9 July 2007
The Empress Has New Clothes
St. Thomas Ontario - A regal lady has received a new dress
for her birthday.
The Empress of Agincourt, a 2,400-horsepower locomotive originally built in 1957, made a grand reappearance in her
birthday finest yesterday at the Elgin County Railway Museum. The museum has been working since 2003 to restore the diesel engine to
its former glory, said Stuart MacDiarmid, museum volunteer.
But it wasn't just the museum's efforts that gave the Empress her new clothes. CAW Local 1001 members from Sterling Truck donated their
time to paint, while money from a Trillium Foundation grant paid for the primer and sandblasting, MacDiarmid said. The topcoat donated
for her majesty's decidedly couture, $42,000 gown came from E.I. DuPont, he said and is very unique as the high gloss red, white, and
black paint won't fade. "They say 50 years from now the unit will stay the same," he said.
The Montreal-built engine is one of a kind, said Ron Bareham, museum volunteer. When it was built engineers experimented
with a longer than normal wheelbase making it more powerful but but also more difficult to navigate switches.
According to railway lore, the locomotive received its name because it sat in the Agincourt railyard more than it ran.
Despite the Empress's less than stellar work ethic, museum staff are thrilled to have her cleaned up and in St. Thomas. "We were
delighted to actually finish one project in a reasonable amount of time," Bareham said. "It is kind of like a birthday
present, the new paint job," added MacDiarmid.
Befitting her status, her highness will only be taken outside to the railyard for special occasions, Bareham said, but will be on
permanent display in the museum for anyone who visits.
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