Trains of Bygone Days – Part 1

Story #22 in the Harry Forbes Remembers Series

Several years ago we were at a campsite near Brooks. A sound that I had been familiar with in my growing up years suddenly came floating through the air, bringing memories of long ago days.

Over the wide open prairie, the clickety-clack, clickety-clack of wheels on tracks announced the approach of the train. The lonely piercing whistle, echoing across the land confirmed its arrival at a road crossing, or the little prairie town of Kincorth, Saskatchewan, or any one of countless other similar destinations.

The CPR owned the rail line that ran through our part of Saskatchewan; it came within two miles of our home, so the whistle was a very familiar sound. The trains were pulled by steam engines and needed a supply of water to generate that steam. Water tanks were situated at intervals along the tracks; they were on pedestals with a water well underneath or beside them. The workers knew the train schedules and would pump water into the tanks. When the train stopped, that water was transferred to the engine boiler by gravity force through a pipe. Thus there was no water left in the tank to freeze.There were four pillars supporting the Kincorth pumphouse that supplied water to the water tower. It was constructed in 1883.

Although the engine smoke-stack was covered with a screen, sparks did escape from the steam engine. The danger of setting wayside fires was great. To counteract this hazard, fireguards were plowed along each side of the right-of-way. This helped to a certain extent, but fires did occur at times. It didn’t take much for a spark to ignite the prairie grass. With winds as strong as they often were, the fireguard sometimes proved to be inadequate. The fire would race across the land, requiring quick and hard work for the men of the area to extinguish it.

Back then there were not as many kinds of train cars as there are now. These were the types of cars on freight trains. Box cars were closed in with doors on both sides carrying many types of goods including coal which had to be shovelled off by hand into a wagon box to be hauled to where it would be used. Grain cars were of two different sizes holding either 1200 or 1600 bushels of grain. Flat cars carried machinery as well as other items. Cattle cars were designed in a pattern similar to today’s stock trailers. There were no large trucks or tractor trailers as there are today. Anything that had to be hauled a distance went by train. The last car on the freight was the caboose where the train crew could rest and relax between duties. This car was equipped with a toilet that flushed out onto the rail bed. A fireman on the train kept the fire stoked so there was adequate steam to drive the train. An engineer operated the train. There was probably a switchman to switch the tracks when the train needed to be put on a siding.

Passenger trains were crewed by an engineer, fireman, conductor, mail sorters, dining car attendants and there may have been others. They were made up of an engine, a baggage car, a mail car, a dining car and passenger cars (that I’m told had uncomfortable seats and sleepers which could be lowered at night.) It probably cost a bit more if you wanted to use a sleeper. Also, each of these cars had one of those ‘modern’ toilets. Our family went to Minot, North Dakota in 1927. My sister, then 9 years old, was afraid to use the toilet because she could see the rail below as the train travelled and was afraid she might fall down through. That trip took about 18 hours. There would have been a diner, but our family of two adults and seven children certainly didn’t use it. Mom had packed food in a suitcase that was placed under a seat.

A trip from Maple Creek to Montreal took 4 days and 5 nights. My brother, as a young boy, with an adult friend, boarded the train at Kincorth to ride 7 miles to Hatton. His fare was 10 cents; his friend’s was 20 cents.

There were section houses placed about seven miles apart close to the line. These buildings housed the men who worked to keep the track in good repair. Their mode of travel for themselves and their tools along the railway tracks was hand-cars that were equipped with a type of handle on each side. A man on one side pushed his handle down, then one on the other side copied the action; thus alternate pumping propelled the car on the rails. They could stop and work wherever they pleased. A worker patrolled the line at all times on foot to check for possible problems. He probably started at one section house continuing to the next, and then another worker would do the following section. Many of the railway workers were immigrants from Europe, China and other countries. The section houses were their homes while they worked.

Mail was brought in on the passenger trains. There was a mail sorter on the train. If you mailed a letter in one town, to go to the next one, it would arrive when the train did. The local postman/mistress would have the outgoing mail at the railway station in a bag that was hung on an arm on an upright post. As the train moved past, a crew man poked a long hook out the window, caught the mailbag and took it inside where the mail was immediately sorted. The incoming mailbag was tossed out, to be taken to the post office for the mail to be distributed to the locals. Postage for a letter cost one cent, then rose to two cents where it stayed for some time. Eventually in increased to five cents and it’s been climbing ever since. It rose to 51 cents on January 1^st, 2006.

Much of our buying was from the Eaton’s or Simpson’s catalogues. An order sent to Winnipeg or Regina would be received back at our post office five or six days later. Now it takes a week and a half for a letter to come from Maple Creek to Spruce View, a distance of less that 40 miles.