Plumbing the “Wright” Way

Being out of work was new for me, and I had to find something to do in the mean time to pay for my room and board and other necessities of life. I had some money saved to tide me over for a while, but I knew it would not last forever. I had a friend named Keith who was a third-year apprentice in the pipe shop at Ogden, he was fed up with railway and wanted to find a job in his trade on the outside. I was with Keith when he went for an interview at a plumbing shop on McLeod Trail; it was called A.R. Wright, Plumbing and Heating Ltd. I sat out side while Keith went for his interview with the owner Art Wright, the interview went well and Keith would start as a second-year apprentice. Mr. Wright saw me sitting there outside his office and asked Keith if I was looking for work too Keith asked me and I said sure, why not. So I was hired on as a first-year apprentice plumber and gas fitter a start of a new career.

A Farewell to Ogden Shops

In the spring of 1966, I developed some health problems with rheumatoid arthritis; I ended up in the Calgary General Hospital for about three months. I was away from work for about five months total, and was covered by benefits from the Sun Life Insurance let the CPR provided us with as part of our collective agreement between the railway and the Sheet-Metal Workers International Association. The first few months I worked at Ogden I lived at home and road the Calgary Transit System buses to work, to do this. I had to get up at 06:00 in the morning have breakfast that my mother prepared, and walk three blocks to the bus stop on 33rd Ave. SW to catch the South Calgary bus Route 7 downtown to 1st St SW in front of the Hudson Bay Store and cross the street to catch the Ogden bus Route 24 that took me to the front gates of the Ogden shops. I learned from one of my coworkers Gary, who lived in Altadore of a carpool he rode in. Eric, who was a foreman on the Rip track, drove the car; he drove a 1959 Chevy and charged three of us a dollar a week to pay for gas. I'd tell you, this guy was really cheap, he had clear plastic seat covers to protect the upholstery, and in the cold winter weather you just about froze your butt off sitting on the seats, as he never turned the heater on. He would turn the heater on, only enough to defrost the windshield, he had some kind of perverted idea that if you used your heater the battery would wear out sooner.

I finally had enough of carpooling, and I moved to Ogden, a friend of mine who was a machinist apprentice lived at home in Lynnwood, and his mother and father, who worked as a machinist helper on the scrap dock, had room for a boarder. This was great way only lived about eight blocks from the shops so I could walk there in the morning in about 15 minutes. I never was a morning person, and remember going to work and being about a block away from the shop gates when the 08:00 whistle blew, also at this time the CPR's Dominion would arrive from the East. The Dominion was the CPR's second transcontinental train, it looked pretty sharp in it's CPR livery of the units in their color scheme of gravy, yellow, and Tuscan red, followed by the baggage car, day coaches, dining car, and sleepers all finished in Tuscan red. Unfortunately like me, this trains days were numbered.

When I started working at Ogden Shops in 1965. I was paid $1.35 an hour, Journeyman made $2.70 an hour. Tradesmen working in construction were making about $5.00 an hour. A case of beer was $2.75; cigarettes were $.36 for a package of 20, and $.45 for a package of 25. You could throw one dollar in your gas tank and drive around all night. My first car was a 1947 Dodge four-door sedan, when it wore out. I bought a 1955 Chevrolet, two-door sedan.

I had two years service in when it happened in November 1967, business was slow then on the CPR and this resulted in a reduction in staff. I had my two years, and I figured I would be safe from the layoffs, but I was wrong. It looked like our griever would have to work midnights in the hook shop, so he arranged it for me to get laid-off so he could stay on day shift in the locomotive shop. So in November of 1967 I left the service of the CPR due to a reduction in staff. The layoff looked like it would last for about three months and hopefully I would return then, but fate had other ideas for my future.

The Load Test

I've posted a photograph taken at the Load Test this was a stub track located between the North side of the Locomotive Shop and the Foundry. When locomotives were rebuilt at Ogden they had to go through extensive testing before they were released back to active service. In a complete overhaul, the locomotive diesel engine would be completely overhauled and rebuilt, on the electrical side. The main generator and traction motors on each axle received the same restoration. The locomotive was started up and brought out to the Load Test and tested under simulated load conditions, by the machinists and electricians. The 7070 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1948, and in this photograph taken in 1961 is in its Canadian Pacific block lettering and Tuscan red, gray, and yellow paint scheme. The locomotive Model number was DS4-4-1000, which classed it as a Diesel Switcher 4 Wheels on one truck and 4 Wheels on the other truck, and rated at 1000 Hp. I have seen a photograph of her in active service at Port Coquitlam, British Columbia in May 1975 painted in the CP Rail color scheme. In the picture the 7070 has all hatch doors open and the Machinist Duane on the front end would be checking for any leaks from the diesel engine block. The engine would be run through all eight-throttle positions for hour after hour. I remember going out there one day on an engine being tested that did not have all the sheet metal reinstalled in the locomotive cab, we finished our work and left in short order. I sure wouldn't want to work out there hour after hour with throttle in the eighth notch position.

I remember that they also did a road test, my best friend, Jimmy was a machinist apprentice and I went for a ride with him on a B unit one day. We traveled down to the north end of shops compound and out onto the yard lead that ran besides the shops. Jimmy had a flagging kit and stayed on the ground to protect this movement with a red flag, track torpedoes, and red fusees if necessary. B units have no operating cab, but they do have operating controls and the operator, usually a machinist foreman could look out the circular porthole window on the side of the locomotive. With the track clear ahead for three quarters of a mile the foreman could open up a throttle and see how locomotive performed going forward and backwards. This was a dangerous practice as there was quite a curve in the track and a yard movement, or a train coming in from the east could show up at any time. When the locomotive had passed all its tests it would be released to the shops at Alyth, and the switch crew from the yard would take the locomotive along with any other rolling stock lead had been released.

