Expressway Traffic Getting to You? Try This

Filed in archive Buick , Oddball Autos , Romantic Notions on March 11, 2010

Here's something you're unlikely to see in a concours or auction and more's the pity because it and other rail inspection cars played an interesting role in both automotive and railway history. Nowadays inspections are carried out with purpose-built vehicles, some of which are modified pickup trucks designed to be switched from road to track, but for several decades the job was done with ordinary automobiles like this 1939 Buick employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mind you, ordinary doesn't quite describe it, as the big Buick was specially outfitted for the job.

A Ford truck rear axle was used and the suspension revised. Braking was accomplished by turning the steering wheel anti-clockwise, which in turn controlled an air compressor system. An air horn and diesel locomotive bell were fitted, along with running lights, flag kits, brackets for signal lanterns, and a portable telephone. A massive front bumper served as a "cowcatcher." In case you're not familiar with that term, I should explain that a cowcatcher is there to accomplish exactly what its name suggests and if you've ever seen a railway steam engine you'll recognise is as the large, vee-shaped device made of vertical bars, located on the front of the engine just above the tracks. Most rail inspection cars in earlier eras had them because cattle weren't always adequately restrained by fences. If an engine or inspection car struck such a beast the cowcatcher could prevent it from being thrown underneath, where it might cause a derailment. To say nothing of the (ugh!) mess. Though the Buick weighed in at four tons it could actually cruise at 72 mph with its powerful inline 8-cylinder engine. Not quick enough to outrun the 100 mph passenger express trains but perhaps essential to avoid causing schedule disruptions. It was custom built at CP's West Toronto Locomotive Shops.

In the year when this car was manufactured Toronto had six district stations in addition to the grand Union Station downtown, so that passengers could be picked up or dropped off closer to home. Gradually they were torn down, with a single magnificent exception, now a liquor store. Some might have qualified as historic sites and one was the subject of a dispute between the West Toronto neighbourhood, which wanted to keep it, and Canadian Pacific, whose management was determined it should be eliminated. When the City seemed willing to throw its support behind preservation, CP sent a wrecking crew in after dark and by daybreak the station was gone. Since then I've borne a grudge against CP but I'd forgive them if they'd at least kept one example of the unique railway inspection cars. Or maybe not.