i really enjoyed the Forty Mile article. In 1967, the CPR gave me a Centennial gift: ride yard jobs and wayfreights from Revelstoke to Port Arthur for a cost study. We would hit a division point for a week at a time and cover all jobs. I rode with the crew from Lethbridge to Shaunavon, a 5-day job that tied up at Manyberres, Val Marie, Notokue and Sahunavon before a straight-shot return to Lethbridge on Friday. We ran as an extra each day, but the work was based on the old mixed-train timetables. "From Abbey to Zorra via Bagdad" is a good reference.
The Conductor, Johnny Walker, told me stories of his time in a Canadian Railway Operating Battalion during WWII.
Wow, what an experience. There was actually a hotel and restaurant at all these places? What was the track speed overall?
Mark Meyer
In those days, typically the train crew cooked and slept in their assigned caboose, and there would be a small bunkhouse for the engine crew.
The stopover locations would have commercial facilities including at least some sort of general store, a beer parlour with rooms on the second floor and a gas station. The main street included a restaurant serving "Chinese and Western cuisine". Shaunavon was a fairly major railway point and is still a decent sized town with full facilities
Manyberries still had some commercial activity last time I was there, although the railway east of Foremost had been long abandoned. East of Manyberries towards Saskatchewan there is barely a trace of the villages that used to exist.
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