Dad's Model Railroad

This past week, the sale of my parent’s home in Edmonton was finally completed.  This brings to a conclusion the lengthy and unplanned process of moving Mom and Dad out of their house where they had lived for the past 38 years.  This was a major undertaking and consumed the better part of the past summer, bringing with it a roller coaster of emotions.  The realization that your parents can no longer care for themselves is a sobering reality, driving home the fact that the cycle of life continues without interruption.  It seems like only yesterday when Dad was moving my Grandmother out of her home in Saskatoon, in fact I found untouched boxes of keepsakes from that move buried away in Mom and Dad’s basement where they had been relegated close to 30 years previous.

Cleaning out Mom and Dad’s house was no small task.  Not only had they collected a sizable number of belongings, they had also slipped into a depression era mentality where absolutely nothing was being thrown out.  It took days to sift through all of their belongings, and though it was a major chore, finding treasures that I remembered from my childhood brought back many fond memories.  It was hard to

do, but a huge number of things had to be thrown out.  My brother and I completely filled two 30 yard dumpsters as there was simply no time for a garage sale.  60 cubic yards is a lot of volume and it is tough to watch your parents as they watch you seemingly indiscriminately discarding a lifetime of belongings. 

Despite this, I think we did well with their more cherished items.  Dad had prepared me well for this moment, ensuring on many occasions in the past that I knew what was important and significant to retain.  I kept most of the old photos, home movies, his beautiful model of the Cutty Sark, and other assorted collectibles.  I have since being scanning

Lena Bailey on Confederation Limited.  Lucerne, Alberta, 1920.

old family photos that date from the early 1900’s and in the process have been learning much more about my ancestors.  The Canadian Northern society took many of Dad’s railway collectibles and it is great to know that many of the items will be on display in their restored Canadian Northern train stations.  A few of Dad’s most cherished items, such as the brass number plate from his

father’s steam engine CN 5140 and a beautiful HO scale model of that same engine now adorn their new unit in the senior’s complex.  Unfortunately however, not everything could be saved.  Dad’s old antique player piano ultimately had to be given away.  It was just too large and too heavy, and there is no market for old pianos.  What a

treasure to lose though.  It provided hours of fun through the 60’s and 70’s at Mom and Dad’s parties, with guests loosened up by alcohol singing along with the piano that played by itself.  Many smaller but still sentimental items had to be discarded with great hesitation.  But the worst task of all was dismantling and throwing away Dad’s model railroad.  Fortunately the engines, equipment and buildings including

his scratch built Canadian Northern station, roundhouse, and water tank went to worthy individuals.  But the layout itself was just too big for anyone to take and had to be cut up to be removed from the basement.  Dad spent several years building that layout, and I spent countless hours playing with it.  In fact when I was a kid, I operated the railroad on many occasions for some of Mom and Dad’s friends who would ultimately go on to become Vice

Presidents and senior executives of CN.  They were all impressed by my operating abilities!!  In later years my son Douglas loved to play with the train on our visits to Edmonton.  On May 24^th, 2010, I operated the train for the last time before dismantling it and hauling it to the dumpster.  Talk about painful!

Time marches on, another page has now turned, and Mom and Dad are nicely settled into their new unit in the senior’s complex.  On October 3, 2010, on a final visit to the house before the sale, I snapped this photo of Mom and Dad at their front entrance for the last time.