Ron's railroad reminiscing

By Ron Lamont

As a telegraph operator on the CNR over the years, some of our night shifts left us alone and sometimes strange things happened. I recall working at a block office (Chappell) on the west side of Saskatoon, where the trains arrived from Kindersley and on the main line from Biggar. It was a tower with many levers and lightning switches. We would have to leave the tower to hand line the switches on some tracks.

RIDING THE RAILS. Men crowd the tops and sides of boxcars during the Depression era. Times were tough in the 1930s, and many looking for work rode the freights across the Prairies. PHOTO SUBMITTED BY RON LAMONT

In those days there were many hobos riding on the freight trains, and when arriving in Saskatoon the CNR police would catch them, so they would drop off the train at Chappell and light small fires beside the tower. They would heat up a can of beans and then proceed to walk into the city.

It was very scary having to walk by them in the dark. We always carried a long club for protection while turning switches. I did visit with some of the men, but many very rough characters rode the boxcars.

The tower was situated where the CNR station is now standing. At that time the station was where the mall is now located in downtown Saskatoon. Many changes have taken place since those days.