The Guelph Historical Railway Association is looking to raise $43,00 to purchase a 1928 first class rail car that might eventually be used as part of a local tourist excursion train.
"You're always looking for the next opportunity," said Eric Repaci, a member of the GHRA's board of directors. "We're preservationists, so when things come up, sometimes you can address it and sometimes you can't.
"This car is a great opportunity for a low-end group like ours. It could be obtained and, over time, it could be restored and used for what we want to use it for."
Repaci believes there are only three of these particular rail cars left in Canada.
"It is a bit of a gem," he said.
The GHRA would like to run a tourist train at some point in the future. They already own a fully-restored caboose and an 80-foot baggage car.
"We could, at some point in time down the road, offer a weekend excursion down the Guelph Junction line," Repaci said.
The York and Durham Region Heritage Railway group in Uxbridge runs a tourist train in summer months form Stoufville to Uxbridge. They purchased the old Guelph Junction Express train that used to run local tourist excursions before closing up shop in 2011. This 1928 Canadian Pacific coach car is one of their surplus cars.
The train would have spent its working life carrying first class passengers from coast to coast, Repaci said.
"Train travel was a luxury back in the 20s and 30s," he said.
"This was a first class riding coach, it had a separate smoking room, primitive air conditioning, the trim would have been all mahogony and teak wood. They were fancy cars, really, really fancy cars in those time periods. Lots of leg room, that's why the car is so long and big. It was a luxury trip when you went on these."
The train is in disrepair and would need a lot of restoration and mechanical work before it would ever be functional.
"They were looking for $3,000 dollars for the coach, which is not bad, even though it needs a lot of work on it. If you wanted to buy a coach like that to run as a tourist train or something like that you'd be looking at $100,000 or over," Repaci said.
While the car is only $3,000, it would cost $40,000 to get it from Uxbridge to Guelph, which is no easy feet for a car that is 85 feet long and weighs 8 tonnes.
The rail car couldn't be moved by rail because it has outdated friction bearings on the wheels of the trucks that aren't used on main lines anymore.
"We can't move it by rail so we would have to move it by truck, which is a whole procedure," Repaci said.
The body of the coach car is steel but the roof is wood and would all have to be replaced. The inside would all be stripped down and refurbished.
Time is of the essence as the seller wants to make room in their storage yard as soon as possible.
"We're scrambling because we're trying to get something together at a very fast pace," Repaci said. "If we do succeed in raising the money, we could have the car moved to Guelph in June or July."
Anyone seeking to donate or get more information can contact the GHRA through its Facebook page.
