It was a day of celebration at the Canadian Railway Museum south of Montreal.
Their vintage streetcar is rolling once again.
It’s one of the Saint-Constant landmark’s flagship items, but rides on their fully restored Montreal streetcar had ground to a complete halt for the past two years because of COVID.
Saturday marked the long-awaited return.
“Today is a happy day,” said Robert Robinson, president of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association, which owns and operates the museum.
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Many were eager to be among the first riders back on the 50-year-old exhibit. Streetcars were a key mode of transportation in the city from 1892 to 1959.
“They were everywhere. People love them,” said Robinson, recounting how streetcars ran through most of the most populous areas of the city. “People who came of age after 1959 have never ridden streetcars, and neither has the younger generation. It’s fun to watch how much fun the small kids have riding on this.”
It’s taken decades of intricate work from dedicated volunteers to keep the vehicle and the overhead electrical wiring in perfect running condition.
One such volunteer was posthumously honoured on Saturday.
Ken Mosher donated his time to the museum for decades. His son cut the ribbon to re-launch the streetcar, and several members of his family were on the first voyage on Saturday.
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“Ken Mosher was a volunteer for many, many years. In fact, one of the things he loved to do was to drive the streetcar,” Robinson explained.
When Mosher died in 2020, he left the museum $100,000 in his will. At the time, his family asked that people send a donation to the museum, rather than flowers.
Robinson said Mosher’s final donation allowed the museum to perform vital and expensive repairs on the worn out overhead wiring on the electric train.
“Ken’s bequest was instrumental in getting this streetcar to be running again,” said Robinson.
He encourages everyone to go to Saint-Constant and have a ride.
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