MORRISBURG – It is difficult not to use a railroad cliche of building steam or being on track when the topic is the restoration of a historic railroad display. Volunteers with the Friends of Grand Trunk 1008 began their physical restoration efforts for the display at Aultsville Station in Crysler Park last weekend (June 10-11).
A group of about 10 volunteers worked to prepare the baggage car for new paint on the siding, and worked on general clean up of the display site.
“After so many starts and stops (with the pandemic) it felt amazing for our group to launch our on-site work for this season,” said FGTR1008 president Kirsten Gardner. “It was wonderful to get such positive feedback from folks that saw us working and stopped by to say thank you and to learn more about our project.”
Formed in 2019 when the St. Lawrence Parks Commission looked to remove the exhibit from its Aultsville Station location, the group was awarded ownership of the train and has worked since then to assess and prepare for the cosmetic restoration of the 113 year old locomotive, baggage car and passenger car. The equipment has been on the site since it was placed there during the St. Lawrence Seaway construction.
“We have an exciting year ahead – the roofs on both the baggage car and passenger car will be replaced,” Gardner explained. Work will begin on areas of the exterior sheathing of the passenger car, which will then be painted.
“We are also happy to have a volunteer welder that will be working on stabilizing the engine and we are hoping to have time for it to get a fresh coat of paint,” she said adding this is a multi-year project.
Since the transfer of ownership of the display to the FGTR1008 group, Gardner said the partnership with the SLPC has been very supportive of their efforts.
“It has been very collaborative and the SLPC has been very supportive of our efforts.”
Work will continue through out the summer and fall on various weekends. Future plans include partnering with the construction technology programs at area secondary schools to do some of the restoration work, along with tapping into the talents of many volunteers in the community.
“We couldn’t do this project without our volunteers,” Gardner said.
Information on the group, their efforts, donation and volunteer contacts are available on their website at friendsof1008.ca
