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Public Relations and Advertising Department
Windsor Station Montreal Que. H3C 3E4
 

Volume 7   Number 12

Sept. 21, 1977


Memories of Schreiber - Call Girls and All
Inez McCuaig

Unlisted:  Even before records were kept, the CPR employed women
operators like Etta D'Arcy at the same pay as male operators.
Schreiber - It has never been decided whether the Schreiber Division attracted a certain breed of men, or bred them. But one thing is certain - they became noted for their knowledge and practice of their craft in getting trains over the road and for being fully aware of their "rights".
 
Many were the young officials sent to this division for experience - leading to an older officer's cynical remark:  "Send the B---er to Schreiber! They'll make him or break him".
 
Anyone who ever worked in Schreiber has never forgotten the men on the road nor the people who lived here then. Many still do live here, choosing to spend their retirement where they can still be in touch with the
railway.
 
Schreiber has many "firsts" of which company people are very proud in their own peculiar fashion:
 
SHORT OF MEN
 
When the road became so busy during the war years, they were short of men and many call boys (they call the train crew to work when they are needed) and yard office workers were quick to hire on as firemen or trainmen. So came the call girls. One of them had the temerity to emulate the boys and stormed into the superintendent's office demanding her right to become a fireman.
 
Next came the Happy Hookers (rug hookers, that is). They were organized by Fay Green, herself a long-time rug hooker and wife of Donald Green who was, for some years, the B&B master who has since been transferred to Moosejaw. Fay succeeded, as instructor, in building up such an interested group that they were accepted into the Ontario Association of Hookers. The men laughed loud and long over this odd honor.
 
When the steam locomotive was in its heyday, to skid an engine was a cardinal sin and was severely dealt with. But, to appreciate this anecdote one must know that in those early days, to get "off" for Christmas was an impossibility except for an illness. Many were the sudden attacks of ill-health - useless unless accompanied by visible symptoms or a doctor's certificate. However, the late well-remembered engineer Joe Milks arrived in on the morning before Christmas to be confronted by an angry, very "green" official who, seeing the evidence of the skidded wheels, exclaimed, "You will be walking around for a couple of weeks." Joe, unperturbed, descended from the cab, stealthily looked around the station platform, and whispered to the irate official:
 
"Be careful, sir, or you'll not have a man working at Christmas."
 
Then there's the peculiar fame of the late engineer George "Riley" Drake, the only man on the system (so far as is known) to have been given Brownies (demerit marks) for playing ball while on duty.
 
At the throttle of the engine pulling the passenger train - Old No. 4 - he passed regularly from Thunder Bay (then Fort William) to Schreiber, going through Pays Plat where he always delighted a crowd of waiting children by blowing tremendous blasts on the whistle.
 
One day a boy, caught up in the excitement of the big, speeding train and the whistled salute, tossed a ball into the cab. It was deftly caught and returned by Riley. This became a regular occurence until that fateful day when Riley missed the ball - but the ball got Riley. It hit him on the head laying him out cold on the deck of the cab.
 
The incident, of course, had to be reported and it was said even officialdom hid a smile as the infraction was duly entered on Riley's record.
 
WOMEN OPERATORS
 
CP Rail may be surprised to learn that it must have taken the first step in the Women's Liberation movement since, even before records were kept, they employed women operators at the same rate of pay as male operators.
 
Retired train despatcher, H.P. "Paddy" Bourguignon, compiled a surprisingly large list of women operators who worked in this area, extending at times to the Sudbury district.
 
Among these early unlisted employees remembered by men who were on the road then, was a family by the name of Sullivan. The father was a yardmaster, but the rest of the family were all operators, one of whom was a daughter.
 
There was also a Miss Maggie Seibert at Pearl, and a Mrs. Laferte at Hemlo, whose husband was also operating. Another - Miss Etta D'Arcy, at Mizzoukama (now Kama), was taught by her brother-in-law Alex Ward; and a Miss Mary Morrow at Hurkett. Their years of service is not recorded. However, 15 others are on company records for years ranging from 1891 through to 1946. Two of these were husband-and-wife operators - Mr. and Mrs. M.V. McQuon and Mr. and Mrs. W.E. MacIsaac. MacIsaac is now retired chief despatcher, Schreiber Division.

This CP Rail News article is copyright 1977 by Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.