36

Snow plows, waiting to be attached to 5900s engines, next to the #5757 in Revelstoke yard.
Circa 1940s
Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
E. Hawkes Collection
Thanks to the Ernie Ottewell Collection

37

The railway yard and shops were a large part of Revelstoke. Tuck behind this industrial area, a pond of waste oil with a plank bridge attracted the attention of the school children who were cautioned to keep away. In Ed's youth, the oil pond caught fire sending up "huge smoke and flames". Imagine not being able to see Revelstoke due to all the black smoke.

38

"The old oil pond they had behind the CPR shops and roundhouse . . . "
24 November 2011
Business Car #4, Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
Coffee Club members: John (Jack) Carten, W. L. Handley, Edward Jaatteenmaki and Ernie Ottewell
Filmed by Michelle Cole

39

Fire presents a challenge to both the railroad and communities. Listen to the Coffee Club reminisce about the fires they reported, on and off of work time. Les recalls a diesel engine that set fires from Sicamous to Mara Lake when the exhaust caught fire.

40

"Sparks flying or something . . . "
24 November 2011
Business Car #4, Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
Coffee Club members: John (Jack) Carten, W. L. Handley, Edward Jaatteenmaki and Ernie Ottewell
Filmed by Michelle Cole

41

Views of snow packed telegraph poles
Circa 1960
Unknown
TEXT ATTACHMENT


Credits:
Revelstoke Railway Museum Collection

42

Danny Sirianni (lineman) observing hornets' nest on telegraph pole.

Credits:
Revelstoke Railway Museum
Photo by Nicholas Morant

43

Railroaders also faced hazards with wildlife encounters. Jack reflects "people had to be able to handle themselves" when facing a bear. Ed remembers how the bears would eat rail grease used for rail lubricators along the line. Tells you a bear will eat anything!

44

"Pretty rough out in those places . . . "
3 November 2011
Business Car #4, Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
Speakers: John (Jack) Carten and Edward Jaatteenmaki
Coffee Club members: Bill Belton and Ernie Ottewell
Filmed by Michell Cole

45

Clancy shares his bear encounter at Beavermouth, the site of a grain spill. Watching a mother grizzly and two cubs from the top of a box car, Clancy had a "startling scare" when she started shaking the box car from the rungs of the ladder. What would you have done?

46

"Grizzly bears they scared quite a few people . . . "
23 February 2012
Business Car #4, Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
Speaker: Clarence (Clancy) L. Boettger
Coffee Club members: Edward Jaatteenmaki, Ernie Ottewell and Warren M. Watson
Filmed by Michelle Cole

47

Hear Ernie explain how the wooden box cars piled up and spilt grain. Once the grain fermented it attracted bears, Grizzly and Black. Bill remembers drunken bears hanging from the branches of a poplar tree by a wreck near Greely.

48

"The bears would get into that after it fermented . . . "
3 November 2011
Business Car #4, Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada

Credits:
Speakers: Bill Belton and Ernie Ottewell
Coffee Club members: John (Jack) Carten and Edward Jaatteenmaki
Filmed by Michelle Cole

49

Even ravens learn that trains can be a source of food. Hugh tells a story of feeding ravens from a moving train. The connections between the railway and the environment abound.