DAR coaches used in CBC's National Dream

[Dan Conlin]

Does anyone know the fate of the DAR coach used to film the National Dream series on CBC television in the 1970s? Apparently two DAR boarding cars, ex 100 series wooden coaches, were combined to form a 19th century looking coach, lettered CPR 141.
Nice bit of info about it on this Toronto website:
http://www.heritagetoronto.org/node/2646

Anyone know what cars there were and where "141" ended up?

Dan Conlin

[mountainrail]

The DAR had 3 boarding cars which had been suburban coaches on the parent CPR:

411577
411585
411588

411588 was selected for restoration for the film, however as it was entering the Windsor yard in a freight train, for shipment to Truro and beyond, the end sill was pulled out, resulting in the car being sent back to Kentville for scrapping. I photographed it in the Kentville scrapyard partially demolished, on April 1, 1972.

The 411585 was in the yard at Kentville on this day also - no sign of 411577.

411577 was sent in it's place, as well as 411585. Apparently the 411585 was restored, and the 411577 was used for spare parts. The cars were only moderately modified externally for work service, mainly by having some windows blanked out with plywood, so were pretty much as built, from the outside.

The finished car, #141, was used for a time in the CPR historic train, and was donated to the Calgary Heritage Park in 1980. I'm not sure if is still there or not.

Jim O'Donnell

[Dan Conlin]

Thanks for the answer Jim, complete with all the details! My 2006 Canadian Trackside Guide still lists 141/411858 at the Calgary Heritage Park. Now when I watch the National Dream I'll know there is a little bit of the DAR there. Do you know if the coach ran on the DAR in passenger service or was it sent to Kentville already converted to a work car?

Dan Conlin

[Dan Conlin]

I whipped up a page for this car and its interesting history - http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=DAR411585
Jim, you don't by chance have any pictures of it that you could upload?

Dan Conlin

[mountainrail]

These cars came to the DAR as work cars. I have several photos of each car, in color & B&W, which I will try to get posted soon.

Jim O'Donnell

[Dan Conlin]

Great pictures Jim. I uploaded them last night and created appropriate pages. I like the seasonal touches - the falling snow in http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I ... 281%29.JPG, the wildflowers in http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I ... 282%29.JPG and the great TV antenna on the crew car for http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=DAR411577.

Thanks for being there with your camera to capture these old timers in 1964 and for sharing your images!

Dan