(Cowichan Leader, November 1969)
The attached article, Old Locomotives, old cars have a special appeal, is about the then Cowichan Valley Forest Museum’s new hire Fred Bell.
Fred volunteered as a fireman at the Forest Museum during the 1967 and 1968 seasons, so as to supplement his firing time with MacMillan Bloedel’s Nanaimo River operation on locomotives 1055 (No. 7, Port Alberni) and 1077 (Fort Steele). When hired by Gerry Wellburn, in the Fall of 1969, he was a certified steam locomotive engineer.
Fred and his family moved into the Museum’s Drinkwater house in December 1969, and lived there until 1971. His son Fred Jr. and sisters worked part-time picking up litter and doing other odd jobs around the site.
While there, Fred rebuilt at 1904 Oldsmobile, which eventually found its way to the St. Catherines Museum & Welland Canals Centre. Fred also restored a 1913 White touring car, which is now owned by his son Fred who purchased it from a collector in 1990.
The article’s pictures show Fred in the cab of the Hillcrest Shay No. 1 (currently being restored), and staff working on the track near Drinkwater Station using a 1948 Dodge 1 Ton mounted with an A-frame.
Additional photographs, supplied by Fred Bell Jr., show his Dad working on the Olds in the Museums “chicken coop” (long since gone), and one of it loaded onto the Hillcrest gravel truck on its way to the Vintage Car Club of Canada, Victoria Chapter’s 1971 May Tour (Nanaimo to Victoria).
