The CP and CN forums have gotten... well... a little boring. if you look up in the left hand corner ... over there... you will actually see some cob webs. So lets get out of our winter mode, and start talking about CP and CN. I am not the moderator, nor do I wish to be, but I hereby declare the CN forum open to all Canadian roads. So how about some info and talk about some of the less known lines. I would love for some one who is knowledgeable about the Hudson Bay RR to give a little blurb on it...Engines?...lenght of track?....pay loads?... etc I'll start with a rant. Many of you who are familiar with BC Rail but don't live in the province probably are aware that this great RR is in the process of cutting all things passenger out of it. The RR got a new Ex-CP chap to run it. Unfortunately, he has brought his CP mentality with him. The CP mentality thinks that anything passenger is bad. So, we can kiss good bye the Royal Hudson and Consolidation on excurion tours (unless some one takes it over). You can also kiss the RDC's goodbye. BC Railking (Dane - my son) volunteered over the past four years on the Hudson excursion and its various faces. He also volunteered on all the Christmas excursions and post Xmas holiday excursions as well. BC Rail staff are giving him a parting present of a free trip up to Whistler on the NorthWind and back on an RDC in about a month. Why? All those who worked on passenger are basically not coming back. This will most likely be the end for Dane's volunteering for BC Rail. As he said: "Dad, I'm being laid off and I wasn't ever hired." The new age for teens! Now why is this a rant. Vancouver is putting a bid in for the Winter Olympics in 2010. One of the problems is the transportation to Whistler and back - the treacherous mountain road is a killer and can't transport massive amounts of people; everyone recognizes it here. Yet BC Rail (the government owns BC Rail) is allowing one of the only viable transportation systems to lapse. I won't even begin to discuss the people who rely on the RDC's further north beyound Whistler. The problem with BC Rail is that it has always been about 30 years behind all the other large RR in North America. So as other RR's are beginning to wake up to the reality of viable passenger service (I won't discuss Amtrash here) for shorter haul, BC is shutting down a shorter haul passenger service. Thirty years from now, they'll figure out they made a mistake. There are some great smaller lines I would love to learn about in Canada. Share your info about them, if you are aware of some.
Can't help much in discussions, Rick, but I do have a soft spot for Canadian roads, as my first touch down in the north American continent was in Toronto, back in 1985. The out of the ordinary roads I saw were some stored TH&B GP7 or 9's, and an Ontario Northland FP7. I particularly liked the GO train services with the (then) new double deck cars on most trains, and modified FP&'s as cab control cars on some trains.
I have lived in many cities on Canada (Father was Armed Forces) but I never saw the Go train except in pictures. And I lived out East a lot. My favourite memory is of a bar car on a train between Toronto and Montreal. I think I stood for the entire trip and arrived in Montreal with a smile on my face. This was back in the late 60's.
It's too bad but it seems to me that most or all the real CN employees have migrated to other boards so no real interesting CN stuff gets posted here anymore other than what a few of us try to do to keep this going.
Rick and Robin, take heart. As moderator of the New York Central forum, I see little or no traffic there concerning the old railroad, it's history, etc. Seems as though we have become a modeler's site. I don't have any problem with that but would like to see some more interest in the real thing and in history. I guess we need to go recruit some more members who have similar interests.
I'm more the modeler myself, but I care about CN and CP (and other lines in Canada). But we Canadians and others interested in CN and CP can try and add something to the forum here. If we make the forum interesting, others will come, even if our early attempts are a bit "artificial." People respond if it appears they can have a good time. So lets see if we can get something going. I'll start another post with some trivia about the CN in a day or two. As for employees, my understanding...lol... is that there are thousands of them, eventually a new one or two or three will come here, but only if what they see is interesting.
Well, this isin't much, but at least it's traffic (as opposed to content). I got a bunch of pictures back from being developed the other day and mixed in was a roll from a couple of years back that had crawld down into the floorboard of my truck until recently. On it, much to my surprise, was a couple of pictured of an Esquimalt and Nanimo GM I caught at Abbotsford on a trainchasing trip. If I get close to a scanner and I think about it I'll scan the and post them here.
That would be great. Are you aware their is a massive battle going on over the E&N. Some want it closed down for good, feeling the road system is all that is needed (Vancouver Island is approximately 1/3 the size of England). The freight was shut down for a while but some have complained that road traffic with large trucks has increased to the detriment of the Island roads (all two of them). It has been announced the the RDC's were going to be shut down, but Dane has informed me that ridership has gone up around 600% as people weren't even aware the services existed, are now aware, and are using it. Apparently there is "some" freight happening now. Although only about 8 cars a week... lol. A friend of mine who I share round robbin layout building sessions with and his son just took the E&N RDC on Tuesday. He was afraid if they didn't do it now, they might never get to see the line. So I am waiting to hear how their trip went, and to hear any further gossip they might have picked up about the RR.
Freight is still running, however only to Superior Propane in Nanaimo(who trucks it to Esquimalt now), Top Shelf Feed Mill in Duncan, and National Silicates in Parksville. If Rail America would put out the money to put the switch back in on the Crofton Spur than Norske Canada would continue to ship by rail...and the E&N would not be at risk of becoming another bike trail.
I have heard some not to complimentary things about Rail America. Some short line companies by into a railroad and run it to ground, then sell of the assests, and that is how they make a profit, little maintance. I guess what I am trying to say is, I'm not holding my breath on that switch.
I'd been a CN railfan for 30 years and spend a great deal of time doing research in order to maintain near CN prototype engines and rolling stock on the layout and that "used CN" look on my own stuff. I used to drop in here a lot but got shot down in flames a couple of times. The subjects seemed to get away from the information side and started to stray off into union/non-union territory and who was the best employee. And quite frankly - I couldn't give a darn. So for CN stuff I became a member of CNLines forum. Don't like Yahoo but the subjects cover a wide range of CN topics, prototype AND model, that keep my interest. I'm not saying there are weird topics over their as well, they get very obscure at times, but they don't bash each other about it. Tough to be all things to all people. So the forum has to decide why it exists and go there. Do you want a site for history buffs? Employee only? Modellers? Photographers who just love CN? Steam? Diesel? If you key in on something then you'll attract a strong, if small, active following.
