It’s been a while since we’ve covered the Niagara Railway Museum on this blog, specifically this post from 2010 about their open house in July of that year. At the time, the museum had just moved into a former Canadian National diesel maintenance shop in Fort Erie, Ontario. The NRM has made great strides to improve their museum grounds and add new artifacts to their collection since then. In recent months, one of these was a former Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway Carpenters Boarding car. Now joining the collection will be Canadian Pacific Angus Van no. 434525, previously on display at the Memory Junction Museum in Brighton, Ontario. For those who’re unfamiliar with Canadian railroad terms, model train manufacturer Rapido Trains have the following excerpt on their website:

“Between 1972 and 1981, CP’s Angus Shops in Montreal built over 300 modern, wide-vision “vans”. Hence the “Angus Van” name that stuck with them throughout their careers. (For all you non-hose heads, that’s Canadian for “Caboose”.) They proved popular with crews and many are still on the road today, as shoving platforms or rider cars in MOW (Maintenance-of-way) service.”

If you’re interested in model trains, Rapido recently re-released the Angus Van in HO Scale!

Click here to see a photograph of the very same Angus Van in service back in 1980!

The NRM will transport the van by road from Brighton to their museum in Fort Erie, a distance of approximately 308 kilometers. It’s the museum’s intention to restore the van and put it back in operation on track at the museum grounds. If you would like to help support the museum in this endeavor, feel free to visit Canada Helps to donate. Once you’re on that page, use the drop down menu on the right to select the museum project you wish to put your donation towards.