The switch crew started their daily duties inside the Ogden Shops there was a yardmaster who worked there and gave them their daily list of the duties they had to do. The crew consisted of a locomotive engineer, yard foreman, and helper. The duties were fairly light so the job went quite high on the seniority list. There was also a lucrative sideline they were engaged in, there was a working man's bar called the Shamrock Hotel in East Calgary and a bookie worked out of there. The working men at the shops like to gamble on the horse races, so there was different places around the facility, where a boilermaker, machinist, electrician, or carman working a job in a stationary location would collect money for the bets. While one of the crew on the ground would do the work required with the locomotive engineer, the other crew member would go around and collect all the money for the bets and would go to the Shamrock early in the afternoon to see the bookie and place all the bets. This had been going on for many years on tell the city police busted the bookie and the game was over.

The No. 1 Car Shop, Rip Track, and Farm

In this photograph on the left side we can see the steel framework of the No.1 Car Shop with some service cars in the foreground, they were probably being used for offices and lunchrooms for the workers.this shop also had a tin shop, where they did repairs on cabooses, and the other rolling stock that had sheet-metal. As part of my apprenticeship, after two years, I would've gone to work in this tin shop for two years. All the other apprentices would have to serve two years in the back shops such as Alyth in Calgary, or Nelson in British Columbia. In the middle we can see the fence on the eastern side of the property. And on the right side we can see the south end of the Planning Mill. The track, where the service cars are standing later became the Rip Track, Rip stands for "Repair in place" and was used for light repairs that could be done outside the Car Shop. The Farm is tracks in the yard north of the Car Shop; they were used for cutting up obsolete rolling stock, destined for the scrap yard. You can see this in the photograph of cars being cut up with a torch that I have posted above. I also posted a picture of a Royal Hudson heading for the scrap line. We use to go down to the Farm to salvage sheet-metal from some of the cars being scrapped, for projects we were working on around the shops to help keep the price down.

The Ogden Station and Hotel

Here I've posted a photograph showing the Ogden Station, which looks to me not much more than a sectionmen's bunkhouse with a train order signal on the roof. There is also an excellent view of the old Beanery and Apprentice School and the opening in the fence that became the main gate into the shops. at this gate was a square wooden structure where the CPR police worked out of they were armed with revolvers, and besides guarding the entrance to the shops, they made regular patrols of the compound when no shifts were working on the weekends, and holidays. When I first started hanging out in Ogden we walked down the CPR's main line a little further north from where this picture was taken and still standing was a derelict roadmaster's house.

In the second picture I have posted shows a view of the Ogden Hotel under construction, with two floors showing. The building was finished with a third-floor and became a popular place to stay for people living in doing business in the Ogden area. During World War I, the hotel was donated for the war effort and became a convalescent hospital bill about 1919. It then reverted back to a hotel owned by the Calgary Brewery who owned many hotels in Alberta to distribute their product. In 1935, the building was taken over by the Alberta Government and became a Single Men’s Hostel until around 1969 when a new Hostel was opened downtown, and the building was sold. It was then renamed Alyth Lodge and rented out rooms by the month; there was a pool hall on the main floor, with the restaurant and the back.

A funny thing happened at the sandblast:

Here is a funny story I must tell you a couple of friends of mine worked at Ogden in the 1970s. They had a job sandblasting the interiors of hopper cars; this was done outside the South of the No. 2 Coachshop. They had to climb into the top of the cars through a hatchway on the roof. There was a ladder that descended into the bottom of the car down there they would drag a hose with a steel nozzle on the end and open a valve to sandblast the interior surface of the car that would be coated with the residue of the product they carried, such as cement and fertilizer. One would sandblast, and the other one would stay out side to feed sand into the compressor. They would take turns doing this during their shift, changing off every two hours, one day Jess had a brilliant idea, why not tie the hose down at the top of the ladder turn on the nozzle, start up the compressor and let the hose do all the work. They tried it out the hose was swaying around like a serpent possessed, it worked great the two of them could then have a nap as they worked unsupervised and as long as their quota of cars were done for the day who cared. Then one afternoon, they awoke from their nap to find sand shooting out of the side of the car they were working on low wall of the car was made of steel 3/8 of an inch thick, what had happened was the hose got stuck in one of the rungs of the ladder and for two hours the sand was sprayed on the same spot, which eventually wore a hole through the steel. This was their last shift at Ogden.

The No. 2 Coachshop

Above is a picture of a No. 2 Coach Shop when it was under construction, to the east outside of the fence surrounding the shops you can see tents were the construction workers lived. It looks like there is a gate where the workers could access the construction site of the structure. The shop has 15 bays to work on the CPR's fleet of passenger coaches; the structure with the smoke coming out of its chimney is a temporary structure that was probably used by the construction engineers and draftsmen. To the east of this building and past the railway gondola to the end of shop, a transfer table was built. Coaches entering the shop came onto the table on the center track where the gondola is sitting, and from there the transfer table traveled on rails to any doorway, and the coach would be moved in to the shop for its overhaul. The coaches would be stripped of paint, and seats would be removed for reupholstering, and any other repairs would be done to the running gear and air brakes. The coaches would be repainted, and refurbished, and moved out of the shop on the transfer table to return to service. At the time I worked at Ogden, the passenger era was in its twilight, many passenger trains were abolished, for lack of business. The automobile and airlines had taken their toll on these trains, and many jobs were lost.

