Railway Days 2026

Heritage Park in Calgary held its 40th edition of Railway Days this year on September 19th and 20th.

The event saw 8000 some visitors over the two days with lots of railway action including a steam double header, a diesel freight train, steam passenger train, a speeder, a small diesel switcher, and a hand car! Most of which were hooped by the busy Agent Operators at Midnapore.

The local telegraph circuit connecting the three stations in the Park was busy and the connection to the Alberta MTC Line was live connecting with the 17 other stations on the line.

The Calgary Chapter of the MTC had a separate display setup in Shepard station.

We were joined by three of the "Old Pro" telegraphers Merle Shockey from Grand Prairie, his son Warren from Sundre Alberta, and Cliff Metherell from Lashburn Saskatchewan. Merle and Warren were working at the Shepard station and Cliff was working at the Laggan station. Larry Isenore of the Calgary chapter was manning the key at Midnapore station.

Cliff Metherell at Laggan Stn.

Merle Shockey
Keeping the line humming from Shepard Stn

Trevor O'Donoghue and other members of the Calgary Chapter were busy hooping all those trains, helping at all the stations, and working with the Railway group at the park keeping things "on the rails".

Junior members of the HP Morse Telegraph club manned the telegraph portion of the Kids Railway Challenge with two KOBs which were at a table in the Shepard Station baggage area.

Junior MTC member at the Kids Railway Challenge for Telegraphy

Shepard station was a very busy place telegraphy wise with two active connections to the MTC Line at the MTC display as well as the connection to the Park's local telegraph line.

Lots of clicking and clacking going on.

We heard some traffic from the greater MTC line from Summerland, Peachland, and Kelowna all in BC.

There were lots of opportunities to discuss the history of landline Morse telegraphy and how it was used on the railroad and many interesting stories were shared by both old timers and guests alike.

A fantastic early fall event that did the 40th anniversary of Railway Days at Heritage Park proud.

Looking forward to next year.

73
Ciao
KJ

Line Project is growing

The Alberta MTC Line Project continues to grow!

The most recent update includes this updated map from the MTC Line website.

There are now 16 active stations, 10 in Alberta, 4 in BC,  and one each in Saskatchewan and Ontario, and more to follow.
The three most recent stations are at Lashburn Saskatchewan, Revelstoke Railway Museum in Revelstoke BC, and the Aultsville Station in Morrisburg Ontario!

Thanks for helping to keep the sound of Morse alive!

73 
Ciao
Kevin Jepson (KJ)
Instigator and Wire Chief
Alberta MTC Line Project

Calgary (CG) Chapter Morse Telegraph Club

Old West Telegraph Fun

Something a little different today.

This pre-code Western, "The Telegraph Trail" starring John Wayne, was made in 1932.
A fun adventure where the telegraph figures prominently 😃

Here is the storyline from IMDB

"Greedy opportunist Gus Lynch, in order to continue to gouge townsfolk for necessary supplies, convinces High Wolf and his Indian tribe that they need to prevent the completion of the new telegraph lines or their tribe will be wiped out by a new influx of white men. Receiving an incomplete message warning of a white man's involvement in the recent Indian uprisings, cavalry scout John Trent is sent in to rectify the situation."

What's not to like?

If you would like to have a gander at this "classic" there is a copy available to view here.

Enjoy
73
KJ

Today we have a paper by L.E.Trump posted to the Telegraph Technology section of the
 Telegraph Lore website.

Enjoy
73
KJ

Testing on Open Wire Telegraph Lines

by L.E. Trump

Since the ranks of the Open Wire Testboardmen are thinning, and Open Wire Telegraph lines are almost non-existent today, it may be of interest to describe some of the testing techniques employed by those who did such work.

Western Union, the railroads, AT&T and other companies had extensive open wire plants spanning the U.S. up until the 1960's. Technological advances have largely supplanted the open wire lines and over-come their vulnerability to disaster.

The old-time Testboardman or Wire Chief had an interesting job to do, especially when the weather was less than ideal and rain, sleet, snow and ice wreaked havoc on the lines. Then, too, Lightning often walked about, seeking arbitrary paths to Mother Earth, and what better place to go than a nice fat Telegraph wire strung high on wet poles. "Atmospheric" electricity was something to be reckoned with indeed, and it caused many a Wire Chief to tear his hair.

