An honest to goodness dining car, it's an old CPR dining car that may well have flashed through this very town many times in the past. Owned by the present proprietors since 1993, the cafe was one of the many victims of the
2013 Flood that submerged much of High River and affected many communities in southern Alberta. Prior to the flood, the tenants of the municipally owned railway diner had asked for repairs to be done to the diner. After te flood, still more work was required on the car as the tenants attempted to reopen their diner.
The
High River Times ran a story on the issue on Thursday, August 8, 2013.
In 1998, the owners of the Whistle Stop Cafe began discussions with the Town of High River about repairs to the municipally owned dining rail car where their restaurant is housed.
Fifteen years later, Dwayne and Patti Johnson are still waiting for those repairs.
The Johnsons, who have owned the Whistle Stop since 1993, now find themselves navigating a tricky divide between the pre- and post-flood conditions of the town-owned dining car: asking to reopen their doors after minimal flood damage and advocating for the repairs they needed before the flood hit.
The fate of their historic downtown restaurant now hangs in the balance after a town official recommended the establishment be closed, citing exterior damages from the flood and a $325,000 repair bill to get the dining car back in working order...
...The Johnsons feel the $325,000 estimate of needed repairs to the car is extreme and wonder whether repairs could be made in stages over the coming years. They were able to obtain a copy of Wesley’s report on the dining car last week, but no breakdown of how that number was reached.
“It seems like there is no middle ground between terminating it and fully restoring it,” said Patti...
...The possibility of buying the dining car is an option the Johnsons have pursued in the past, but say they ran into roadblocks because, while the town owns the dining car, CP Rail owns the land on which it sits.
At this time they have not heard from any other parties who are interested in purchasing the car.
The Museum of the Highwood, neighbor to the Whistle Stop Cafe, is one local group that would be sorry to see the restaurant go...
From the High River Times