CNR Steam Whistle  by Dean Robinson

For decades, the best-known sound in Stratford was the railway’s steam whistle that roared at least half a dozen times a day from the roof of the powerhouse near the big railway shop. In the early years, there was a long blast at 6:40 a.m., not a pleasant sound if you were still in bed and scheduled for the day shift. 

Seventeen minutes later there was a short blast that sent employees to their work stations. At 7 a.m. it blew again and the workday was officially underway. The noon-hour break was bracketed by blasts at 12 p.m. and 1 p.m., and five hours later the last roar sent everyone home for the night. Later, as shifts were reduced in length, the whistle’s first call came at 7:40 a.m. and its last at 5 p.m. Too, there was a noon-hour warning blast at 12:57 p.m. 

The whistle, which stood almost five feet in height, was built in the shops, probably about the time the powerhouse went up in 1908. Fed by a steam line from below, it was operated by an electric clock mechanism that could be overridden manually.