The car Lynnewood, installed for a few years in the parking lot of the VIA Rail station in Amqui, will return to Pennsylvania, where it was manufactured in 1917.
Share
July 15, 2020 21.51
Share
The car Lynnewood leaves Amqui to Pennsylvania
Johanne Fournier
Special Collaboration
The car Lynnewood, installed for a few years in the parking lot of the VIA Rail station in Amqui, will return to Pennsylvania, where it has been manufactured there for more than a century. His departure marks the end of a long saga that had divided the former municipal council of Amqui for three years.
The drive train was sold to the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust. It will be raised and transported by a truck for a long journey of nearly 1400 km to Boyertown, in the State of Pennsylvania. The body will restore in order to use it for trips or visits.
“An important element that the City of Amqui wanted, it was to find a way to preserve this historic place and prevent its dismantlement, is supporting the mayor, Pierre D’amours. This transaction is good news since the car will be restored by the body and will be repaired near the place where it was built. The departure of the wagon is not the end, but the beginning of a new redevelopment project area of the train station, in collaboration with our partners such as VIA Rail and Canadian National.”
Rich business man
Built in 1917, the car Lynnewood had been baptized by a wealthy business man of Philadelphia, Joseph Early Widener (1871-1943), to remind the luxury of the manor house of 110 rooms in which he lived, the Lynnewood Hall. At the beginning of the 20th century, the family, Widener was among the twenty most wealthy in the United States. Simple butcher, middle-class, the father of Joseph, Peter Arrel Brown Widener, had made a fortune at the time of the american Civil war. Using contacts he had signed a contract with the u.s. government to provide the northern army of the United States in meat smoke. In 1873, he became the treasurer republican of Philadelphia. Two years later, he invested in the rail industry which, at that time, was in full expansion. His death in 1915, he bequeathed $ 60 million to his youngest son. Not having the skills of his father for business, he squandered his fortune to feed his passion for horse racing and the breeding of pure-blood.
The ex-mayor, Gaetan Ruest, wanted to restore the car to make it a tourist attraction, especially during the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Canada, where he proposed the “Train Ocean 150”. But, the financing thereof had been refused by Heritage Canada.
