Cornwall
Standard Freeholder 28 January
2026
Cornwall
Locomotive Number 17 Gets Ticket to Ride Out 12 More Months of
Fundraising
Cornwall
Ontario - Cornwall council
has agreed to let the Friends of Engine 17 ride out 12 more months of
fundraising efforts related to refurbishing and relocating the well
known locomotive artifact within the city.
The group provided a
letter to the city dated December 2025, sharing that $56,000 has been
raised to-date to support the local preservation of the locomotive,
which the Ontario Land Tribunal had previously deemed to be an
important heritage artifact.
"We are encouraged to report
that $56,000 has been secured through the generosity of a select
group of donors and is currently held by the city," reads the
letter.
"We continue to seek additional support from
corporate partners at the $10,000 level and plan to broaden our
outreach to invite smaller donations from other supporters."
In
late 2024, Cornwall Community Museum and SDG Historical Society
senior curator and administrator Brent Whitford made a pitch to
council on behalf of the Friends of Engine 17 with a plan for
fundraising and related cost estimates to move the artifact to the
Benson Centre.
Last April, the group of local heritage advocates
was given the green light by council to proceed with its efforts.
On
Monday, Coun. Dean Hollingsworth made the motion to allow the group
an extra year of fundraising.
"The city, of course, has
already committed $44,000 to move the train, which means we'd spend
$44,000 and have really nothing to show for it," he said.
In
2021, council decided in a 6-5 vote to gift the locomotive to the
Eastern Ontario Railway Museum in Smiths Falls, and pay approximately
$50,000 to move it there.
The money for the relocation would come
from $100,000 council added to the 2017 budget to repair Locomotive
17, moneys that should remain in reserves.
"The idea of
losing $55,000 in fundraising, and an additional $44,000 with nothing
to show for it without giving the friends the opportunity to push
ahead with this seems a bit premature," said Hollingsworth.
"It
seems crazy to watch all that money walk without giving the committee
full opportunity."
Many councillors praised the Friends of
Engine 17 for its dedication and hard work.
"A few years
back, there was not too many people that wanted to wash their hands
of this project more than I did," said Coun. Todd Bennett.
"My
main reason back then was, well, people seemed to complain nothing
was happening with this thing, and nobody was stepping up to do
anything about it either. In this case, I'm happy to say people have
stepped up. And this is a lot of money you've raised. An extra 12
months is the fair thing to do, the right thing to do. Thank you for
stepping up."
While all councillors voted in favour of
granting the extra time to fundraise, some shared words of
trepidation.
Coun. Sarah Good asked if there was a cost estimate
for ongoing maintenance of the artifact.
Cornwall's general
manager of infrastructure and municipal works Michael Fawthrop
explained there are no cost estimates at this time as they would vary
dependent on the scope of the project.
An operating budget
dedicated to the locomotive's ongoing maintenance would be necessary,
he assured, in order to prevent its degradation.
"I have got
great reluctance because that means one more winter in the elements.
That train has been rusting away for years," said Coun. Elaine
MacDonald, who ultimately supported the extended fundraising
timeline.
"I don't know at what point for our train the
degradation outpaces the community efforts to salvage it in some
way."
The business plan proposal from the Friends of Engine
17 pegged the project at costing, in its entirety, $153,036.
This
includes $128,311 related to the locomotive itself, with a 2024 cost
estimate for its refurbishment, and 2017 city cost estimates related
to a track for the artifact to sit on, and its relocation.
It also
includes $24,725 related to two interactive display kiosks and two
display cabinets.
Locomotive 17 was acquired by the Cornwall
Street Railway Light and Power Company in 1962, and retired by CN in
1971 when it purchased the Cornwall company's assets (Cornwall Street
Railway Light and Power Co. is known as Cornwall Electric owned by
Fortis Ontario).
It had been used for those nine years to move
railway cars around the city and is a testament to the electromotive
engine and Cornwall's industrial past.
Shawna
O'Neill.
