The Lucknow Sentinel, 1994-06-22, Page 1PUBLISHED IN
LUCKNOW, ONTARIO
Wednesday,
June 22, 1994
550
G.S.T. Included
She's Hong Kong bound
by Scott Hilgendorff
Tammara Hodgins is Hong Kong
bound.
The Kinlough-area resident leaves
for the city in August and by Sep-
tember, she will be teaching at the
Canadian Overseas Secondary
School.
"I'm looking forward to it, but
like any other new experience,
you're excited," she said.
Hodgins will be teaching Grade
11, Grade 12 and OAC English at
the school.
She said the school is based on an
Ontario curriculum and is designed
for students in Hong Kong who are
interested in ,pursuing an education
at a North American university.
By attending the school, students
may find it easier to make the
transition from Hong Kong to
school in Canada or the United
States.
Tammara Hodgins
"The school is run by Canadians,"
she said.
Just before graduating from Nipis-
sing University with a Bachelor of
Education, Hodgins said represen-
tatives from the school in Hong
Kong were there recruiting teachers.
Because the "job market" for
teachers is limited in Bruce County
and the rest of Ontario, she decided
to apply and was accepted as a
teacher at the Canadian Overseas
Secondary School.
•
She has travelled overseas before
and, on a Junior Farmers' exchange,
spent one week in Hong Kong.
By going back, she said, "I
thought it would be a good ex-
perience."
She said she will have the best of
both- worlds because she will be
experiencing life in a different
culture but will be working with a
familiar education system.
Hodgins will be one of 20
teachers on staff at a school with
300 students.
Having been to Hong Kong
before, she said she at least has
some idea of what to expect when
she gets there. However, coming
from a rural community without
large crowds of people, Hodgins
expects to suffer a little culture
shock.
But despite the culture change,
she said Hong Kong -"is very cos-
mopolitan."
"It's not like you're going to
mainland China," she said.
She will spend one year as a
teacher in Hong Kong.
If 'she enjoys it and everything
works out, Hodgins might stay
longer.
Bresnahan, an avid railroad fan
by Scott Hilgendorff
When the garage door is open,
people are invited to walk inside
the space where a car might have
parked, where they are instantly
transported to a 1958 train yard in
Silverton, British Columbia.
Except it is to 122.5 scale.
The town is a reconstruction
based on Silverton and is. built on
the outskirts of Bresnahan's 50 feet
of track for his G Gauge train col
lection, all modelled on the year,
1958.
Rev. William Bresnahan of the
Lucknow United Church was 10
years old then and already a rail
road enthusiast.
Growing up in Renfrew, he said
there was a rail yard at the end of
his street.
"My brother and I, from the time
we. were eig,ht or nine, used to go
down to th' rail yards ;when our
parents weren't home," Bresnahan
said. •
That's where they spent many of
their Saturdays.
While they were shunting cars, he
said' the engineers would often let
them come aboard.
He said they would stand there
watching, looking up at the. en-
gineers who would tell them to
climb up.
Sometimes they were allowed to
work the throttle of the engines.
"It was, real exciting stuff."
At other times, always when there
'weren't any foremen around, they
would ride and have lunch with the
conductors in the caboose.
"It was a glorious time," he said.
But he also said working the rail
. yards was hard.
"The railroads built our country,"
he said and the men behind' it had
to be rough and tough. . '
His rail yard reflects that glorious
time in his life.
"When I was five years old, my
Dad bought us a train set," he said.
It would be the first of many as
Rev. Bresnahan bought one for .his
own son, Scott and later, turned a
Chalk River manse basement into
his first rail yard.
"It's an amazing hobby. People
don't know .how intricate it gets,"
he said.
It gets so intricate, in his town
and rail yard there are more than 70
figures of people.
"Every figure on here has a name
from people who worked on or near
the rail roads," Rev. Bresnahan
said.
They are people he has met as a
child in Renfrew or along the way
as he moved to Moncton and Chalk
River before coming to Lucknow.
There's Guiseppi Benito, an
immigrant rail yard worker Rev.
Bresnahan met through his love of
trains.
