That may have been because in the fifties, when the railways were going through a major technological change, the governments of the day did not move to save any of this equipment. Our association moved and was able to save the equipment.
In the technological development of railways, from 1836 until 1870, Canada had a railway system that was.... The gauge was the same size as it is today, but in 1850 we thought we were going to be attacked by the U.S., so we changed the gauge and made it broad gauge. Then by 1870 we realized the U.S. was not going to do that, and it would be in our economic interest to put the gauge back together so we could trade back and forth. As a result, just about everything in the way of historic railway equipment was destroyed.
The next major change was in the 1950s, when steam was replaced by diesel and passenger cars were replaced and tramways were replaced. At that point the government didn't make any move. Maybe this was too early for the heritage movement; the heritage movement came later on. Our group, which had been started in 1932, had already saved a streetcar in 1950, and in 1955 we were able to save Sir William Van Horne's private railway car.
Sir William Van Horne's car was built in 1881, was used by Sir William Van Horne as his office, as his home for five years while he built the railway across Canada. In 1955 it ended up on a scrap line in Toronto, ready to be burned--a car that is mahogany inside and out. Fortunately, one of our members saw it, we were able to save it, and that is in the collection today. It's probably one of the most valuable pieces we have.
So to give you an answer, yes, we moved, and maybe the government felt that since we had moved and done it, they didn't have to do it.