CP CapeRace

Cape Race was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929 as the River Liard. The car was one of a series of 15 River cars fabricated at National Steel Car in Hamilton for $66,300 apiece. The opulent interiors were finished at CP’s Angus Shops in Montreal and featured individual ladies’s and gentlemen’s showers, leather-upholstered smoking rooms, ladies’ lounge and observation parlour as well as a small buffet to serve snacks and beverages. Instead of the traditional open observation platform on the rear, the cars featured a high-windowed solarium furnished with eight leather chairs. In an era long before exposure to the sun’s ultra-violet rays was considered harmful, CP promoted these solarium-lounge cars with their “health-giving VITA GLASS Sun Parlors.” The River cars were unusual in that they contained no revenue-producing space; they were completely for the comfort of passengers occupying space in other sleeping cars.In 1941, with heavy demands on the CPR’s equipment due to World War II, the River Liard was renamed Cape Liard and was air-conditioned. The lounges and showers were taken out and replaced with revenue producing sleeping accommodation: a compartment and four double bedrooms. The car was renamed Cape Race in 1947 when Canadian Pacific decided, in a postwar mood of heightened nationalism, to rename many of their passenger cars in order to reflect a less British and more Canadian mien. Cape Race was converted to Business Car 13 in 1963 and used by the CP superintendent based in Kenora, Ontario. In 1969 the car was sold to the Upper Canada Railway Society. The car had also become prohibitively expensive to maintain and it was retired by UCRS in the 1970s. Cape Race was moved around to various locations as the railway lands were redeveloped and finally ended up in the John Street Roundhouse, where it currently resides.