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The Acton Free Press Wed Octobers 1975 Pagr The first passenger train The first train whistled through Acton in 1856 one hundred and nineteen years ago What a source of pride that must have been Acton people soon depended on the rails for speedy frequent passenger service for mail several tunes a day for shipment of animals and foodstuffs as well as the regular freight The tanneries built their own sidings for shipping by rail But the last few decades has seen the gradual erosion of rail service the site of the fine old station built in 1905 following a petition of the townspeople Failing quality evident The failing quality of service by the Canadian National Railways had become evident Yet Acton people had opposed the proposed changes right along the line At the hearings in Guelph by the Railway Transport Committee not only passengers but Acton council the Chamber of Commerce and a group of high school students presented briefs asking continued rail passenger service here But last week an announcement was bluntly made that there will be no more passenger train service for Acton The cancelled commuter train was the last passenger train left that stopped in town There was no reference to the people concerned here and indeed CN figures showed very few made use of the commuter train anyway There has been a feeling for a long time that the end of passenger service was coming inevitably Even when the hearings were held in a couple of years ago there was a general feeling of hopelessness Back in there were passenger trains a day stopping in Acton By there were four Now two In five weeks none In 1965 there was passenger service freight and telegraph vice with a station agent and operator In November of the tele graph passenger and freight services were all centralized in Guelph leaving only the agent at Acton He had no duties Not even a phone But he lasted until Passenger and freight use dwindled of course CN methods which contributed to the phasing out of passenger service were annoying and yet not easy to document For instance when the station closed Acton passengers had to phone long distance to Guelph for information They t hear of timetable changes At hearings as far back as 1968 Acton service was termed shocking and rotten before the Railway Transport Committee Naturally people looked toward other means of travel Station closed and sold The station was closed and shuttered A little glass cubicle was built The Lions club bought the station from the Although other similar stations other towns have been moved and trea sured Actons station was sold by the club in 1973 for scrap when they figured it would be too costly to move it When all the services were here CN revenue Acton was estimated to range from and each month Acton used to be a top source of express and freight on the tine Now has ripped up its rails from its old sidings Everything goes by truck Columnist Wendy Thomson took a ride on our commuter train at the time of the hearings in Guelph reporting on the oldish trains with their lack of amenities The reasoning behind the change is strange to understand when we see the alternative a GO bus to a GO train that runs on the very same rails through the very same placesbut stopping at Georgetown on its way west from Toronto instead of going on through Acton and Guelph Why not GO all the way A GO train from Toronto right through to Guelph has been hoped for all through the slow death of CN passenger service as we used to know it More trains than there are now out of Georgetown would attract more riders too Those trains keep strict commuter hours for people with city jobs Right now the CN finds this fuller GO service uneconomical Perhaps the best idea Judging by their concern for economy there s always another suggestion that could just prove the best solution of them all With passengers and freight an nuisance to the railroad perhaps the best alternative would be for private enterprise to buy that long thin site tear up the Jottings In the midst of a glorious Indian summer week Colin was amazed to see a flock of about 60 grosbeaks near his home alongside the lake It s about a month too early for grosbeaks to be here and he thinks it s a sign of an early winter Theres no use in a newspaper hearing about news when its all over We depend very much on people letting us know what s going on Others who need help as well as the newsroom writers are the rural correspondents Please phone these people with any interesting items of news you may have especially if you are a newcomer to the area Dozens of new families are moving in to Acton and district and we are conscious of the fact we havent got to know them all yet tracks pave the right of way and use it for buses and trucks Well There will be a spell when only freights rumble through Acton But surely the GO service will be extended and the tracks will hum again when passengers take the old old route that has served Acton well since JOHN AND KAREN Bos of Stevens Crescent in George town were in Acton last Saturday having fun throwing leaves playing on the seesaw at Prospect Park and fishing The smell of autumn leaves burning and the colors blanketing the countryside make the thoughts of oncoming winter coldness easier to bear Sugar and Spice by bill smiley Perhaps with in the it is good as to ike i r sonal mventorj of whit we have to bo thankful for if anything Maybe like to join substituting minuses for mine pluses for mine On second thought I t re i single minus Oh there are i lot of irthntis in foot bursitis in shoulders knits arid neck dewlaps a few less teeth than 1 d like But his these things If wt lidn topprcciiU ho gnat it is when the pains up for few days or the fact that there of good grub to mumble with those ancient molars nigative Im glad I choice not living in a with in thi lint of OUR READERS WRITE Office of the High Commissioner for the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Ottawa Canada September The Editor Free Press Acton Ontario Dear Sir I have the honour to refer to the editorial under the heading Our Common wealth Cousins which appeared in your esteemed daily The editorial has Inadvertently classified Bangladesh as a Commonwealth country You might be interested to know that Banglad esh was admitted as a member of the Commonwealth of Nations on April IB Since then Bangladesh enthusiastically participated in all sorts of Commonwealth affairs Yours