Horn heist: B.C. train museum gets railroaded by targeted thefts

Hanna Petersen · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 01, 2025 9:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 1

Brian Wich is a self-described “train nut.” 

He is also the park manager of the Central Railway and Forestry Museum in Prince George, a city in north-central B.C. 

Wich says the museum had been warned that one of its priceless artifacts — a vintage Nathan M5 Airchime Train Horn was at risk of being stolen. 

He says pictures of the horn were found circulating on a Discord server in the United States. 

“The fellow that saw it there actually phoned a friend of his up here who is a collector, who then immediately phoned us and warned us that perhaps our horn was in jeopardy,” said Wich. 

The museum staff immediately tried to remove the horn for safekeeping from its position atop a locomotive but couldn’t because the bolts were rusty. 

When they returned the next day with the right tools to remove it, they discovered it had been stolen in the middle of the night. 

Wich says the museum had two other train horn thefts last year. 

“There’s a sort of an element out there that likes unscrupulous collecting,” he said. 

“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.” 

Wich says it would cost about $5,000 to replace the M5 Airchime with a new one, but the historical value of the stolen horn makes it priceless. 

It was manufactured in Vancouver by the Burnett Chainsaw and Engineering Company and was sold to Holden, who in turn supplied it to the Montreal Locomotive Works on Jan. 21, 1951.

Wich said it was original to the train it was stolen from. 

“This particular one is quite rare and was made locally here in B.C., and that’s not the kind of thing that you can find anymore,” he said. 

“It’s nice to see something, hold it in your hands, and actually learn about the history and to actually hear them, too, because we do air them up once in a while, and it’s quite exciting.” 

The museum’s executive director, Baptiste Marcere, says the theft is a huge loss for local history. 

“This is really painful for us,” he said. “Our mission is to preserve history. The impact is like breaking your past. You’re just erasing your past because someone greedy came and took the horn.” 

He says the museum has a network of train aficionados scouring the internet to try to find the missing horn. 

“We’ve got a fellow in Vancouver that’s helping us out. There’s even a fellow all the way out in Texas that is a collector, and he’s keeping his eyes peeled,” added Wich. 

“I’m quite surprised how quickly people picked it up and passed it around because that’s how important this is to us as a local city to see these things preserved, and it really sort of strikes a chord in a lot of people when they see this kind of thing.” 

The Prince George RCMP are also investigating the theft and appealing to the public for help. 

“We’re asking people to keep a lookout on online marketplaces or anywhere that would be particularly geared to maybe train collectors. Those sorts of apps or websites that might be into collecting train gear, that’s likely where something like this might turn up,” said media relations officer Cpl. Jennifer Cooper. 

She says the theft is one of the more unique cases the detachment has seen and says it was not a crime of opportunity. 

“It was attached to a train and seems to have been sawn off. This one likely took a little bit more planning, as the horn was not easily removed from the train.” 

Wich says he’s not sure if the museum will ever recover the M5 or the other missing horns, but he remains hopeful. 

“I’d much rather actually see it here where everybody can see it rather than sitting dusty on a shelf somewhere that, you know, nobody else gets to enjoy it.”