Locomotive 5114 Celebrated

Plans that won’t hold you back! shareMORE Canada-wide calling, text and data $ plans starting at 55/mo. THE MELVILLE $1.50 PER COPY Friday,riday, GST INCLUDED Augustugust 23, 2019 Vol.ol. 93 No. 35 Agreementeement # 4001192240011922 PROUDLYPROUDLY SERVINGSSERVING MELVILLEMELVILLE ANDAND SURROUNDINGSURROUNDING AREA SINCESINCE 19291929 • WWW.GRASSLANDSNEWS.CAWW • 1-306-728-5448 Grey setting standards for Sask. PC Party By Lin Orosz Grasslands News The leader of Saskatchewan’s Progressive Conser- vatives says he intends to build a political party that reflects the values and principles of the province’s conservative-minded voters. Ken Grey says because the governing Saskatchewan Party was founded by Liberals and “Red” Tories, it has abandoned any pretence of conservatism, instead opting for a policy of high spending and high taxation. “Saskatchewan deserves a conservative party,” Grey told the Advance during an interview Friday when he visited Melville to meet supporters and po- tential supporters. “The Saskatchewan Party has been a high-spending, high-taxing government. Any true conservative would simply look at that and go ‘that’s not me, that’s not what I stand for’. The SaskParty accuses us of try- ing to split the vote but in reality, they took the Con- servative vote and they’re a Liberal Party that has a high-spending, high-taxing agenda.” Elected Conservative Party leader last November, Grey’s visit to Melville was one of many stops he’s made on his summer tour in which he’s visited con- stituencies in much of Saskatchewan, from the south through to Melville and Canora, and up to Humboldt and Saskatoon. A portion of his tour time has been spent on constituency development including Melville-Saltcoats, cur- LIN OROSZ | MELVILLE ADVANCE Message sent and received rently held by Warren Kaeding of the SaskParty. It’s Jen Mann demonstrates the teletype machine, circa 1940s, that is one of the interesting artifacts expected a PC constituency association will be put in LQWKH5DLOZD\0XVHXP·VFRPPXQLFDWLRQVURRP place for Melville-Saltcoats and the nomination could possibly be contested. Grey says it’s been “an illuminating summer” in terms of finding out just how much disenchantment conservative-leaning voters have with Premier Scott Moe and his SaskParty government. Locomotive 5114 celebrated “There are a tremendous number of people com- ing forward saying they want to become involved in Melville’s Railway Museum held a 100th birth- history, a history that’s largely responsible for our party… So I’m going out and meeting with people day party Sunday, Aug. 18. shaping Melville into the community it’s become. who want to set up Conservative organizations in their And the celebrant in this case has led an adven- Jen Mann, the City of Melville’s communica- home areas and just listening to some of the concerns.” turesome life. She’s originally from Montreal and tion, community development and event manager, One of those concerns Grey says he hears often in during her working days, she traveled across much says the Railway Museum generally holds an open small towns centres is on new Saskatchewan Liquor of Canada before retiring in Winnipeg in 1961 and house once a month during the summer. and Gaming Authority (SLGA) regulations that tend subsequently moving to Melville in 1969. “This is our August open house but because our to benefit larger establishments, such as box stores, at Now, she spends all her time at the Railway Mu- steam engine is turning 100 we turned it into a the expense of small operations such as the local hotel. seum where, as a steam locomotive, she’s the focal bit of a birthday celebration. We are going to have The application of the provincial sales tax to restau- point of the museum’s journey back into railway - SEE LOCOMOTIVE 5114, 2 rant meals has also hurt the small-town establishments as well as similar businesses in the province’s cities, - SEE GREY SETTING STANDARDS, 3 Pharmacy Services Home Health Care OPEN LATE Postal Services Western Union MONDAY TO THURSDAY Lottery Giftware Monday to Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Cosmetics Photo Finishing Friday & Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. 