They were known as school cars and schools on wheels. Trains that brought the classroom to children in the most isolated communities of Northern Ontario. Contributor Alisa Siegel explores remote education, homeschooling and nation-building.In 1926, the Ontario government launched an experiment, converting two railway cars into schools that departed from Toronto to isolated parts of Northern Ontario.
Five more cars were eventually added to the program. The Department of Education sought teachers who had experience living in the remote north, and teaching in one-room schools. Some teachers lasted little more than a year. Others, including Sloman, would remain with their respective school cars for the better part of four decades.
Ray Bromley, a retired second-generation railway worker, recalls that the school car came to Palomar, Ont., just to teach him and his brother. Later on, when his sister was old enough, she joined, too. The teacher and their family lived aboard the school car, outfitted with living quarters — bedroom, kitchen and living room. The classroom, with its 12 to 15 desks in two rows, took up the remainder of the car.
Water for drinking and cooking often had to be carried a great distance and was kept in pails. On Saturdays they would heat the water on a wood stove and use it to bathe. Life in the bush. The blanket of trees. The thick snow. The sounds of the trains. Ray Bromley can still hear it in his mind. And he remembers, too, the stories Sloman used to tell.
The trains spelled new learning for the children, but they also brought medicine, baby supplies, and toys. Others hailed from Quebec and elsewhere across the country. Many were new immigrants to Canada — from Finland, Scotland, Italy, Ukraine and Poland. Given the fear of communism, politicians of the day saw the school cars as a convenient and effective means with which to promote democratic ideals among newcomer students and their families.