Railroad Town

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Applause] [Applause] hello mrs. Fred David speaking to you from the locomotive cab of the CNRS new super Continental as we move wet right across the province of Saskatchewan at the throttle is veteran engineer boomer cart well who today completes 50 years of railroading that's half a century of service with Canadian National Railways boomer is a surprise 65 years of age and he's due now for retirement so this is his last trip very shortly now we'll be pulling into Melville Saskatchewan all community who is main purpose it is to serve the railroad we're stopping off at Malvo to talk to some of the people who make railroading their career just like boomer here for example [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the and [Music] [Applause] ah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] rather I want to meet my wife oh how did every time someone come up from rivers all the way with him in the last trip Oh lovely I hope you weren't too rough on it over the night ride you must be very proud of your husband mr. karge yes and be happy to have him home although I marry we have so many plans well then you're not going to be able to sit around do nothing book oh my god love the good but you're going to crack the whip on lawyer tricks well moving reader thanks mom you're changing for me thanks thanks Rob you must be Bob McGrath where we've been telling me about you nice to meet you ball so cool well we take over here doesn't call that's fine well I'll see you folks later okay my boy gotcha Ricky boy along Canadian railway main lines coast-to-coast there are spotted every 150 miles or so small communities like Melville Saskatchewan the reason for existence mainly is to serve and service the railway which in turn serves the surrounding area I was soon to learn that there was a good deal of activity in a railway divisional point like Melville one of my first contact here with Bert Turner was been with the CNR for 30 years where'd his general Carr former supervises the inspection repairs of all rolling stock which takes in all freight and passenger equipment [Applause] the switcheroo bread is making up a train for the north which is your concern for nuts indeed that just a matter of putting the cars together almost not quite that simple they have to put them in blocks so that they can take them off and in the immediate points without disturbing the whole train I noticed when the super was invert that to some men looking underneath what were they checking for and I'm looking for a defect in couplers back years wheeled things like that just the same as this fellas doing over here expecting the place closed for defects in the rails and last year in touch see Fred advice like Melville and make a thorough inspection of all rolling stock he's not wasting any time can they tell her that glance quit - everything's all right oh sure they come along and they can pick out defects and couplers or wheels or such things there are times when they can pick a defect or even see in them how's that possible I'll say Frances is a show on that wheel there that's a chipped out or broken flames or fed on the wheel and it's down on the bottom of the wheel where they can't see it from other symptoms on the truck such as breaky shiny brake hangers or trucks strings they could sell there's something wrong with that truck and it would look further underneath it I remember a conductor once saying that we were delayed by a hot box what's that bird why that's our job a fiction one down here why not sure you'll know if he fed this is the journal which is the end of the axle and it comes in to this the whole box here which is the journal box and it has placed an order level and if for some reason the oil doesn't get to the bearing and that's when you get a hot bearing that's the hot box that's right well there's certainly a lot to check is there concise but one of the reasons I came down here was to find out something about this easel ization program who could help me with that alright would be the road Foreman of engines Burton the key you'll find him on the other end of the yard in the nose [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] hey Johnny just for a minute I want to bring Fred baby stuff have a look around Oh seriously real food boy this sure looks complicated I hate to try to run one of these birds oh it's not such a fretting he could use good I guess I could shovel the cooler than here a rarity wouldn't have to worry about that hair Fred well we're converted all leased at Holborn agented oil burners oh there was sign of a steam locomotive burning oil there's a big advantage I would definitely in what way well from an economical standpoint we find it much cheaper any better for refueling well with their own coal burning pipe life 65 miles without refueling and yet to stop for more coal that's Christ but with these why we make about 135 miles once so a steam locomotive has a major overhaul how far can it go well this type of an engine it's a check after each trip and we get about 75 thousand miles before a major overhaul our your new diesel is much better than that oh there's no comparison Wow they have their periodical Molly checks but we get close to a million miles million about a major overhaul that works out to about 10 times as much as the steam living yes that's right it should be pretty proud of that I guess we sure are would you like to see one of our loom diesel locomotives sure would come on oh my take a look at run time Oh first yeah it was anybody's mind if I blew this whistles now help yourself Fred okay is that the whistle chain that's just full of dough [Music] thanks very much dying happy now Fred that's helping to write home about that right and comforting the cab like this apart is the principle of a decent locomotive pretty much the same as any diesel engine like in a truck for example what's similar Fred only the diesel engine on this local model generates the electricity oh that's the electricity that actually drives the train is it I Oh what about all these controls are they very complicated very simple Fred come on over here and I'll show you how to our operation showing you how to run this thing in one Angela this is your control panel Fred Ollie's which is pertaining to the movement of this local model this your headlight switch control