DAR411585

Canadian Pacific Suburban Car No. 141 (1907-1952)

This 65 foot car was built in July 1907 by CPR's Angus shops, one of 236 in CP's fleet of wooden 100 series suburban railway cars.(1)

Dominion Atlantic Railway Crew Car No. 411585 (1952-1973)

It was converted to a work car in July 1952, renumbered 411585 and assigned to the DAR, one of three boarding cars, along with 411577 and 411588, which had been suburban coaches on the parent CPR. The cars were only slightly modified externally for work service, mainly by having some windows blanked out with plywood. In 1973 Canadian Pacific needed an old wooden passenger car to convert to an 1880s coach for the CBC Television series, The National Dream. At first, another crew car, No. 411588 was selected for the film work, however as it was entering the Windsor Railyard in a freight train bound for Truro and beyond, the end sill was pulled out, sending the car back to Kentville for scrapping. As a result Work Car No. 411585 was sent in it's place from Kentville along with No. 411577.(2)

Canadian Pacific Historic Coach No. 141 (1973-present)

At CPR's Weston Shops in Winnipeg, No. 411858 was restored, using spare parts from car No. 411577. The restored car was was given its old passenger car number. It was painted to stand in for a much older style of 1880s coaches but the car's four-wheel trucks, wooden truss rod construction and open vestibules provided a good match for the television series, pulled by a vintage CPR 0-4-0 from the New Brunswick Norton Chipman Line. After the television series, CPR ran the car in a historic train until 1980 when it was acquired by the Calgary Heritage Park in 1980s where it operates on excursions in the heritage park.(3)

Gallery

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  Midland train arrives at CPR station, Windsor in August 1959 passing crew car 411585.

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  No. 411585 at the Kentville Railyard on April 3, 1964.

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  No. 411585 at the Windsor Railyard on Sept. 12, 1964.

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  Former DAR work car No. 411585 restored as No. 141 at McAdam, N.B., July 16, 1978.

References and Footnotes

(1) John Riddell, Canadian Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Morning Sun Books, p. 5 (Includes a very good colour photograph of No. 141 in its movie paint scheme)

(2) Jim O'Donnell, posting to DAR DPI Forum Thu Feb 24, 2011

(3) Canadian Trackside Guide 2011, Bytown Railway Society, p. 3-35

External Links

Derek Boles, "Pierre Berton and CBC's The National Dream" Mar. 4, 2009, Heritage Toronto website