Trains have become an intrinsic part of North American and Squamish culture.
Innumerable stories make up the train's rich history and one of the most influential people in train lore is Edward G. Budd, creator of the Budd car.
Now train lovers can ride Squamish rails in style thanks to a West Coast Railway Association project to restore one sleek, steel Budd car. Every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can ride the newly restored BC 33 at the West Coast Heritage Park for $2.
When asked about her own love of trains, two-year-old Hannah Curle, one of the restored Budd car's first passengers, summed it up with a simple: "Toot! Toot!"
Singh Biln launched the project to rebuild a Budd car and engineer Dave Thethi took on the task of getting the BC 33, purchased in 2003 by the West Coast Railway Association, up and running. Graffiti was cleaned off the stainless steel structure, refrigeration and air conditioning were restored, and batteries and engines were changed to bring the car's legendary design back to its former glory.
Only a handful of passengers rode the Budd during its inaugural run Saturday (Aug. 13). The trip lasts less than 10 minutes and covers only one mile of track, but Thethi and John Jellis, a retired engineer volunteering to run the car, have grand visions for its tourism potential once CN gives the West Coast Association permission to transport passengers from the Heritage Park to downtown Squamish and beyond.
Budd's fame initially came from his invention of the shotweld technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging the anti-corrosion properties of the stainless steel. From the 1930s until 1989 The Budd Company was a leading manufacturer of stainless steel streamlined passenger rolling stock for a number of railroads. They built hundreds of streamlined lightweight stainless steel passenger cars based on the naturally efficient shapes of fish and birds. Streamlined objects, with their curved, tapered shapes, offer less resistance, minimizing turbulence.
North Americans were quickly captivated by the streamline look following its introduction in the 1930s and railroads paved the way for streamlining in the auto industry. Trucks, buses, and airplanes followed suit. But it wasn't only large machines that were streamlined. Pencil sharpeners, ballpoint pens, and kitchen mixers, which had no reason to be aerodynamic, also took on the look.
In 1949, Budd introduced the Rail Diesel Car or RDC, a stainless steel self-propelled train-in-one car, which prolonged rail service on many lightly populated railway lines, but also provided a flexible, air-conditioned car for suburban commuter service.
In 1953 CPR placed an order for 173 stainless steel cars with the Budd Company, sufficient for establishing an entirely new transcontinental service and partially re-equipping the legendary Dominion.
spaillard@squamishchief.com
