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  • Home
    • Paul Rollinson, the train book seller
  • My Books
    • Hamilton's Other Railway
    • Rails to the Lakes
    • Narrow Gauge for Us
    • CP to the East - International of Maine
  • Ontario Railway History
    • Railway Gauges in Ontario
    • Grey and Bruce Counties
    • Haldimand and Norfolk Counties
    • Dufferin County
    • Perth and Huron Counties
    • Peterborough County
    • Simcoe County
    • Victoria and Haliburton Counties
    • Wellington County
    • Buffalo & Lake Huron Railway
    • Georgian Bay & Seaboard Railway
    • Hamilton & North Western/Lake Erie Railways
    • Lake Simcoe Junction Railway
    • Lindsay, Bobcaygeon & Pontypool Railway
    • Northern Railway of Canada Group
    • Portage Flyer
    • Schomberg & Aurora Railway
    • Toronto & Nipissing Railway
    • Cardwell Junction
    • Omemee Junction Ontario ("The Old Road")
    • Victoria Junction, Lindsay, Ont.
  • Ontario Railway Stations - Gallery
    • Image Credit Abbreviations
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E F
    • G
    • H
    • I J K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P Q R
    • S
    • T U V
    • W X Y Z
  • Ontario Show and Event Calendar 2023-24
  • Ontario Railway Station Museums
  • Ontario Railway Murals
  • Railway History - Canada
    • Quick Railway Histories and Related Information
    • Carl Riff's Railway History Diaries
    • Rod Clarke's TG&B and T&N Diaries
    • Timetables
    • Glossary of Common Railway Terms
    • "Canadian Rail" (CRHA) - Links to Issues
    • "Branchline" (BRS) - Index to past Issues
    • Upper Canada Railway Society (UCRS) and its publications
    • GTR Locomotives - R&LHS Bulletin #147
    • GTR Buildings & Bridges Inventory 1907
    • GTR Buildings & Bridges Inventory 1903
    • CNR - Stations - Designating Numbers (1924/1927)
    • CPR - Stations - Designating Numbers 1924
    • Railway Stations and distances - by Jim Fergusson
    • CNR - Synoptic History to 1960
    • Intercolonial Railway - report - Sandford Fleming, C.E.
    • Post Cards - a primary research source - by Ralph Beaumont
    • Searching for Antecedents on the Railways
    • Research and Writing a Book
  • What's New In Publications
  • Railway Modelling
    • My 3-Rail Hornby-Dublo layout - and tips and thoughts
    • Prototype Modelling in Ontario
    • Our Friends at the Shows - a Photo Gallery
    • Disposing of model railway and other train stuff
    • The Great British Train Show
    • Aberfoyle Jct. Model Railway
    • The Credible Model
    • Superdetailing Ideas
    • Basic Model Railway Insights
    • More About N Scale
    • My Eagle Lake & Northern Model Railway in N Scale
  • Toy Train and Model Railway Tracks
    • Gallery of Track Images
    • Track Identification
    • Scale, Gauge, and Track Geometry Information
    • Mystery Department
    • Chronology, Toy Train and Model Railway Events
    • