Canada Calling
October 1998

by Bryce Lee

INDUSTRY NEWS

A consortium that includes Bombardier Inc. has landed a contract to build two more high-speed trains for Amtrak's Washington-New York-Boston line in the United States. Montreal-based Bombardier and France's Alstom will build two high-speed trains under a contract worth C$51-million, a statement from the companies said. Each train will include six passenger cars. In March 1996, Amtrak ordered 18 trains and 15 electric locomotives that are under construction, Alstom said. The company gave no figure for that contract, which also includes three maintenance centres on the line. Alstom is to build the electrical equipment for the trains and Bombardier will assemble the trains in La Pocatiere, Quebec.

Bombardier said its share of the contract will be worth C$39- million. Bombardier said that unlike the TGV, which requires special rails with no curves to allow it to reach such high speeds, the trains being built for Amtrak will use standard rails. They will be slightly slower. Alstom, formerly Alsthom, recently changed its name to take a more international image.

Lesson No. 1 in the police pursuit training book; don't park your police cruiser on or close to railway tracks. An officer with the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police was attempting to stop a suspected stolen vehicle Friday August 18, 1998 when the vehicle turned onto railway tracks and tried to drive down the tracks. Two suspects got out of the car and ran for it, so the officer did the same, also stopping his cruiser on the tracks and radioing dispatch to call Via Rail to stop any oncoming trains. Problem, was it was already too late. A VIA Rail passenger train bound for Ottawa, hit both vehicles, demolished both with nary a scratch to the train. A suspect in chase was apprehended. The police canine unit searched a wooded area for the other suspect. Other officers who arrived at the scene did not park on the tracks, I wonder why?

The Canadian division of the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) has voted to join the United Steelworkers, adding 6,000 members to the 185,000-member Steelworkers' union in Canada. Sixty five delegates voted unanimously in a special convention on Sunday August 16, 1998 to join with the Steelworkers. TCU members work in the rail, airline, trucking, courier, marine and grain industries. The union has national contracts with CP Rail, NorthWest Airlines, CanPar and Marine Atlantic, among others.

Fire destroyed the 109 year old rail station in the southwestern Ontario town of Leamington August 17, 1998. Local railway historian Gary Tetzlaff said an important piece of local history has been destroyed. Arson is suspected in the fire which removed yet another link to the past in the community. The efforts of preservation should now be directed to the remaining 111 year old station in Leamington said Tetzlaff.

The chairman of Ontario Northland Transportation Committee says he's intrigued by a proposal to run a tourist train into the heart of north-eastern Ontario. However Dick Grant says the ONR will not make a commitment until a Swedish businessman provides details for the tourist development in September. Swedish entrepreneur Robert Bromley thinks an upgraded Orient Express-style rail link would help draw international tourists to Kirkland Lake. Bromley's plan involves developing Kirkland Lake attractions; including using the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau as the setting for murder mysteries. (Sir Harry was himself the victim of a brutal unsolved murder in the Bahamas in 1943.) ONTC chair Dick Grant plans to meet with representatives of Bromley's company to discuss details.

The Ontario government has approved the use of the former Adams Mine as a garbage dump. The garbage will be hauled by rail from Toronto to the minesite, south of Kirkland Lake. Apparently there are now legal actions by the environmentalists to see what can be done to prevent this from happening. It could mean additional business for Ontario Northland in the long run.

Local politicians have had a first-hand look at a plan to use commuter rail to link the southwest community of Barhaven to Ottawa (about 15 miles). In theory the link from Alta Vista to Barhaven seems to have a lot of built-in benefits. It uses existing infrasture to keep costs down and provides service to a part of the region where buses are not well used. There's just one question. Would people use the train? Regional councillor Al Loney says he's not sure. If approved, the rail link could be up and running by early in the year 2000. A final proposal could come from the consortium pitching the idea in as soon as six weeks.

A train load of local politicians got a ride the morning of August 19, 1998 along the CN line from Alta Vista to Barhaven. They were taking part in the demonstration of a plan to link the South Nepean community to Ottawa by putting commuter rail on existing CN lines. The train consisted of VIA F40PH 6435, Via HEP coach 4013 and Via Sleeper Buffet-Lounge Dome Observation 8716 Tweedsmuir Park. All of the markings which denoted who owned the locomotive and the coaches were covered with duct tape.

