Canada’s oldest operating steam locomotive off the tracks as it awaits over $150K of repairs

July 15, 2024 Canuck

The oldest operating steam locomotive in Canada is off the tracks as it waits for a new set of tubes to be installed on its boiler.

The locomotive is halted in a repair shop at the Prairie Dog Central Railway, a tourist attraction linking Winnipeg to rural Manitoba. It gets a routine inspection every 15 years, but this time around, repair costs to keep the locomotive moving have grown to estimates of $150,000 to $250,000.

“If we don’t have enough money, it’ll slow everything down,” Paul Newsome, general manager of the Vintage Locomotive Society, said.

The locomotive came off the tracks in September 2023. The train usually departs from a station just north of the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, and travels northwest to Warren, Man., with a few stops along the way.

A group of people is walking besides green train — The steam locomotive opened its doors to the public at the Prairie Dog Central Railway in the 1970s, and currently serves as a tourist attraction that has grown in popularity over the past 25 years. (Amine Ellatify/Radio-Canada)

George Kurowski, supervisor of steam maintenance at the Prairie Dog Central Railway, has since been working with high school students on the removal of 187 tubes from the train’s boiler.

He said working three days a week, four hours at a time, volunteers completed the dismantling under the direction of a contractor in April, roughly seven months after starting.

Now the remainder of the work, Kurowski said, has to be completed by a certified technician, who can install the high-pressure boiler from scratch and weld the new tubes in the locomotive.

“It is so specialized, the skill level is rare, a lot of people want to be high-pressure welders, but they just don’t have the ability to do it to the high standards that are required,” he said, adding a bulk of the money will go to pay up this “specialized labour.”

Corroding tubes line up one on top of the other. — Under the direction of a contractor, high school students removed 187 tubes from Canada’s oldest steam locomotive, as part of the overhaul process to bring the vehicle up to safety standards. (Megan Goddard/Radio-Canada)

Kurowski said the Vintage Locomotive Society board is currently reviewing estimates on the value of the overhaul, but the final cost could “easily approach a quarter of a million dollars.”

“We can defer some of that because we would very much like to get the locomotive operational,” he said. “So the question is, what is the minimum that we could spend? And that minimum is $150,000.”

Anything less than that, he said, and the repairs will risk not meeting the expectations and safety standards set by the Manitoba’s Department of Labour to operate the locomotive.

The board, Kurowski said, has so far approved the purchase of the tubes, but with repair costs mounting, the Prairie Dog Central is looking for donations through fundraising campaigns, raffles and grants. A GoFundMe campaign started in April has since raised under $3,000 in donations.

Newsome is optimistic that the needed funds will be raised in time, as long as the momentum they have built around the steam locomotive keeps going.

“If it slows down, then it’s going to affect our ability to pay the bills,” he said.

An ‘iconic piece’ in the Prairies history

The train, also known as Locomotive No.3, was pieced together more than 142 years ago by Dubs and Company in Glasgow, Scotland, Newsome said.

The rail vehicle then ran with CP until the early 1920s, helping build the original railway, before being sold to Winnipeg Hydro, and finally landing in the hands of the Prairie Dog Central Railway in the 60s.

Locomotive No.3 first began operating through the Prairie Dog Central Railway 54 years ago, on July 11, 1970 — and a day after Newsome joined the team at the heritage site.

“I was here for day two and I’ve been with it ever since,” he said. Newsome says this is the oldest operating steam locomoitve in Canada.

The locomotive runs as a tourist attraction that has grown over the past 25 years, Newsome said, as it’s beneficial for the economic development of the surrounding villages where it rides by, particularly near the Grosse Isle train station.

But when it first hit tracks, locomotives like No.3 were the only means of transportation in some parts of the country.

Freight, passenger and grain trains, Newsome said, turned into the cornerstone of farmland development in the Prairies in 19th century, when locomotives were the option available to move up and down branch lines, before roads were developed.

“The Prairies were brought, were created and developed on the basis of railways,” he said. “The train [locomotive No.3] itself represents an iconic piece of Prairie history.”

The Vintage Locomotive Society is hoping to bring the steam locomotive back onto the tracks in 2025 after the repairs and maintenance are completed.

“We’re hopeful that we can become operational by May of next year, [but] there’s a real possibility we may have to defer to a later date,” Kurwoski said.

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Canada News

Canada’s oldest operating steam locomotive off the tracks as it awaits over $150K of repairs

An ‘iconic piece’ in the Prairies history

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