GLIMPSES of how Canada worked: a writer's memoir.

64. Delightful days in my best job ever

WORKING ON ST. LAWRENCE REGION (railway people work on a railway, on a region, on a subdivision -- don't ask me why) was a radically different experience from CNHQ.

The national railway ran through countless ridings across Canada, and politicians interfered a lot. Weighed down by nepotism, CNHQ's culture was basically lazy. Most regional vice presidents fought against the tide, protecting the distinct cultures in their territories. The variety of ethnic cultures in Canada sometimes helped.

When French became Quebec's official working language many senior managers on the St. Lawrence Region were anglophones born in the Province who had never needed to speak French. Although they had enough seniority to bump managers in other regions, most chose to stay put. Like the political candidates I heard in 1984 (Ch. 60), they took French immersion courses and kept on enjoying Quebec. 

I enjoyed being on the Region more than any other job I've had. I earned $55,00 a year with very generous benefits, but did so much (unpaid) overtime that I had no time to spend money. I was offered two management positions for more, one at HQ, the other on the Region, but I only wanted to go on being an Information Officer on that Region.

The first weeks were a crash course in the real world of trains. There's no limit to a national railway's effects on people's lives. After CN's main switchboard was informed that the St. Lawrence Region office had an English-speaking Inf Off (me) it immediately began relaying calls:  Media queries, permissions for movie shoots, promoting annual employee events, settling complaints about locomotives whistling or idling behind newly-built houses, requests for historical information, details about dangerous commodities, tours of yards or departments, allergens growing on CN lands, contacts at rail roads in the U.S. or beyond, etc., etc.

After months of referring in my diary to my employer as "The Wacky Widget Works" I went back to saying "my beloved octopus".

St. Lawrence Affaires Publiques Manager Jean-Guy had four staff -- Quebecoises Margo and Louise, Rene from Paris, and "the English function", me. Geography defined his two English areas, which became "WandaS's territories": The Ottawa Valley west of Montreal, and Quebec's Eastern Townships together with the New England States in the U.S. Huge changes were beginning in both areas.

CN began disposing as fast as possible of countless properties that weren't generating income. Communities were eager to re-purpose station buildings (central heritage structures with parking lots) as museums, libraries, club facilities, restaurants. Even one-track spur line rights-of-way could become linear parks or trails for hiking or snowmobiles*.

Two huge hurdles stood in the way of people with such plans. First, as soon as some CN departments learned that a property was going to be let go, they threw out their records of it, irreplaceable items such as architectural drawings and historical texts. Not all departments did, but enough to cause unnecessary expenses for communities that did finally get the properties.

Second, after a CN "request for abandonment" was approved by the Canadian Transport Commission, federal, provincial and municipal governments had first refusal rights on the property for five years, and then contractors had two more years to remove rails and ties. Imagine how much laziness, ineptitude, and corruption could interfere. Some structures went from slightly decrepit to collapsed -- beyond saving -- unnecessarily!

The dedication and perseverance of community activists was heroic!

To keep track of myself I designed a coding system of files, and kept that page open on my computer. CN's date style -- year, month, day -- led every day's entry. Assignments, meetings, even a single phone call, were numbered by the date each came into my life, and key points about it. For example: