Cochrane Alberta - While diesel-powered locomotives had been operating in Canada since the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1950s that they replaced their steam-powered counterparts in significant numbers.
 
Gordon Davies remembers the first diesel engine rolling through Cochrane in the early 1950s.
 
"When they changed to diesel engines, I remember we were all let out to go down to the bottom of the school yard close to the tracks to watch the first diesel train go through town which was really quite exciting," he recalled.
 
"Now people would do the same to go and see an old steam engine, but in those days, the diesel trains were quite exciting. We all got let out to go down to the end of the school yard to watch through the fence to see it come through."
 
The railway was a key part of the postal system.
 
Davies recalls the mail being dropped off at the station in rather quick fashion.
 
"I think they would throw it off the train because the trains often didn't stop unless somebody was getting on or off," he said.
 
"But then the postmaster, he had a cart that he would throw the mail bags on, and then he would take it back across the street to the post office."
 
It's clear that getting a train to stop at the station wasn't quite as easy as pulling the stop cord on a bus.
 
"My understanding was that you had to tell the conductor that you were getting off in Cochrane so he could let the engineer know," Davies explained.
 
"And of course when you were wanting to go somewhere on the train, you would go to the station, and the station agent would contact the train or signal somehow that the train was to stop."
 
"The bus or the train, that was the only means of getting out of here for a lot of people because cars were fairly expensive, and many people didn't have access to motor cars."
 
It was quite a trip into the city and certainly not something that you did all the time."
 
Patrick Gibson.