Does anyone have a listing (or personal knowledge useful in creating one) of remaining Canadian National heavyweight commuter cars in use or storage? Attached is a photo of such a car beautifully restored by the RR Museum of NE.

I am pretty sure the South Carolina Railroad Museum in Winnsboro, SC has a few in their possession.

I believe Jerry Jacobson has a few (if not, at least 1 for sure) at his Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio.

At the Black River & Western there are two Canadian Heavyweights in service. As a trainman, I have a mixed opinion about them because of there narrow steps. I believe they were originally sleeper cars before they were used in commuter service but I am not certain, I would love to learn more about them and how they were used over the years.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1290112

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=562845

There is also another one used at the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=923768

Ahhhhh..... we have a bit of experience with these things.

The pictured 4992 now has a rubber roof, which was the subject of some postings here a few months ago--- search for "EPDM roof" and it should come up.

4990 is now in the shop, getting a quick paint job and some roof attention.

The "4900" number series was commonly used for Montreal commuter service. Some cars retained their original long-distance coach numbers in that service. Most of the cars in Montreal commuter service were originally coaches. Some had large "smoking rooms" at one end (16 seats in there), many were air conditioned with ice in the late 1930s. There were a few cars in the 4900 series that started life as "colonist" sleepers (130 of these orginally built in 1919, CNR 2750 to 2879) and were converted to coaches. 4959 to 4974 became first class coaches, then went into commuter service with no number change.

There are two excellent books about CNR passenger cars published by Bytown Railway Society, and they have detailed rosters showing renumbersing, orginal configurations, etc.

For example, our 4990 was originally 5114, 4992 was 5089, our 4980 was 5072. These were always coaches, not colonist cars.

They are good cars and ride very well; removing the "school bus windows" was important as that opened up an area that trapped water on the window sills and window posts. Roller bearings and "E" couplers are a plus, in my opinion.

Howard P.

All the ex-CN cars at RMNE weren't sleepers.

4992, the one in the pic, was just released from the shop after over a year of work. It had a rubber membrane roof installed with repairs to the underlining wood roof structure done also.

RMNE cars: 4952, 4980, 4990, 4992, 5046, 5805, 6606, 6608

4980, 4990, 4992, and 5046 are the active fleet currently.



4977 I heard was restored and is part of a museum collection in Canada. 4981 was on Ozark Mountain a few years ago but I heard it was rough. Not sure of it's status today. 5803 is preserved up in Canada too.

[EDIT]
Howard posted the same time as me! Oh well, he gave the original car numbers that I have on a list somewhere [EDIT]

NH&I 4907, if that was the number it carried in Montreal, was originally CNR 2877, one of the 1919 colonist cars. It had 14 sections, 8 sections smoking and a kitchen (for the colonists to prepare meals).

The BR&W cars are 1927 to 1929 National Steel Car products, 66 seats/14 seat smoking room cars. Are the full CN numbers known?

Howard P.

In service images:



Winnipeg, 1948. Note the ice bunkers on the left side underbody.



The 1954 paint scheme. Steps and battery box covers are "Canadian Flyer" style on this car, ice bunkers on the right.

Howard P.

More CNR coach stuff---

CNR 5046 interior:


New window sash, refinished trimwork. This car is scheduled in for work this winter and spring 2013--- new EPDM roof, vestibule and other repairs, exterior repaint, and baggage racks reinstalled.

Howard P.

Just imagine for a moment, the idea that you have such a flow of immigration that you construct a series of sleeper cars, as late as 1919, just to serve these customers.

That in itself is an interesting point that should not be forgotten in the historical interpretation.

In Prairie Canada, in the Teens, CNR and CPR were still building branchlines and opening up the country for those immigrants.

Howard P.

the advantage of these cars for most tourist railroads is the capacity...

If I remember correctly, they seat 90...similar to the SP Subs, which is more than a standard 72 passenger coach of the US's East Coast Breed of heavyweights.

NH&I acquired theirs from the BR&W in exchange for work done..

That is a nicely redone interior, btw. Will look great with the racks re-installed!

RMNE's cars are set up for 80 seats. When in commuter service, most of the cars had "conventional" seats in the middle of the car, for 32 people (16 seats). The balance of seating was side-wall benches with lots of standee poles. Commuter capacity was about 120!!! Almost all the cars had toilet rooms removed for extra seating/standing room.

The seats shown in our cars are mostly B&M RDC seats installed in the mid-1990s after the cars left Montreal.

We generally figure the capacity as 70 passengers; there have been times, such as DOWT, when we fit 80 in the cars (or maybe a few more).

Howard P.

The commuter seats were something else! These were not comfortable cars as configured for commuter service. Add into the equation that they were "charged" with steam leaving Montreal but had no steam supply enroute, they were hellish hot leaving the city in the winter and freezing by the time you got to the outer stations.

A hot sweaty commuter in Montreal would be a popsicle by the end of a long ride.

Rob

I believe the Jackson and Cherokee at the GSMR are both ex CN commuter cars. The Jackson was still in its 50's art deco renovation look. We "restored" the Cherokee about 5 years ago. While the car was apart we could see what was left of the end sitting room and lavatories. We saved as much of the old wood as possible, but replaced the rest with new mahogany, cherry, and walnut. Buddy Hooper did much of the wood work, as well as the walnut doors and windows that were on the 1702 the last season it ran. We put new electric fans and propane heaters in the ends, but the car looked much better than the cheap art deco and concession area that was in there before. I wish I had taken a couple pictures of both cars before I left. Perhaps someone has some recent pictures?

Ryan