Memories of Drake Street Roundhouse in Vancouver

Andy Cassidy

The Diesel Shop portion of the Roundhouse was at the north end, and consisted of pits 10 through 12 that were set up to maintain Diesel Locomotives. The three pits were deeper than the standard pits in the roundhouse to properly be able to work under the trucks of the diesels. Pit #10 was always covered with boards. It was primarily used for doing head and liner re & re work etc., with the overhead crane. Pit #11 was set up with reinforced concrete pads for the jacking up of units. We did not have a drop table there, so we had to jack up the units and wheel the trucks out onto the turntable, then over to Pit #12 where they were repaired. That shop area also was equipped with an overhead bridge crane, as mentioned above, that ran the span of the three pits. The four 35 ton Whiting Jacks worked as a set and could handle the weight of a GP9 or an A unit. Anything heavier had to be lifted with the resident steam crane.

There are a number of good stories I recall about this place, but I’ll share two that were significant for me. First though to set the stage, when we had to remove the trucks from some switcher for repairs, we set up the jacks and lifted it WAAAAY up. We would move the trucks out by means of an old genset welder we kept for that purpose. Basically, we’d connect the welder to one of the two traction motors in the truck, and that would provide the power required to drive the truck out from under the unit. The way we controlled this movement was very primitive. After connecting all the leads and turning on the welder, you’d pick up two bare ended long leads and touch them together momentarily to complete the connection and get the truck moving. Hopefully the right way! With DC current, this meant a lot of arcing and sparking that was hard on the eyes, so generally you held the leads behind your back and made the connection. I had a few old coats catch fire this way!

With the truck successfully moving out from under the unit, we wheeled it out onto the turntable. That was another risky maneuver, as sometimes the leads would stick together and you’d be yanking away at them to break the electrical connection. But if the truck got moving too fast, it would fly off the far end of the turntable onto the ground over at the CP Transport side of the roundhouse. They had removed the rails there, so that made it a problem to get it back onto the turntable. Most of the time though, you wheeled the truck out and stopped it in the right spot by putting a stick under the wheels. It had to be centered on the table for balance, otherwise the table would not turn. So positioning was critical. Also to note here was that the shop doors, (or barn doors as some would say), would have to be open and blocked with the locking dogs mounted on small posts outside the doors.

One afternoon, I was assigned to move a truck out from some Baldwin switcher that had a grounded Traction Motor. So I set it all up and moved the truck out to the turntable, moved the table over to track 12, reversed the electrical connections and started wheeling the truck back into Pit #12. I happened to be standing next to the welder just inside the door on Pit #11 while making and breaking the electrical connections with the cables. No problem as I was moving the truck off the table and up towards the shop. However, what I didn’t realize was that I hadn’t locked the barn door open on the far side. (That’s the one in colour photo next to the brick wall with the ESSO outline above). Unfortunately I couldn’t see it as the other door was blocking my view. The wind had caught the door and moved it “JUST” foul of the movement. So there I am merrily moving the truck in, very slowly I might add, and next thing you know the truck hit the door. If the door had been an inch either way, it would have just smashed the door up. But it hit dead on end and all the force went against the main post the door was hinged to. It’s a great big 12” square, or larger vertical post mounted on a concrete support about 8” high. Well, the truck knocked the post right off the support, then smashed the door. The whole corner of the building sank down. I thought I was going to be fired for sure, but they laughed it off the next day and the B&B came by and fixed it up with no hassle. I was sweating bullets there for a while!!

Another near miss experience that was very scary came when we were jacking up a switcher one day. Initially you placed all four jacks under the jacking pads of the unit, and then manually raised the jacks to just make contact with the pads. Once all set, you used the master controller to lift all four jacks in unison to the height required. So we did all that and the unit is almost at the top of the required lift when I noticed about a ¼” gap between the jack and lifting pad on the corner closest to me. What’s going on? I go to the other side, where the other guy is supposed to be watching what’s going on, and the jack on the far corner was not operating at all! It’s at the bottom! So now we’ve got a unit jacked up in the air with only TWO jacks kitty corner to each other! We managed to get the unit back down okay, but I’m telling you, I was shaking in my boots. If that sucker had come down due to a slip, or if a jack broke under the weight, we’d have been killed for sure. Luck was on our side that day!

I could go on and on about this kind of stuff, but you get the idea. Safety then isn’t what it is today. Very few people ever got hurt though, thank goodness.

The photo of the 7093 getting some engine repair work done on Track 11 of the Diesel Shop brings to mind another story.
We all know Alco and Baldwin engines are very durable, unlike the delicate GMs, right? Well just how tough? Nobody used a torque wrench that I ever recall in those days. Just tighten it till it squeaks, and that’ll do! So, one day a machinist, (or so he thought), was assigned to replace a power assembly on one of our switchers. I can’t recall if it was an MLW or Baldwin, but it really doesn’t matter. So away he goes to do the assigned task. Later in the shift, the supervisor comes by to see how things are going. Having some trouble getting the piston down into the liner, says the machinist. But not a problem. He just brought up a sledge hammer and a block of wood, put the block on the piston, then started pounding on it with the sledge. Well, the engines were tough but not quite that durable! I recall with the Baldwins that occasionally they would hydro lock when cranking them over. Not a problem though. Just hold the start switch in till the water slowly pushed by the rings or valves, and once it got rolling over it would start in an instant. They never smoked. Had great compression unlike the MLW’s. Water in the oil… Who cares? It’ll boil off!

More photos inside Drake Street

Andy Cassidy was an electrician at Drake Street roundhouse. He later went on to become Locomotive Foreman on 16-24 shift (that's 4-12 for Eastern Lines boys!), and is now enjoying his retirement.