What was "The Franz Swing"? .........Well.... It was a job that had to be done, but no one wanted to do. The new operator on the block would get the job. The only thing worse than the Franz Swing was ......... A Franz Diversion

Who worked the Swing? ..... Lots of people worked the Swing, most would never last very long. Some worked one shift and were never seen again.

What was so different about the Swing? ..... Each station required 4 telegraphers to maintain a 24 hour vigil. Typical shifts were : Days, 4 to 12 and graveyard shift. The other operator worked the other's days off except one shift per week. That was left for the Franz Swing. Stations at White River, Franz, Chapleau and Cartier had a weekly visit from the swing. Cartier was eliminated from the swing in 1974. I was the last operator to have operated all 4 stations.

How could you travel to so many stations? ..... By train of course! What made this job really interesting was ... I lived in Schreiber. I had to take a freight. Usually 902 or 952 were nice, but sometimes it was 954 or sometimes a slow drag.

The station at White River is small but functional. Brick construction, located on Winnipeg St. (Across from the Post Office), it is later vintage, being built in 1958. During most shifts, the yard would be busy putting together the "Paper Train" for Franz.

At 1600, the Swing Operator came on shift. Alot of freight rolled through on this station on this shift. 902, 952, 954, 956 from the west and 901, 921, 949, 953, and 965 would receive orders here. The Budd car, No 417 would arrive and terminate. The operator would receive all express and passenger baggage. No 2, if on time, came in around midnight. Not a good time to board for Franz! Better to get a good night's sleep in the bunkhouse.

Next morning, purchase a few groceries and climb aboard No 418 to Franz. Travelling aboard this Dayliner was most enjoyable. It took little more than and hour to reach the station that is the focus of this story.

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Every morning, before opening the station, I would check both waybill boxes. Often during night, trains would drop off any type of rolling stock for any number of reasons. Bad orders, low priority interchange and other freight which needed immediate attention. Charcoal was stored at Franz to keep heater cars warm during bad order set offs.

Once the station was open, contact with Algoma Central dispatcher was first prority. A lineup was issued and was usually followed by a few copies of train orders. Contact with the CPR dispatcher came later with an inquiry about a paper train which was usually underway by that time. Most of the time, it would arrive before the Budd car, No 418. ACR No 2 came along around this time and would need to get a light from the CPR dispatcher to cross the diamond. Passenger inquiries, baggage, express and mail made passenger services quite busy. Once the paper train had cars set off in the yard, the waybills were entered into the station log. ACR No 5 would usually arrive in Franz before lunch. Once the waybills were logged, a yard check was necessary. With pen and journal, it was time to meet some rolling stock and hope the last conductor did his consist correctly.

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