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A piece of Regina’s transit history has been brought back to life as Regina 42, a streetcar that once operated in the Queen City, rattles down the railway again.
Thousands of passengers each year ride the streetcar at Fort Edmonton Park, in Alberta.
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Chris Ashdown, president of the Edmonton Radial Railway Society, said the streetcar was restored with over 22,000 volunteer hours over a 30-year period.
“Regina 42 is probably all of our members favourite streetcar,” he said. “It’s turned out to be our most successful restoration.
“It’s an unbelievably beautiful looking streetcar.”
Listen to the t ale of Regina 42 on Behind The Headlines:
The Edmonton Radial Railway Society has two streetcars operating at the railway park. A yellow Saskatoon maintenance streetcar from 1907 sits next to Regina 42 from 1927. (Chris Ashdown/ Submitted)
Ashdown said the streetcar landed in Edmonton when it was acquired from the Saskatchewan Railway Museum.
The streetcar is one of the only remaining rail cars from the Regina fleet after a fire ravaged equipment barn in 1949.
Regina Municipal railway car barns after the disastrous fire of January 1949. (City of Regina Archives/ Submitted)
Volunteers were able to restore Regina 42 using original blueprints from the manufacturer.
It is finished with original pieces of mahogany cherry wood and the ceiling is a Roughrider green on the interior.
The streetcar entered service at the rail park last year, Ashdown said, and he feels lucky to be able to take passengers for a ride on it.
“It’s a very bright, very attractive looking streetcar,” he said. “It’s the pride of our fleet right now.”
Marion McKechnie, left, and Hope Cantinboth remember taking the streetcar on different adventures decades ago. Both live at the Venvi Renaissance Retirement Home in Regina. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
Happy memories surface for Regina seniors
When Hope Cantin was a little girl, she remembers climbing aboard the streetcar with her aunt and sister.
“We were thrilled,” she said. “We thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. We loved it.”
Cantin’s family would travel from the Craven valley to Regina to visit their family. They would often take the streetcar to see an entertainment show during their trip.
Cantin said riding the streetcar with family are memories she holds onto closely in her senior years.
“I thought it was nicer than the bus,” she laughed.
Marion McKechnie is a few months shy of turning 100 years old, but couldn’t forget a ride on a Regina streetcar.
Streetcars operated in Regina for 1911 to 1949. (City of Regina Archives/ Submitted)
She said it cost a nickel per ride while she travelled to her job.
“It wasn’t a smooth ride, but it got you there and back,” McKechnie said. “That’s all we had.”
Both agree its nice to see a streetcar restored to its former glory.
A crowd of people watch the first streetcars be deployed in front of City Hall, July 28, 1911(City of Regina Archives/ Submitted)
Regina transit history that went up in smoke
Streetcars dominated Regina roads as the primary mode of transportation from the 1910s to the 1950s.
Dana Turgeon, a City of Regina historian, said the decision to put in streetcar lines wasn’t without controversy.
Mayor Mayor Peter McAra Jr. ran the lines in front of his department store on 11th Avenue, she said, which was followed by lots of newspaper coverage.
Turgeon said streetcars and trolley buses were planned to be phased out for diesel buses in the 1940s.
Fire truck and crew at the Regina Municipal Railway Car Barns fire in 1949. (City of Regina Archives/ Submitted)
However, in 1949, disaster struck.
“The city had a catastrophic fire, and it wiped out most of the streetcars that ran on the lines, and a lot of the new trolley buses,” she said.
“The city abruptly converted to diesel buses basically overnight because they lost all their stock.”
Turgeon said it was one of the fastest transit change overs in Canada.
Ashdown said not all streetcars were stored indoors overnight, which is why Regina 42 survived the flames.
“It was probably either outside the barn or it was in service,” he said. “So, it avoided the fire.”
Streetcar history still remains underneath Regina streets. In May, construction crews found rail tracks from the streetcars while digging up 11th Avenue.
Turgeon said the rail lines were likely paved over as a cost saving measure when the railway was decommissioned.
“I think it’s very neat to see this little time capsule that’s been buried underneath the dirt for so long,” she said.
“Nobody knew it was there, and all of a sudden you get this surprise just reminding you of of how Regina used to be.”
Turgeon said there’s a good chance more rail lines will be found as construction continues.
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