The train at milepost 103.8 of the Cranbrook subdivision - 4 Jun 2012 Kevin Dunk.

14 June 2012

The Golden Age of Rail Travel

Cranbrook British Columbia - This 11-car train, under the power of a Canadian Pacific locomotive, toured through the region. Each vintage car was privately owned, and had been restored, by members of the American Association of Private Rail Care Owners (AAPRCO).
 
AAPRCO consists of 500 members who acquire vintage rail cars, usually at the end of their tenures, and restore them and keep them mechanically fit. Every year they try to go on a trip somewhere around the continent.
 
Michael Margrave, of Scottsdale, Arizona, was one of the 12 AAPRCO members on this particular voyage. He was kind enough to offer a tour of the train and his own car.
 
The cars made their various ways to Spokane, where they were all hooked up into one train, with more than 80 passengers on board. Union Pacific then hauled the train up to the Canadian border, where Canadian Pacific took over. The AAPRCO train, in fact, was the first train to cross the border with the ending of the CPR workers strike.
 
Margrave said four rail companies in all were responsible for bringing the travelers and their cars together:  Union Pacific, Amtrak, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), and Canadian Pacific.
 
Margrave spoke highly and gratefully of the assistance Canadian Pacific offered the group, and mentioned Don Heron, CP's National Rail Passenger Director, who facilitated the trip into Canada.
 
The cars making up the train cover the entire 20th century history of North American rail travel. The oldest car is over 100-years-old. Many cars feature the classic observation dome. A generator car was hooked on behind the CPR unit to provide power for everyone. There were Canadian cars in the train, a vintage Canadian National passenger car in black and olive colours, and an old Canadian Pacific horse car, which had been used to transport the horses of the RCMP's Musical Ride. This latter had been converted into a luxurious open-plan lounge.
 
Margrave's train, "Promontory Point", is a Central Pacific (now part of Union Pacific) car built in 1953. Originally a sleeping car, it was converted to a business car format in 1974. Margrave acquired it in 1997, as Union Pacific was selling off elements of its surplus fleet.
 
Margrave's car had some interesting history. In 1976, Jimmy Carter had rented it as an office for his presidential campaign train. A photo of Jimmy Carter sitting at a desk in the car is mounted on the wall beside the very same desk. Margrave added that Frank Sinatra had rented the car to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago for a New Year's Eve concert.
 
The owners of the cars have certainly renovated and modernized where needed, most of them include kitchens and shower facilities, but the historical integrity remains intact. DeWitt Chappelle's car, for example, was built in 1922 for Marjorie Merriweather Post (a renowned American socialite of the era, and the founder of General Foods, eventually becoming the richest woman in the U.S.) and her husband, financier E.P Hutton. Chappelle led a tour through his car, and the art deco interior transported one straight back to the jazz age. Post's and Hutton's bedrooms on board, connected by a narrow door, were still in their original state, with sumptious woodwork and fittings bespoke of an earlier era of wealth and luxury.
 
The AARPCO train crossed the border at Kingsgate at the beginning of June, and made its way to Nelson. It returned to Cranbrook on 3 Jun 2012, where a gala reception for the travelers was held at the Royal Alexandra Hall. It was scheduled to set out for Lethbridge the next day, then to cross the border into Montana, thence back to Spokane, an eight day voyage in all.
 
Margrave said that the two previous occasions he had traveled through, 1992 and 1997, "there was nothing here." Now, however, the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel and the Royal Alexandra makes Cranbrook a very appropriate destination for rail travel enthusiasts.
 
Barry Coulter.

The 1920s-era suite of Majorie Merriweather Post in her private rail car, now owned by DeWitt Chapple.