At a public ceremony presided over by the Mayor of Nelson, Joseph Kary, and Company officials from Nelson and Vancouver, the Company's new $1,500,000 diesel maintenance shop at Nelson was officially opened. Hundreds of citizens applauded as Mayor Kary officially opened the vast shop, one of the finest in the country, and as His Worship described it, "a forerunner in a new age in the industry of transportation, and a tribute to the spirit of one of Canada's great companies".
George L. Phillips, superintendent at Nelson, was presented with an illuminated address to mark the opening event.
Visitors were shown about the shop, and viewed many of its modern features, including a Whiting drop-pit where 1,600-horsepower locomotives can be suspended while their 23-ton wheel trucks are changed. They also witnessed the shop's wheel-truing machine in operation. This apparatus is the eighth of its kind to be manufactured, and is the only one of its type in Canada.
The three-level shop permits free and speedy accessibility to all parts of the diesel-electric locomotives which are run-in for inspections and maintenance work.
A large area of the shop accommodates offices, oil testing laboratory, electrical parts reconditioning room, filter washing room, all on the upper floor, and on the lower floor, stores and records room, lunch and washrooms, oil storage and lubricating oil pump room, and an automatic elevator for heavy stores.
A 25-ton overhead crane handles heavy materials and wheel trucks. Underneath the plant, 13 feet below ground level, are a series of tunnels containing service pipes and two huge fans which draw fresh air from outside, heat it and force it through outlets in the shop.
A steam plant, now nearing completion, will be fully automatic, and will supply steam for the whole yard including station, roundhouse, car shop, and diesel shop. An old 1907 steam locomotive, one of the last seen in Nelson, has been serving as a steam plant until the heating unit is completed.
Oil for the diesel locomotives is stored in a tank with a capacity of 535,000 gallons, about three months supply. Fuel dispensing units draw the oil from underground piping connecting with the storage tank.
Following is the text of the illuminated address handed to Mr. Phillips by Mayor Kary.
"It is with pride that the people of the City of Nelson accompany the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in one more step in the task of nation-building. It is not possible to measure the stature or the importance of an event such as the opening of this Canadian Pacific Railway diesel maintenance shop." (Remainder of text is missing.)
Railway Limited and is reprinted here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and
trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