I have posted some pictures of a transferred table I took at Ogden, Utah in 1999. This transfer table was attached to a Southern Pacific locomotive shop that was about to be torn down, not much left just the rusted rails and tumbleweeds. The two small steam locomotives were being loaded onto flat cars and shipped to Arizona. You can see by the amount of wheels, and rails, this was a heavy-duty transfer table for the Southern Pacific's big steam locomotives.

The Powerhouse and Planning Mill Conclusion

photograph by Walter Kot

I have attached a picture of the Powerhouse that was taken in 1961; it shows the sheet metal pipe coming from the Planning Mill to feed shavings to the boilers. We worked in the Powerhouse doing maintenance; one job I remember was running an exhaust pipe from one of the compressors out the east wall of the compressor room. One day, our foreman Ed came up to me and my Journeyman Bob, and one other Apprentice named Rod. He took us outside of the tin shop, through the doors located at the middle of the north side of the shop. On the ground, beside the doors, was a sheet of metal door on the ground that opened up and there was a steel ladder that took us down to a tunnel. This tunnel ran underneath the Locomotive Shop to the south side, and northward to the Powerhouse it was 7 feet high and about 5 feet across. The tunnel contained an 8-inch steam pipe, a 5-inch water supply line, and a 3-inch airline from the compressors. The streamline was insulated with asbestos, and wrapped in cotton fabric. Our work assignment was to strip off all the old installation and renew it with new installation. We were given little masks made of plastic with renewable filters, and using a saw we cut through the old installation, and with a utility knife we cut through the cotton jacket around the installation. To renew the installation, we had boxes of new asbestos insulation that was profiled in the half circular sections to fit around the 8-inch steam pipe. We secured the installation with metal bands, and then wrapped the outside of the installation with cotton fabric that was glued and whitewashed. The first day we stripped and re-insulated about 30 feet of pipe. Our foreman, Ed came down the next day to see how we were progressing, he was quite surprised and did not expect us to have so much work done. So we took what he said, as a sign to slow down, which we did. We would wrap a few feet of pipe in the morning, and the rest of the day we relaxed. We had plywood boards that we set on top of the water line that ran about 18 inches off of the ground on the other side of the tunnel, there was a small concrete ledge that ran along the wall, so it made a perfect place to lie down. We also occupied our time by playing cards, reading books, or just sitting there shooting the breeze. We would come up for our half an hour lunch break, and told all our coworkers how hot and miserable. It was working down there. At the rate we went, the job took us three months to complete, this is the time that our foreman had been allotted to finish the assignment. The one thing I did notice on my mask at the end of the day, there were lots of small crystals of asbestos on the filter. That was over 40 years ago, and I am no worse for wear, my lungs are in great shape. There was one story we heard about the tunnel in the early years after the shop was built, there was an exit where we worked, but there was no way to get out on the south end by the electricians shop. They say there were workmen down there at that time. When the steam line burst, and there was no way for them to escape, when they were found after the steam was shut off they were cooked like chickens, so the legend goes.

The Powerhouse and Planning Mill Continued

Before I continue with the Powerhouse and Planning Mill, I would like to talk about a postcard. I found recently it shows an overview of the shops layout looking southward. In the middle of the card is the Locomotive Shop, and behind the Locomotive Shop on its left-hand side is the "L" shaped Tender and Wheel Shop. The yellow building in the middle would be the Pattern Shop, and to its right side is the Foundry. You can see the upright steel beams that support the Scrap Dock Crane to the West of the Foundry. The two small buildings West of the Foundry and Crane would probably be the Oil House that was used to store flammable material such as kerosene, varsol, and paint thinners. The other building might have been used to store red and yellow fusees, and track torpedoes that were used in flagging kits that were used on trains to protect The building west the Administration Building and Stores was the Beanery and Apprentice School, this building was sitting derelict when I started, and soon after, was demolished. The building in front of the Locomotive Shop I do not recognize, it was probably never built. The Planning Mill was built more in line with the Powerhouse. Looking East of the Water Tower Is the No. 2 Coach Shop where passenger coaches were rebuilt, and reupholstered. The building right of the Powerhouse outside the shops fence line is the Ogden Station, you can see a little westbound passenger train has departed the station and will be going into Calgary Station. The large building north of the Powerhouse is the No. 1 Freight Car Repair Shop.

