Caboose caf a years-old dream come true

When Judy Morrissey-Richard opens a caf in a train car in Tignish this summer it will be the realization of a dream that goes back almost two decades.

Tignish was literally the end of the line for trains in the western P.E.I., which stopped running in 1989. Trains played a huge part in the Island's history. The cost of building the rail system is credited for forcing the Island into Confederation.

The eastern end of the line, at Elmira, has the provincial railway museum, but there are no reminders of this past in Tignish.

"I don't think we ever should have lost them," said Morrissey-Richard.

"You look at other small communities across the Island and they're always keeping things as part of their history for tourism and for the younger generation to see. I think when we don't teach our kids about the history and what things were like then we lose a whole part of history."

She first dreamed of a rail car in Tignish to commemorate this past in 1998, when she was elected to local council. She failed, however, to convince her other councillors to seek out a rail car for the community's park.

'I'm going to get the train'

She forgot about it until a few years ago, when her sisters told her about eating in a rail car in Nova Scotia.

"It put the bug back into me," said Morrissey-Richard.

"I'm going to get the train. This time I'm not going to go looking to get someone to get it for the village. I'll do it myself."

As manager of MJ's Bakery, she thought a caf in a train car next door would be a perfect fit.

But first she had to find one.

She set her younger brother to the task, but it turned out a rail car was discovered during a chance drive-by in Nova Scotia.

The caboose was sitting in a yard in Truro.

The owner was reluctant to sell, but it turned out he just didn't want to see it go to scrap.

When he heard of Morrissey-Richard's plans he happily parted with it.

The caboose is already in place beside MJ's. It needs some fixing up, but Morrissey-Richard expects to have it open by the end of June.

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