Chapleau Ontario - "On the Wright Track" is a delightful, well written, and eminently readable account of the lives of of William and Helen Wright and their four children.
 
From its inception in September of 1928 to its retirement in June of 1967, Mr. Wright taught in the railway school car that ran between the CP Divisional Points of Chapleau and White River in Northern Ontario.
 
The school cars (there were seven that ran on CN, CP, and T&NO) were railway cars converted into a school room and living quarters for the teacher and his family.
 
The cars were conceived in the mid 1920s by J.B. MacDougall of the Ontario Ministry of Education.
 
Their purpose was to deliver education to the children of railway workers, mostly track maintenance men, who lived and worked at isolated locations along the railways of Northern Ontario.
 
The children of trappers, prospectors, and lumber jacks were also welcome.
 
CP School Car number 2 ran from Chapleau to White River serving the remote whistle stops of Esher, Nicholson, Bolkow, Carry, Grassett, and Amyot.
 
The car would be pulled by a freight train from one stop to the next where it would be shunted off the main line for a week during which time the children would be given a week of intensive teaching.
 
They would then be given homework assignments to be completed before the train stopped again on its return trip.
 
One cycle from Chapleau to White River would last about a month.
 
Teaching on the school cars required a very special person and his wife.
 
It was a very remote existence, and if the couple had children, those kids would have to be raised without the benefit of interaction with peers their own age.
 
They made their own fun doing puzzles, playing board games, snaring rabbits, fishing, and scavenging pop bottles that had been thrown from passing trains.
 
In season they picked blueberries which they sold to their grandfather in Campbellford.
 
They did very well on the Grade Eight high school entrance exams that were required in those days.
 
Most went on to post secondary education.
 
To tell this story the author chose to invite the four Wright children to write a chapter describing their lives before they went off to high school.
 
Shirley was born in 1935, Harvey in 1936, Nancy in 1938, and Chris in 1943.
 
They had nothing but good things to say about their experience.
 
Two former pupils were also asked to make a contribution, and they too were very positive.
 
In 1946, Mr. Wright built a cottage on Wangoon Lake at Esher which the family enjoyed until 1983 when they sold it to the Dixon family who still own it.
 
Whenever I read any comments about the school cars by the students they are invariably positive about their experiences and their respect for Mr. Wright.
 
However, in 1967, it was time to retire to a new home in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.
 
Before leaving Chapleau the Wrights were honored at a reception thrown by the teachers of Chapleau High School and by the Reeve and Councillors of the town.
 
Bill McLeod.

On the Wright Track - Memories from C.P.R. School Car #2
Bonnie Sitter
2021
Publisher Bonnie Sitter 244 Main Street South Exeter Ontario N0M 1S6.
Perfect bound, 77 pages, 53 photos, 8 1/2 x 11 inches.
Cost $25.00 plus $6.78 postage.
bonnie․sitter@gmail․com