Powerhouse and Planing Mill

Before I talk about the Powerhouse and Planning Mill there are two other structures. I wanted to mention first, on the north side of the Locomotive Shop there was a 75 foot building called the Lagging Shed. It was partially used for storage in its 25 foot enclosed part, and the 50 foot open timber beam part of the building was used for storing the asbestos lagging they used for insulating the steam locomotive boilers in the steam era. The other building is a three bay building and office that housed the shops Volunteer Fire Department, it was manned by workers who lived in the Ogden area, and if a fire broke out they would respond to whistle signals that came from the Powerhouse. The Powerhouse was located about a city block and one half north of Locomotive Shop. The Powerhouse has 9,865 square feet in area; it had a 200-foot concrete reinforced smokestack, and a 125,000-gallon water tank that was erected on a 75 foot steel tower. It began its life with five 350 hp boilers. In my time it had two boilers made by Babcock, and Wilcox, they supplied all the steam for the Locomotive Shop, Wheel Shop, No. 1 Car Shop, No.2 Coach Shop's fan rooms. Steam radiators heated the rest of the buildings. It also had steam driven compressors to supply air for all the tools used in the shops. And of course, it had the Ogden Whistle, which was sounded at 8 a.m. when the day shift started, at lunchtime at 12 o'clock, and at the end of the day shift at 4 p.m. The Planning Mill was located about 200 feet north of the Powerhouse. It had all modern machinery installed for milling lumber, but was still in use in 1967. There was narrow gauge railway I'm guessing 1 1/2 feet across that brought all the rough lumber on carts that were brought to a the different machines located throughout the Mill where they would be planned, route red, an other milling that was required a pipe, about 18 inches in diameter that ran into one of the boilers in the powerhouse, so all the wood shavings were used to help supply heat to the boilers, which now ran on natural gas. I imagine the first boilers would have coal fired. More on the Powerhouse tomorrow.a new

The Scrap Dock, Stores, and Administrative Offices

The Scrap Dock and Stores Department

The Scrap Dock has an area of 4400 square feet. The Stores Department and Administrative Offices is a building is 262 feet by 60 feet for an area 30,240 square feet. The Scrap Dock was located in between the Locomotive Shop, and the Stores Department and there is a track that runs along the platform of the Stores dock, and there is another dock and track on the Westside of the Stores building. There is more trackage that runs between the locomotive shop, and the scrap dock crane, this takes you to the foundry, and two other plants located outside of the shops acreage. I remember working during summer shutdown, the month of July, in 1967. There was only a skeleton shift, and most of the employees were on holidays. This one particular day in July I will never forget. The CPR had purchased a number of Hydraulic Switchers in the early 1960s these locomotives had their cab in the middle, a diesel engine and transmission on each end. They were lightweight locomotives that the CPR hoped to use on some of their light branch lines, they were not too successful as they were not able to pull many loads, and they were constantly breaking down especially with two transmissions. A lot of them were sold off to lumber yards and other small plants. Ogden shops had one No.13 if my memory serves me right. Anyways on one day, the Works Manager decided to play locomotive engineer and was running old No.13 from the Car Shops down to the Foundry. He was going a fair clip of about 30 mph when he was approaching the locomotive shop he did not notice that the track switch was lined for Pit One and not for the clear track that ran between the scrap dock crane and the locomotive shop. The results were disastrous, and there was a locomotive sitting outside of pit one and he ran into it with such force that it knocked the locomotive through the doors of pit one and in to another locomotive that was sitting inside. Fortunately, with summer shutdown and there was nobody working around this area sown there are no injuries that were reported. I've pasted a picture of a similar engine No 19.

The Stores Department was a large warehouse that distributed materials all over the CPR's Western Region. Anything from Adzes to Zippered Welders Overalls you name it. They had it or could get it, a lot of the work we did in the tin shop was store orders, oil cans, funnels, traction motor shims, and stainless steel stairs for Dayliners of all manufactured in the shops. The Administration Office had two stories on the front of the Stores Department the Works Manager, Chief Clerk, and other clerks had their offices on the main floor. On the second floor was a drafting office, and there they made blueprints for changes around the shops, and for tools, bolts, and any changes in paint on rolling stock for the paint shop.

The Pattern Shop and Foundry

The Pattern Shop and Storage is a building 31' x 162' total square feet 5022. It was used in the steam era by Pattern Makers who made wooden patterns for the foundry. If a part of a steam locomotive needed replacing a wooden pattern of it would be made up by the pattern makers, and then sent to the foundry, where it would be placed in a box of sand which would be tamped around the pattern to take its shape. Molten cast-iron would be then poured into sand mold, and a replacement part would be made. In my time, the pattern shop was used for storage, and a lot of wooden patterns were still there. The Foundry is a building 80' x 203' total area in square feet 16,240 and as I mentioned before. It was used to make cast-iron, brass, and bronze components for the steam engines. During the diesel era it was converted to a shop, where diesel engines for Rail Diesel Cars, (RDC's or Dayliners). It also had a department where meat hooks were plated with tin, which was tinsmith’s work. The meat hooks were used in refrigerated cars to hang meat from packing plants, and were steam cleaned and after each use. Eventually, the tin coating would peel off, and they would be sent to Ogden to be replated. To do this the hooks were given a bath in Hydrochloric Acid this would strip off the remaining tin and get down to the steel. There was a tank 3 feet long, 18 inches wide and 8 inches deep and that was heated underneath, and large ingots of pure tin were melted until the tank was full of molten metal. The cleaned meat hooks were then dipped into the molten tin and given a new coating, they were hung on rails till they cooled down and were then packed in special crates that were designed to carry them by forklift to the Stores Department. There were two shifts that worked in the hook shop a day shift from eight o'clock till four o'clock in the afternoon, and the midnight shift from midnight till eight in the morning. There was quite a scandal when I worked at the shops. The ingots of pure tin were brought to the hook shop from the Stores Department, one day, someone figured out they were using more tin to coat the hooks then usual. The CPR police were assigned to figure out what was going on. The CPR at that time owned a company called Western Rolling Mills that bought scrap metal, and they were buying lots of tin at that time. The CPR detectives were watching the person who was bringing in all the tin to the Rolling Mills, and identified him as a tinsmith helper who worked midnights in the hook shop. One morning when he came off shift, the detectives stopped him at the main gate. They interrogated him and found he was wearing a special vest under his overcoat, in this vest they found pieces of tin ingot. And he confessed to them that he was stealing from the CPR, on the night shift with no one around, he would melt ingots of tin and with a pair of tongs he would save the last inch of tin before it melted. He would then smuggle out the remnants of the ingots home. Ironically, he was selling his booty back to the CPR with out them noticing it. It was estimated that he had stolen about $15,000 worth of the metal, over $5,000 worth was found in his house. He went to court and was sentenced to two years in jail, and he lost his job with the CPR. I have attached a picture showing the Foundry under construction at the Pattern Shop is located on the other side of it, and the Stores Department is on the left.

