U of CPR

February 10, 2023 – Limpopo, South Africa

---

My first ride on a train was in an empty boxcar of a grain freighter, and it was a disaster.

On a lark, a friend and I decided to jump on a moving train as it pulled out of the station in Arcola, Saskatchewan. The idea was, we would ride the train to Carlyle, a town eight miles to the east.  We intended to hop off there and hitchhike back on the highway. The problem was, we weren’t aware that the Canadian Pacific Rail track doesn’t follow the highway to Carlyle, it takes a bend southward and travels through the bald prairie. By the time we figured this out, Randy and I were a long way from civilization. The train wasn’t moving very fast, so we were able to jump off without hurting ourselves, but it was a long walk back to Arcola along dirt roads, in scorching prairie heat.

My accomplice and friend Randy, lived at the CPR station. His father was the station agent at the time, so he and I hung out by the tracks quite often.  The Arcola station didn’t cater to passengers, and even freight was becoming a dying rail commodity. The sole purpose of the CPR station at Arcola was to service trains transporting wheat.  Not glorious, but at twelve years old, we were living the dream as railroad men.

Everything I know about trains I learned from that experience. For example, do you know that you can push a boxcar over the level crossing on Halloween night, using only a wheel jack?  The jack is a mechanical wedge with a long oak handle. With very little effort you can roll a wheat-laden boxcar, and park it on a road crossing to block traffic.

Another thing I learned at the University of CPR is this; in the days before effective radio communication in remote areas, railroad repairmen would clip small explosive devices onto the tracks some distance from where the rails were being repaired. If a train was headed toward the damaged rail area, the wheels would run over the device and create a very loud explosion, thereby alerting the engineer to the danger.  The explosive devices were no longer in use, but there was a supply of them in storage at the station. Randy and I learned that, if you drop a rock on an explosive device from the roof of the Arcola station, the explosion can be heard in Carlyle!

Another great thing about rail stations is that there are large rooms available for parties.  Randy’s parents let us use the old freight office for a dance party one Friday night. I will never forget the first time I danced with a girl, at the CPR Ballroom!   Glenda Davis – Crimson and Clover – 1968

Crimson and Clover – Tommy James and the Shondells

I wrote one of my favourite semi-fictional stories based upon another railroad incident. I will put a link below in case anybody wants to read more about my undergraduate degree at the …

… U of CPR

---

---

---

---