Kindersley roundhouse ran round-the-clock in steam era

By Joan Janzen

Former Kindersley resident Ron Lamont recalled the town's roundhouse was a very busy place when he came to Kindersley in 1949. The roundhouse had at least nine stalls. There were pits under the tracks so the engines could be serviced and repaired under each engine.

Kindersley's roundhouse in 1922. PHOTO HISTORIC SASKATCHEWAN

There was a locomotive foreman, assistant locomotive foreman, machinist, ash pit man, boiler maker and employees to run a steam boiler 24 hours a day, which sent steam heat to the station and steam lines that allowed connections to passenger cars. Their only heat was from the steam engine pulling them. Many lathes were used to repair and make parts for the steam engines. The hostler moved engines and kept them fired up waiting to go to work.

The Canadian Northern Railway roundhouse in Kindersley was torn down in the early 1970s. The 1922 photo is from the Canadian Northern era, but it is worth noting that the railway was absorbed into Canadian National Railways in 1923.