The Tender, and Wheel Shop

The Tender and Wheelshop is a L-shaped building 80 feet by 263 x 80 x 180 feet, total area 35,480 ft.². In the steam days it was used to rebuild the steam locomotives tender (the car behind the locomotive that carried its fuel and water) and the wheel shop is where they bring wheel sets from the locomotive and car departments for inspection and reshaping. The thickness of the wheels tread was measured and checked for defects and flat spots, if they had enough tread left they were machined on large lathes that could do both wheels on their axle. Axles were also checked for wear on their bearing surfaces. Rejected wheels and axles were pressed off and loaded into gondolas for scrapping. In my time there were no more locomotive tenders to overhaul, but they did use the bays for rebuilding maintenance of the way machinery such as snowplows, spreaders, ditch diggers, and cranes. I remember one time; they brought in a crane that still had a steam boiler. It was stripped down and totally rebuilt, a new diesel engine replaced the boiler, and the cab was renovated and painted. When the job was finished after six months, the switch crew, who moved equipment in and out of came to pick up the rebuilt crane, they have a hold of three flat cars and use these to reach in and couple up and pull the crane out of the shop. Unfortunately, nobody noticed that there was a shop crane mounted to one of the steel pillars of the building, and its boom was sitting foul of the crane being moved. The boom pierced through the rebuilt cab of the crane and tore it off. So they shoved the crane back into the shop, and it took another four months to rebuild it. Besides working on maintenance equipment and wheel sets, there was a toolroom in the southeast corner of the building were machinists and blacksmiths manufactured tools for the railway. They made cold chisels, spanners, rivet sets, tinsmiths hammers and other tools.

I have attached a picture from a 1913 issue of the Railway Age showing a wheel cutting lathe, that the New York Central
used in their Mott Haven Shops.

The Locomo Shop-- Part Two

Now if we cross over to the southeast corner of the building. We find a door that will take you to wheel shop, which I will talk more about later. This side of the locomotive shop contained the Electrical department that was up to ran halfway up the building on the East end there was a big degreasing tank that used Chlorothene Nu to degrease the diesel locomotives main generators and traction motors. We used to go here to degrease oil filters that had to be soldered, the machinists were here quite regularly on Fridays to clean their tools. We would watch from around the walls of the tank, it looked like a big cloud inside, until something that was covered in grease was lowered into the tank with the overhead electric crane that traveled the length of the shop, from the cloud will emerge the chemicals that removed the grease, it looked like a rainstorm coming out of the cloud to strip the grease off of the object in the tank. When removed, the item was spotless, no grease, and quite hot from the reaction. Further up the shop floor the Electricians worked at rebuilding the main generators, and traction motors for the diesel electric locomotives. The rest of this side of the shop was divided between the Machinists and Air Brake department, the machinists had all their lathes, milling machines, shapers, and drill presses. The Air Brake department had a room there, where they did laping on some of the more delicate parts of the air brake valves, they also made air brake hoses for coupling between cars. That concludes the two side bays of the Locomotive Shop, and as I mentioned previously, the apprentice school was above the fan room in the northwest corner of the shop, further down were the offices for the Boiler Shop, Pipe Shop, and Sheet-Metal foremen, underneath their offices was the Blue Room where machinists worked on Governors for the diesel engines. In the southeast corner by the degreaser was the First Aid Office and further up this side were offices for the Electrical department, and further up offices for the Machinists and Air Brake supervisors. There was also wash rooms, four of them in each quadrant of the building. The center bay had 36 pits where the locomotives were worked on look first two pits on the west end of the building were where locomotives were brought in to the shop, there was a huge electric crane that could pick up loads of 250 tons and was used strictly for picking up the locomotives with their wheels disconnected and moving them down the shop to another pit, where they were lowered onto blocking that supported them, and they were ready to be stripped. The wheelsets were picked up later by another crane and taken down the shop floor to where the truck gang worked. Also part of the shop floor near the middle was an area where the Diesel Mechanics rebuilt the diesel engines. At the east end there was a large lye tank where other large components were brought for cleaning by a character named lye tank Andy. There was also a tool crib in the middle of the shop where you could get the specialized tools for the work you were doing. I have posted three pictures in the top one shows the transition from steam to diesel and was taken by Nicholas Morant from John Gardens book Canadian Pacific. The next picture shows a steam locomotive being moved down the shop floor by the big crane. The last picked your shows, the West end of the locomotive shop with the two large doors were the locomotives were brought into the shop for servicing, and there was a track that ran along the west side of the shop to the foundry.