The Canadian Auto Workers and CN Rail reached tentative agreements August 24, 1998 for four bargaining units containing 6,500 employees. The move follows several meetings between CAW president Buzz Hargrove and Paul Tellier, chief executive of Canadian National Railways. Bargaining, which has gone on for almost a year, stepped up after the parties were put in a legal strike/lockout position. The tentative settlement was unanimously recommended by the bargaining committee in the area of pensions and is consistent with the CAW rail pension pattern set at Via Rail earlier this year. Changes in the pension formula will mean an additional C$210 per month by 1999 for a 35-year worker.

The tentative agreement also ensures there won't be a net reduction of work or union jobs as a result of the CN Illinois Central merger during the life of the three-year deal. The union represents 6,500 workers who repair and maintain locomotives and railway cars; customer service clerks; dispatchers, labourers and truck drivers. The contract is retroactive to January 1, 1998.

Norfolk Southern Corporation has expanded the intermodal Equipment Management Program (EMP) to include the Minneapolis market through an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway. The EMP service extension provides domestic shippers daily, expedited service between Minneapolis, MN and Atlanta GA, Cincinnati, OH, Jacksonville and Miami, FL. At Minneapolis, EMP operates through Canadian Pacific Railway's Shoreham intermodal facility. Norfolk Southern's previously announced EMP service to New England through Guilford Rail's newly constructed terminals at Ayer MA, and Waterville ME, also has begun. EMP is an intermodal container program that offers integrated equipment supply and transport management for long-haul, domestic freight. Its cornerstone is a shared responsibility between railroads and customers including intermodal marketing companies, logistics companies and motor carriers to improve equipment utilization. It is operated by Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and Conrail, and involves more than 11,000 high-quality, 48-foot containers that move over the three railroads under EMP customer control.

GO Transit will add four new bus routes and put more bus trips on existing routes in the new year. At its monthly meeting in mid- August, GO's Board approved a package of bus service improvements, scheduled to start in January 1999, that will create new transit links between several communities in Durham, York, Peel, and Toronto. The improvements approved for January are in addition to the train service improvements made in June, which significantly increased express train service on the Lakeshore and Stouffville lines; and to the improvements starting in September, which include doubling the number of trains on the Bradford line, and extending bus service from the Oshawa-Bowmanville area east to Newcastle.

Recently noted posted on the door of the CN station in Huntsville Ontario was a notice stating that the station was for sale as of July 1998. The station was built around the 1900s and is in fair condition. Presently it is only used as a waiting room, and offices office for the road switching job and also for section men. In addition the Muskoka pioneer museum is planning to have the Portage railway up and running by the year 2000. It will consist of two replica stations, an engine house, two operating locomotives and rolling stock. The line is expected to operate from the museum, two kilometres along Fairy Lake.

There was a joint experimental train mid-June 1998 for a test train of coal from Alberta to Mexico. Herewith the schedule: empty train and BNSF units arrived in Lethbridge, Alberta from Coutts on June 15, 1998. Units split and a robotized consist was made up in the Lethbridge yard. The train departed Lethbridge at 1700 for Line Creek mine north of Sparwood BC. The loaded train arrived back in Lethbridge June 16 at 1400. Waited until 2145 until the regular Coutts train arrived back in Lethbridge as there are no passing sidings on Stirling and Coutts Subdivisions. Train 848 Eastbound coal had CP 5866, BNSF 1022, ATSF 639, CP 9004. Robot set CP 6076 and BNSF 964. It was the lashup of the year! Many thanks to Doug Wingfield of Lethbridge, Alberta.

Canadian National Railway Company and Illinois Central Corporation filed August 14, 1998 a joint Safety Integration Plan with the United States Surface Transportation Board. The filing; pursuant to CN/IC's July 15 STB application seeking regulatory approval of CN's acquisition of IC and the integration of the companies' rail operations describes at length the steps CN/IC will take to integrate operations safely and in compliance with applicable regulations. The CN/IC transaction does not create any significant new safety challenges, because the carriers meet only in the Chicago terminal area and have no overlapping lines and few redundant facilities. This means that CN/IC's Safety Integration Plan focuses on the strengths of the railroads' existing safety programs, and the ways CN/IC can use the integration process to build on those strengths in areas such as technology and systems training program, the integration of car fleets and the cascading of locomotive resources. CN and IC have strong safety programs today. CN in 1997 had the best train accident record (2.2 train accidents per million train miles) of all Class 1 railroads in North America. Results for the first half of 1998 have shown a consistent improvement in performance.