switch generator field switch fuel pump switch mr. Jeff Ross red-listed my cutter in well that's certainly powerful enough isn't it now we have an attendant Collier when we want our helpers up from the engine room all I do is probably mow and they come a-runnin that's right where's the throttle Burt this is final here at eight positions of it when you've got it wide open how fast will it go great locomotive 65 miles an hour and a half there local auto fret order around 90 oh how about these two levers here those your airbags Fred this is your independent brake valve for the control of your locomotive and this is your automatic brake valve with all of your clean is there any kind of a an automatic cut out Burt and like they have on streetcars you know if the operators say faint sir takes a heart attack is there something that will stop everything oh yes you mean the dead man control Fred that's a dead man it must be held on at all times this pedal is allowed to come up everything stops and your crane goes into emergency see I remember the old days of taking steam locomotives over mountains if you had a particularly long haul sometimes they put on two or three locomotives can you do that with a diesel oh yeah we can do that come on I'll show you how it's done [Applause] [Applause] not actually Fred this represents two locomotives if we require more power all we got to do is sneak on another human now this was steam power we would require an engine crew on each locomotive that's the beauty of diesel we can put as many units as we like on do and the control will fill me from a leading cab on the front unit with one engine crew operating well tell me birthday has been many layoffs as a result of its diesel ization there may be a queue laid off in a large city for the major overhaul in this done well I imagine this changeover has been pretty gradual with you saber yes Fred very gradual we've been at this program now for I think eight years mr. 25-year program as who knows we may never complete it so probably some other type of power I mean literally much superior to the diesel that new diesel horn hasn't very much character bridge I imagine a lot of people will be sorry to see the old steam whistle disappear that's right Fred but we're working on that problem right now oh and the tractor developed the horn sounds close the old steam locomotive which looks possible isn't that amazing yeah hi hi your call bond over here remember that 400 extra 35 75 each fine another 19 o'clock okay okay mom dad I think red needs using green to you oh yeah like aren't your in down red though got to meet you they told me you've got quite an unusual railroad family here oh yeah just about enough to make up a whole train cellphone practice ice on Bucky's engineer Curley Morgan Housel is 52 years old he's feeling pretty good these days because after 22 years of railroading next week he's due to take over the passenger run 15 years now he's been an engineer at the controls of crates before that for seven years he was a fireman his son Ted is a brakeman hope someday to be a conductor oh yeah hi everybody Curly's eldest boy puck is a fireman and eventually will be an engineer like his dad he's been working all night and part of the day bringing in a freight from rivers Manitoba on its way west buck will have tonight at home and be going out again late tomorrow both these boys will spend several years in freight service before their seniority gives them a regular passenger run and then only if they have accident free records and perfect health Curley what is this fascination the railroad holds for people how do you feel about it well a friend when I was a boy I used to go down around the railroad and watch the engines and the trains see them going out on their journeys and thought that someday I would want to do that and I did I guess now it's that every trip is different each one kind of an adventure in itself the kind of a challenge of getting your train over the road safely and on time yes I guess there would be a lot of satisfaction in that well mrs Morgan how do you feel about having four railroaders in the family I think it's just fine but they really keep me going kid goes out about quarter to 7:00 tonight back around five o'clock in the morning their dad is just going out now and Jim will be coming in anytime which reminds me I better be getting to work say Fred I'll just come down to the I meet my conductor Bill Bellamy Bob - I hope I see you folks again thanks very much with Morgan my son Jim Jimmy sir Fred Davis IDMS it's going that the overview dead let me see you around eh hi Kim hi mom [Music] [Applause] [Music] melville Saskatchewan railroad town population 4,500 there's some mixed farming in the area some small local businesses but over half the community directly dependent on the railroad for its lively [Applause] train orders per Melville our phone through by the dispatcher in Saskatoon 191 miles west in the Melville train order office the operator typed out the orders and for a cross-check another operator also copies out the orders at an intermediate point on the line each intern then reads the message back to the dispatcher a train can't move until the proper orders have been cleared by the dispatcher these explained any reductions in speed a number of stops any changes in departure times and so on by you not piano yet Mineo mi mi j JP railway clocks are regulated by daily time signals from Ottawa and Montreal even split seconds are considered in the interests of efficiency and safety when the engineer and conductor book on duty they check their watches with the master clock at the terminal and note down any variations in time later they check watches with the rest of the crew if a watch is out more than 30 seconds it must be sent in for adjustment immediately all watches must be inspected at least once a month the engineer and conductor received duplicate copies of each train order issued at the beginning of a trip and at the first stop after new orders have been issued each reads his copy of the order to the other allow the engineers signs the conductor's copy and the latter signs the engineers to certify that this double check has been carried out the firemen and Trainmen are also required to read every order aloud and to question any point they don't understand thus every train crew member possesses full knowledge and if necessary can