The Locomotive Shop

The Locomotive Shop was the biggest building of the 12 in the complex, it measured 307 feet X 773 feet, taller than the Calgary Tower by over 150 feet it had a total area of 238,864 square feet. And it included the Air Brake, Blacksmith, Boiler, Carpenter, Electrical, Erecting, Machine, Maintenance, Paint, and Sheet Metal Departments. Steam locomotives were rebuilt and overhauled here on tells the last one was out shopped in 1957. By that time, the CPR had completely dieselised their fleet of motive power and Ogden's Locomotive Shop was converted for rebuilding and overhauling diesel locomotives. This was the era. I worked in when I started there in 1965. When you entered the building from the Northwest corner and walked down the left-hand bay you found the blacksmith department which extended halfway down the shop, there they built and rebuilt locomotive springs, they also repaired and manufactured Maintenance of Way tools, such as crowbars, lining bars, spike pullers, and adzes. They also made railway spikes, track bolts, whistle posts, and other railway signs. They have a large steam hammer that they used for heavy castings. Next, we came to the Pipe Shop one of the smaller departments. It had bins to store the air brake pipes that were stripped from locomotives that were being overhauled. They also add threading machines for cutting threads in iron pipe, and benches with vices for soldering copper air brake pipes. The next department was the Sheet Metal Shop where I worked we had benches to work on light sheet metal with bending machines to make locks for projects we were assembling like toolboxes. There was a table with an acetylene and oxygen flame where soldering irons were heated. One bench was dedicated to the repairing of air filters by braising with an oxygen acetylene torch. These filters came from the doors of the locomotive hatches on diesels with had outside walkways select, and from the louvers of the units that were covered in. We had a big area, where we dismantled radiators and soldered them; we then reassembled them and tested them under air pressure in a big tank of water where we looked for leaks. We had a sheet-metal sheer that would cut a sheet of metal up to 16 gauge and 8 feet long. We had bending breaks that could put a right angle bend on sheet-metal 8 feet long. We also had tools for punching holes, and running beads on circular sheet-metal to form elbows, and other sheet-metal fabrications. The next shop was the Boilermakers department where they worked on heavier metal 1/8 of an inch; they had a hydraulic brake that could bend metal. Up to three quarters of an inch thick. They also had large shears to cut thick metal, and a large punch to put holes in the material being worked. These were old machines that probably date back to the opening of the shops in the steam era. There was also a test rack where 2 steam generators could be rebuilt and tested, the steam generators were used on the passenger diesels to heat the train, as the coaches were still equipped with steam heating pipes and appliances. The next department was the maintenance bench here a couple of Carpenters and Pipefitters worked at maintaining the buildings in the shops.besides them was where the Truck Gang worked they dismantled the incoming wheelsets of the locomotives coming in for servicing, they sent the traction motors to the electrical department, and the wheels to the wheel shop. They then reassembled the trucks when all the components have been overhauled.The final department was the Paint Shop here, they painted the locomotive hatches, station name signs, toolboxes and any other projects that needed paint. There was some real craftsman here that could do gold leaf painting, which went back to the days of the elegant railway coaches painted Tuscan Red and gold leaf numbers and names to identify them.More tomorrow on the south side of the shop, and the Center Bay.

Construction of the Ogden Shops

The CPR were looking for a location to build a repair shop complex in the West. To complement their main shops at Montréal (Angus) and Winnipeg (Weston). Many communities were vying to have the shops built in their community. The CPR finally chose Calgary, as it was close to the mountains and had lots of real estate, southeast of the city. That was flat and an ideal location for the shops and the town that would house many of the employees. The city of Calgary also built a streetcar line to Ogden for employees living in the city. The shops at Ogden were named after a CPR President I. G. Ogden. Construction started on April 1, 1912 and was finished in less than a year in the middle of March 1913. I have some early postcards on the shops, construction. The one above shows the foundation of the Locomotive Shop being excavated. At that time there were no bulldozers or other machinery to excavate, the site was located on a gravel bar, and all the excavating was done with teams of horses and mules. More tomorrow.

The University of Ogden

It was now November, and winter had set in, I decided to try to get an apprenticeship at the CPR's Ogden shops. To do this, you had to go to the main gate and talk to the CPR Police officer on duty, he would give you permission to go down to the apprentice classroom in the Locomotive Shop. You then walked down the ramp, passing the administration office, and stores department and enter the Locomotive Shop through a doorway on the northwest corner of the building. You were now at, the West End of the blacksmiths shop, and it was quite a contrast from the winter weather outside, to walk through this department with its men and machinery that looked like they came out of the last century, at least it was nice and warm with all of their blacksmith's fires. The apprentice school was up above a fan room that circulated heat through that quarter of the shop. The apprentice room teacher was Austin Case, and he gave you an exam on mathematics and physics to see your proficiency in these topics. If you passed the exam, which I did, you were then sent to the main administration office to get the paperwork you needed before you could start working. This included taking a medical, and seeing that I was 16 years old. I had to get and indenture document signed by my parents to enter an apprenticeship. The most popular trades, offered at Ogden were Machinist, Diesel Mechanic and Electrician these were all filled, there was vacancies in the other trades of Boilermaker, Blacksmith, Pipefitter, Sheet Metal Worker, and Carman. I decided to become a sheet metal worker or tinsmith apprentice. I would be working in a main Locomotive Shop which was a huge building with all the trades mentioned except Carmen who worked in the No.1 Car Repair Shop where boxcars, gondolas, flatcars and other freight rolling stock were fixed, and the No.2 Coach Shop were passenger cars were refurbished and repaired. My first day of work I was assigned to a journeyman, who was my mate. This shop complex was built in 1913 to overhaul steam locomotives, the last steam engine out shopped from here was in 1954, since then, diesel locomotives were overhauled. The tinsmiths duties with the locomotives were to look after, all sheet-metal in the cabs of the locomotives, and the grillwork on the sides of passenger locomotives, repair radiators, and any other sheet-metal work on the locomotives, we also did all the stainless steel sheet metal work on Dayliners that were involved in collisions. We also did it a lot of work for the stores department, making toolboxes, traction motors shims, funnels and oil cans. Our other duties involved maintenance of the shop buildings, and insulating pipes, this goes back to the steam era when tinsmiths insulated the boilers of steam engines with asbestos lagging, and maintained the outer sheet-metal jacket of the engine. I will write more tomorrow on the history of the shops.

