Pat Haist
Photo Courtesy of Phil Kemp
Born in Vancouver, BC in 1964 I lived there until the age of 5, from there our family moved to Port Coquitlam until the age of 12. When my parents bought a 2 acre property in the outskirts of Maple Ridge I helped my father build a house and a good sized workshop. At that age I really began my interest in welding & metalworking. My father was a carpenter by trade but I didn’t really have any interest in woodworking, iron was my passion. I went out and got a paper route and also helped my father on weekends as a helper. I saved my money and when I had enough I bought my first welding machine a small “buzz box” an oxy/ acetylene torch set, drillpress and an 8” bench grinder. With that and a corner in his workshop I was on my way. At the age of 12 my first undertaking was to build myself a steel go-cart, well we lived in a rural area so I didn’t have worry about cops. After school I would come home and rob the engine off his lawnmower and roar up & down the street until and hour before he got home from work that was around 7 pm. so I could put the engine back on his lawnmower. All was cool until he came home from work early one day “oops busted” angry at first, but came to realize I had developed an ability to use my brains and hands.
We moved from Maple Ridge to the Okanagan in 1983 were I then spent some time in shops welding and also logging and mechanical work and even on the railroad for a while all this time I was learning more skills. I eventually ended working in steel shop climbing the ladder from lead-hand all the way up to foreman for a while. During this time I was slowly rigging up a mobile welding truck as I preferred working outdoors. I had spent some time with the Kettle Valley Steam Railway and they were in negotiations with the BC Government in obtaining the ex-CPR steam locomotive 3716 and I was asked if I could rebuild the firebox. I am a certified pressure welder and to be given a opportunity to work on a 90 year old steam locomotive was a no brainer. They got the locomotive and I spent the winter of 2002-03 plug welding 485 stay bolt holes and installed 2 new boiler sheets and also helped in reassembling the locomotive so I had my hand on every part that went into it. As a bonus I would fire the locomotive on weekends and even took it for a run during the testing before it was put back into service, now that was a thrill of a lifetime.
I eventually moved to Powell River in 2006 with my wife Alison and bought the book Powell River’s Railway Era. I had numerous HO scale trains in my childhood and when my first son Riley was born in February 2000 I started collecting again. My second son Ryan was born in December 2001. It didn’t take them long to find the interest, I cheated of course as I would take them to the station and let them ring the bell and blow the whistle in the locomotives. Reading the book Powell River’s Railway Era I was really interested in the Eagle River & Northern Railway section. When buy a house here I want to model this line in the basement as I already have a number of steam locomotives with some Shay’s and Climax’s in the collection. To model this line I feel that need to walk the grade and look around where all the camps and log dumps were to get the feel of it. I’m also a history buff and enjoy finding artifacts as they lay as in the case of the Spring Lake camp. To read the story and to stand in the place and find all the bunks lying on the ground in groups of 4 one row after the other knowing that is all what’s left after the fire of August 1926 consumed everything that could burn. What has me the most intrigued is the story of the lost locomotive from Spring Lake camp. I want to find it and to see if it’s restorable, to be able to do a ground up restoration and hopefully make it operational and keep it here in Powell River would be another thrill of a lifetime. I would also like to take a steam donkey such as the one on the Willingdon Beach Trail and make it operational again as this could also be a big tourist attraction such as the one in Campbell River. But for now I will enjoy life in Powell River and continue my quest along with my friend Rob Tremblay to find rail grades, artifacts and that missing locomotive.
