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.
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| Cliff Metherell at Laggan 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.
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| 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
