It doesn't make sense to restore a precious vintage car and then leave it out in the yard, exposed to the elements.
But this is basically what is happening for many railway cars of the West Coast Railway Heritage Association collection.
There are 95 railcars in the collection at the Squamish heritage park, but only 25 are fully protected, according to the association’s Don Evans.
The organization is raising funds for a train shelter, which will be placed over the garden tracks north of the Mac Norris Station at the park.
“It costs a lot of money and takes a lot of volunteer work and everything to restore our railcars, and so this is putting protection over a good number of them,” said Evans.
The structure will be built in five sections and ultimately protect 15 rail passenger cars of the collection.
While it is essential to have these cars covered, it has taken awhile to get to this phase.
“This is a multimillion-dollar project… so we can only do so much so fast, and this is the next phase. The last phase, of course, was the building of the CN Roundhouse & Conference Centre,” Evans said.
It will take about $200,000 to complete the first section of the shed. The whole project will cost approximately $1 million, according to Evans.
The project has already received $47,000 in funding from Cultural Spaces Canada and $25,000 in a B.C. 150 grant, but more money is needed to complete the project.
“It is all about preservation. Our collection is the core of what we do,” Evans said.
Call the West Coast Heritage Railway Park at 604-898-9336 or go online to wcra.org/ to learn more about the park or to donate.