IC has won an E. H. Harriman Institute Award eight years running, reflecting the consistent improvement of its personal injury record. CN's U.S. rail subsidiaries; Grand Trunk Western Railroad Inc. and Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway Company have also shown steady progress in achieving even safer levels of operation. CN/IC intends to use the opportunity represented by the transaction to integrate the railroads' most effective safety practices and further improve their safety performance.

Canada's New Democratic Party took whistle stop campaigning to a new level, putting nearly all its parliamentary members on a cross-country passenger train. The NDP hopes the caucus on the rails will increase its national exposure, and admits it will also stop the members from sneaking out of any of scheduled meetings. The meeting cars, which were attached to the front of regular VIA Rail passenger trains, was to arrive Monday, Aug. 31, on the Atlantic coast in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Along the way the rolling-caucus was to pass through eight Canadian provinces. The NDP is Canada's fourth largest federal party with 21 members of Parliament, behind the governing Liberal Party's 156 members.

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

The CPR is abandoning the line between Southall and Minton, Saskatchewan. The company says it has attempted to find private sector or government buyers, but no one is interested. Traffic has averaged less than 15 carloads per mile every year. Farmers in Saskatchewan told the Estey Commission earlier this year on grain transportation that rail line abandonment was a big problem.

St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway (StL&H) level crossings in Ontario and Quebec will soon display emergency telephone and identification numbers as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) expands efforts to enhance public safety at crossings in Canada and the United States through its new Safe Passage program. Designed to provide members of the public with toll-free access to the Canadian Pacific Railway Police Service 24-hour control centre in Montreal, "Safe Passage" will enable motorists, cyclists or pedestrians to contact CP immediately should a dangerous situation occur at any crossing.

Yellow stickers bearing 1-800 telephone numbers and identification numbers unique to each location are being prepared for application to existing warning signals and signs at StL&H crossings in Quebec and Ontario beginning in mid-1998. The Montreal-based StL&H is a subsidiary of the CPR. The railway plans to have emergency numbers posted at all of its approximately 20,000 public crossings in Canada and the United States by the end of 1999. Initial cost of the Safe Passage program is estimated at about C$450,000. The emergency telephone number to be posted at all crossings is 1 800 716-9132.

Canadian National Railway has already a similar operation in effect at all of its level crossings in Canada, identifying each location as to mileage and subdivision and having an 800 number to call for more information.

Canadian Pacific Limited (Canadian Pacific) announced August 11, 1998 that, subject to regulatory approval, it intends to purchase for cancellation up to 16,557,779 of its Common Shares, which represents approximately 5 percent of the 335,574,856 issued and outstanding Common Shares. The purchases would commence on August 19, 1998 and would terminate on August 18, 1999, or on such earlier date as Canadian Pacific may complete its purchases pursuant to the notices of intention to make a normal course issuer bid filed with the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Alberta stock exchanges. The price to be paid will be the market price of such shares at the time of acquisition. Canadian Pacific has purchased 10,742,500 of its Common Shares within the past 12 months at an average purchase price of $39.80 per share. The move by CP is not unusual; it is a commonly held belief in most industries that shareholders with one thousand or less shares are often not serious investors in said companies. The time could come when the minimum purchase of shares by an individual in large corporations could be a mini mum of one thousand or more.

As per the current collective bargaining agreement, Canadian Pacific has given the employees of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo on Vancouver Island their 90 day notice of sale as of August 7, 1998. CPR indicates bidding is down to four contenders with the decision to be formerly rendered by December 25, 1998. Mr. Dennis Washington of SRY and MRL fame is one of the four bidders. Apparently, the new owners of the line must still allow VIA to run passenger service on the island.

VIA RAIL

An investigation is under way into why a Halifax-bound Via Rail train carrying 339 passengers collided with five freight cars July 31, 1998, slightly injuring four people. The accident took place in Mont-Joli, about 300 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. The passenger train was pulling into the station and not doing more than 20 kilometres hour when the collision occurred, Via said. It struck an empty articulated freight car from the Matapedia Railway Co., which owns that stretch of the line. The four injured were treated in hospital and released; they suffered minor injuries such as scrapes and bruises. The only derailed equipment was the first wheel of the first locomotive and there was some minor damage to the front of the engine. As well as the 339 passengers, the Via train had 20 crew aboard. Via put on special buses to take passengers to their destinations in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board arrived at the site July 31, 1998.

