The Niagara Railway Museum Inc. successfully moved Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo Railway Carpenters Boarding car X-759 to the Museum site in Fort Erie today. We had great weather for the move, and despite a couple of minor hiccups in the morning, it all went well and the car is now spending its first night inside in decades. The car was built as an outside braced wood boxcar in 1913, renumbered in 1941, and converted to MOW service in 1947. It was saved from the scrapper in 1979 and has resided at a farm outside Niagara Falls since then. For being outside for so many years with very little done, it is in fairly decent condition. There are some floor and wall boards to replace, and it needs a new ceiling and insulating board on the inside. The plan is to clean it up for visitors, and we will also be displaying some of the other items donated by the family. Really pleased with how the day went, and nice to add this car to the Museum collection.

I know we can't save them all, but it's great we we can achieve that one victory.

Congratulations on saving this car and getting it placed indoors.
As I always say, "If it ain't wood, it ain't good!" Keep up the good work and be safe.
John B. Corns

Ken -

Congrats on getting TH&B X759 moved to the museum. A really nice save!


Les

Nice job! It was lucky to have retained the trucks and other hardware.

I’m certainly glad they kept the trucks, but I’m wondering why? It would have made moving it to the farm harder and more expensive. It also makes access harder. They have a reason to keep it off the ground or something?

First, I gather a "boarding car" is what we South of the Border would call a camp car.

Second, with the trucks the car is well above the ground. It makes a foundation unnecessary and discourages rodents and other wildlife from inhabiting the car. It allows air to circulate and keeps the wood dry.

And possibly, being on wheels, it might not be considered a "building" by local authorities.

Phil Mulligan

Thanks for the comments guys. It was a good day, and having this car join our collection is great.

The owner and savior of the car had plans to convert it to a pool house. At the time it was moved, 40yrs ago, there were very different bylaws than are in place now. He wa also out in the country. He was a railfan of sorts, he liked trains. He had quite a few items, including some ex-NYC motorcars, and a CN handcar. We have all of that, plus the entire set of engineering plans for the TH&B Welland Yard. His brother was also able to remove the 2 builders plates from the TH&B Jordan spreader that was being scrapped at the same time. They will be cleaned up and displayed inside the car.
The boarding car, up here (but apparently not everywhere) is what the gangs and such would use. This one is divided into 3 sections. One end was the kitchen area, middle was the living quarters, other end had 4 fold down bunks. We don't have any interior shots of the car, but think there was likely a small table in the kitchen area, and maybe a couple of chairs or something in the middle. The plan right now is to open the windows back up, install what windows we have, and get new ones made from the pieces that are there. Both side doors need a fair amount of work, but that's not a big deal. I'll have some better interior pics when i'm out there on Saturday.