Fonds F3279 - Ray A. Matthews fonds

Ray Matthews’ family association with railways began with his grandfather, Scottish stonemason Alfred Matthews, who in the 1880s constructed bridges for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the Rogers Pass of British Columbia and who later worked as switchman, foreman and yardmaster in Calgary until 1935. His father, Fred Matthews, started work in Calgary at the CPR Ogden Shops when it opened in March 1913, retiring in 1960. Three uncles also worked for the CPR: Ray was an operator and station agent, George a machinist and Will a freight conductor. Both Ray and George were killed in the First World War.

Ray A. Matthews, 1925- was born in Calgary, Alberta and after a short time with the Canadian Pacific Railway got a job with Canadian National Railways as a trainman, beginning in 1952. From 1955 to 1971 he worked in Jasper, Alberta. In 1971, he moved to Vancouver and in 1974 was promoted to management as a trainmaster. The next several years were spent in that capacity at terminals between Vancouver, British Columbia and Biggar, Saskatchewan. Ray was subsequently promoted to Assistant Superintendent in Vancouver, then Regional Operations Control Officer in Edmonton, and finally five years as System Operations Control Officer at CN headquarters in Montreal. Ray retired to the West Coast in 1990.

He co-authored the three volume The railways of Calgary / by Donald Bain and Ray Matthews. - Calgary: British Railway Modellers of North America, 1999 and volumes 4 to 6 of Canadian National in the West / J. A. Love. - Calgary: Calgary Group of the British Railway Modellers of North America, 1980-1995.