Canadian Northern Society
P.O.
Box 142, Big Valley, Alberta T0J 0G0
Dominion of Canada
Telephone: +1 403 876 2242
|
Canadian Northern Society
P.O.
Box 142, Big Valley, Alberta T0J 0G0
Dominion of Canada
Telephone: +1 403 876 2242
|
| Canadian Northern Society
P.O. Box 142, Big Valley, Alberta T0J 0G0 Dominion of Canada Telephone: +1 403 876 2242 |
For the staff and volunteers at the Camrose station and tea room, this summer has been vary busy, far beyond expectations. The Tea Room is doing a brisk business, and the garage sale receipts were $655.10, thanks to many volunteer helpers: Robbie O’Riordan, who coordinated the sale, Dorothy Lysons, Eloice Campbell, Gladys Taranger, Helen Kitchen, Nancy Mugford, and Rhonda Mckowsky.
The Old-Fashioned Garden Party was a wonderful success. We sold 110 tickets, and along with our music groups, their families, and our volunteers, around 150 people attended. We had much community support. Atco Gas donated the food tent. They put it up and took it down. The Co-op donated many of the food ingredients. Town and Country Rentals donated large coffee pots for the day. The local papers carried stories and much free advertising. The Norsemen put the ad for the event free on their Read-O-Graph. We had a team of volunteers who assisted with baking and the day’s events: special mention to Carol and Murray Roy who spent many hours assisting as well as promoting the event. Other volunteers were: Dorothy Lysons, Nancy and Tim Mugford, Norm and Cheryl Prestage, Ken Morrison, Norm Taylor, Carolyn and Frank Fleury, Sheila Morgan and Leo Gerard, Ester Pack, Elma Falk, Karen and Shawn Smith. We were entertained by three music groups who donated four hours of music as well as many practice hours. They were co-ordinated by Morley Riske. The Beaverhill Brass, the Baroque House Music, and The Swing Band played music from the era prior to the 1940s. Jeff Stranquist entertained with prairie cowboy poetry. The new gazebo was an appropriate setting for our entertainers. We took in $952 for the day. Many people did dress in period clothing and we had many visitors who had not been to the station before.
The monies from the garage sale and the party are for the roof restoration. The Alberta Historical Resources Foundation have approved paying for half of the restoration cost: $20 000. The roof has now been shingled with red cedar shingles and paid for.
The Jack Stuart kindergarten classes (41 children) and 20 parent helpers had a field day at the station on July 12. The day included old-fashioned games, pump car rides, toy train play, making cookies, singing railway songs, railway stories, sack and three-legged races. The children ended their day watching the video The Little Engine That Could. We also hosted a similar half-day program for a class on July 19. The children pay $4 per child for the day. This is a great awareness event for younger adults in our community, who come to assist with programming.
A new section dealing with an important chapter of CN’s history has just been added to the company’s web site. This new section is about CNR Radio, Canada’s first coast-to-coast radio network, which was the predecessor of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
CNR Radio was the brainchild of Sir Henry Thornton, CN’s second president (1922/32)—a visionary and highly skilled transportation executive. By setting up a radio network, CN could use this new medium to reach a new public and promote itself to the country.
This chapter of CN’s history also illustrates the commercial and political battles being waged by Canada’s two railroads.
“Some of our older employees may be familiar with this chapter of CN’s history,” says Jane Hnatchuk, an information specialist in the company’s business research centre. They might recall how in that particular era the Canadian rail industry was really innovative, and that it had a tremendous influence on the lives of people around the country in many ways. Younger people will be able to discover a fascinating history that clearly illustrates the major role that CN played in Canada’s history—in terms of communications and not just transportation.
By Norm Corness
Forty years ago this coming October, a fan trip that was to be
the swan song of the steam locomotive in this area took place when
4-6-2 J-4-d class Engine 5144 took 400 people to Camrose and back,
October 28, 1961. Earlier in the spring, the Alberta Model
Railroaders, a group of only nine members, approached the
CNR officials about a fan trip when they learned that
5114 was being overhauled and spruced up for display at
Athabasca’s 50th anniversary—coinciding
with the 50th anniversary of the CNR
arriving in Athabasca. Engine 5114 had been loaned to the NAR along with 5115 and
5104, and served there until the end of steam in 1960. Engine 5104
took the last passenger train to Peace River in May of 1960, and
5115 was involved in the head-on collision at Carbondale on
November 10, 1959. I photographed 5115 in all its
splendour in front of the diesel shop in Calder on August 1, 1961,
ready for its trip to Athabasca. Shortly after its return, 5114
was put on show at 104 Avenue and 104 Street on September 9 and
10.
About this time, plans were finalized for the fan trip to Camrose on October 28 contingent on at least 300 tickets being sold. As it turned out, over 400 passengers were accomodated with more than 100 being turned away. The train pulled a generator car, a baggage car (for tape-recording people), eight coaches, and a business car for CN executives. Souvenirs were handed out aboard the train. The model club prepared a booklet, the CNR provided sample train orders and a special ticket, and the Camrose Canadian distributed a special edition of the paper. Most, if not all, of these artifacts are in the APRA archives.
An unscheduled stop was made near New Sarepta when it was discovered that only one of the two injectors, which bring water from the tender to the boiler, would operate. This was a concern should this too fail to work. It turned out that someone had forgotten to open the tender tank shut-off valve to the hose bags thus rendering that injector, the engineman’s, inoperative.
At Armena, anyone that wished to disembarked and the
train backed down the track about a mile before coming forward at
high speed belching black smoke from excessive oil feed to give
the bystanders a photo “run past.”
In
Camrose, the fire department graciously refilled the tender before
the engine was turned around on the wye.
After a tour of the town and a
lovely chuckwagon dinner, accompanied by two bands, at the Agricutural
Building courtesy of the Chamber of
Commerce, the train departed for home at 15:10. A petition was
signed on the way home asking the CNR to keep 5114
around for future fan trips. Camrose expressed a concern and interest
in buying the locomotive for display and some Edmonton businessmen
suggested it should be bought privately or the city buy it for future
use.
All requests for retention of 5114 in this area proved
fruitless as she was sent to Winnipeg for demolition before the
end of the year. It was learned a few years later that 5114 was
still on death row pending review of the many requests for her to
be displayed in their city. Even the APRA, or CRHA
Rocky Mountain Branch, put in their request. We learned that Melville, a CN divisional point, was first on the
list. It turned out that Melville did get 5114 for display. I photographed 5114 again on August 13, 1992, 31
years later, in Melville. It was in terrible shape and not
becoming a railway town. The headlight and number plate were
missing and the windows broken. I understand this has been
improved since that date. Let’s hope so. Engine 5114
deserves better.