Via Rail is trying to placate angry residents of northern Manitoba. They're upset because of a lack of space on trains that service tiny communities north of Thompson, Manitoba. Some have even threatened to blockade or damage the tracks in protest. Via Rail says there are better ways of resolving these problems. Via Rail is refurbishing another passenger car that could be put into service in northern Manitoba later this month. Residents are angry as they buy tickets, but are then told there's no room on the train to take them to their northern destinations.

Train service has returned to normal on the Gaspe peninsula. On Monday August 24, 1998 residents from Barachois, Bonaventure, Port Daniel, Matepedia and Grande Riviere took to the tracks at Port Daniel, delaying the Via Rail passenger train that was on its way to Gaspe. A Via Rail passenger train from Montreal was allowed to leave Port Daniel on the Gaspe peninsula after being held up for more than an hour. The train carrying 85 passengers was on its way to Perce and Gaspe when more than 40 residents blocked the track. This is the second time in two weeks that elected officials and local citizens have delayed the train. They are angry with Via Rail since it cut checked baggage service at five stations in the area at the beginning of August 1998. One of the organizers of the demonstrations says that Via Rail's goal is to cut train service in the future. The protestors say that proper year round passenger train service is essential for communities on the Gaspe peninsula. They say they will continue demonstrations until Via Rail restores checked baggage service at the five train stations in the area.

The judge in a Saskatoon court has ordered Seymour Caplan of New York to post a C$25,000 bond before proceeding with a lawsuit against VIA Rail. The suit arises out of the major accident VIA had at Oban Saskatchewan (near Biggar). Mr. Caplan and his wife were passengers on the train and Mrs. Caplan died in the accident. VIA had asked the court for a C$70,000 bond to cover their legal costs, but the judge reduced the amount to C$25,000. Nonetheless, the judge called Mr. Caplan's suit "iffy". Obviously, we in Canada don't get too involved in nuisance suits.

SHORTLINES & REGIONALS

RaiLink Ltd. announced August 14, 1998 its financial results for the second quarter of 1998. For the quarter ended June 30, 1998, operating revenue grew by 63% to C$10,062,000 from C$6,165,000 for the corresponding period in 1997. For the six months ended June 30, 1998, operating revenue grew by 58% to C$17,345,000 from C$10,997,000 in 1997. Net income for the quarter ended June 30, 1998 was C$814,000 ($0.10 per share) compared to C$864,000 ($0.30 per share) for the corresponding quarter in 1997. Net income for the six months ended June 30, 1998 was C$1,377,000, an increase of $228,000 or 20% over the corresponding period in 1997. RaiLink's operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenue) improved to 86.7% for the three months ended June 30, 1998, an improvement of 3.8 points from the first quarter level of 90.5%. For the six months ended June 30, 1998, RaiLink's overall operating ratio was 88.3%.

The Company's two Ontario railways continue to perform ahead of expectation. After a poor first quarter, primarily due to a slow down in grain shipments, RaiLink's Central Western division showed improved revenues in the second quarter which, combined with a reduction in train operating costs, produced a significant improvement in its operating ratio. RaiLink's newest railway, the Mackenzie Northern, commenced operations on May 3, 1998. Its initial two months of operations were significantly affected by forest fires; the worst experienced in Alberta for over 40 years. Forest fire conditions resulted in both lost revenue, due to a bridge fire forcing closure of the line for 14 days, and additional unplanned forest fire-related costs. As a result, Mackenzie Northern's operating ratio of 87.5% was higher than expected. Excluding the effects of these highly unusual events, Mackenzie Northern's operating ratio would have been 79.3% and RaiLink's overall operating ratio would have seen an additional 2.1 point improvement to 84.6% for the second quarter.

RaiLink Ltd. announced August 26, 1998 that it has concluded negotiations with Canadian National to transfer 434 kilometres (271 miles) of line located northeast of Edmonton. The line stretches from St. Paul Junction, immediately north of Edmonton, to Boyle and northeast to Grande Centre and Elk Point. It also connects with RaiLink's Lakeland and Waterways line in Boyle, which serves Fort McMurray and Alberta's oil sands region. The transaction is expected to close and operations to be assumed by RaiLink in October 1998. The line currently handles approximately 11,000 carloads of traffic and serves shippers in the forest products, grain and chemical industries. RaiLink estimates that it will generate revenues of approximately C$4.5 million per annum from this new line.