306-728-5625 Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. FREE DELIVERY 135 - 3rd Ave. E. Melville, SK Holidays 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to Melville, Grayson & Neudorf The Melville Advance 2 August 23, 2019 www.grasslandsnews.ca Locomotive 5114 celebrated - continued from front cake and refreshments and activities for passed the platform. The message would children,” Mann says about the 1-4 p.m. be attached to the hoop. The message event that also includes rides on a mini- would be retrieved; the hoop would be train provided by a local railway union. thrown back off the engine – or the ca- “It’s been over 100 years of being a boose, depending on where the message railroad community so this is just a was directed. The hoop would then be great way to highlight and (show) off retrieved for use when another message how things have changed over the years; had to be delivered. how the railroad has gone from every- The last room is set up as the living day transportation to more (freight) quarters for the trainmaster who was hauling and vacation transportation.” required to be on duty round the clock. The locomotive – 5114 -- was built by So where do all the artifacts come Montreal Locomotive Works in 1919, a from? 4-6-2 Pacific (the 6 representing the num- “A lot of this is just accumulated by ber of drive wheels). Weighing in at 125 old railroaders that clean out their base- tons, she spent the majority of her work- ments and storage sheds. There’s always ing life as a high-speed passenger train. that story behind it.” The story of how Locomotive 5114 got There’s a story Mann enjoys telling, to its present site beside the museum is especially to school kids who are gener- an interesting-enough tale on its own, ally captivated by the artifacts because Mann explains. they cannot relate to “the way things Steampower history LIN OROSZ | MELVILLE ADVANCE She came from Winnipeg in Septem- used to be”. That story centres on how Locomotive 5114, a centrepiece of the Railway Museum, was built at Montreal ber 1969 and to get her from the rail train travel was such a common, every- Locomotive Works in 1919. yard on the south side of Melville to day occurrence back in the “old days” the Regional Park on the northeast side when Mann’s grandmother was a child. was a joint effort between City of Mel- In 1946, 12-year-old Sylvia Lumb ville workers and retired railroaders. (Hohm) would hop the train in Duff in The process would see a short section the morning and travel to Melville for of track placed in front of the locomo- her piano lesson. After her lesson she tive which was pulled with a grader and would have lunch at the King George loader. Hotel, then head back to the train sta- Then the section of track the locomo- tion and wait for the train back to Duff, tive had been moved off of was lifted and Mann recounts. placed in front of the locomotive and the An invaluable resource in helping process would then be repeated. The Mann and the museum’s two summer project took three days. students become knowledgeable about While 5114 is the most obvious piece the history and purpose of many of the of railway history outside the museum, artifacts; and which in turn help make the building contains scores of items their presentations to visitors more ef- and artifacts that, for many, bring back fective, are Melville’s railroaders. vivid memories of what railroading was “We did get a lot of information as in the past. to what some of the tools were and how “In the museum itself we have four they did it. They would tell us their sto- rooms. We break it down into the front ries about the message hoops and all room where we have a lot of general in- that stuff. The more you talk and inter- formation about the railway and some of act with people that have done the job the tools and things they used as well as and been on the railroad, the more you the beginning of the ticket area. When enhance every guest’s visit. you’d travel you would come in here and “It’s always fun when the kids come got your ticket, dropping off your bag- out because there’s such a crazy differ- gage,” explains Mann. ence through the ages of technology; a “The next two rooms are largely cen- phone connected to the wall … when you tred on communications and contain an cooled the fridge with ice blocks. That old telegraph, vintage teletype machines part is really fun, just to watch their and typewriters. amazement.” “You’d go from the whole Morse Code The museum – originally a train sta- deal to the teletypes. We’ve also got the tion in Goodeve that was moved to Mel- message board from the old rail sta- ville in 1975 and opened several years tion and how they’d schedule for all the later – is one of a number of attractions Buy one get one crews and how much it’s changed from a in the Regional Park that draws people very labor-intensive thing to something from near and far including visitors that’s now on a computer.” from the Netherlands.

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