Canadian Railroads > United Railway Supply, Cartierville QC,1970

United Railway Supply's Cartierville QC shop was under construction in October 1970.

Outside on their spur was GE 70 tonner 91 in what appears to be QNS&L paint, and a former CP ex-NYC "View" series observation car.

URS was a locomotive rebuilder based in the Montreal suburb of Cartierville.

Believe the round-end obs was...

NYC #10562 Fall Brook sold 1959 to Canadian Pacific as Eastview sold 1969 to United Railroad Supply (Montreal).

Car later owned by Phillip Anschutz and operated out of Denver, Colorado, named Colorado.

Car was sold and moved by new owners to Kasten Railcar. The car had a small fire in the the last bedroom next to the kitchen. The car had been severely modified by previous owner Casablanca Fan Company. Illinois Transit Assembly Corporation (ITAC) had been choosen to completely gut the inside of the car by it's new owners. ITAC was also to rebuild and/or replace the trucks, do repairs to the center sill and side sills and make the car railworthy to get it to South Carolina where a "boat" interior shop was to install a new interior. Car was jacked up and the underside stripped. In doing so, a spark went thru the splash pans on the underside and sat for about 4 hours before the fire started. Fire discovered about 8:30 PM on Febuary 3rd, 2003 (3 February 2003). The Madison Fire Department was told NOT to open the doors to the shop however they did not listen. Up until that time, the fire was smoldering in the floor only.

The only damage done to the car was right around the side loading door in the hallway. The car was not "gutted" by fire. Cars that have been gutted by fire have huge ripples in the roof and are burned brown. The fire did more damage to the inside of the shop building than to the car. The owners of the car along with ITAC's insurance company wanted to know the extent of the damage so ITAC totally removed the entire interior of the car except for the the two closet-restrooms at the vestibule end of the car.

Car retained Rio Grande scheme when it was parked at Gateway Rail Services in Illinois. Car was up for sale in 2011.

(Info provided by the late Les Kasten, owner of Illinois Transit Assembly Corp. and who owned IAC and other passenger car repair facilities for some 27 years. His son Kyle owned this car, the MP 150 Speedbox and the Wingate Brook)



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/17 14:03 by cozephyr.

QNS&L had two 70-tonners used during the construction of the railway. They were numbered 91 and 92. I'm sure the 91 in your photo was ex-QNS&L because we photographed it on the docks at Montreal Harbour when it had just been unloaded from the ship that brought it from Seven Islands. It was in the gray and yellow QNS&L colours then. URS applied their own lettering to it not long after.

Ken

Fascinating! Does anyone know when they closed down?

Were they off the Doney Spur, or off the Cartierville line?

Michael

Cartierville.