My new boards can turn on a Toonie

Last week I slid over “the hump” twice during snowstorms to Port Alberni to help out with the B.C. Institute of Technology’s Railway Conductor’s training class. The Industrial Heritage Society in the Alberni Valley has been very involved in BCIT’s training program for several years. This particular conductor’s class was a groundbreaking group as it was the first encompassing an all-aboriginal cliental.

PHOTO: The first all-aboriginal conductor’s class on the Alberni Pacific Railway aboard APR Diesel #8427 with engineer/instructor Rollie Hurst. On the ground (L to R) as APR conductors are myself with Irving McIntyre (who assisted with instruction) and BCIT instructor John Wetzel. 

When I tell folks about the training program they’re usually quite surprised that one can actually get a job as a railway conductor in this day and age where computers seem to run everything. Most people tend to think of a railway conductor in relation to a passenger train – a figure from a bygone era in a tailored uniform and roundish cap who worked his way through a rail car punching traveller’s tickets. However, on every freight train there is also a conductor. The job involves switching cars, making or splitting up trains and safely moving cars between yards based on instructions originating with the management of a particular railway through the company’s dispatch offices. It’s outdoor work in all kinds of weather. When students graduate from the BCIT program they are able to find work with Canada’s two national railways or with a short line industrial rail operator. Presently the placement rate for graduates of the program is close to 100%.

The Alberni Pacific Railway is able to offer the students a real-life experience of railroad work for their practicum, unlike their own facility on the Lower Mainland where BCIT has access to only about 1300 feet of track. In Port Alberni the Industrial Heritage Society maintains a large multi-track yard and a 6-mile mainline run out to McLean Mill. 

A reminder that the Industrial Heritage Society has their Annual General Meeting at Echo Centre this Tuesday Feb 22 starting at 7:30 pm. Anyone is welcome to come and hear the guest speaker. Speaking will be Ray Barron who will make a presentation on the logging railway speeders that used to carry loggers from the camps to the worksite in the days before the transition to truck logging. When I was in high school the Music & Drama Department made an annual trip to the logging camp at Franklin River. Getting there was half the fun, as we’d travel by speeder from tidewater on the Alberni Inlet by logging railway to Camp B in the interior of Vancouver Island. The travelling show was aptly named Camp B Capers. If you’d like to support the work of the Industrial Heritage Society, memberships can be purchased for $15 at the meeting.  

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On Thursday I purchased a brand-new pair of skis, not because I wanted to, but because I lost mine. In spite of the fact I’m a little embarrassed, I’m going to tell you my tale. In January I was skiing on Mount Washington and the weather was miserable with a howling wind and blowing snow. At day’s end I made for my van in the parking lot. In order to get out of the extreme cold I climbed inside the van to take my boots off, leaning my skis against the side of the van on the passenger side. Turning on the radio I proceeded to listen to the CBC while I ate a andwich. I don’t know if it was the music I’d been listening to that distracted me but after eating I put the van in gear and drove away. Arriving home I went to put my skis away and…you got it...no skis. Calls to Mount Washington’s Lost and Found Department over the next few days failed to turn up the missing skis. 

PHOTO: The sun was shining as I tried out a new pair of skis on Mount Washington on the weekend. Unfortunately the young fellow who took my photo didn’t lower the camera enough to fully show the new boards.

I was very upset losing the skis as they’d been a Christmas present from my family 12 years ago. However, with the advancements in ski technology they really needed to be replaced. Browsing the sporting goods stores the last few weeks I patiently waited for the prices to drop. Finally, last Thursday one store slashed their ski prices by over 50%. It was time to buy. When I learned to ski many years ago at Forbidden Plateau, one chose the ski length by holding your arm up high and buying the skis that came to your fingertips. Today it’s the opposite. Just about everyone uses skis less than their height. 

I could hardly wait to try out my new short-boards so I headed for Mount Washington on Friday morning. However, reaching Courtenay I found the highway almost impassible with blizzard conditions. Several semi-trailer trucks and a few highballing individuals in 4X4’s had already ended up in the weeds. I gingerly turned around at the first opportunity and headed home. There was no way I was going to get up the steep Mount Washington roadway. Besides I have little patience for lying on an icy roadway trying to strap on a set of automobile chains.

The weather report the following day was calling for a sunny day so early Saturday morning I headed for Mount Washington. By sunrise I had a prime spot in the parking lot close to the lodge. I normally avoid the weekend crowds on the slopes but I was itching to give my new skis a go. I figured if I hit the slopes at the opening bell I’d be able to get a number of runs in before the weekend hordes arrived.

It was a stunning view from the top of the chairlift as I pointed my shiny new skis downhill for their baptismal run. I didn’t know what to expect from them. My old skis were not only much longer but had nearly a constant width from the tips to the tails. My new ones had a wide tip, narrow waist, and wide tail. From the moment I headed down the first slope I marveled at the difference. I had better control and making a turn was a breeze. In fact I found them almost too easy to turn, at one point getting over confident on a steep pitch, which resulted in a spill. It wasn’t long before I had a confident feel for them.

The first runs of the day were heavenly with very few early risers on the slopes. However, by 11 am the crowds were packing the lift lines with a 30-minute wait. In anticipation I’d just purchased a half-day pass so by 1:30 I was 

heading home. Besides I had a gig at the Shady Rest Pub in the evening and I reasoned it best I not be tired for that. All in all I was thrilled with my ski purchase. I can hardly wait for my second outing.

PHOTO: The conductor’s class inspects a derailer across the highway from the paper plant in Port Alberni. A derailer is a wedge-shaped piece of steel which fits over the top of the rail. If a car or locomotive attempts to roll over it, the wheel flange is lifted over the rail to the outside, derailing it. When not in use, the derail folds away, leaving the rail unobstructed. Derailers are used to prevent unattended railway cars in a siding from entering an operational mainline track where the run-away cars could cause an accident. 

PHOTO: A replica of a speeder built to run on the narrow-gauge loop track at the Duncan Forest Museum in the Cowichan Valley. The Industrial Heritage Society is currently restoring an actual logging camp speeder, which they hope will be running on the Alberni Pacific Railway this summer.