February 2025
Prince George, Canada
The Central Railway and Forestry Museum
March 7, 2025
The third time is not the charm for The Central Railway and Forestry Museum in British Columbia, which sadly is the victim of another horn theft. Over the past year, three train horns have been stolen from the institution. This time the museum received a heads up when an American collector found images of the museum’s Nathan M5 Airchime Train Horn on a Discord server. He reached out to a fellow collector in British Columbia who then alerted the museum of the potential danger. They attempted to remove the horn from the train it was attached to but were thwarted by rusty bolts. They returned the next morning with the right tools for the job when they discovered that the horn had been stolen. Sadly, there are train enthusiasts “that like unscrupulous collecting.” But that is not the only reason why the museum is confident that the horns were stolen by or on behalf of a collector. “We have had metal thefts and things like that in the past. That’s to be expected almost, but something like this, its scrap value just isn’t there. It’s the collector that’s after it.” This most recent incident is particularly painful, not only was this horn original to the train it was stolen from, it is very rare. It is one of the few train horns manufactured in Vancouver. While the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating the train community is also on the case. Train aficionados in the US and Canada are raking the internet with a fine tooth comb for signs of this train horn. In spite of the fact that a collector is most likely responsible for these thefts this is an excellent example of how collectors can be your best friend. You can read more about it here or watch a video here.
