Canadian Railroads > ex CPR business car "Alberta" rebuild is complete!

The WCRA is pleased to announce the Official Dedication of the ex CPR business car 'Alberta' to be held in our new Roundhouse Conference Centre on Tuesday, Jan. 11th at 11:00 hours at our Railway Heritage Park in Squamish, B.C. Everyone is invited.

The Alberta was built in 1929 as one of a fleet of ten 'superintendent' cars and was used across the country by Canadian Pacific until the late 1960's before being retired from active service. It became the centrepiece of a small Gastown restaurant in the 1970's but after going out of business, reverted to CP Rail's Marathon Realty subsidiary and was eventually donated to the WCRA. It was shipped to our Heritage Park and after a number of years, a generous donor allowed us to completely rebuild the car. The original bedrooms were removed when it became a restaurant, so the configuration is now lounge, dining/board room and galley. The Alberta has been rebuilt to Transport Canada operating standards and will be available for future charters etc.

Attached are two photos: one while still in service with CP Rail and the second taken yesterday just after it was moved into our new Roundhouse/Conference Centre.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/11 09:24 by spdaylight.

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pretty

Very nice. I remember seeing it when it was in Gastown.

The car looks great. As for future charters and excursions, has the museum ever talked to CN about running trips north of Squamish?

Loleta Fernbridge

Looks really great. Nice to see these "old" cars completely restored in private hands (or by museums) after the original operator has long given up on operating them.

Wow, great job guys!

Ryan

Thanks for the compliments. Forgot to add that the gold leaf lettering will be applied in the next couple of days . . .

Craig

Beautiful job!

Looks like you have extended the rear room - three side windows where the older photo has only two - is this an 'enhancement' or restoration of an earlier arrangement?

- Paul

Don't you guys have a car up there that was originally owned by the original Norfolk Southern?

Craig, How about some interior photos! :)

CP had briefly leased the former NS "Lambert's Point". It has since been returned to it's owner and was listed for sale a couple months ago.

crs1026 Wrote:
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>
>
> Looks like you have extended the rear room - three
> side windows where the older photo has only two -
> is this an 'enhancement' or restoration of an
> earlier arrangement?
>

Paul

The restaurant actually carved out a doorway to attached the car to the main building of the restaurant so we had to weld back in a panel and did a window re-arrangement to make the lounge area bigger and since the bedrooms and porter room were removed by the restaurant back in the 70's, we decided to make the car more amenable for future use as potential corporate charters.

Craig

SpeederDriver Wrote:
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> Don't you guys have a car up there that was
> originally owned by the original Norfolk Southern?

We now have the Northern Summit which used to be the business car for the PGE back in the 60's and 70's. It was briefly renamed the Peace River and painted in CPR maroon colours when it was part the B.C. Government Museum train back in the 70's. I will try and 'track' down who the PGE bought it from.

Craig

rwullich Wrote:
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> Craig, How about some interior photos! :)
>
Will post some photos tomorrow . . . i shot some video of the interior so will grab some stills from it . . . or actually on second thought, I'll just post the video.

Craig

Here is an image of Car 12 when it was the Division Superintendant's car in 1975 at Revelstoke BC. It is shown on the tail end of a dimensional load train delivering turbine wheels for the nearby hydro electric dam on the Columbia River.

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Excellent work!

Neil Compton
Calgary, AB

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Here is an image of Car 12 when it was the
> Division Superintendant's car in 1975 at
> Revelstoke BC.

There is an interesting sidebar to Phil's photo of Car #12 (not the Alberta which was Car #8).

Back in the 70's, CP decided to sell both Car #12 and also the Super's car located in Nelson (which is now part of the Cranbrook Rail Museum's excellent collection). CP asked for bids on both cars, and my wife and i traveled to both Nelson and Revelstoke to inspect the two cars. The Nelson car was older and friction bearing equipped whereas the Revelstoke car was modernized with roller bearing trucks and also enclosed clerestory roof (the original roof was still intact underneath).

I had heard through the grapevine that they would sell the car in Revelstoke and use that sale price to determine the donation value of the car in Nelson to the Cranbrook museum (a common practice with donations at the time). I put a bid of $50k on the car in Revelstoke and was informed verbally a few weeks later that I was the successful bidder. Then before I received an invoice, I was informed in writing that the bidding process was to be re-opened(!) with no real reason given. I refused to participate in the second bidding process and was later called by a Mr. Williams to request I submit a second bid. I refused as I felt the process was flawed and the car went to a gentleman in Alberta.

Many of these distinctive short CP business cars were saved in one condition or another.

Car 19, British Columbia, Cranbrook, Canadian Museum of Rail Travel BC.

Car 9, New Brunswick , Three Valley Gap Ghost Town, BC

Car 8, Alberta, Squamish

Car 12, ? , private collection, De Winton AB.

Car 10, Ontario, owned by Tom Payne, stored on APR, Warden AB.

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Car 9 was acquired by an individual near Revelstoke in the 1970's who wanted to convert it into a "Wild West Gambling Car" for himself and his friends. When his friends weren't interested, he trashed the interior with a chain saw, and used a bulldozer to push it into the woods near his property. After the individual passed on, the nearby Three Valley Gap Ghost Town picked it up in an estate sale. Although the shell of the car is intact, not a shred on the interior remains.

At least two examples of wooden CP superintendants cars are preserved, one at Portage La Prairie MAN., and another at Ottawa ON.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/11 13:57 by eminence_grise.

You guys in Squamish certainly have some wonderful facilities for a Museum there. It certainly equates with the quality of the Museums here in Australia; specifically Thirlmere (south of Sydney) and the Port Dock Museum at Port Adelaide. The one here in Melbourne (Newport) is a rusting yard unfortunately. Like your West Coast Museum, these are funded by state (provincial) funding. The states of New South Wales and South Australia have really put up some big construction money and there are two fine Museums as a result.

I will be sure and visit when I am next in Squamish.

Rick