Welcome! My name is Norman Skretting and I am the owner and host of the CN Clearwater Sub layout.
I am currently retired from most of my many careers. I graduated from the U of A with a BEd/Music major in 1975 and finally used my education degree to teach band in two local schools from 2003 until my retirement in 2013. While going to university, I worked for CN on three different occasions for the engineering department on three different gangs, one in BC (1972 at Falls Creek on the Ashcroft Sub) and two in Alberta (1974 on a lifting gang around Camrose, AB and 1975 on a gang dumping ballast between Edson and Jasper, Grande Cache Sub and Foothills/Mountain Park Subs). After a brief three year period of working for a construction company, I began working as an operator in Camrose, AB for CN. I worked operator's positions in Camrose, Mirror, Hanna, Edson, Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan before training as a train dispatcher in the Edmonton dispatching office. I then worked in Motive Power Control in Montreal for about a year and in Technological Development for another year before returning to Edmonton as an Assistant Chief Train Dispatcher. During this time, I also worked relief as a Regional Operations Control Officer (ROCO) in the Western Region headquarters in Edmonton. I also worked as an MCO (Manager of Corridor Operations) and MCU (Manager of Crew Utilization) until I left CN in 2001, when my management position was eliminated. Currently, I work part-time as a conductor for shortline Battle River Railway, which has given me a better understanding and appreciation of the running trades.
