Our First Train Trip

 Section jobs were being reduced as  a result of diesel power coming . 

New track beds were now going to use slag , a byproduct of Sudbury's smelting industry. Old track was torn out and new beds put in using new machines not seen before . Section men had specific materials to become familiar with in order to do their old jobs .

 Some of those old jobs were disappearing ,too : switches became electric rather than powered by a man pulling it into position ; the coal oil lamps were replaced with electric bulbs . The section man wasn't needed to fill them twice daily , just change a bulb occasionally. He would still be needed for greasing switches but half the switch work was eliminated in the change over . That meant that many more section men would be laid off . Dad did not want to be one of them .