School Train Part 2
Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:35 pmThe two original school cars were both old 52 foot wooden truss-rod passenger coaches.
The Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway each provided the car and moving it from point to point free of charge.
The Department of Education provided all the school equipment, furnishings and teachers at no cost to the communities they served. The Department spent $4,200.00 remodelling and outfitting the cars, and another $3,000.00 on teachers salaries.
At the time this was considered a small investment because of the world wide acclaim and publicity.
The cars themselves were compact and efficient, each containing kitchen, living quarters and classroom.
The kitchen was equipped with the latest metal sink, refrigerated food larder containing two to three weeks supplies and spacious cupboards. The living space combined living, dining and sleeping quarters, with beds concealed from view by day and convertible at night to comfortable sleeping accommodations. The largest of the three rooms was the classroom, thirty feet in length with enough desks for fifteen students.
During their long careers on the school car, Mr.Sloman and his wife manager to raise five children!
The school car would travel the 148 miles between Capreol and Foleyet, stopping at small communities along the way for 4-7 days. The positive
reception that Mr. Sloman received in most of the communities during their first tour in the fall of 1926 continued throughout the winter and all
through the subsequent years. It was quite common for children to travel as far as twenty miles to attend classes, often by boat in good weather
and by snowshoes, dog team or skies during the winter. There is a story of a native boy who came thirty-two miles by canoe with a hamper of food to last him a week, and of two young brothers, ages nine and eleven, who traveled forty miles, set up an old tent in midwinter, thatched it with balsam boughs, and lived there while they attended classes!
The Canadian National Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway each provided the car and moving it from point to point free of charge.
The Department of Education provided all the school equipment, furnishings and teachers at no cost to the communities they served. The Department spent $4,200.00 remodelling and outfitting the cars, and another $3,000.00 on teachers salaries.
At the time this was considered a small investment because of the world wide acclaim and publicity.
The cars themselves were compact and efficient, each containing kitchen, living quarters and classroom.
The kitchen was equipped with the latest metal sink, refrigerated food larder containing two to three weeks supplies and spacious cupboards. The living space combined living, dining and sleeping quarters, with beds concealed from view by day and convertible at night to comfortable sleeping accommodations. The largest of the three rooms was the classroom, thirty feet in length with enough desks for fifteen students.
During their long careers on the school car, Mr.Sloman and his wife manager to raise five children!
The school car would travel the 148 miles between Capreol and Foleyet, stopping at small communities along the way for 4-7 days. The positive
reception that Mr. Sloman received in most of the communities during their first tour in the fall of 1926 continued throughout the winter and all
through the subsequent years. It was quite common for children to travel as far as twenty miles to attend classes, often by boat in good weather
and by snowshoes, dog team or skies during the winter. There is a story of a native boy who came thirty-two miles by canoe with a hamper of food to last him a week, and of two young brothers, ages nine and eleven, who traveled forty miles, set up an old tent in midwinter, thatched it with balsam boughs, and lived there while they attended classes!