The Working World

After I was laid off from Canadian Trailmobile, I was looking for work again. The federal government provided an agency to help people out of work, find jobs. I went there and was sent on a wild goose chase looking for employment, from whom they recommended. I never did find a job through this department of the government. Any job I ever found was either through friends, or knocking door-to-door in the industrial part of Southeast Calgary. A friend of mines, father ran a grader for an outfit called Pioneer Paving and I got a job there as a laborer. They were building and paving roads up by the University of Calgary in the districts of Brentwood and Charleswood, I had a job on pit run it involved moving big rocks away from the curbs before the next layer of finer rock filler was brought in. We worked 12-hour days so I was paid overtime for four hours every day. After a couple of weeks, they put me on a new assignment, they drove me over to the Foothills Hospital that was just built and the parking lot was all paved. On the new asphalt there were circles sprayed with spray paint, and there was a small tractor with a compressor and jackhammer. Underneath the asphalt where these circles were painted, was a manhole cover and bell casting. My job was to drive the tractor over to where a circle was, and use the jackhammer to make a circle and uncover the manhole when this was done another laborer would help me lift the bell casting off of the 5 foot concrete sewer pipe, and shim the casting with 2 inch bricks, this would bring the manhole cover flush with the pavement. I liked this job as I was left alone to do it with no supervision. The job lasted about three weeks till the end of October, and the work was all done for that season. My last job was to drive the tractor back to Pioneer Paving's yard off of Blackfoot Trail on 46th Ave. S.E.

High School

In September 1964 I started high school at Western Canada High School. The School was about 2 miles from my house so I was able to get there on my Honda in about 15 minutes. My classroom was on the second floor of the West Wing; there were lots of new people from all over the south side of the city. My classmate CJ, who sat next to me, was from Ogden, he suggested I come out and visit him some weekend. Now Bowness, Forest Lawn, and Ogden had reputations as being tough districts, I mentioned to one of my classmates that I was going out to Ogden, he replied that people get knifed out there. Anyways, one nice Saturday in September I hopped on my Honda and made my sojourn out to Ogden to visit CJ. It was quite interesting, Ogden was like a time warp it reminded me of the 50s, it was working class district and a lot of the residents worked in the CPR's Ogden shops. CJ introduced me to some other students from Western, who had motorcycles; we went riding around the district, and down to a place by the Bow River called the Beaverdam. It was like a big island isolated by a channel that beavers had used. I found out later that this was a big camping site for the First Nations people, and they had used it as a buffalo jump. Ogden was home to the cities Single Men's Hostel that was located since 1935 in the old Ogden Hotel that had been built in 1912, more on this later. Across the street was Chuck and Beulah’s dairy bar, affectionately called the "Greasy Spoon" this was the local hangout, and reminded me later of American Graffiti. Two blocks down on 26 Street was Cable’s and Featherstone general stores, they were old-fashioned stores with oiled wooden floors and along with South Hill and Millican were the only grocers until Safeway's built in 1966.

Back to my education, I rode my Honda to school on till Winter set in, then I had to ride the Calgary Transit Systems buses, I had to walk three blocks down to 33rd Ave. to catch No.7 the South Calgary to 14th St and 17th Ave S.W. where I had to transfer to one of the Killarney buses that went down17th Ave to 6th Street where the school was. I hated riding buses, I always seemed to just miss one and have to wait 15 minutes for the next one. The only interesting thing I saw riding the bus was during December 1964. There was a café called Jimmy's on the NW corner of 14th St and 17th Ave SW that had caught on fire and burned during the night. It was cold winter weather at that time and the whole building was like an Ice Palace, from all the water the fire department had used trying to put out the fire. There was an interesting accident on the NE corner of the intersection in 1920 that my father talked about. There was a business called Crooks Drugstore at that time there were street cars that had to make a sharp right turn at the bottom of 14th St hill, a streetcar coming down the hill had a brake failure, and could not make the sharp right-hand turn, and ended up on its side, inside of the drugstore. I have attached a photo by Calgary photographer, W. J. Oliver. Not much exciting happened at school, and finally spring arrived and I was able to ride my Honda again. One evening in April I was driving home from Ogden, it was dark, and I was three blocks from home, going up 29th Ave behind King Edward School on 16th St. there was a controlled intersection was stop signs on both sides of 29th Ave, which gave me the right of way. There was a car stopped at a stop sign on the North side of the intersection, a car ahead of me went through this intersection safely. I approached the intersection and the car stopped a big 1958 Buick decided to proceed into the intersection, he was on a hill so he really gunned it, resulting in him hitting my bike square on. Luckily I was thrown from the bike, and ended up landing on my tailbone on the SW side of the intersection. My bike was a mess with both front tires of the Buick sitting on top of it. I was wearing rubber boots, and the bumper of the Buick drove my brake pedal through the boot and in to the ball of my right foot, they took me by ambulance to the General Hospital for x-rays, which they looked at, and seeing no fractures they sent me home. My family doctor looked at the x-rays next day and found three fractures in my right ankle. So this laid me up at home for the rest of the school year. I failed some of my classes, and would have to make that up. In the fall I was to register for Grade 11, but me and a buddy from Ogden decided to spend our textbook money on beer. The school was really full this year due to the closing of Central High School, so by the time I got around to registering most of the classes were full, I ended up with one class of Chemistry at nine o'clock in the morning, and one class of Social Studies at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. The chemistry class was really hard, I found out later they were teaching from the wrong textbook, one from grade 12 so it was no wonder it was so difficult. After a couple of weeks of this, I was fed up and decided to quit school and go look for a job. Me and my friend Dave went looking for a job we were going from business to business in the Bonnybrook District, we went into a place called Meldon Roofing, and asked if there were hiring, to which they said no. We started walking down the road a couple of blocks, when a truck from Meldon's pulled up beside us, and the driver said he needed one of us. So we flipped a coin, and Dave won the job, which I found out later was a job from hell. Working around hot asphalt, and lots of physical work, pulling up pails of fine gravel to the rooftops of the buildings they were repairing. I continued on and through a friend found a job at Canadian Trail Mobile, a shop where they repaired truck trailers. My job was in the Store Department doing inventory, and later sweeping up the shop. After a couple of weeks I Was laid-off, and in search of employment once again.

