Clinton News Record, 2014-08-06, Page 9Wednesday, August 6, 2014 • News Record 9
The 100 Year Odyssey of the Canadian National Railway Car #15089
David Yates
Clinton is the home of
Canadian National Railway
car # 15089. Fred and Cela
Sloman made it world
famous as the 'School on
Wheels' but that was only
part of its extraordinary
history. Railway historian,
David Hootan, compared
the car to 'a cat with nine
lives' as it went through
several incarnations before
a chance discovery saved it
from the scrapyard.
The car was originally
built as a colonist car in
1914 by the Crossen Car
Company in Cobourg,
Ontario for the Canadian
Northern Railway to carry
settlers to the prairie prov-
inces. At 80 feet long, car
#1249 was one of the long-
est cars on the railroad.
Donna Hardie, the school
car's assistant curator, said
that the colonist's cars were
`no frills' transportation.
Passengers brought their
own bedding, pillows, blan-
kets and food for the long
westward journey. Despite
the 'Spartan' conditions,
Canadian Pacific Railway
historian, Jonathan Han-
nah, wrote that 'no other
rail car did more to fill the
Canadian nation with peo-
ple than the colonist car!
In August 1914, at the
outbreak of the Great War,
the car became Canada's
first army rail ambulance. It
conveyed sick and injured
soldiers from the Valcartier
Training Camp to Quebec
City. After a permanent
base hospital was built in
late September 1914,
Hootan believes the car
was used as a troop trans-
port for the remainder of
the war.
After the war, the car
reverted to its original use
as a colonist car. In 1923,
the Canadian Northern
Railway merged with the
Canadian National Railway
and re -numbered the car
2648. The Great Depression
ended westward migration.
In 1940, the surplus car was
chosen by school car
teacher Fred Sloman to
replace the earlier 52 foot
school car built in 1898.
Sloman had been edu-
cating children in remote
and isolated communities
in northern Ontario by rail
since 1926. The Sloman
family advised CN on the
requirements to convert
the car into a school with
living quarters. The car was
re -fitted at the Rectory
Street CN rail yard in Lon-
don, Ontario. The new
school car was numbered
15089 and went into service
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Aug. 9.7-12pm
Cash Bar
Clinton Legion
after Labour Day, 1940.
For the next 25 years, car
#15089 not only served as a
travelling classroom
throughout Ontario's north
but a social centre as well.
At night, the Sloman's
entertained their student's
families playing card and
board games. Cela Sloman
offered sewing and cooking
classes. The school car was
an oasis of warm convivial-
ity for generations of iso-
lated families along their
rail route.
Yet, by the 1960's, with
better roads and larger
northern settlements
meant that fewer children
lived in isolated areas.
School Car Curator, Caro-
lyn Brophy, said that CN's
decision to switch from
coal fired engines to diesel
eliminated the need for
remote coaling stations
along the route which dras-
tically reduced the railway's
work force and, hence, the
need for rail schools
declined. In 1965, car
#15089 was taken out of
service as a school car.
Karl and Mary Schuessler
in their book 'School On
Wheels' recount that the
car was repainted in North
Bay for exhibition in Mon-
treal at Expo '67 or as part
of Canada's Centennial
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train. In an interview with
the Schuesslers, Cela Slo-
man said they left most of
their books and furnishings
on board for the exhibit but
the car was never used for
the celebrations. The car
remained in northern
Ontario where it was
intended to become be part
of a proposed railroad
museum.
In the late 1960's, the car
was moved to Toronto. For-
est City Railway historian,
Gerald Buck, recalled that
his father, a CN carman,
remembered the school
car's arrival at Spadina sta-
tion for conversion into an
exhibition car for the
Ontario Science Centre but
those plans never
materialized.
Hootan said the car was
'moved from location to
location.' Buck recalled
seeing the old school car in
Toronto at the rail yard at
Jane Street and St. Clair
about 1969 while walking to
school. At the time, he
thought the car was des-
tined for scrap.
A fire which severely
damaged the car nearly
sealed its fate but the
Ontario Rail Association
bought what Hootan
described as 'the burnt out
hulk of the car'
clintonnewsrecord.com
Mite/Acne/3,
The family of
John and Carol Boneschansker
invites you to join us
August 9, 2014
at the
Brussels Legion
from 2-4 pm
for a come & go social to celebrate
John's 80th birthday,
John & Carol's
60th Wedding Anniversary
and the
Boneschanskers' 65th year
since immigrating to Canada.
for refurbishing as an
observation platform.
Hootan, who worked on the
car in 1973, said plans to
build open air observation
decks on the car were
aborted.
In 1981, the ORA listed
car #15089 for sale. Mirac-
ulously, an Edmonton CN
executive and former
school car student, Bill' Ste-
phenson, saw the adver-
tisement and recognized
the car's number. Accord-
ing to the Schuesslers, Ste-
phenson contacted Cela
and daughter, Margaret
Sloman (Fred died in 1973)
who drove to Mississauga
in August 1982 and identi-
fied the school car's
remains. Margaret Sloman
told the Schuesslers that
she thought the car was
beyond repair.
Despite the car's condi-
tion, a local board was
formed to save the car and
bring it to Clinton. The car
was purchased by the town
for $1 500 and transported
it to Clinton by rail in Octo-
ber 1982. Fittingly, it was
greeted at the station by
elementary students who
were let out of classes to
watch it arrive (CN gener-
ously donated a second car
to salvage parts from).
The car was then
Pstc
carefully moved from the
Clinton railway by tractor
trailer down Matilda
Street past the Sloman
home and mounted in its
present location at Slo-
man Park. With local vol-
unteers, the restoration
process took two years,
but, in 1984, the car's
school room was opened
for public display. Cela
Sloman and other mem-
bers of the Sloman family
attended the car's gala
re -opening.
In 1986, Gerald Buck
donated the school car's
builder plates and a part of
the door that identifies the
car as #15089. Fortunately,
his father had salvaged the
car's pieces when it seemed
the car was destined for the
scrap heap.
Dave Hootan wryly
observes that the school car
has now been a museum
for longer than it was used
as a school. Fittingly, after
having journeyed tens of
thousands of miles, car
#15089 has finally found a
permanent home in Clin-
ton near the home of the
Slomans, its most famous
occupants. Although it
may not be used as a school
room, it still educates the
public about a unique part
of Canadian history.
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