Lucerne is located at Mileboard 21.8 from Jasper, Alberta, very near the British Columbia border in Yellowhead Pass. Once a divisional point for the Canadian Northern Railway, Yellowhead Lake was a major source of ice for refrigeration and air-conditioning railway cars. It was also the location of a huge gravel operation at the west end. Overburden was stripped from the land and course material was hauled by work trains as fill for bank widening. Smaller stones were screened and sometimes crushed to become ballast under the rails and ties. This improved drainage and extended the life of wooden ties.
In the summer of 1952, Bob Robinson, a Railway Operator, was assigned from the Saskatchewan District to Lucerne on a Ballast work train. Robinson’s job was to receive train orders and line ups from the Dispatcher located in Jasper. The work train would do it’s work between the movements of other trains, causing the least delay. The trainmen would flag opposing trains from both ends when the work train was working on the mainline. The Operator’s care was absolutely essential to the safety of everyone concerned.
The Operator was in possession of a hand cranked telephone, which he would "hook onto the wire" of the pole line running along the track. When the Operator’s Bunk Car was stationary in a siding the "phone" would remain connected, at other times when unloading or when delayed away from the outfit cars he would use a pole fitted with hooks and wires to reach up to the Dispatcher’s lines. In this case the phone did not have a selector switch and the Dispatcher could not call the Operator. This is why flagging was necessary, because running times were not always predictable and changes in the line up did occur.
Robinson was first up in the morning, or so he says (I suspect the Cook was up and had breakfast ready). Being last to bed at night probably had more to do with a card game than a call of duty. He would get his orders, have breakfast and meet with the Conductor, my father, Walter Emmington. Once clearance was given, the train would hiball out to the dump site. Sometimes more time would be needed and the Conductor would ask the Operator to call in for more time. Again "hooking up to the wire" orders were revised by the Dispatcher. As soon as Emmington saw Robinson disconnecting from the wire he would give a hiball. Robinson
would swing on the rear steps of the moving caboose. He recalls Conductor Emmington leaning out the cupola window violently waving anything he could lay his hands on to get the engineman to speed up. The odd time there would be a few choice words between them but come evening over a card game everything was well. Loading was done all day, traffic was heavy and unloading was usually done first thing in the morning. At the pit Robinson kept his phone on the wire, copying any orders that may be of use for an afternoon trip. Conductor Emmington would relieve Robinson for a rest in the Operator’s Bunk car after lunch for an hour or so. In turn, Emmington would catch a power nap. The work was seven days every week for three of four weeks before the "blue law" kicked in requiring the crews to take Sundays off. Conductor Emmington would tie up the outfit at noon on Saturday, grab all the bunk cars and head for Jasper, returning to Lucerne Pit late Sunday.
Robinson remembers the crews as being friendly and cooperative, spelling each other off and even filling in when the crew was short. When unloading the ballast cars, one person had to take a hammer and remove a wooden peg from the dumping mechanism, Robinson volunteered for this. When his girlfriend came to visit, Conductor Emmington and the Chief Dispatcher arranged for Robinson to have three or four days off with pay, Emmington did the "peg" job while he was gone and Bob and his girlfriend were soon married.
