" More, Unforgettable Characters"
" Sid G"

Sid G. Car Checker at Mimico and old man when I first met him at Mimico probably 64 at the time and nearly ready for pension, it was told me that Sid was one of the guys hired on late in life because of the war effort mast of the able body guys were gone into the Armed Services from 1939 to 1945.

All Sid could do, was kind of shuffle around in the yard, and he couldn't make a fast move if he had to, consequently his nickname, Super Sonic Sid, I just mention the name to my kids today and they laugh even though they never knew him or of him.

In the winter you would see Sid shuffling around in the yard with snot dipping out of his nose down on to the stem of the pipe which was perpetually in his mouth forming icicles.

I was coming to work one day on the Queen St. Streetcar in a nearly empty streetcar, and there was Sid on the very back seat, with his Coal Oil Hand Lamp, and lunch pail on his knees probably dozing, when we crossed over the Humber River, and when you crossed over the Humber on the west side there was for some reason a bit of a jog, and I thought this guy is going a little fast for the jog, particularly if you are sitting in the back seat, I turned to look at Sid as the car hit the jog, and Sid went flying from one side of the car to the other, hand lamp and lunch pail flying, he picked up his stuff and went back to what he knew best, Dozing.

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Jimmy W.

Jimmy W. was the Chief on afternoons at Mimico, and although I never knew him real well, he was known for his memory, or should I say lack of, he would send you somewhere and tell you to wait for his call, and the n forget all about you, so if you had any brains you would take your lunch and a magazine with you.

One time he sent me to label a train and wait for a call in the Order Yard shanty, so I took my lunch and a magazine and when he called several hours later with another job to do, I said I hadn't even had my lunch yet, so he said all right, check down a track, and cut out.

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Tony F.

Tony F. was an extremely nervous man with white hair tending towards yellow.

It is my understanding, that before the War his hair was jet black, and that he was not so nervous, that the War had done this to him, or more precisely something that he had experienced in the War.

Tony midnight Chief Clerk at Mimico was good hearted but a pain in the ass, when at times he had a couple phones going at once, getting a call on the third, he would say to the caller very excitedly, "can't you see I'm busy".

I would on occasion cut out a little early, and would meet Tony on the way to work a half hour early coming up Eighteenth St, when I was going down, he would say good evening, I would do the same to him all the while wondering, why he didn't give me shit for cutting out early.

One day when I was still at work and he had just come in he comes to me and says I am supposed to give you shit for something, but I forget what, oh I know, you were seen throwing away hand lamps when you were finished, which I never did, and because I was standing by my locker which I shared with Freddie A. I showed him that in fact Freddie and I would collect them and in fact had a locker full, but it was a fact that some nitwits did thrown them away after their shift, anyway Tony says I know I was supposed to give you shit for something, and walks away, in all probability, it was for cutting out early.

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Pat L.

Pat was an inveterate gambler, and liked to throw the dice, and on occasion, would come back from the Yardman's lunch room, where a smoking Craps game was going on, and say he had lost his whole check.
Pat was also a gun owner and on occasion would bring in his 357 Magnum and set up targets in an empty refrigerator car, which was probably mostly soundproof from the outside.
I wonder though, how he could stand the noise, and what the people would think if they came to the realization that these were bullet holes in the inside of the car.

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Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean the Graveyard switchtender would cut out at the Yard Office and turn in his time ticket, when we would stuff it in an envelope to go to the crews office downtown.

The thing about Jimmy's ticket is, that it was a work of art, he was a superb writer, and we couldn't believe how beautiful he could make such a mundane thing as a time ticket look.

One day on my way to the cottage I met Jimmy in or around Parry Sound, and ask him what he was doing up there, and he said splitting wood, for a friend, that very year his friend wood let him use the cottage for a couple weeks if he would split about 5 cords of wood.

When Jimmy retired, not to long after that, one of the small gifts we gave him was the best, double sided axe we could find.

Jimmy was extremely touched.

I used the real name because no one could take any offense to this and Jimmy is long gone.

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" Happy L."

Happy L. was Bathurst St's answer to Sid G. of Mimico, without the pipe, but Happy, called that because he always seemed happy had worked for the railroad since a kid.

Because at the time, and until, I think the 1960's, you could go anywhere in North America, on a rail pass, and even Europe, Happy would take his holidays and just ride on the train all through the States and Canada.

Happy knew more about the interchange spots and rail connections than any two others in the area, and if someone was to go somewhere in the States by train they would always go to Happy to find out the most direct, or scenic route to take.

Happy was a life time Car Checker, and the last job he would do each day, was label the orders in Strachn Ave., jump on the King Streetcar that looped at the foot of Dufferin St., near the CNE, Canadian National Exhibition Gates, and head home in the east end.

Happy like others I could mention at work never took off his hat, which was a Fedora.

One day someone had brought a couple tarts in those little tin foil cups and left them around.

Someone else picked them up and put them on some stiff wire, and gently put them in the hat band of Happy's hat.

Happy is given the labels and off he goes to Strachn Ave to label the orders and go home.

Happy is riding home on the King car when someone gets on at Bathurst St. still wearing the tin cups in his hat band looking like someone from outer space with antennas in his head, and everyone on the car is looking at him like he is.


Allan