On the Algoma Central Railway the third week of August, the Agawa Canyon trains were running with an ABA set of FP9A 1754, FP9B 1761, FP9A 1756. These trains looked great with three "A" units and they look even better now with an A-B-A combination. Train length was thirteen to fourteen cars with dome car GB&W 901, bringing up the rear of the train on the northbound run. The Hearst passenger train ran with a single FP9A and 4 cars on August 19, 1998. In the Huron Central yard HCR SD45E 462 named the "City of/ Ville de Sault Ste. Marie", GP9s 201, 204 and HATX SD45E 924 were on hand and shut down. On August 18, 1998 HCR SD45E 458 named "City of/ Ville de Sudbury" & SD45E 459 were also on hand. Apprently, switching is performed at night.

When the last hopper car of sinter rumbled out of Wawa in June of 1998 bound for the blast furnaces of Algoma Steel (ASI), with it left about one-third of Algoma Central Railway's business. Now it is up to the railroad's American parent company, Wisconsin Central, to find new ways to keep the 475-kilometre Sault-to-Hearst line viable in the post-Wawa era. To counter the loss of the sinter hauls, the railroad has done some promotional work to broaden its delivery of forest products to the US Midwest. The carrier organized a July 1998 promotional train of business cars to show-case the line to potential and existing customers. The parent company has also purchased 150 new lumber cars to augment existing forest products business at the north end of the line. Wisconsin Central is also working toward persuading Algoma Steel to receive iron ore pellets by rail. The Sault steel maker now relies upon Tilden Mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a joint venture between ASI and several other North American steel makers since the mid 1970s, to supply iron ore instead of the Wawa mine. Tilden supplies ASI with about 2.6 million tons of high grade pellets last year and should ship even more with Wawa's closure. However, most of the Tilden pellets are delivered by another railroad from the mine near Ishpeming to Marquette on Lake Superior for delivery to ASI by lake freighter. Wisconsin Central is making a pitch to supply Algoma with the raw material, moving 600,000 tons of Tilden pellets in a series of test runs over the last couple of years. But the steel maker has not yet made a commitment.

Other new business has been secured for the line in the near-future with a short-haul contract in hand to shuttle 1.1 million tons of treated phosphate rock from Hearst to Oba. Ontario Northland Railway is building a spur line into Agrium's open-pit operation under development near Kapuskasing. Algoma Central, which ties int the line at Hearst, will act as a bridge carrier to transport the rock 81 kilometres to Oba. From there, the Canadian National Railway will compete the journey west to Agrium's Redwater, Alberta fertilizer production plant. As the first carload does not leave the mine until August 1999, and this new opportunity will not fill the immediate void left by Wawa. The first major cut will be the elimination of a 42-kilometre spur line running from Hawk Junction to Michipicoten Harbour on Lake Superior used to haul freight into the Wawa mine.

Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) August 12, 1998 announced it has signed a letter-of-intent with OmniTRAX Inc., of Denver, Colorado, for the transfer of operations of the CPR line in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. After reviewing proposals from a number of bidders, CPR has selected OmniTRAX as the operator for the Okanagan Subdivision, a 151-kilometre (94-mile) stretch of track from Sicamous south to Vernon, Lumby and Kelowna, BC. OmniTRAX already owns and operates 12 railway subsidiaries in the United States and Canada, as well as railway switching services at Deltaport, an intermodal terminal on the West Coast of BC. Under the proposed agreement, OmniTRAX will establish a local shortline railway to operate the Okanagan line, providing connecting rail service to and from CPR's east-west main line at Sicamous. CPR owns the 74-kilometres (46-mile) line from Sicamous to Vernon, and provides trackage rights to CN on a section between Armstrong and Vernon. It currently operates via running rights on CN's 77-kilometres (48-miles) of line south of Vernon to Lumby and Kelowna. Those arrangements are expected to remain the same when OmniTRAX assumes management of CPR's Okanagan Subdivision. With a direct connection to CPR's main line at Sicamous, OmniTRAX will provide shippers and receivers on the Okanagan line with continued rail access to Canadian, U.S., and international markets.

Canadian National Railway Co. will transfer operation of its 164-kilometre line between Silver (just west of Georgetown, Ontario) and London in southwestern Ontario to RailTex Inc. The line, made up of the Guelph and Fergus subdivisions, connects with the Goderich and Exeter Railway GEXR, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RailTex Canada Inc. at Stratford, Ontario. The GEXR runs from Stratford to Goderich, Ontario and south from Clinton Junction to Centralia, Ontario. The CN lines carries more than 19,000 carloads of chemical and automotive freight a year, including traffic from the Goderich-Exeter. The two companies did not disclose any financial details of the deal, which affects 41 CN employees.

