After the clock in the CPKC clock tower failed a couple years again, a group of residents and businesses got together to get the 102-year-old clock up and running again. 

The historic clock was fixed just in time for the Final Spike Anniversary Steam Tour. 

“I think it’s a piece of history. It really is. It’s 102 years old. It’s not as old as the City Hall clock, but for this thing, that’s impressive and to have the ability to fix it in Moose Jaw,” said John Trodd, one of the coordinators in fixing the clock. 

The clock was installed in 1922 when the then Canadian Pacific Railway building was built and was ran under CPR’s care until it went offline in 1987. 

“CPR looked after this clock for years and years, and it was actually the mechanical department that looked after it. But it had a few issues over the years, like the counterweight fell off of one of the faces and it ran for a while without the counterweight,” explained Trodd. 

When repairs were done to the City Hall clock several years ago, a world-renowned clock expert was brought in. Trodd invited the expert to look at the CPKC clock and learned it was one of the first electrical clocks of its size. 

“This is a dual 24-volt power supply and so there’s two 12-volt batteries for 24 volts,” Trodd said. 

Unlike the City Hall clock, the CPKC clock has a mechanism so that the gears run to make the clock hands every minute. 

During Moose Jaw’s centennial celebrations in 2004, Trodd and others were approached about getting the clock running again. The clock was taken apart and taken to Jerry Kaiser’s farm. Kaiser rebuilt the clock, while Trodd rewired the power supply. 

Kaiser maintained the clock from 2004 to 2022. In 2022, the clock failed again as one of the faces seized up entirely. Also in 2022, Jerry Heilman took over as the clock keeper. 

According to Trodd, the original mechanism literally turned to dust and modern electrical modifications were needed. 

The electrical components and batteries are now in a heat-controlled compartment. An interesting piece of engineering, there are light bulbs over all of the gears. These lights cannot be converted to LED as the residual heat from the bulbs keeps the gears from freezing in the winter. 

It took a big team of residents and businesses to get the historical clock running again. Gord Ross, Brandon Cochrane, Neil Trodd, Frank Lloyd and John Trodd fixed and installed the fixed clock. 

Cruisers CARSTAR supplied tools to remove the clock and adhesives to reinstall the clock. Western Machine Shop fabricated new gears to replace the old, worn out gears and any other parts needed to repair the clock and Right at Home Builders helped with industrial safety supplies and the coordination of remove the clock face. The group also received support from CPKC and Alliance Crane. 

As a future project, Trodd is hoping to add flood lights so the clock can be lit up like the City Hall clock.