Good News for Vancouver Island Train Lovers

Familiar caboose returns to rails

Allison Cross

The Daily News

Friday, December 15, 2006

Nanaimo has said goodbye to one of its heaviest landmarks.

The red caboose at McDonald's, which sat in front of the Terminal Avenue location, was donated to the Alberni Pacific Railway and lifted onto the tracks on Thursday.

"We've been having conversations with McDonald's for a number of years about that caboose," said Alberni Pacific Railway general manager Neil Malbon. "And now that they are renovating, they've given it to us."

The caboose will become part of the future Arrowsmith Explorer run between Parksville and Qualicum Beach in September, a joint venture of the APR and the Island Corridor Foundation.

Malbon said the one-way, five-hour, 52-kilometre trip would also make stops in Coombs and Port Alberni.

"We want to encourage people to stay in the communities," he said. "The retail outlets and businesses would really benefit. We are anticipating that the Arrowsmith Explorer will become a Vancouver Island tourist favourite."

Malbon said the caboose comes from the 1950s and is still in good shape.

"It's modern enough that we don't have to do too much work," he said. "Right now, it's designed as a dining car, so we might keep it that way, or change it into a food services car."

Chris Stannell, communications manager for McDonald's Canada, said the caboose was most likely installed at the restaurant in the mid-1970s.

"We're happy to donate it," he said. "We want others to enjoy it."

Rick Slingerland, assistant curator and train aficionado at the Nanaimo District Museum, said he didn't know how long the caboose sat in front of McDonald's and was never sure if it was real.

"But if it is an original caboose, and they can put it on the rails, that's the best place for it," he said.

Train lovers can still visit a narrow gauge locomotive in the museum's park, said Slingerland, one of the oldest in B.C.

The caboose will join five other passenger cars, converted from CN transfer cabooses, that the APR already owns.

The APR has operated steam trains in the Alberni Valley since 1984.

ACross@nanaimodailynews.com

© The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2006