Cape Breton's Magazine

York Railroad for 25 years finisher on the wood cars. an interior I worked on Diamond Jim Brady's car, his private car. (James Brady was a wealthy American financier and sugar salesman known We plan it all for you. 794'7251 158 QUEEN ST., NORTH SYDNEY BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY ' SENIOR SERVICE- • Any Make Car Care Plan for Senior Citizens more for his lavish personal displays than for his business ventures, which were pri? marily in the area of railway equipment-- G.B.) I worked on one of the Presidents of the United States' old cars. They kept it up for historical reasons. And then I worked on Andrew Mellon's car. (Andrew Mel? lon was a wealthy American banker who was Secretary of the Treasury in the U. S. un? der Presidents Harding. Coolidge and Hoo? ver. He held the position from 1921 until 1932--G.B.) He was a millionaire over and over again, Andrew Mellon. There were a couple more private cars that belonged to well-to-do people. And those cars, you couldn't put any more money in them. You'd have to throw the money away before you could spend any more on them. They were just polished, the inside of them-- everything was just aimed to perfection. The light fixtures, for instance. They had a gold finish on them. Perfect. And the hardware on the doors.... And there were showers and bathrooms and bedrooms and sit? ting rooms. The wood-work was polished ma? hogany, the finest finish I ever saw. Well, when you had to repair that, to make it appear the way it was, you would have to know what you were do? ing. And the foremen there, they weren't too well up on it, because in 1934 when I went there the shops had been closed for three years. A lot of the old- timers had got pensioned off and then they hired on carpenters from the out? side. The handiest thing they could get to a rail? road man was a carpenter. • FREE Loaner Car on Overnight Repairs • FREE Pick Up and Delivery of Your Car • FREE Tow to Our Service Department • FREE 20% Off on Ford Parts • FREE 20% Off on Repairs Done Here • FREE Life Insurance on Car Loans . FREE 1. D. Card BELLE ISLE LINCOLN MERCURY SALES LTD. 195 Prince St., Sydney "At the Tracks" 539-9292 LINCOLN 1990 GRAND MARQUIS But then the railroad that I worked for sold out to another company. The shop that we worked in wasn't used anymore--the Pennsyl? vania Railroad did the re? pair work and such in their own shop. So I went outside to work, back out to work on buildings, from 1960 till 1972. (Billy joined Local 67 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joinrs of America in 1925. and except for his stint with the railroad, was in the union all his working life. He recalls that in the late '2Qs. as manv as 80% of Lo? cal 67's executive posi? tions were filled by Mari- timers--G.B.') Gary: Why were there so many Maritime carpenters in Boston?