Peter:
an interesting question..............
I was born in 1952 so the fifties were the years of my early childhood so
you'd think the sixties would be more
prominent........but, I have been blessed with a really good memory and I had a
very happy childhood so
I have strong memories of the fifties........................
I was an " army brat" and Mom didn't drive so, every summer while Dad was away
at Wainwright or wherever, Mom and
I would jump on a train and go to visit relatives somewhere. We lived in
Calgary and we would go to Mom's hometown in
Manitoba...Reston. We always seemed to take the "Dominion" and I grew up
loving the mix of stainless steel and maroon
cars. If money was tight, we went by coach and I still think CPR 2200- series
coaches are the greatest coaches
ever built! If money was good, we went in a lower section on a heavyweight
sleeper.!
Some years, we got off the Dominion at Wolseley, Sask., and rode the
"Peanut"............the Reston / Wolseley mixed.
Other years, we rode to Brandon and took train / 137 to Souris and train / 55
to Reston........or were driven by
my Uncle Boyd...............a CP dispatcher.
In 1957, Dad`s regiment was sent to Germany and CP tacked extra tourist
sleepers onto the Dominion at Calgary and we
travelled from Calgary to Montreal on the Dominion and our cars were then
transferred to a train to St. John, NB.
Once there, our cars were switched out and moved to a pier where we boarded the
Empress of France`` to cross
the Atlantic.
As a child, my parents would often take me to the CP station in Calgary and let
me roam around and watch
trains while they had coffee in the `Palliser`` hotel coffee shop. I`d watch
trains and the station switcher for hours
and then we`d drive out Alyth yard.
The fifties for me were an optimistic time, our family was fairly poor but we
were happy and life was fairly simple.
There were still steam locomotves in certain areas, most of us travelled by
train, we lived in
a safe society and there were clearly defined lines that people didn`t cross.
The rural areas still
thrived, the cites were clean and safe and Canada was still in it`s post-war
glow.
I just turned 56 years old and I still have such vivid, warm memories of what
my life was
like back then. It``s no wonder that my model railroading interest are centred
on that
decade!
Robin Lowrie
Stony Plain, Alberta
----- Original Message -----
From: PBowers
To: 50s-cdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 4:00 PM
Subject: [50sNB4cdn] 50 years ago
I find it hard to believe the Fifties were winding down fifty years
ago. The steam locomotive was all but dead, jet aircraft were
quickly pushing the prop driven aircraft into oblivion, radio was
replaced by television and things like going to the circus and ice
capades were being replaced by boob tube entertainment.
Today with the internet and hand held communications, the fifties
seem like forever ago.
Almost ten yeas ago this list was set up to help model railroaders
and others recreate the 50's on their layouts or dioramas or just on
mode;ls and other things representing to era. If you look at the
early discussions we had a vibrant list with probably twice the
members still here.
It is hard to say why lists don't maintain interest but probably the
amount of lists today pull posts away from weaker lists. I have
always maintained that the list members should try to post once a
week. Unfortunately for this and other lists that doesn't happen.
So, hopefully we can get some action going on the list and discuss
the fifties.
To start off, why are you here? What interests you in the fifties?
For myself I grew up in the fifties and have many vivid memories of
steam trains, ships and other trucks and buses. I remember trucks
being mostly removeable wood rack sides with canvas roofs and round
wheeled "landing gear" and seeing these replaced with closed metal
vans with flat landing gear. I remember gas electric/doodlebugs and
mixed trains, the smells and sounds of steam and copal smoke. I
remember the different pace our lives marched to, a time where we
were niave compared to today.
I don't know if I would want to go back. The internet and
information access today is at finger tip. It would be nice to have
a time machine to go back to a time when 100 dollar pays were more
than you could spend. People saved money and credit card didn't run
our world.
Anyway, I hope some other will take my lead and geyt the list back in
gear.
Thanks for sticking by the list but using it is SO much better!!
Peter Bowers
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