When the weather was fine over his district, the Wire Chief usually did routine tests once a day which were intended to determine the basic "health" of the wires traversing his territory. Routine measurements conducted at one end of the line, with a distant office assisting, were conducted to measure the leakage to ground or "insulation resistance" of each wire, continuity of same, and working current in the circuit assigned to the wire if any. These measurements were usually recorded at intervals perhaps daily, or weekly or even monthly depending on the particular Company's policy. These records were kept for reference, and could be referred to as a "standard" or benchmark when things went wrong.

This testing was service-interrupting, so it was normally done during the "low usage" part of the day when the wire was idle. If this was not possible, service would be maintained by "patching" the circuit carried by a given wire off to a known good spare wire while the testing was done.

The primary testing instrument on a typical telegraph switchboard was the ES7A Volt-Mil-ammeter (VMA). The Switchboard Volt-mil-ammeter was a special "zero center" Galvanometer (micro-ammeter) that was calibrated to 200 units each side of center. A special set of shunt resistances, along with a jack and plug arrangement allowed the meter to be quickly set up as either a voltmeter or a mil-ammeter, with a full scale reading of 200 volts, or 200 milliamperes either side of center, as desired. When set up as a voltmeter, special testing potentials of up to plus 200 volts, minus 200 volts, or ground, could be connected to one side of the meter, with the other side of the meter connected to a test cord with a plug that fit the line jacks on the board. A strap key was also provided that could reverse the testing battery potential applied to the meter. When set up as a mil-ammeter, both sides of the meter were connected to the test cord. Current value in milliamperes and direction could then be easily observed by plugging the test cord into a series jack in the switchboard jack circuit of any given wire.

Running Trains by Telegraph

Continuing on with our recent series of posts on Operator/Agents duties and procedures here is a excerpt from the wonderful "Tales of the Telegraph" by Jasper Ewing Brady published in 1899.

This chapter is entitled "Running Trains by Telegraph - How It is Done" and covers the way a dispatcher worked and the environment he worked in back in 1899.
The entire book is a wonderful read highly recommended but this chapter is a great look at how the Dispatcher kept (or at least tried to keep) everything running smoothly and most importantly safely!
Enjoy
73
KJ

Continued below.

Hooping in 1960

 Once the operator got his orders he had to get them to the train crew.
This great photo by R. Sandusky taken at Morley Alberta on August 16 1960 shows the C.P. Agent Vic Burton hooping orders to the Eastbound "Mountaineer".
You can also see the second shorter hoop he is holding to give to the conductor in the caboose.
This is an original photo currently hanging on the wall of the station at the Alberta Central Railway Museum near Wetaskiwin Alberta.
Worth a closer look!

Busy Busy Operator

Transcribed from an article in a1958 edition of the North Battleford newspaper and sent to us by Merle Shockey in Grande Prairie Alberta.
Thanks Merle!

Curry's CORNER

by D. S. CURRY

Telegraph Operators

The telegraph operator appears to have the softest job on the railroad as he pounds away at his typewriter to the tune of the telegraph sounder banging away in his ear. But the truth is that at times he has more responsibility than some presidents, is busier than a factory hand on an assembly line and at the end of his shift is more tired than a ditch digger.

A good example would be the second trick operator down at the station. His day begins at three in the afternoon by signing the transfer from the day operator, checking the train orders and messages on hand and casting a suspicious eye at the west end wire as it hums out of tune with the rest of them.

To the uninitiated click, click, click of the telegraph sounder is merely noise. But to the operator, as he shoves message blanks into the typewriter, it forms a music all its own. For an hour or more he will sit, oblivious to all other sounds, transcribing this musical code at thirty or forty words a minute, into the plain English of telegrams.

Interrupting this smooth flow of words the dispatchers telephone from Prince Albert whirrs into life demanding attention. With a quick movement of his wrist he opens the key to his "bug", telling the sender that he is "9" or in everyday speech, going to copy train orders.

