An Ann Arbor Railroad millwright who can remember helping build freignt and passenger cars from the wheels up is retiring after 40 years as  carman, carpenter, and most recently as millwright.  Fredrick Bodary, 65, 822 Grover St. began his job at the Ann Arbor as an 18 cent an hour carman Aug.16, 1915. He had already had three years of railroading experience on other lines before going to work for the Ann Arbor Railroad's car shop.  Fellow workers of the Ann Arbor System Federation Nimber 77 Monday  gave Fred a handsome watch.  March 2, the Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen, Lodge Number 788 presented him with a spinning rod and reel at a special dinner in his honor.  Not the kind to `just retire to take it easy."  Fred and his wife have sold their Owosso home which they have owned  for 40 years and are headed for Hardwood Lake near West Branch.  There he wants to modernize the Bodary's cottage and continue his carpentry work.  "l'd like to build cottages or do some cabinet work - but at my own pace,' he laughed.  An accomplished carpenter Fred modernized his own home in his spare time, although there wasn't much of that when he started at the Ann Arbor.

"We used to work a 10 hour day, six days a week," he said.   Then, car repair was mostly brute strength.  "None of this mechanical crane equipment to put cars together," he added. All railroad cars were made of wood when Fred started working in Owosso in 1915.   Even the engine cabs were of wood construction, he said.  Side-sills on freight cars measured six feet thick, 13 feet wide, and many were 40 feet long.  "Now freight cars are mostly all steel, but it was some job to move those wooden sections into place,"he related.