The Guelph Subdivision handles more than 19,000 carloads annually, including traffic from GEXR, primarily from the transport of auto parts, chemicals, and paper products. In addition, VIA Rail Canada, Inc. will continue to operate passenger trains over the line. There are long-term concerns over the ability of RailTex to maintain the track to adequate standards for VIA passenger operation; RailTex's trackwork standards in the past have been "just" adequate. The Guelph Sub already has its share of slow orders thanks to CN's ongoing reduction in track maintenance in anticipation of the sale of the line.

MOTIVE POWER

CPR 9100, the first SD90-43MAC, has made it to the front row of the construction line at GMD in London, Ontario. They were doing some welding at the front end August 26, 1998. It has the regular 90-43 cab rather than the newer designed cab that was installed on the recently released demonstrator units GM90 and 91. The number boards are on the low hood, not above the windows. CPR 9103 and 9104 were at the front of the construction line at General Motors Diesel in east-end London, Ontario on August 28th and 31st respectively.

In addition there were four painted BNSFs as well as an English Welsh and Scottish Railway locomotive waiting to go into the paint shop.

Some twenty CN locomotives leased to the Kansas City Southern have been returned and will be used in Grand Trunk Western domestic, or international service. They may not all be on the GTW; they could work Buffalo trains, etc. The numbers are as follows: 9400; 9407; 9479; 9519; 9595; 9615; 9628; 9641; 9644; 9652; 9658; 9660; 9664; 9665; 9668; 9670; 9673; 9674; 9675; 9676. CN SD40s 5145 and 5155 as well as SD40 GTW 5923 were retired August 12. Earlier retirements in were: SD40 5108 August 5, and SD40s 5093; 5097; 5171; 5175; 5182; 5221; 5225 on August 6. The first GMD1s in the USA arrived at National Railway Equipment in Silvis, Ilinois August 12. These were 1901, 1905, 1907, and 1915.

RaiLink has purchased former CPR GP35's 5005, 5006, and 5011 from Helm in Calgary. Two other GP35s are pending sale to RaiLink. Vancouver Wharves SW1200 824 is now waybilled to Omnitrax at The Pas and the consignee is Hudson Bay Port c/o Omnitrax. This unit, originally T&P 1279, is going to replace the two little Plymouths which were utilized at the government grain elevators.

Former VIA FPA-4 6761 was being cut up and hauled away August 18, 1998 outside the New Brunswick East Coast Campbellton NB shop, after removal of all useful parts as well as the trucks and prime mover.

The locomotive portion of Reading 2100 (not the massive tender) entered the former Michigan Central shops in St.Thomas on Saturday August 29, 1998 for the start of work to certify the engine to operate in Canada as well as convert the locomotive to oil firing. Work is expected to take between three and four months. No definite place of operation has been announced for the locomotive.

The Susquehanna 4006 which went for a tumble at 01:29 June 26, 1998 at mp 150 Rockland NY on CP Train 552-23 will now be repaired. Transferred carefully to the St.L&H shop at St.Luc yards in Montreal for evaluation, the locomotive will be repaired. Seems Susquehanna wanted US$900,000 in lieu of having the locomotive repaired. Alstom, in Montreal will completely rebuild the locomotive, the frame was not bent, however virtually everything else, particularly on the right side was well mangled.

The repatriated FP9 units from the Nebkota Railway are being cycled through the ILS shop in Thief River Falls Minnesota. By the time you read this, the unit designated CPR 1400 will have been released in its new grey and maroon paint scheme, along with Canadian Pacific script writing. Apparently the new beaver symbol is located on the rearward portion on both sides of the locomotive. This locomotive is intended to lead the ferry move of CPR 4-6-4 2816 from Steamtown in Scranton PA to the BC Rail Steam Shop in North Vancouver BC during August 1998.

Thank you to the following individuals for contributions for the this edition of Canada Calling: Justin Babcock, Jim & Shari Boland, Bruce Chapman, Glenn Courtney, Flimsies NW, Doug Hately, Joe Kazmar, Randy Kotuby, Ray Lokun, Tom Trencansky, Jon Pindar, Ian Platt, John D.Read, Earl Roberts, Jim Sandilands, Mike Swick, Al Tuner, Doug & Carrie Wingfield.

I may be reached by snailmail at: Bryce Lee, 1377 Eden Place, Burlington, Ontario L7S 1J9 or by electronic mail/Internet: brycelee@globalserve.net

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