Calgary - As a conductor for CP Rail/VIA Rail Canada, Jess Nowicki has been selling his passengers on the railway for more than 30 years.

When he stepped down from his eastbound passenger train recently, he retired as an employee but he will continue to sell the railway. Combining years of experience and a life-long hobby of collecting historical material on Canada's railways, he plans to market rail memorabilia.

But Nowicki will be doing more than just selling. He will be carrying on an interest in trains and railroading that began in his boyhood years ago in Suffield when he and friends used to sneak rides on passing freights.

In his office, surrounded by books, photographs, old uniforms, and about 5,000 letters from rail passengers, Norwicki said, "There is a lot of history behind the Canadian Pacific Railway... after all, it was the railway that made this country."

A member of 14 railway historical clubs and societies, he said there is much of the railroad's history he wants to get across to the people.

His collection includes a copy of the telegram sent to John A. Macdonald from William C. Van Home advising him that the railway was completed at Craigellachie, B.C. on 7 Nov 1885. In his office he has photos of the first engine to operate in Canada and most of the modern units which ply the rails today. There is also a photo of Mrs. Van Home riding the cowcatcher of a locomotive through the Rockies in 1891.

Somewhere he has a $10 ticket for a return trip down the old Turkey Trail rail line from Dunmore to Lethbridge and over to Great Falls. He couldn't quite put his finger on it in the piles of papers and letters his desk harbors.

Nowicki produced photos of the old station at Dunmore and said it was the same size as the one in Medicine Hat. Some shots show the chutes where coal was dumped into the standard size CP Rail cars from the narrow gauge cars that came from the Lethbridge area coal mines. In 1893 the CPR took over the Lethbridge run and converted the line to standard gauge. He also has photos of Medicine Hat and the first rail trestle built over the South Saskatchewan River. It was wiped out by ice after the spring breakup.

Nowicki said he is trying to keep the railway alive in peoples' minds. He added the railway is what has kept him alive.

On 2 Apr 1932 he continued a family tradition by starting as a section man in the Medicine Hat area for 25 cents an hour.

JOBS SCARCE

"Jobs were pretty scarce then and 25 cents looked pretty good. Most fellows worked for ranchers for room and board and they received some money from the government. I was lucky, because at that time if you weren't connected with the railway you couldn't get a job."

Nowicki was well connected. Both of his grandfathers worked for trhe railway starting in 1895. His father started work as a section man in 1903.

He could only manage part time work during the Depression and worked elsewhere during those years. In 1942, he hired on as a trainman and worked from the spareboard until he acquired enough seniority to get permanent work.

In 1950, he started with the passenger services where he remained.

In the dome car, which Nowicki feels is much like a classroom, he educated and entertained thousands of travellers, selling them on the railway and informing them about much of Canada's history.

He has met movie stars and entertainers on the run between Medicine Hat and Field. "I once had Jonny Cash on my run and Eddie Cantor was there about 30 years ago," he said.

George Hamilton IV sent him a thank-you card and tape of his music.

Nowicki has been mentioned in newspaper articles from the Vancouver Sun to the Boston Globe, and he is in a photo on the cover of Trains magazine.

He said his involvement in railways will continue after retirement because he wants to keep up his interest.

"I got a letter from an engineer in Broadview who wants some information," he said. "It keeps me busy trying to find out the answers, I don't know everything," he said.

What he does know is that he has had railroading in his blood all his life and he always enjoyed the fellowship of working with a team of other railroaders.

"This is what I will be doing to keep out of trouble," he said, leaning back in his desk chair and contemplating the thousands of railway related articles in the small basement office.