I was the person responsible for acquiring the "Lake Chamcook" for the WCRA.
The car never went into work service as it was sold in about 1979 direct to
a gentleman by the name of Mitch Taylor, a local
I have records that say that the car was retired in 1973 so it indeed sat
for a while. Would you have a sale date more refined than "about 1979"?
And what date did the WCRA acquire the car?
who uncovered the gold leaf carefully using an artists palette knife. The
gold paint was painted directly over the gold leaf original. Mitch sold the
car to the WCRA for a very favourable price.
The observation that there is gold paint over the gold leaf is great news.
A class "A" passenger car reconditioning includes complete shot blast of the
exterior down to the metal. So LAKE CHAMCOOK never had major reconditioning
between the time gold leaf was discontinued and when it was retired as car
32. Is it plausible for a car to last from the 1930's to 1973 without a
major reconditioning? Probably not; the more likely scenario is that the
car received a major reconditioning in the early 1950's, before gold leaf
was discontinued, and then a quick exterior repaint sometime later. Then
there was the final quick repaint when it was renumbered to car 32.
Thanks Robert and Grant for the information.
Jeff Pinchbeck
