11 January 2010

Spirit of John A:  Meanwhile the Rusty Locomotive that bears the Name of our First Prime Minister is Getting a Facelift

Ex-Canadian Pacific Railway number 1095 is a 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler class D10.

Kingston Ontario - Work began today to find a new home for the "Spirit of Sir John A."
 
The locomotive has been a fixture of Confederation Park since 1967, right behind the tourist office.
 
But the Kingston-built engine is decaying.
 
Crews were down at the park today to do some test drilling and other work, and will study moving engine 1095 to a new foundation that's about 8 metres away from its present location.
 
The engine itself is also slated for restoration work.
 
The locomotive is one of the most photographed landmarks in the city.
 
Gordon Robinson said, " The foundation that's currently under the locomotive, it's old, some of the railway ties have deteriorated and we want to stabilize it. So we felt that, historically, this was of course the old station and the train yard and there's a number of tracks. All we're doing is moving it down one track to where another line would have come through and then stabilizing it on that".