8 June 2010

My Connection to 1959 Royal Visit

Stratford, Ontario - 1959 Ontario Archives.

As a young engineer in Montreal with Bell, I was also put in charge of communications for the Royal Train of the 1959 Royal visit.
 
We had to have several telephone men standing-by at each railway station with a special telephone cable in their hands to run out and plug into designated cars when the train stopped, not always on time!
 
It was quite a frustrating assignment dealing with so many different people from different organizations and differing levels of authority.
 
One example was selecting the colour of the Queen's telephone. I picked out a nice, green-coloured set, took it to Ottawa to view the setup on the train. When the CN rep didn't want to pay for it, I handed it to them as a gift. It took a few weeks to get the necessary authority to finally accept my gift. It was only a telephone set, for goodness sake!
 
I've often tried to visualize her sitting down in the Royal coach, using my telephone, and talking to home.
 
W.A. Cosway.