Page 7 - When the Employees Owned the Trams

ISSUE : Issue 24

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1979/12/1

for a mile. But they met right on this curve. The other fellows was piling it on to make the crossing. And the motorman was caught in what they used to call the ves? tibule. He made an attempt to open the door, but he didn't get it in time. He was caught between the two cars. They took him to the hospital, but he died just after. We were coming into Sydney one night to Reserve, along where the airport is today. It was all in the dark. A deer jumped up on the track • stood right on the track • and we banged into him. Went as far as from here across the street. Of course we stopped, went out to have a look at it. Everybody was saying, "Oh gee, it would be a shame to leave that deer there. Why not butcher him?" You know. I said, "Well, go ahead if you want to bleed him, but I'm not going to get all messed up." I had my work to finish. One fellow said, "Take him into Reserve. Dan f/kcDonald" • he was the operator in the substation there • "he'll look after him." So we picked him up and opened the rear door and put him across in the rear end. And we came into Reserve. We stopped opposite the substation and we carried the deer over; and when we dropped him on the ground, he jumped up and away he went. And we were just wondering what would have happened if he Jiad jumped up in the car. Now when I started, first you started on. Dorchester Street and you went down the Esplanade, made a loop and came back on to Townsend Street. After the war they wanted flUIP to pave the Esplanade, so they took the track up off of here • we'd run to Dorches? ter Street and then turn back the same way. To turn the tram, you just shifted ends. (Shifted ends?) You had your motorman at one end and the pole that ran on the wire was at the back end. When you turned ends, the tram stood still and the motorman would take the gear from the front end • pick up the levers and take them to the other end. You could operate the tram from either end. There was a pole at each end on top, so according to which way you were If you enjoy our magazine you will love this book. DOWN NORTH The Book of Cape Breton-s Magazine Edited by Ronald Caplan We invite you to tal

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