The 503, owned by the City of North Bay, has sat idle for many years, but a committee of train enthusiasts has a vision to restore the steam locomotive and bring it back to life through the Fire Up 503 initiative.
Currently in its 94th year, the locomotive was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company for the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway.
Later the Ontario Northland version was a heavier build.
Proponent Bill Ferguson sees a future for the locomotive as a mainline steam train attraction, where passengers could ride the rails between North Bay and Bonfield.
“What we’re really hoping to do is take the old 503 sitting over behind the bus terminal, and bring it into a shop, and do a full restoration on it; take it all apart, rebuild it from the ground up, and return it to steam, fire it back up, and put it back onto the tracks operating it as an attraction between North Bay and Bonfield.”
The small community located just east of North Bay is considered the perfect destination, rich in railway history.
“The significance of Bonfield for us is, first of all, it is the perfect length for the trip. Secondly, it happens to be the location of the first spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway, so it is historic. It ties in with the railway heritage of North Bay which started with the Canadian Pacific of course coming through here. It is really iconic, so we think it is a good spot to work from,” explained Ferguson.
The amount of tourist dollars generated is expected to be substantial.
“The economic impact based on some calculations using figures that are a few years out of date, we’re talking about between roughly nine and ten million dollars of tourist revenue.”
That amount is based in part on visitors staying in the area.
“Our biggest draw would be from the GTA, train enthusiasts will come further afield, but for the typical visitor, we’re looking at attracting bus tours that come into Muskoka, and stop at Gravenhurst. We want to bring them just that further distance north,” stated Ferguson.
“There will be enough in our community between the railway, the Chief Commanda II, the casino, the Quints home, the museum, and other attractions for a day of activity and an overnight.”
A feasibility study will be carried out by the consultant.
“They’ve examined all of the details we’ve obtained. We have documented the locomotive extensively, photographed it, done some testing on it and given it all back to them. They’re very confident, but they will do a site inspection of it as well, just to be sure.”
And then there is the matter of developing the capital plan for the restoration.
“The company that we’re working with has done these kinds of restoration projects. They’ve looked at it and said ‘You’re probably talking $1.5 million to $2 million U.S. from its condition today to running again basically as a new locomotive even though it is an old locomotive, with a completely new boiler, new tubes, new controls.’ The journals would be changed to modern journals with safety monitoring and a lot of upgrades to it,” Ferguson explained.
“At this point, we’re not really seeking revenue from any municipalities other than we have asked the City for a small amount of money to do that consulting visit with the locomotive but beyond that, it will all be developed in our business plan. We would anticipate federal and provincial support. We have encouraging words from both levels of government for that, and some community fundraising.”
Work on the locomotive will also focus on minimizing its environmental footprint.
“We’re not going to restore this to fire with coal, it is going to be an oil burner. In fact, what we’ll use is biodiesel. So, it will be mostly vegetable oil with some additives. It will be about as clean as can be as a steam locomotive.”
The second part of the project could see the addition of cars using rolling stock.
“That is where we may lean on some of the other railways in the region if they have surplus rolling stock available to us, passenger cars, that kind of thing. We would like to have a mix of rolling stock; a couple of different kinds of coaches, if we could have a dome coach, if we could have a caboose, it just gives different kinds of experiences for people who may not have seen the equipment.”
A big requirement in getting things moving is the outcome of discussions to obtain rail access.
“We’re presently talking to Ottawa Valley, Genesee and Wyoming about access to their track because that is where they primarily run. So, those discussions are ongoing right now.”
If for whatever reason the restoration project gets derailed, there is a backup plan.
“After the analysis is done by our consultants, if it is not feasible to restore it to steam, or if we can’t access any mainline tracks, in other words, we can’t get an agreement to operate on a mainline track, then plan B would be to do a really good cosmetic restoration of the locomotive and put it on display,” stated Ferguson.
“No matter what, when we’re done with this process, it is not going to stay where it is falling apart. So, either we’re going to put it in really good shape and run it or put it in good cosmetic shape and display it somewhere securely. There is another locomotive the museum has, an old F-unit that either way will go out onto a cosmetic display. If we can get access to a track, but we can not feasibly restore this locomotive, then we would also consider possibly another locomotive if that’s the situation. Right now, we have the belief, and our consultant has the belief that this one can be rebuilt.”
The next step is to get their consultant engaged for a ground survey of the locomotive.
“We were hoping to get that done this fall, but it didn’t happen so the spring will be the next available time to do it. We’re also working on getting the access rights right now,” explained Ferguson
“With those two things looked after, the next step will be a more comprehensive business plan then we’ll come back with more about what we’re about to do," shared Ferguson."
"And if there is anybody who wants to volunteer, we need volunteers in every possible segment from governance to legal, to mechanical, everything under the sun.”