And there's Gordon Shultz, a car
foreman Rev. Bresnahan met when
helived in Chalk River, where his
love for trains followed him with
his career as a United. Church
minister. It was in Chalk River that
he first turned model railroading
into a hobby.
In the centre of his train yard, a
figure of the yard master stands,
instructing one of his employees.
This is Rev. Bresnahan, who
becomes . a yard master when he
steps into his garage and begins.
operating the many controls on the
panels along side the tracks.
Each lever and button works to
operatethe switches,. steam and
diesel engines and the coal, •cattle
and other freight cars that operate
within the yard. '
Adding to the intricacy of the
hobby is the time he and his wife,
Nancy, spend railfanning across
North America.
"She shares the hobby with me,"
Rev: Bresnahan said. •
"She and I chase trains," he said.
As railfans, when they travel, they
spot trains listed in reference books
or from pictures he has along the
wall of his garage and in his cogllc-
•tion.
He. has between two" and 3,000
pictures of trains. '
He also collects artifacts from
train bells to lights that were once a
part•ot' a steam engine.
Rev. Bresnahan said whenever his
garage door - is up,it is an open
invitation to stop in and see his rail
yard.
• Since this spring, he said • more
than 150 people have come through
already to see the yard in operation.
And Rev. Bresnahan loves any
opportunity to get the engines fired,
up.
"I'm what you call a prototypical,
freelance model railroader," he said.
Meaning his version of Silverton
and his rail ' yard is open to
interpretation.
He said some model railroaders
build everything to be exact replicas
of the original towns and rail yards.
As a freelance railroader, he can
•see Model, page 2
Rev. William Bresnahan takes every opportunity available to spend time In his garage with his
model rall yard. Rev. Bresnahan has been a rail fan since he was five years' old. (Scott
Hilgendorff photo)
Minor
•
variance
granted
ASH);IELD TOWNSHIP - Fol-
lowing a committee of adjustment
meeting on June 7, council granted
a minor variance to H.R. Fullerton,
whose building is situated too close
to the side yard lot line. The
property is part of Lots 8 and 9,
Con. 8 WD. Roy Law, a neigh-
boring landowner was also in atten-
dance.
Council has directed road superin-
tendent Kevin Cook to apply for
infrastructure funding for asphalt
paving.
A bylaw was passed authorizing
the posting of certain speed limits
within the township. Clerk Linda.
Andrew says most of , the roads
affected are unmaintained roads or
those where dangerous conditions,
such as curves, exist.
Mrs. Andrew was directed to
notify .the Ministry of Natural ..
Resources that council concurs with
the, interpretation of Scott Tousaw,
Huron County planner, with respect
to the compliance of the site plan
with the 30 metre setback re-
quirements from the. Natural En-
vironment zone, regarding a
proposed Collins gravel pit at part
of Lot 7, Con. 14 WD.
Townships
receive
extra
funding
The province is providing Huron
County municipalities with
$785,900 in supplementary funding
for special road projects during
1994.
Supplementary funds are ear-
marked for specific or' one-time
projects and equipment purchases
that cannot be accommodated under
a municipality's base road 'al-
location. -
"The funds are designated for.
work that has been identified by the
local municipality as significant
projects that' can get under way
immediately and createjobs now,
says MPP Paul, Klopp.
Ashfield Township will receive
$58,000 toward the purchase of a
new tandem truck; Blyth $25,000
for paving and curb work;.Godcrich
$56,300 fof a new grader . and
$40,000 for work on Suncoast
Drive cast; and West .Wawanosh
$59,100 for the purchase of a truck.
Other • municipalities receiving'
funding are Hullet, McKillop,
Stanley, Tuckersmith and Turnberry
Townships and Scaforth.
Tipping fees
up at MHLS
Supervisor's Report
Mid -Huron Landfill Site (MHLS)
Site Supervisor, Frank Postill,
reported that in regard to tipping
fees, the landfill is "gaining every-
day. We've been on .the plus side
the. past 6-7 weeks."
The site is still losing about $35-
40 a day compared with last year
but that's expected to even out
soon, said Postill;
•see Nothing, page 2