Barnes Freighters
1930 to 1952
April 2018
this is a company my grandpa Ewart Barnes owned and operated in south western Manitoba. we still have the orginal art work of the company which is hand paint on some type of fabic material.
Ewart Barnes bought a brand new 1945 chevy 3 ton truck that was issued for military use. the truck had a lot of things made differently then a regualar truck of the same era. then on May 01 1947 the truck was hit by a train at the Newstead Manitoba highway crossing.
Ewart Barnes always pointed out the box in the picture marked fragile plus not much damage to the other freight. the driver only had a bruise on his leg and continued to drive for Barnes Freighters.
i grew up spending time with my grandpa who always told the trucking stories of back in the day. then in 1981 we went and saw his 1945 chevy sitting in the trees on a farm in Lyeton Manitoba. Ewart Barnes was so glad to see his truck after all these years and a deal was made for the ownership.
we borrowed some wheel and tires to get the truck back home to Alexander Manitoba behind my parent's 1956 ford school bus that was converted to a motor home.
through all my DIEvorces and separtations i have been able to keep ownership of the 1945 chevy truck. now it is all in pieces in the Kingdom waiting for the restoration project to begin. at the age of 19, my daughter Xena Barnes registered the name Barnes Freighters as her company name in 2017. she is the 4th generation to be invloved with the Barnes Frighters name.