Sincerely Abdul First Secretary Dear Ms Ontario lias been blessed with municipal water sewers for the good of the we are told it the answer we arc assured better now than later we are advised Recommendations from experts an opinion to challenge from deve lopers with little to lose and much to gain from nonresidents who can turn their back on our fate A select threeman committee was ap pointed individual residents in cor reeling their faulty systems which have been allowed to become faulty through nonaction by local authorities Howe the committee felt that the most expedient answer was to install Not necessarily the most economical nor the most effective but Ihe most expedient In my opinion there was a recom for rape Thank you R J Smith dirt crowds when I in is right now look out window and see the vel low October sun into of m iples further off tin blue of ilem unpolluted tint if 1 stepped would tit not int I don li six children Two of Hum ilmnst brought tht Old I id me to our economic ilh ind mo 1 grateful that I got stuck in to wmi job I loathe as so m hive hat could soul int than hating to go to work ever morning I in glad I m not sick or or pot bellied or ham handed or tight fisted even though bow forgetful sometimes after a sharp exchange with wife hive ringing in Those ire just i few of tht negative The are vastlv outweighed to thepoint the tivt louldn begin to list in but will touch on a few of 1 igh lights I m extremely though it should list i few more that despite machinations of the oil com panics ind the stupiditv and shortsighted of our leadtrs I can still turn up thermostat on cold morning and know that I ind mine will not through the extremely thankful that I am not a married mortg ged to the ears for life in an effort to provide a roof and food for a It taken of slaving on the old plantation toting manv a barge and lifting a halt but 1 own my own house and don nickel and I grate thing to be thankful for is the fatherly benevolence of Pierre and his gang use the word gang advised They and their provincial and content with si pirating mi from nh ibout of every dollar 1 in ike tin re is no ilion yd that in a leg is tributt few toes finders thmkful tint I live in Canada It i country a people who touldbt miLiuitent hut refuse dm throw jou in jail for of power ills and who would tin 1 I with my immediate family I be My son is middle class sense lit Ins niidi more than a his no home except ours anil enuldti produn tht proverbial pot Hut he is with poor in South trying to make a I titer lift or them eating their food their disc and I m proud him adventures in the make mi shuddir still knocked them dead with her writing in a umvirsitv got her is In fourth voir a second degree in music is hid ibv and is about to produce a sister for who Is a dipper like all Not bad for kid ireful now llustcr watch it is still islnni looking womin though in excellent cook com pirn ind is becoming virtually serene thrown inything at for near two except a wet dishcloth or thing that It used to be plates of food telephones iton catalogue you it She did throw my type writer downstairs last year when I made mild remark about the bad temper slit to have but she didn throw it at mi it progress ke job working with kids who in it li ihvi not just going through the motions like so many of their elders I havt a few Friends whom cherish a few enemies chiefly the town engineer who does not cherish me and a host of likeablt contemporaries and blood pressure is great I don wear mv heart t given a bad knock I m the i era eight v old woman and I already at work on the book I get around to writing last summer or the one before or for it How about you The Free Press Back Issues 20 years ago Honored on their wedding i surprise family gathering were Mr and Mrs Arthur A Thanksgiving dinner was held Sunday at the home of Mr and Mrs William Thomp son to mark the occasion Those attending were Mrs J Martin Mr ind Mrs Theo dore Martin of Vinci and Mr and Mrs Howard MacArthur Miss Mabel Penvoy Mr and Mrs Arthur Mr William and Mrs Herb all of Erin Mr and Mrs Davidson of Acton Mrs Tom and Mr Nell of Sudbury called at the some home The public school was cleared in seconds morning when Acton firemen staged a surprise drill during ire Week Children were out or their classrooms in the old high school old pub school and the new wing in remark ihly good time according to Chief Sim Tennanl Mrs Main St was hostess to the Acton Women on Tliurs thy Mrs corgi ryer the presided The roll call was with an t Tht Sunshine uclire gathered it home of Mrs it I limdson when Mr and Mrs frank Thompson win gut sis of honor Mrs Onidson ind Mis A Mann wen joint Attending the wedding of Miss Anni Mr lick in West mount Inst SiHndav from Atton wert the grooms Mr and Mrs IlirrvMiinprm Mr Hill Miiitipnt Mrs Dills ind Mi I id Hills 50 years ago It imshaw m ibiril worktr in Milton and I head of the then mult mi i lection bit th it the loser must ir a silk hit up down Main Street on election night Tin bit is that Dune in will hi elected to riprtsmi this county Neither of these two icntlimiii in the habit of wt innt i silk hit Mr Smith is it Bract last wit on in import arbitration to decide the prut to In nil by tin Hoard of dm for thi sltt tht I i Tennnut and Mi I Williams of Mr bridge Smith Acton irbllrotnrs dimion is for Misses Minnie Bennett Daisy Anrlirson AnnoMcDonild Itissu r and Mrs It tided liu luichcrs Con vent ion at Mr Mrs tin ingaginu of onlv d I tin to Mr MilbmirniC Mr Mrs I of Ontario the in to take ilnci shortly Ikv Or of lorontn visilid his Mr II Moon on while for South wht re he pre services on Miss iv is It for thisivtnint whin shi will laki the S Monti lor home in 1 dm 75 years ago tin huh of is wrought the proposed Toronto ind radi id he proposed road is marked to through tin and dm Mills docs not touch that hub of civilization and industrv would nevtr do to hive sinh m out in tht cold The government should petitioned not such i tain Rockwood of the fair was lontern in In Thi artists at a luree crowd the hail One of most numbers on program is the solo by little Miss loltic Mison on the piano her twin sisttr Ili7cl Shi responded to an with Itugli ill he receipts it the lit for hi air wire WOO tin rtitipts It is istimited then wire persons in on afternoon Tht stand was free for ill was spni Tht if on the grounds is a ft 1 1 icklcg set up whtcl of but wis promptlv off thi grounds THE ACTON FREE PRESS PHONE Editorial Office Copyright