Built in 1911 by the BCER it became the private car of the Governor General of Canada, The Duke of Connaught, one of the sons of Queen Victoria. he visited Vancouver in 1912. As a result it is called the Connaught car. In 1945 it caught fire and was gutted. But, the BCER rebuilt it and it went back into service. It, some say, has the unofficial title of being the last wooden interurban built in North America. Sold in 1955 it went to the USA and returned home in 2009. Rehabilitation is well on its way body wise.

When my wife and I visited BC in 2009, 1304 had just recently arrived at the old FVRHS facility. When we were checking out the car, I commented to our host that where we come from (Southern California), if you refer the "The Duke", people think you're talking about John Wayne. And he said, "You got that right, Pilgrim". On a more serious note, what is the electrical/mechanical condition of "The Duke"?

We know there is a resistor problem when we got 1304 back. But until we get the trucks apart we do not know about the mechanical condition. Right now things are "full steam ahead" if I may borrow a nautical term, for our start up of operations in June. As such the full focus is on that.
We are getting compliments on just how well 1225 is running for our experienced operators. We had an ex-BCER motorman who was, at times, assigned to 1225 after leaving the RCAF at the end WWII. He is 90 years young and was thrilled to run 'er, again, up the tracks

Thanks for the update--especially the heart-warming story of the BCERy motorman getting a chance to run 1225 on home rails in the 21st Century. There were a few OERM members who were sad to see 1225 leave the property, but if they could see it now, there would probably be no doubt that this was the right move.