Rail Maintenance Car

Orange 'Casey Car' #2010

Made of plywood and metal with handrails, bumpers and undercarriage of 4 wheels painted black, constructed to run along train tracks. Roof is covered with orange painted canvas. Two seats centred inside the car are padded and covered with fabric. The control mechanism is comprised of two handles. Lights are mounted on the outside of both ends. The front has a hinged plywood box covered with canvas with a clasp for locking, containing two red fabric warning flags on metal posts, one handheld red flag, collapsible wooden pole with electrical cable and a metal tube with a hinged cover that snaps closed. A smaller metal compartment above the wooden one contains two track flags of yellow fabric.

Commonly known as the 'Casey Car', the self propelled motor car used to run along the track from Fraser to Bennett, British Columbia. Employees of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway would patrol the tracks in Casey Cars to deliver men and supplies to areas needed for maintenance.

The 'Casey Jones' was the name given to a gasoline powered model developed by the North-Western Motor Car Company. Essentially, a Casey Jones was a motorized pop-car. The original 'Casey Car' was simply a hand pumped car outfitted with model T Ford engine. The more modern motorized cars were capable of speeds as high as forty-five miles per hour, had the ability to carry 5 to 7 men, and the power to haul 6 loaded trailers.

This particular car, motor car number 2010 was built by the Fairmont Motor Company in the 1960s. Its job was to patrol the White Pass and Yukon Route railway track every morning before the trains left the station. They also transported section gangs to their work sites and towed 'push cars' loaded with tools and materials. A similar car now carries hikers and visitors between Fraser, on the South Klondike Highway, and the end of the Chilkoot Trail at Bennett Station.