Canadian Association of Railway Modellers - Toronto Chapter
2004/09/20 Meeting
at Etobicoke Central Railway, 284 Mill Road #f10, Etobicoke
Notes taken by Ian McIntosh, CARM-TC Secretary
Doug is an ex-CPR employee. He used to run trains.
Doug started as a trainman or yardman June 29, 1964. He worked at the Parkdale Yard, a small marshalling yard near King and Jamieson. Trains started in "Toronto" (Agincourt) Yard, came down the Don Valley and up CN to Parkdale. They were blocked for Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Vaancouver, in that order. One train he worked on was #965, sometimes 2nd #965. Trains #955 and #901 were also from Parkdale.
Parkdale had 16 tracks. Yardmen had to ride cars into the alleys (tracks) to stop them. The stemwinders on flats and old tanks had the worst brakes in the system. Some brakes didn't work!
He also worked at the John Street Yard, on The Canadian, The Dominion and also the Amtrak to NYC. The one he liked best was putting The Canadian together. It was the best passenger train in Canada, but Via scrapped it. It cost about $40 million to build in about 1951. It was the best train to ride, especially through the Rockies.
Comment from IMc: My mother took us on The Canadian to Vancouver and back to visit my uncle in August 1960.
1960 was a good time for The Canadian. It left here with 10-12 coaches and stopped off at Sudbury where it met the Montreal train. They merged to run out west with 20 cars. It set off the Winnipeg sleeper there at 4 am, but let people sleep until morning.
It was an interesting job. He liked it, the old way. The modern way they want to do things too quickly. Back then you had to do some thinking. Nowadays computers do it for you.
You had to write out Rule 42s for track and working zones. The dispatcher radios to you, you write it, repeat it with the time, then the engineer repeats it with the time - very important. You might have anything out on the track.
Track: the sound used to be clickety clack, not ribbon rail. Doug liked the sound between the coaches. He hates ribbon rail. It saves money but he likes the clickety clack.
There was a revolving light on top of the leading unit. You could see it from the first dome car. From the first dome and 2-3 or 1-2 coaches. It was just a show piece. You could see it hit the trees and rocks.
Industries used to use trains. Now the railways tear up the tracks and let people use trucks. Track maintenance costs too much.
Big customers needed switching every day. Consumers Glass had 7-8 cars set up at Kipling Ave. Redpath Sugar at Queen's Quay got ships from Cuba carrying brown sugar.
Comment from DF: He had a tour of Redpath during Open Doors.
A drop on the railroad, a "running switch": You had an engine and a car, and needed to get the car at the other end. You needed one person on the hand brake, one on the pin, and one on the switch. It was dangerous with 2 men - one pulls the pin then climbs to the brake.
Cars used to have a "catwalk" on the roof.
John Street used to have freight sheds. You had to shove cars, one man on each end. Wooden cars used to sometimes fall apart, cars were swaying, you had to watch. Shoving from Parkdale Yard to Bathurst Street to John Street Yard, they had "cattails" hanging 150 yards ahead to warn you of bridges.
Doug worked for CPR 37 years and 11 months. He retired on a March 31st. He didn't want to keep on working because his knees were sore. You had to walk on cobblestones, back 100 axles to check the hotbox detectors. It wrecks legs and knees.
Just before he retired, he was on The Expressway from Toronto to Montreal. Going through Oshawa where the speed limit was 50 mph, a guy darted out. The train hit him, killed him. Doug called the dispatcher, Durham Police and the fire department. Then he had to walk 25-30 cars back. He just saw the guts and mangled head. He retired soon after that, but guys have lost their legs, especially in winter when it's so slippery.
Doug will have more to say another time.
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