Hobo provided valuable service
Trains transported miners from their homes to the coal fields
For many years, coal mining was a thriving industry in the villages of Port Morien, Donkin and Birch Grove.
Miners lived and worked in their communities, but by 1933 all of these mines had closed. Some families moved to Glace Bay or New Waterford to work in the mines there. Others decided to stay in their respective villages, but transportation to work at this time was difficult.
Very few owned automobiles and the condition of the roads was atrocious.
The Dominion Coal Company was anxious to employ experienced workers as mines closed, so they provided a solution.
The company’s Sydney & Louisbourg Railway would operate a workman’s train. It would provide free transportation to and from the mines and other company sites in Glace Bay. It would be unofficially called the Hobo, probably because it was a free ride for anyone who wanted to get on-board.
My uncle Garfield worked at No. 24 Colliery and rode the Hobo many times. He wrote a book called “A Morien Memoir” that was published in 2010 — when he was 87 years old. It is a collection of short stories about growing up in Morien and includes a very descriptive chapter on the Hobo.
In Port Morien, workmen gathered at what was called the “Shanty,” a building which sheltered those who awaited the arrival of the Hobo. It was located near the houses called the Grey Row on the Back Pit Road. The next of numerous more stops was at Morien Junction, about three kilometres up the road. Then it headed toward Birch Grove to pick up more passengers.
Garfield describes the Hobo as “no frills” transportation. The powerful locomotive towed two 50-foot passenger cars. Inside were benches attached to sidewalls, with another running down the middle of the car. Steam pipes under the benches provided heat. Men who were trying to catch up on some sleep would rest their feet on the middle bench.
The air was thick with tobacco smoke. There were small windows positioned high up in the cars. When the train left in the morning, the only light came from kerosene lamps at each door. Sometimes, a gust of wind would extinguish the lamps, and the men would spend the rest of their journey in complete darkness.
The Hobo left Morien two hours before each scheduled shift. The day shift hobo left at 5 a.m. and wouldn’t return home until 5 p.m. The 12-hour day was a long one, and in the winter, the miners would only see daylight for a short period of time.
The Hobo always got the right of way on the tracks. If it ran late and the men missed the rake (the mine cars that took them down into the pit) they weren’t shy about expressing their feelings. On the way home in winter, the railway workers made sure the steam was moving to keep the passengers warm.
There were some lighthearted moments.
On the ride home, sometimes a slumbering passenger would be nudged and told it was his stop. It wasn’t until he exited the train and it pulled away that he realized he was a mile from home.
The coal company also provided this free valuable service to the public in general. My father recalled taking the Hobo to hockey practice at the Miners Forum in Glace Bay. Some visited friends or relatives in the surrounding communities.
The S&L also provided transportation to outings in Mira and ran a Saturday night passenger service for those who wished to attend dances, movies or other social events in Glace Bay.
The Hobo made its last run around 1954. Passenger numbers had dwindled after the war. By then, more people had automobiles and miners often car pooled rather than take the two-hour trip to and from work.
The sight and sound of the steam engines belching clouds of black smoke and the sound of the train whistle are no more, except in the minds of those old enough to recall the reliable and dependable method of transportation called the Hobo.