The handling of train orders is the most important part of his duties. A train cannot move until he has given it either a clearance or a full set of orders issued by the dispatcher. With thousands of dollars worth of equipment and many lives at stake he is not allowed one mistake, even a misplaced letter, in a train order. To check on his accuracy, every order is given to at least one other operator, who miles away, listens to him repeat it back to the dispatcher. The three of them are held equally responsible for the correctness of the order and this responsibility is tremendous. With two trains, travelling at over fifty miles an hour, coming against each other, it would take only one word in the wrong order to cause a train wreck. A heavy cross hangs over the fingers of an operator's hand or the sound of his voice on a telephone. But the evening passes quickly. In the course of eight hours he may have copied fifty messages, cleared trains, sold tickets, acted as yardmaster, answered two city telephones at least forty times each, and then have some one ask him why he doesn't look busy as he sits at his desk eating a cold lunch many hours late.

Yes it may appear to be a cinch of a job but it can also be a very quick way to gather a set of ulcers. But ask any operator if they would like to trade jobs and you would get an immediate no.Who else but an operator can, by the touch of his fingers, set in motion a whole railroad or just as quickly pull it to a stop. 

They are "rail-roaders".

Introduction to the Alberta MTC Line Project 2026

 Greetings

Way back in January 2024 I sent a brief introduction on the Alberta MTC Line Project our to the Alberta Museums Association List Server and I figure it is time for an update and a little more detail!

~~~~~~~~

My name is Kevin Jepson and I am a board member for the Calgary Chapter of the international Morse Telegraph Club. I am also the "Wire Chief", I.E. the technical lead, and instigator of the Alberta MTC Line Project.

The ABMTC Line Project is an ambitious plan to connect museums, and other groups in Western Canada, that are interested in preserving and demonstrating land line Morse Telegraphy, to a functional telegraph line running across the Internet.  Land line Morse was used by railways and commercial telegraph systems in Canada from the advent of the CPR in the 1870s right up to the last telegraph message sent on the CPR telegraph system a hundred years later in 1973. The telegraph was THE long distance communication system. The project is connecting old telegraph equipment, that many museums have in their collections, to our working telegraph line. Many small museums across Western Canada are actually housed in old train stations where that equipment was actually used. There is a surprisingly large amount of this equipment gathering dust in our collections or in static displays. We aim to bring it back to life to make our displays actually work, to add the sounds of Morse code to these displays and keep the sound of Morse alive. We don't just want canned sounds we want the line to carry real telegraph traffic from real people!

Since 2024 and to-date we have connected 9 museums and groups, 6 in Alberta and 3 in BC, to the line and there are more than 30 groups and museums who have expressed an interest in getting connected. We have interested museums and groups across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. We have also received expressions of interest from as far North as the Yukon, as far West as Southern Vancouver Island, and as far East as Quebec. 

As part of the project it was necessary to develop an inexpensive, standard, turnkey interface setup that would make connecting physical telegraph equipment to the Internet easy, safe, and secure. Our system enables Morse code to be sent across a virtual telegraph line to other stations just like it would have been sent across those thousands of miles of physical wire! Our setup has been very successful and as long as a site has some kind on internet access available we can usually get it hooked up.

The website for the project has a map showing the current active stations on the line updated in real time. Feel free to check it out here: https://abkob.servehttp.com
The software used to make the connection has the ability to translate the Morse code traffic into English letters and there is a real time transcript of the traffic available here: https://abkob.servehttp.com/traffic.html

It does a fairly good job with the old pros but for us just learning to send it can be... "interesting".

In order for the project to be successful we also need people to use it.
To that end we focus on education and training on the use of American or land line Morse Code (which is different than International Morse code used on radios), and the history of the telegraph in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Of course the telegraph was intimately linked with the railroad, but it was also used for government, banking, newspapers, and other commercial traffic. We have resources available for learning to send and receive American Morse Code, and technical information on keeping this old equipment working properly. Many of these resources are available through our low volume mailing list at: https://groups.io/g/Alberta-MTC and the website for the Calgary chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club here: https://alberta-mtc.blogspot.com/

At Supertrain in Calgary last year I was interviewed by a Ham Radio video blogger, Vince d'Eon, about the project.
You can see that video here: https://youtu.be/-jM10EvASBE

I send out a semi-regular update on the status of the project and am happy to add anyone interested to that mailing list.

If this sounds interesting and you would like more information, or would like to participate in the ABMTC Line Project, please reach out to me, Kevin Jepson, at albertamtcline at gmail.com

73 (Telegrapher's code for 'Best Wishes')
Ciao
Kevin Jepson (KJ)
Instigator and Wire Chief
Alberta MTC Line Project

Calgary (CG) Chapter
 Morse Telegraph Club