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BCER 1225 Rehabilitation

2005

Built in 1912, delivered to BCER 1913, removed from service 1958. Sent South and then returned to Canada in 2005. This is a collection of images of rehabilitation work on 1225 in 2005.

Please see the other years for the rest of the story.

In August 2005, Interurban car BCER 1225 returned home to Canada. After a 50 year absence, the car came back on two flat bed transports from PCC.

The trucks came on the other flatbed trailer.

There was some excitement when loading the car at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris California. In an e-mail from Perris on August 7th, Bob Ashton  told us that

"BCER 1225 left Perris at noon today. We suffered through a
small Tornado yesterday, which caused havoc here. Tore the
roof off one building that housed all OERM old blueprints
and other paper goods. This might have been OK but the rains
were something I have never experienced. Then the hail. At
the end trees were down and major flooding. 
What about 1225: Stood up well but got a good soaking.
Length of time we sat out of harm's way was about 2 hours.
Amazingly, after it was all over the sun was back out and
the temp back to 104 degrees."

The rain storm from inside 1225.

Wonderful photo of OUR 1225 at Marpole Station in 1949. Mr. John KOSCHWANEZ of Mission Viejo, Ca took this picture in 1949. He graciously sent it to OERM to be sent home with the car.

A very large Thanks to all the volunteers at OERM who helped prepare BCER 1225 to come home.

The car arrived at the border and was helped through the formalities with the assistance of Dave Bucholtz from Pacific Custom Brokers.

With the paperwork out of the way, the car crossed the border and officially returned home.

Arriving at the new home, the Sullivan Car Barn, BCER 1225 is very close to the original rail line of the BCER Fraser Valley line. The section that runs next to the car barn runs from Surrey, to Chilliwack.

Gwill Cranes lifted 1225 over the fence as the last hurdle to it's new home at FVHRS.

We celebrated the return home with a big party on September 17th. The official ribbon cutting in the car barn brought many smiles to the officials and to members of FVHRS.

FVHRS member Vic Sharman; City of Surrey Councillors Penny Priddy, Marvin Hunt, Judy Villeneuve; Hon. Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transportation; FVHRS member Frank Horn; FVHRS Chair John Sprung welcoming BCER 1225 to Surrey.

Hon. Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transportation, speaks at the official ribbon cutting ceremony form the Sullivan Station replica in front of the car barn.

And now the work begins.

Rehabilitation to prepare BCER 1225 to run again on the original line started after the ceremonies were over. Inside the car barn, dedicated volunteers removed seats and interior panels to gauge the magnitude of the rebuilding work.

October 17th, 2005. The process of removing the seats, each one takes about 45 min.

October 20th, 2005. The seats are out.

The large car barn starts to look very small when all the parts are out of BCER 1225. Clover-Belle, car 30, is in the foreground and is in danger of becoming a storage shed!

. . .

Work continues on rehabilitation of 1225.

This image collection is getting large. The pages have been split into the years work has been done on 1225. Please click on one of the links:

2010 - Cleaning up and back on the rails.

Check here for progress on the volunteer work. Images will be updated on an irregular basis.

Links

See more pictures of BCER 1225 rehabilitation on Webshots - taken by Vice Chair Bob Ashton.

Other pictures of 1225.

Photos by Bob Ashton, Liz Aubert, Allen Aubert and others as noted.