. Paul and I were already on the look out for property and land seemed unusually cheap in the Tweed and Madoc area. By the spring of 1994, we were making drives out to the Tweed/Madoc area to look at lots for sale and picked 8-1/2 acres on Hwy 7 on the Skootamatta River. That first summer was spent clearing a path in and exploring the lot.

During the summer of 1994, while working at Print Plus in Etobicoke, a customer came in and said he needed business cards in a hurry. His title had changed and had a big meeting the following day. I noted he was from VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre. I asked him, "I know VIA has a lot of surplus equipment, how does one buy a rail car?" He gave me the number of his boss at TMC who told me I had to call Montreal Head Office and speak to Ralph Lunn. Spoke to Ralph who asked for my fax number and a few minutes later, a fax listing all the cars for sale, location and suggested price. I reviewed the list and called Ralph back about taking a look at the cars. My first stop was TMC. Very informal, they pointed out the long rows of coupled cars stretching from Islington to almost Royal York and left me alone to explore. Their condition was shocking. Vandals had got in and just smashed whatever could be smashed. Working my way down through the cars, got to the end and found an exception, #2025 Glace Bay, a 10 roomette, 6 bedroom sleeper. It was in perfect condition and appeared to have been recently renovated with carpeted walls and a neutral colour scheme.

I contacted Ralph about Glace Bay and was informed that the body was for sale but not the trucks. Not knowing anything about truck swapping I passed on Glace Bay. (Unfortnately, the pristine and recently renovated Glace Bay was moved to Montreal, knocked off its trucks and then torn apart by an excavator with a shear attachment.) Not giving up on the railway car idea, I asked Ralph about coming to Montreal. Ralph and I met at MMC and we toured the cars. Condition was much better in Montreal and I picked #1143 Equity. It was listed at $8000 on Ralph's sheet. Ralph said just make a reasonable offer. I said $4000 and Ralph said sure.

Now what do I do with it? I asked when I had to move it and was told ASAP but not a panic. Managed to stretch that out almost two years! Eventually, VIA insisted that it be moved. By then I had made enough contacts in the hobby to know some options and had it moved to Soulange Industries in Les Cedres, Quebec, a "we store anything place" in early summer of 1996. In July, Paul and I went to Soulange and put a couple of days of work in on it (wasn't allowed to work on it at MMC) doing things like patching a roof air intake, changing out a broken window, a good vacuum and unloaded a bunch of parts and materials that we acquired for the car.

By the summer of 1996, had already found a mover who said he would do it, Murray Wilson from C&T Structural Movers in Port Elgin Ontario. I was also involved with the Halton County Radial Railway and they were wanting a sleeping car to use as a dormitory for the volunteers and helped them make a deal for 9482 of which Murray was moving too. With 9482, it came by rail from Montreal to Acton and Murray moved it to the museum site in Dec 1996. I watched the whole experience closely as my turn was coming up in February. Also by the summer of 1996, we had cleared and built the driveway, the trackbed and a path in for Equity.

Murray gave me the date he set aside for me, I had to make sure Equity was in Belleville. Then things went south. Before CN would move the car from Les Cedres, it had to have a brake inspection. The inspection came back "failed - no handbrake". I raced from Toronto to Les Cedres, calling railway equipment repair people on the way. Richard Longpre, who Ralph had introduced me too had been selling me parts needed for Equity and he kindly met me at Les Cedres. Richard climbed up in the vestibule end where a sign said in both English and French "Handbrake at other end of car", climbed down, went to the other end and cranked on the handbrake. Now I had to yip at CN about dragging me down there for nothing. The agent at CN said that a dozen freights pass Les Cedres a day and any of them can pick up Equity. Then called back and said that only the Coteau switcher picks up there and that would have to be arranged and then transferred to a Belleville freight. The result of this was Murray and his crew arrived in Belleville and Equity was still in Quebec.

Murray rescheduled for about a week later and Equity arrived in Belleville, vandalized. An end door glass panel had been smashed and many small items taken - cup dispensers, ash trays, coat hooks and other VIA material that had been left in the car. Unfortuately, likely a rail fan.

Despite being late February, it felt like spring. Equity was moved onto one of the Y tracks leading to the old Cambellford Sub. Murray used hydraulic jacks to lift the body off the trucks, rolled the trucks out of the way, put a steerable dolly under one end and the other end of Equity on his trailer. The next morning we were off up Hwy 62 as the Hwy 37 bridge was being rebuilt in Tweed. Up through Madoc, along Hwy 7 and into my neighbour's parking lot (Log Cabin Restaurant). Murray removed his trailer and put another steerable dolly in it's place and using his back hoe and a large forklift eased Equity down the path from the Log Cabin to our driveway, a 90 degree turn and over the track bed. We had not put rails down as Murray said he would prefer not having them as a obstacle. Murray left Equity sitting about 4 or 5 feet off the ground on blocks. Murray returned to Belleville and loaded the trucks and they were dragged down and left beside Equity.

Paul and I went back out about a week later and winter had returned. We sat shivering in Equity for a while sharing a bottle of champagne Paul surprised me with. When spring came, trackwork began. I had already sourced some rail, about 600 feet with joint bars, bolts, tieplates and spikes. We started laying track at the end of the trackbed about 120 feet passed where Equity was sitting. I had made a deal with CN for railway ties from a pile in Cobourg. A Friday night ritual became stopping in Cobourg, sorting through the tie pile, selecting about 7 decent ones, loading them in my truck and continuing onto Actinolite. Saturday would be unload, place and spike. At this rate it was mid summer when we reached Equity and another couple of months to lay track under Equity. And we were ballasting the track too, by shovel and wheelbarrow. By November 1997, about 230 feet of track was down, gauged, spiked, ballasted and it was time to put the trucks back under Equity. Murray was back with his back hoe and with a combination of lifting, tugging and pushing got the trucks on the track, rolled underneath, Equity lowered and the blocking removed. The plan was to roll Equity about one car length down the track and Dad wanted to ride this event. Dad showed up, found a seat he liked, Murray pushed with his backhoe and I was on the handbrake.

It was late April or early May when I first stayed overnight in Equity. In the spring of 1997, had Hydro service brought onto the property and had two runs of four 100ft extension cords running to Equity. That gave us light, coffee, a fan and a heater onboard Equity and it was quite comfortable. And we often had guests with my father and my brother becoming regulars. But something was bugging me, Equity looked lonely, railway cars usually come as a train of cars...