Georgina Historical Society Newsletter #1, Volume 4, January 2021
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Georgina Historical Society Newsletter #1, Volume 4, January 2021 President’s Message Welcome to the January 2021 newsletter of the Georgina Historical Society. I trust that you all had an enjoyable and healthy “Festive Season” while struggling to conform to the pandemic restrictions, a Christmas that we will all surely remember for a long, long time. There are only 5 calendars left. If you know of anyone who wants one, please contact me or any of your Board members, while there are a few remaining. To date our little fundraiser has netted over $1200 for our caboose restoration. Thank you for your support in this endeavour. It looks like it will be a while yet before we are able to resume our regular meetings. Since we usually have our “Bring & Brag” for our January meeting, please send a picture of an article you have and a little description for us to include in an upcoming newsletter. Looking forward to seeing everyone once again in 2021!! Take Care! Stay safe! Tom Glover GHS President Bring and Brag 2021 Pocket Watches By Tom Glover You may remember your father or grandfather reaching into his vest or overall pocket and pulling out his pocket watch to check the time. I remember Dad’s pocket watch attached to his overalls, not by a gold chain but by a leather boot lace. You did not want to lose such an important item. Recently my elderly (101 year old) mother gave me a precious object. My grandfather Russell Glover’s pocket watch had sat in a drawer in a cloth pouch since his death in 1944. My father, although very pleased to have his father’s watch could never bring himself to use it. It remained untouched all those years. As I held the watch in my hand, I could not believe how heavy it was and then I could not resist winding it. The watch started ticking, so I set the time and waited. After 76 years of lying in a drawer the watch not only ran but kept perfect time. What a tribute to the workmanship of a previous generation! I also have my great grandfather, Joseph Glover’s pocket watch dating back to the 1850s. The case is not silver or gold but tortoise shell. Unfortunately it is wound with a key and the key is missing. This watch dates back to the late 1850s. Tucked in the back of the watch are paper tickets from Geo. Palmer, the watchmaker / jeweller in Bradford. With my grandfather’s name or initials and date on one side and the jewellers label on the other they verify the transactions. I have been able to decipher dates back to 1857. Apparently it was important to have the watch cleaned and checked out once a year! The writing on the paper was probably done up on a day’s excursion from Ravenshoe to Bradford to get to the watchmaker in the mid- 1800s. Left -- the name of the watchmaker in Bradford I would love to know the story behind my great grandfather’s watch. Was it a gift to an eldest son on his 21st birthday? …an inheritance or a young man’s first important purchase? Always mysteries to solve. - Tom Glover A Progress Report: Our Caboose As you know, we reported in a previous issue that the roof of our caboose had been redone. Next page shows before and after images of the progress on the interior; recently insulation and new panelling have been installed making the interior weatherproof and ready for further restoration. Right shows roofers hard at work on the caboose roof. Thank you Paul and Wayne for your many volunteer hours. Before Photo credits this page - Paul Brady After All about Cabooses, Vans, and Crummies Condensed and edited from trainweb.org by Bob Holden Cabooses have mostly disappeared on our railways and those that remain must mostly be visited in a museum. In Canada, railway personnel referred them as vans, though south of the border caboose and crummie were far more common. A look inside a caboose has always been restricted to those having a reason for being there. Few outsiders knew exactly what was inside a caboose, or what went on in there, other than it being a place for the crew to ride. In fact, it was an office and home-away-from home as well as a lookout for observing the train and the right-of-way while in transit. It was also used for crew transportation in larger terminals, and as crew headquarters for maintenance of way work and emergencies or accidents. A conductor and two brakemen ate and slept in their caboose, which was always assigned to them for their exclusive use. More recently, cabooses were pooled for mainline trains and only assigned to local and branchline train crews who kept their own van. Pooled cabooses stayed with a train to final destination and the crew slept in a bunkhouse like the engine crews had always done. Two brakemen (one riding the engine and one on the van for flagging and switching) were reduced to one brakeman, and in the case of many cabooseless trains just a conductor. These "conductor only" trains were once limited to the amount of enroute switching they were required to do. This restriction was soon eliminated. Cabooses are for the most part now are used only on trains that have to make frequent backup moves. These are called a "platform", a safe place for a crew member to ride as access to the interior has been eliminated. This required the return of the emergency airbrake valve back to the platform. Brakemen are all called trainmen now but years ago trainman referred to a man working in passenger service, just as switchman has been replaced by yardman although both terms were used interchangeably. The CPR stated that it cost $100,000 per year to operate and maintain each caboose, so there were great savings to be had. By the end of the 90’s cabooses had all but disappeared and had been replaced by a FRED or flashing rear-end device. All vans were equipped with a kitchen and coal stove where meals were cooked and eaten at the "foreign" or away-from-home terminal, or even enroute on long days and nights with no end unlike today's 10-12 hour maximum. Coleman camp stoves were once used for cooking after oil heaters replaced coal stoves. What they ate in their cabooses depended upon the cooking talents or lack thereof on the part of the crew. The inside of cabooses reflected the conductor's personal habits and the degree of cleanliness varied with some men being noted for spotless vans while others were much less so giving rise to an old term for vans as "crummies". It was the junior brakeman's "duties" to stock up the van with coal for the stove and to wash the floor to the satisfaction of his conductor. There are many stories about young "green" brakies and one that fits here is about the conductor who finds himself with two spare men he doesn't recognize. (In fact, a conductor was not required to take two spare men if they were too green) He demands to know, who is the senior man; and when one pipes up, he tells him to couple all the hose between the caboose and the locomotive and then tell the engineer all right. He then tells the junior man to get the mop and pail and get busy washing the floor. Of course in any yard having carmen on duty it was they who did up the hose bags, but that spoils the joke. Upon reaching the locomotive the green brakie tells the engineer "all right" (can you see it coming?) Whereupon the hogger growls, "all right, what?" "Why turn on the water, they're going to scrub out the caboose." The cupola is a lookout point where the crew rode to watch for trouble with the train, an important safety feature. Things they would watch for included smoke or fire from a hot box (wheel journal), shifted loads, dragging equipment, any evidence or signs of freshly damaged ties etc. as seen from a rearward look. There was also an air brake gauge and emergency brake valve in the caboose.. What was generally not known by most people including railroaders not directly concerned with trains was just how much equipment was carried in the caboose. Some of this equipment was to allow the crew to make emergency repairs to their train. Back in steam engine days trains often consisted of 36' and 40' freight cars having friction bearings with waste packing. This type of journal resulted in a high number of hot boxes (overheated bearings) and was one of the reasons so many car knockers were needed to check every car at every terminal. Carmen were called "car knockers" or "car toads" because they used to carry a hammer to hit the wheel with a good wheel giving off a true ring while a defective one made a dull sound or thud. This was important especially since cast iron wheels were subject to more defects and failures than more modern steel wheels. They were referred to as toads, since they were always hopping about around and underneath cars looking for troubles. Hot boxes developed mostly from lack of proper lubrication due to either no oil or because of a waste grab whereby the packing got jammed up and could not distribute oil properly to the axle.