The Society for the Preservation of Canada’s Nuclear Heritage Inc. (SPCNHI) has collected numerous photographs and documents dealing with the transportation challenges faced by employees getting from the townsites (Deep River and Pinawa) to the laboratories at Chalk River and Whiteshell in the early days. Although the Manitoba site started almost 20 years later than Chalk River, at both remote locations the lack of established infrastructure and the separation of the townsite and laboratories presented similar problems.
One of the donated photographs shows a “Staff Bus” at CRNL on 5 January of 1945. Several months later this vehicle would have encountered great problems with the Plant Road, which became a muddy quagmire. Margaret Cook, one of the earliest Fraser-Brace employees, recalls being transported in the spring of 1945 by open truck to the creek between the Maskinonge and Sturgeon Lakes, then having to walk a plank (in high heels) across the quagmire and completing the journey on another truck stationed on the far side. By the summer of 1945 the “cattle cars” version of transportation was being used. These were semi-trailer trucks with seats along the sides. They fortunately had a wood stove to keep the passengers warm on cold days.
To maximize the number of passengers per trailer, jump-seats consisting of an unpadded board were put in place in the aisle as each row was filled. This practice led to a unique unloading procedure. At the lab site the first row of passengers disembarked, followed by the second, etc. The procedure survived the transition to standard buses, was carried over to Whiteshell, and continued for the next several decades, much to the first-day embarrassment of new employees or visitors who had not seen it in operation before and stood up from their seats on arrival as they would in “normal” society. It is a great pity this procedure did not spread to the airline industry.
Many employees hired before 1970 at Chalk River still recall some of the extras provided by the Transportation Branch. Their first direct contact with AECL was often a car or even the “limo” with a driver meeting them at the CPR station in Chalk River and transporting them in luxury to Deep River. At Whiteshell, Romeo’s taxi service similarly provided excellent transportation to and from Winnipeg airport.
The Society has received a number of photographs of the various versions of the AECL buses and limousines used at CRNL and of the buses operated at Whiteshell by Melnick Bus Lines. It has also received copies of the bus routes and pick-up points in Deep River as well as a six-trip bus pass courtesy of R. Kinghorn. It would appreciate any additional memorabilia as well as anecdotes associated with transportation in the early days. Missing from our collection is a photograph of the earliest ambulance used at Chalk River. It is rumored to be a sibling of the ECTO-1 “enhanced” 1959 Cadillac ambulance used in the famous Ghostbusters movie.
Jim Ungrin (613-584-3055) or ungrinjr@gmail would be happy to hear from anyone who can contribute to the Society’s collection.
