The landscape outside the historic grain elevator in Sexsmith changed last Wednesday when the Sexsmith and District Museum Society added a locomotive engine and dining car next to the caboose at the train station.
Two large cranes simultaneously picked up the 246,000-pound locomotive and perfectly placed it down on the tracks. They then repeated the process with a 1929 dining car, as a crowd of over 50 watched in awe.
“I can't say thank you enough,” said Lynda Drysdale, the museum’s fundraising chairperson and lead co-ordinator of the train project.
“The people that have been involved, and I'm sorry if it makes me emotional, the companies and the people that I've worked with on this project are absolutely amazing.”
Al and Barbara Side of the Side Group donated the locomotive engine; Trophy Rail extended the railway to accommodate the new town attractions; Northern Metalic built and donated special slings to move the locomotive engine; RB Oilfield Hauling helped transport the dining car; and JDA Oilfield Hauling donated its cranes and time to move everything on to the rail next to the historic NAR Railway Station.
Though it took a community to bring everything together in Sexsmith, Drysdale was the force behind much of it.
“I thought, wouldn't it be fun to have a locomotive for our caboose,” said Drysdale.
She then began asking people around the area for ideas and where to find a locomotive.
She would talk to the Side Group, who was still using its locomotive engine at the time and not ready to part with it, so she continued with her search.
A few years later, she was told that it might be time to talk again with the Side family.
She learned there were plans to decommission and scrap the locomotive engine because one of its pistons had cracked. Cost of running the engine was becoming too costly.
“They (Side Group) said, ‘Well, we were going to scrap it,’ and I just said, ‘no, you can't do that’.
“It needs a place of honour, so they said, ‘Well, how about we give it to you?’”
Drysdale had found her locomotive.
Known as GP7 and built in 1953, it got its start at the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1987 it was sold to Merriles Ltd. in Montreal and worked out of Red Rock, Ontario, It would move to Athabasca and the Al-Pac Pulp Mill in 1996 before eventually making its way to Grande Prairie.
Dining car coming up
Drysdale then found a dining car to accompany the caboose and engine.
Actually, there were two options: a 1909 or a 1929 car.
“Sexsmith became a village in 1929, so (the latter) just seemed to fit,” said Drysdale.
It came from Footloose Caboose near Tofield and was built in 1929 in Hamilton, Ont. by the National Steel Car Company.
According to the museum's documents, the car worked as a coach car for CNR until November 1965. It was then turned into a work car.
The car was retired in 1987 and reconstruction to outfit it as a dining car again began in 1993.
Drysdale explained the logistics of moving the train cars and how some could not make it to Grande Prairie as they were being transferred by trucks and cranes.
“I've learned a lot about cranes and trains,” she said.
The dining car will be available for rental for special functions this fall, with a capacity of about 40 people. Drysdale said catering services by local Sexsmith businesses will be available.
Donations
Beyond the donations of local businesses' equipment and time, the museum society has raised $64,000 from raffles, fundraisers, a gift-in-kind from the County of Grande Prairie, and monetary donations from individuals and businesses.
The society is still looking to raise an additional $33,000 for its final payment for the dining car.
“We currently have a raffle that is done Sept. 1. We need to sell about 1,000 tickets in the next few weeks,” said Drysdale.
Tickets to the raffle can be purchased at Anderson Hall on 99th Street all days but Monday or at the Sexsmith Farmers Market (Tuesday) or by e-transfer to sexsmithmuseum@gmail.com with a note saying it for the raffle with name, address and phone number.
“If there are any businessmen or companies out there that would like to climb onboard and receive recognition and a tax receipt for their donations, they would be gladly accepted,” she said.
“We are very grateful to the community for their support and excitement about this project.”
Drysdale hopes to have an opening in the coming weeks so the public can see the new dining car.
