CALL NUMBER: T3550:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-04-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: In an interview with Robert Turner, F.P. McPherson discusses: his background -- Scottish family, born in 1889 in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.; worked various jobs as a youth; father was in railroading; went to B.C. in 1912 with his third-class license (for engineer work); in B.C., he ran a donkey engine in the bush between Jervis and the Sechelt Islands for Sumner and Macdonald; working at the Midland Borough Collieries; building pipes for a number of different camps in the Merritt area in 1915; randomly getting a job with the railroad in Merritt; hired on as a brakeman, quickly became a conductor. TRACK 2: F.P. McPherson discusses: attempt to build a tunnel from Tulameen to the Coquihalla between Portia and Jessica -- anecdote about his role in this process; description of Andy McCulloch; laying the track; responsibilities of a conductor; a typical work day. CALL NUMBER: T3550:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Railroading in B.C. : F.P. McPherson RECORDED: [location unknown], 1979-04-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: F.P. McPherson describes photographs and documents: more on Andy McCulloch -- meeting him on a work train near Juliet, "McCulloch's Wonder" (the book); did own cooking when on the trains; McCulloch (cont'd); his work on the Coquihalla; anecdote about getting caught in a snowstorm. TRACK 2: McPherson: more on getting caught in the snow on Christmas Eve; usually 11 cars on a passenger train; he helped build the line up to Copper Mountain; made his last trip in 1954 with his daughter; differences between the railroads then and now; anecdote about the birth of a child while he was conductor. (End of interview)