By John Slapman – St. Albert, Alta.
In June 1968, at age 19, I emigrated from Holland (The Netherlands) to Canada, ending up in the small town of Nobleford in southern Alberta.
I was sponsored by the owner of a small construction company to work as a carpenter, helping him on a small renovation project, as well as assisting in building other farm buildings.
For the first nine months, I had no driver’s license or a car. I drove with my boss to the job sites, as well as with a friend to Lethbridge for entertainment. This was a drastic change for me because in Holland, I usually used public transportation to get around.
I wanted to visit my cousin in Calgary, so, in what little English I had managed to master, I asked at the local train station about a train I could take. The trainmaster replied that no one generally took the train from Nobleford, but he would enquire if there was a passenger train that would get me there.
A few days later, he let me know there was a passenger train from Lethbridge to Calgary a couple of times a week. It could stop in town to pick me up, if I followed the instructions he gave me to signal the train to stop.
Conductor was shocked
On the day I planned to leave for Calgary, I arrived at the station where the trainmaster gave me a red flag to wave. I was to walk to the end of the platform and wave the flag when the train blew the whistle, before he went through the curve.
The train did stop, and the conductor came out. He was shocked that I was there to board the train, saying he couldn’t remember the last time he picked up a passenger there.
My cousin picked me up at the train station in Calgary and we had a nice visit. She suggested I return to Nobleford by bus. It stopped only on the main highway, and I surprisingly had to walk a whole mile to reach my home.
