CANADA!

(last update 12/11/17)

We at Wx4 love to visit Canada, Canadians and their trains...but only in the Summer. We're typical California fair weather wussies, lately transplanted to Hawaii,after all.


New 12-10-2017: 1969-10-27 Canadian National Newfoundland Area employee timetable #12 in PDF form - courtesy of Englewood


The above photo of the Canadian at Banff was recorded in November, 1985 by fellow engineer and frequent Dome contributor Gregg Welker. The shot may seem familiar to you professional rails out there - it won Greg first place in this year's Brotherhood Relief & Compensation Fund (BRCF) photo contest, and it appears on this year's (2005) calendar (Hey BRCF: I never got mine! - E.O.).

For the uninitiated, BRCF provides job insurance to subscibing engineers and trainmen. If a member gets suspended from his job for, say, a major rules infraction, BRCF compensates him until he is allowed to return to work (Hey BRCF, I've never collected a dime, and still I didn't get the calendar! - E.O.). As far as we know, railroading is the only industry whose employees have this type of insurance. Pretty weird, huh?


Even Better? Greg also forwarded another of his photo submissions to the BRCF contest. Although it was an also-ran, he likes it better than his winning photo, above, and we kinda agree. After all, it was taken from a DOME car (the one pictured above)...and it also reminds us of a scenic spot on the sidehill between Cantara Loop and Mott (north of Dunsmuir), where for years there were derailed freight cars hanging in the trees below the tracks. Thanks for the photo and the memories, Doomie!


VERY lucky timing: Asleep in a pup tent in a field next to the tracks in Sydney, Nova Scotia...when all hell breaks loose...I had no previous idea...Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, 1974!

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A CP promotional train visited The States in 2000. Here it is southbound on 'The Viaduct' (Caltrain m.p. 3) in San Francisco (the Quint Street Lead is at right). Photo courtesy of Frank Caron.


Speaking of California and CP: California was never overpopulated with ALCO RS's, so Wx4 forces were delighted when they ran across this freshly painted Canadian Pacific RS-2 at St. Johnsbury, Vermont a cople of weeks after the shot below. We liked the CP 'new image' paint, but it looked backwards to us, as did the usual configuration arrangement for ALCO RS's. Thus, we are looking at the REAR of the loco. Very unsettling, indeed.


By 1974, manned (or womanned) crossing gate towers were a thing of the past, but you couldn't convince CP of this, for here is one in full form near the London, Ontario pasenger station in September. It looks as if the watchman is dutifly watching us.