Summer of 1964

I had a paper route delivering the Southside Mirror, and flyers from the Hudson Bay, and Eatons the to big department stores in Calgary. I had 235 houses, apartments, and businesses to deliver them to one of my route and that ran from 18th St S.W. to 24th St S.W. (now Crowchild Trail) on 32nd and 33rd Avenues. I did this every Thursday through junior high school, and on other evenings when there were flyers to deliver. I was paid a penny apiece for every thing I delivered. Me and a friend of mine went around the businesses on 33rd Ave. to solicit work. We delivered fliers for the local delicatessen, and a furrier, to the districts of Bankview, South Calgary, and Altadore 10,000 in total. I saved every penny I made, and my father said he would double every cent I made. So at the and of grade 9 I had $500 enough to buy a motorbike. We went to Bow Cycle out in the district of Bowness and I purchased a brand-new Honda 90, black in color. This was a dream come true for me; it gave me the freedom of mobility, to go and discoverer parts of the city that I had never seen before. I drove on the new Blackfoot Trail in S.E. Calgary over the Alyth overpass that ran over the CPR train yard. I returned and took the exit on Portland Street that went through the industrial district of Bonniebrook. I crossed the Bow River on the silver. Bonniebrook Bridge that took me to Ogden Road that ran along the Imperial Oil Refinery. Travel through Ogden on 24th St, and ended up a the Canadian Industry Limited's explosive plant, where they made dynamite (this is now the district of Douglasdale) the plant was closed in 1975 after an explosion in the mixing room killed four employees.

School Days

This picture was taken in front of King Edward School in June of 1955. This is my Grade 1 class, and I am seated in the back row forth from the left hand side of the picture. King Edward School was built in 1912, one of 19 sandstone schools built in Calgary between 1894 and 1914. It is in the district of South Calgary, my uncle Fred, and my dad's best friend, Jim Atkinson went to school here the first year it was opened. My father attended the second year. I was in school here from grade 1 until grade 9 in the summer of 1964. The the school was a block and a half from my home so it was a short walk to school for me. Due to declining enrollment in the school was closed in 2001, and it looks like it will be torn down. With the real estate of one city block it will probably be developed for housing, unless someone comes to the rescue and finds another use for the building. The school as I mentioned was built of sandstone, a popular building material for many of the buildings in Calgary in that era, Calgary was called the "Sandstone City" but sadly many of these buildings have faced the wrecking ball, and are no more. I have also attached a picture by Alison Jackson showing the back of the school on 29th Ave. The girls side ones on the left, and the boys side on the right. During the summer holidays the top of the fire escape made an excellent viewpoint to watch the fireworks from the Calgary Stampede, a rodeo and fair, that is held in early July.

The shape of things to come!

My father took this picture of me at age four with my sisters, Betty on the left and Helen on the right, back in 1953. Little did I know at the time this picture was taken how much influence this scene would have on my future life when I grew up and the careers I chose at the time. It was taken in Calgary Alberta at 9th Ave. and 4th St. S.W. at that time there was a level railway crossing at grade controlled from a tower by a crossing watchman, a subway was built here in 1954 to alleviate the traffic problems here. In the background you can see CPR coach engine 7054, a S-2, built by ALCO as #75538, in 1947. Its handling a heavyweight passenger coach and probably returning to the CPR coach yard located west of 1st St. West and 10th Ave. behind the 7054 is the Robin Hood flour mill, the ramp you can see above the engine connects the elevator side that is out of view on the left side of the picture with the mill side of the factory you can see on the right.

This mill was a familiar landmark in downtown area from the time it was built as the Calgary Milling Co. in the early 1900s. Robin Hood Milling Co. bought the mill in 1911 and operated it, until it was torn down in the early 1970s to make room for Gulf Canada Square which was built on the site.

In 1995 CPR moved their headquarters from Windsor Station in Montréal to Calgary and now occupy many floors in Gulf Canada Square for their centralized operations.