HomeMy WebLinkAbout349"Article copied from _Meet Me at the Station_ by Elizabeth A Wilmot, 1976, page 98.
At mileboard 166.2 on the Canadian Pacific's Havelock subdivision, your train will stop if
flagged at the Claremont station. Your first impression might be,
""just another dreary railway-red station."" However, it was regarded with pride by the village,
and for the family of the station agent it offered lively entertainment.
Mr. Kenneth Dopking who lived in the station for almost twenty years while his father was
Claremont's station agent, was the envy of many of his young friends. When freight trains sat on
the siding waiting for clearance to proceed, Kenneth could usually persuade the train crew to
let him climb up into the cab of the steam engine, where he marvelled at all the valves and huge
fire-box. His supreme moment came one day when the engineer allowed him to pull the throttle,
and actually drive the locomotive down the track to the first switch!
Life in the station was governed by train schedules. Breakfast would be finished before the
arrival of #381 which was due at Claremont at 7:04 a.m. Sharp on the stroke of 12 o'clock noon,
dinner had to be ready so that it wouldn't interfere with #383 which came in at 12:42 P.M.
The entire day was punctuated by the arrivals and departures of passenger trains,
and the thunder of a passing freight train acted as a conversation stopper for anyone
visiting the Dopkings. Windows rattled, dishes and silver vibrated a metallic tune,
and pictures hanging on the walls took on a new angle.
Competition was keen among station agents who strived for outstanding lawns
and flower gardens. Claremont won the railway award on many occasions for the perfection of
its shapely cedar hedge and colourful flowers bordering the lawns and the willow tree which
cast lacey shadows against the frame station.
During the winter months, snow-ploughs are in constant use keeping open the line passing
through Claremont. However, a paralyzing storm in 1959 brought rail traffic to a standstill.
Passengers slept in the station that night. Wood stoves were used for heating and cooking
after a power failure when the hydro wires came down. Telephone service was cut off too,
and Claremont appeared to be totally isolated. However, the unexpected appearance of a
beer truck, churning through snowdrifts which had defeated county snow-ploughs cheered the
passengers up.
Mr. Herbert Stitt, retired CP engineer has a very special recollection of Claremont. His train
had stopped in Pontypool to pick up train orders which he found hard to believe.
The message read, ""Be on lookout for elephant on tracks at Claremont.""
Stray cattle and deer were not unusual on the tracks, but who would expect to find an elephant?
Apparently one had escaped while being unloaded from a circus train at Whitby, and when last
r seen was lumbering up the CPR tracks in a westerly direction.
An air of mystery veiled the identity of an itinerant worker many years ago in Claremont whose
highway was the railroad. He was known simply as ""John the Fan Cutter."" After doing odd
jobs at a farm, restlessness would soon urge him to move on. If he had been treated well at the
farm, he would whittle an exquisite wooden fan, and present it on his departure before
disappearing down the tracks, carrying his worldly belongings in a knotted bandana.
During the depression years, people like ""John the Fan Cutter"" were not uncommon in rural
villages. At another station on Havelock subdivision, a homeless man made his winter home in
the basement. A cultured man, he was an authority on every known religion, and was called
""Bible Bill.""
The company which built the railway line running through Claremont was another example of
the small railway companies whose life time was so short in the late 1800s. In 1884,
the Ontario and Quebec Railway Company constructed the line, and in the same year,
it was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway company who have operated it since
that time.
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