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Elliott restores Picton museums organ George Elliott has brought back to We an organ which is over and at idle and deteriorating for about the last years The old Tracker organ at the Ed ward County Museum the former Mary Magdalene Church was in pretty bad shape when Elliott and a former Acton resident Don MacDermaid the museum curator started working on it Now it rumbles and booms as it did when it was new back in the 1850s The people of and area got to hear the old organ for the Tint time last month and a grand opening is planned for the museum next spring Elliott first came across the organ in He had camped at Beach and visited relatives in the area for years but always assumed the museum was still a church One day he saw the open sign at the museum and went in What he discovered was the beautiful old organ George climbed in and around the organ inspecting it with the help of a flashlight He found the chest was in good shape but tlie rest was a mess The interior was full of mice nests ard fallen plaster and there had been water damage Every one of pipes was miss Elliott has considerable experience in organ restoration and he knew a profes sional job including replacing the pipes could cost as much as so he decid ed to do the job himself His first organ restoration project was at Trinity United Church in I960 Despite being quite busy as director of music at Trinity as well as Citizens Band Leader and a biology pro fessor at the University of Guelph George found tune to restore another organ which today is in his study The old Tracker in was his third such project The Tracker project stalled for a few years and was almost given up cost was going to be too high before Elliott heard that Kcates Organ of Acton had acquired the rights to an old organ that partially survived a fire The had been gutted but the pipes were intact and George bought the pipes on behalf of the museum for He and MacDermaid who lived in Acton and worked at Beardmorc during the World War II years completely dismantl the organ MacDermaid cleaned and lubricated all the moving parts rebuilt the bellows and replaced the leather flap valves Elliott spent many weekends in lending a hand and look home many parts and reconstructed them In the basement of his Acton home The pipes from the organ had quired are slightly larger than the pipes the Tracker originally had as well as be ing made of tin and lead so the organ sound now is a louder and it has a deeper tone than it did when it first went into Mary Magdalene Church Elliott notes When the time came to tune the organ George brought along some expert help Jeff Can- and Ian McGugan both with Kcates organ as well as on organ tuner from Fergus spent about 12 hours ad justing the pipes The tuning was pain staking but not difficult Elliott reports The metal pipes were tuned by making them longer or shorter To lower the note a cone was placed on top of the pipe and Continued on page A Community Newspaper One hundred and seventh year Issue ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14 pages Thirty Cents Citadel on MHI St for Salvation Army The Acton Salvation Army hopes to have a new storey and a half citadel or church built and opened on Mill St East by next fall Late last year Ha It on Hills Committee of Adjust ment approved some minor variances for sidcyard and parking lot setbacks for the two pro perties involved 114 Mill St East There is a house standing on the Church St lotwhiletheMlllSt lot is vacant Free Press price up five cents The copy price of the Acton Free Press was increased by five cents today Wed publisher Don McDonald announced This price increase from cents to 30 cents applies to both home delivery and store sales McDonald said the Increase the first in months was necessary to help cover constant v rising production and printing costs increasing distribution costs energy price hikes higher postage rates and wage increases The price of annual subscriptions rises from The approximately 5 square foot church will front on Mill St with parking for the cars and access off Church St This church will cost about to build and construction will take approximately fourmonlhs Lome Prltchett said I hope by this time next year we will have forgotten all about the opening Purchase of the Church St property closed In late December and with Committee of Adjustment approval the Salvation Army has Just one more die to clear Helton Hills Site Plan Control approval said they wont to have their final plans the hands of the municipality as soon as possible The town would then set down any requirements of changes for the building of the church We want to try and start building as early as possible This is the third site the Salvation Army has made plans to build on The first was Mill St East the front part of the present plan where a house was located and burned down before they acquired the property That project couldn proceed because the site was just too small Next the Salvation Army planned to build its citadel at the corner of Ransom St and Main St South but that fell through because unforeseen difficulties prevented the deal from ing The new church will contain a sanctuary or assembly hall sealing 120 people Currently Pnt Continued on page Its a happy new year for Jim and Arthur Rockwood who became the proud parents of Julie Lynn bora a becoming the Acton and area New Years baby Julie goes borne months Julie Is a pretty prompt lady bring due on December 31 and trying that day She General Hospital second baby the another girl by HELEN MURRAY Derailed VIA Railtrain blocks MHI crossing nearly five hours The derailment of VIA passenger train Saturday night in Acton blocked Mill St East at the rail crossing for nearly five hours Deborah VIA information officer said Ihe official explanation Tor the derailment was there was a build up of ice on the guard rail of the switches She described the Incident as very minor and all investigation of the matter has been completed Derailment one axle or two wheels of loco motive occurred at about 7 m and the engine and five passenger cars t clear the crossing until 11 34pm Police diverted hundreds of cars and trucks from Mill St to Eastern and Bower Avenues and Wallace St In addition the crossing at Main St North was closed briefly during evening twice while a huge crane was put on and off the track After 10 the large crane called a mobile arrived on the scene from Toronto Later it was token to the Main St North crossing driven onto the track and moved down to the de railed locomotive The mobde rerailer has tires so it can be driven on the road as well as train wheels so it can go on track At the was in front of the loco motive and crews attached its huge hook to the front of engine It lifted the locomotive about four or five feet in the air and after some Jockey ing around the engine was placed back on the brack There was no damage to the locomotive cars or tracks from the derailment and the train con tinucd on to London It returned to Toronto car ry ing passengers as train on Sunday An Acton resident parked in his car at the crossing when the derailment occurred recalled was stopped on the aiding behind the Hide House waiting for another train to goby The eyewitness said the tram then moved out slowly and the locomotive had Just cleared the crossing when it lurched ahead slightly He said itappearedthetrainhadhitsomethlng it looked like there was some snow or ice across the track Around 9 three Charlerways buses rived on the scene and the slightly over 100 trim passengers were hustled through the cold and wind onto the buses to continue their journey The bulk of passengers were headed for Kitchener and Stratford and a few for St Mary and London None of buses were filled but each contained passengers bound for different destinations A passenger from St Marys said people on the train were sort of upset by the delay but once they were informed buses were on the way they relaxed When the derailment occurred here were a couple of bangs a crash and the Irain stopped The train was still on the siding and they thought the train had hit a cur that had tried to beat the train across Mill St Passengers wercn sure what had until 10 to 15 minutes after the train came Its sudden halt The conductors all look off moments after Ihe derailment Passengers were f told the locomotive jumped the track became of a build up of ice between he siding and cement at the crossing Throughout the evening crowds of onlookers gathered braving iht cold inds to see what had happened About were on hand to hoc Ihe crane do its job In addition there were a couple of dozen CN and VIA workers on the scene including CN Police inside Read about a cake Turn to page Liberal speak out Detail on page B4 Beaver has plana for schools SeepefftEM Man knifed while at party A New Year Eve parly turned violent when a Bra ma lea man was slashed across he face with a knife However OPP are having difficulty investigating the matter as neither victim nor anyone else at the party will Identify the attacker or even answer police questions The incident occurred at approximately 2am Friday morning according to Ac Ion residence after an argument Someone a the party called the police but upon their arrival everyone refused to cooperate The victim I want the matter pursued further The matter is still under investigation as police wait for someone to come forward wilh more information Police do not know if the victim received stitches or medical assistance as they did not escort him to hospital