Local Reston History - The Peanut

     

This blog post originated after being connected through a Facebook post with a former Restonite who has fond memories of her childhood and "The Peanut" - a steam freight and passenger train that traveled between Reston and Wolseley, SK.  A booklet (pictured above) written by Gilbert McKay in 1976 and the pictures included from the Reston Museum helped me tell the story to go along with her recollections. 

Apparently "The Peanut" was so named by Ed Scriver, editor of the Wolseley News.  On hearing the train’s whistle for the first time the former Englishman is said to have exclaimed, “It sounds like a peanut vendor”.   The usual timetable of the train was a early morning run from Reston arriving in Wolseley at 5 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It left Wolseley at 7 am on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to return to Reston. The round house/engine house still stands where the train was serviced and turned around that night until 1930 when a "wye" track was built instead. 

(Randy and I had quite the Abbott and Costello moment when I asked him what a turn around track was called.  My former railroader husband said "wye" but I heard "why".  That's how the fight started... haha)



 The train was noted for being slow, covering the 122 miles in fourteen hours, but that is somewhat understandable with a potential of fifteen stops along the way to pick up and unload passengers, freight, cream cans and the like.  It could also be delayed due to having to wait to cross the CNR line at Peebles (then called Kaiser).  The final train, still a steam engine, left Wolseley on August 31, 1961 along with cheers and tears along the way. 

My thanks to Arlene Breland of Aldergrove, B.C. for sharing her memories with me and for whetting my curiosity about this important chapter from Reston's past. 

When I was eleven years of age, my father who worked for the CPR Rail, was bumped to a small town on the south-western area of Manitoba called Reston.  When Mother, my brother & myself arrived we were in disbelief, for the house we were to live in had no running water and a wood burning stove.  What a culture shock that was coming from the city of Winnipeg with all the amenities.  We arrived during the summer holidays not knowing a soul and thinking what planet have we arrived on.  The summer seemed endless with many tears shed every night.
Then came the first day of school and Mother told me to get dressed in my school uniform, which consisted of a tunic, white shirt, black tie and black knee socks.  Upon arriving at school was dismayed to see the kids dressed in blue jeans and very casual tops.  Their reaction was immediate, filled with laughter and snickers at the new girl standing in line.  I ran away from school that day and vowed never to return and even contemplated running away from home.  Mother took sympathy on me and after talking to my father they went out and got me some jeans, some tops and a pair of saddle shoes.  I returned to school with trepidation and although it was not easy, the kids finally accepted me.  
During that time my Dad was working on a small steam engine train which was affectionately called “The Peanut”.  It consisted of about four cars and travelled from Reston to Wolseley, Saskatchewan every second day of  the week.  Dad would be gone overnight and then return from Wolseley to Reston.  
Dad worked in the baggage car of the train and often let me make a trip with him during the summer holidays.  What an experience that was for me as we made stops in all the little towns on the way to Wolseley.  I remember sitting on the cream cans and listening to the “clickity-clack, clickity-clack” of the train as it traveled along the rails.  The whistle would always blow as we came to another town.  My father would unload and reload and then we would be off again.  He made that trip every weekday back and forth.
Many a time after school I would listen for the whistle of the train as it stopped at the water tower, just outside of town to refill before it pulled into the station.  I would quickly run across town and stand on the wooden platform patiently waiting for it to pull into the station.  What a beautiful station it was.  I still recall the station master, Mr. Anderson, if it was raining he would call me inside and let me sit at the telegraph desk until "The Peanut” pulled in.  How I loved its musical sound as it chugged in and came to a stop with its last few breaths of steam and there she would sit in all its glory for the child who absolutely adored her.  I would help my Dad as he finished unloading take his weigh bills and we would walk back home together. 
"The Peanut” existed from 1906 until 1961 and to this very day whenever I hear the lonesome whistle of a train, memories flood back to that very special time in my life, where times were at a slower pace and almost magical.
Now as I reflect back on the past, I realize how fortunate I was to grow up in the 1950’s, to have the opportunity to reside in Reston, where to this day have two very special friends who have remained in my life throughout these many years.  It was a “Camelot Era”, which will forever remain in my heart..
Written 2004 by Davina Arlene