'All Aboard!" - the excitement, the glamour, and the romance of travel by passenger rail. A rare look into that time is provided at the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza in Perkins, Oklahoma. At the Depot located there, sits a 1903 beauty of the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) as a "wooden dining car" and then converted in 1917 to a greater capacity use.
It launched as a freshly refurbished car in 1919 as a business coach named "Assiniboine" and used by CPR Winnepeg offices VP, D.C. Coleman. In 1920, its undercarriage was given a steel upgrade and new side sheathing installed and renamed 'The Metapedia" when Coleman had a new "Assiniboine" coach built.
If this coach could just talk! In 1975 the CPR retired it and it was purchased by Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada and his cousin, Guy Trudeau. It arrived in Oklahoma when Kenneth Mitchell of Guthrie purchased it and had it shipped by rail to that city. The Mitchell family donated the Metapedia to the OTP in 2013.
During the summer (main tourist season) the OTP has volunteers in place to Saturdays from 1 - 4 p.m. Other times it is open include the annual October "Old Settlers Day" in Perkins and other special events. When open the train car is accessible for an inside tour.
The DEPOT with the passenger car and a caboose are a fascinating part of the overall Oklahoma Territorial Plaza. The Depot is a 1916 Santa Fe wood depot built in Yale, Oklahoma and came to Perkins by way of a layover as a museum in nearby Cushing, Oklahoma. The collection is largely the work of the Read family who collected, preserved and then donated their holdings to the OTP.
Watch for Part 2 - - - 'Glimpses of Elegant Travel': Inside the Metapedia.
Photo of the CP 70 "Assinboine"
Oklahoma Territorial Plaza, Perkins, Ok "The Metapedia"
It launched as a freshly refurbished car in 1919 as a business coach named "Assiniboine" and used by CPR Winnepeg offices VP, D.C. Coleman. In 1920, its undercarriage was given a steel upgrade and new side sheathing installed and renamed 'The Metapedia" when Coleman had a new "Assiniboine" coach built.
If this coach could just talk! In 1975 the CPR retired it and it was purchased by Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada and his cousin, Guy Trudeau. It arrived in Oklahoma when Kenneth Mitchell of Guthrie purchased it and had it shipped by rail to that city. The Mitchell family donated the Metapedia to the OTP in 2013.
During the summer (main tourist season) the OTP has volunteers in place to Saturdays from 1 - 4 p.m. Other times it is open include the annual October "Old Settlers Day" in Perkins and other special events. When open the train car is accessible for an inside tour.
Watch for Part 2 - - - 'Glimpses of Elegant Travel': Inside the Metapedia.
Photo of the CP 70 "Assinboine"
Oklahoma Territorial Plaza, Perkins, Ok "The Metapedia"
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