act on his own initiative to see that the orders are carefully follow polish I number too late this look as if it's going to be kind of a small trip Phil laughs it doesn't look too good when you have to run slow like this that means that them you fellas can collect overtime overtime no we don't get paid overtime where we work on a mileage basis our system of pay is complicated I guess the easiest way to explain it is that we worked with a mile not by the hour how does its work out is that a good system well well it has his good points in this way that a young man entering the service he has to have actually worked himself up and he takes the poor run longer hours is longer getting his miles in and as he acquires the annuity he's able to bid on the better run and faster friends and he's home longer and Polly possibly has a little more technical fish let's check our watches ville I have 15 o'clock and 35 seconds no well that's just five seconds fast as me early I guess that's close that's right okay well Fred I'd better climb aboard it's been a pleasure just met you Thank You girlie good luck on your trip you I'll be with you in a couple of minutes Kelly I gotta go over to the $1 I would like to come over to the yard Amish Fred and meet our mayor your mayor yes his name is Ray Billy he's our yard master for a couple of days and the rest of the time he fills in stretching and the spare time is our mayor all over me I'd like to the grand race engineer Lester did you get that tactic on Yahoo clock 22:15 you're an office no he's not here any minute office but all oh well that's uh sorry just kept you waiting Fred but I'm too busy around here lately oh that's okay mr. Bailey I was just wondering what this board man here well that's what we call our crew board gives the record of all the different men working out of here so each card represents a man on duty yeah must have a tremendous amount of traffic pass through here today yes some days we have as high as twenty trains a day and we have run while the thousand tiresome here in 24 hours most of the power broken-down and diverted here some going east west north hello mr. Bailey I've noticed on some of your CNR freights going by that got cars from all over the continent from places like Santa Fe in the states and other companies I wonder if you keep track of all these cars well Fred each car must be accompanied by a widow on that level states where the car is from where it's going to and the contents for example a speed train coming in here from the West and there's cars taken off going north the conductor's come into the art office receive their labels and they must check each way bill against each car on their train to make sure that each car goes to the proper destination Jerrod Ava's yeah he's here how are you doing though yeah yeah I can tell him okay sure that was they'll cv the Roadmaster Fred he's going out on a track inspection you would like to go along for the right I think we can get special permission or rather be wonderful I guess I'd better run thanks very much for spit all right Fred you're quite welcome role I have find them dead you mean out in a minute I'll show you where to meet him well how do you like those convertible this will be right on that's it it should be something it is Oh it'll do about 30 miles an hour and still stay on the tracks oh yeah Del's a good driver he should be along here any minute incidentally Ted what's your job here I'm a cop a cop Oh local police no really I'm a member of the CNR investigation department well if you don't wear a uniform does that mean you're off-duty not necessarily according to the job that we're working for what would your duties be here or a number of things protection a company property and goods in transit we're all qualified to render first aid and assistance to travelers about transients you'll find people trying to help rides on crates oh the odd one but the day is a hobo in the jungle there passed I guess those how those are pretty colorful I think and probably now about stealing and pilfering I think it would be a tough job to try to knock off a boxcar it is but it surprised you the number of things that can disappear somebody is on the lookout [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] different battles crawling up behind you [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hi right are things going pretty good we have surface two-and-a-half holes so far that's good anything you need yeah the next time you come out with you can bring me out of coil well if you'll take my car let's go off there and turn it around I'll go in and get it for you now okay I'll do that [Applause] how much tracker you're responsible for Dell six to five miles know all too well be this you know is the main line of the CNR and there are about Oh 20 trains a day roll over and it takes a lot of pounding I'll bet that could happen to a rail for example or it could go out a surface out of the line or it might be even damaged or broken now that gang next one are changing out a bad rail today what's that quite a tough job yes it is the old sections got to be taken out the new and put in and they weigh about 1300 pounds Oh what happens if if you've got a train coming along either way and you've got one of those sections out well that's all taken care of you send a flagman out 2,000 yards and he puts down torpedoes and when the train comes along why it blows those torpedoes and that one's the engine and I say but Roy coming back yes it is [Applause] [Applause] since I've been in Melville I've certainly learned that once railroading gets in your blood it's there to stay boomer Cardwell is a good example of that retired only a matter of days most evenings you'll find them down to the station watching the train and that's pretty much the way it seems to be now to subscribe Dave is saying goodbye from Melville Saskatchewan where the trains go through night and day the year-round thanks to such people is lcv early morgan boomer Cardwell and all the other dedicated railroaders across the country [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: NFB

Views: 129,845

Rating: 4.9018407 out of 5

Keywords: Don Haldane, railroad, train, Canadian National Railways, Fred Davis, Melville, Saskatchewan, CBC, documentary, transportation

Id: lBPgUSa18_8

Length: 29min 25sec (1765 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2017