Vol. 12 Number 5 April 14, 1982

Vancouver - Pacific Region has bought 30 new crew boarding cars worth $2.5 million to lodge its rail gang doing upgrading work this summer.

The mobile units, which feature well-equipped sleeping, eating, and relaxation cars, will be home-away-from-home for the 90 man crew replacing about 225 kilometres of track in British Columbia and Alberta.

"The cars have the best design of any we've looked at and are bright, comfortable, with lots of room to move around," said Bob Morrish, regional engineer.

The boarding cars, which were built by Mobile International Co. of Tulsa, Oklahoma, are shock-mounted on 25 centimetre deep steel channels and have been designed to fit on open-deck flat cars.

Mr. Morrish said the accommodations "are an overall better product than any we've used before. Construction is similar to that of an aircraft's fuselage, tough and durable."

The maintenance crews in Vancouver have been giving the units a thorough inspection to ensure that everything from showers to kitchen facilities are in working order. The 30 units are being pressed into service this month.

The equipment consists of 12 eight-man sleepers, four supervisor sleepers, a cook car, a provision car with walk-in refrigerator, three dining cars, two toilet and wash units, two recreation cars, two locker cars, a fuel car, and one electrical power generating car.

The units are air-conditioned and have heat tracers in the hot water system to prevent freeze-up in cold weather.

The upgrading work in the Pacific Region this summer consists of replacing track at 19 locations including Shuswap, the Cascade and Nelson areas of B.C., and Red Deer and Leduc in Alberta

Two employees with a combined service of 77 years have retired at Penticton, B.C.

Locomotive Engineer Palmer Sather has called it quits after 42 years and Trainman Merle Calder is retiring after 35 years.

Mr. Sather started with the railway in 1940 as a wiper, was promoted fireman two years later, and then became a locomotive engineer. He has worked at every railway terminal in British Columbia and was local chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for 10 years.

Retirement plans for Mr. Sather and his wife Dorothy include visiting relatives in Scandinavia.

Mr. Calder has worked mainly in the Penticton area, though he has also worked out of Revelstoke.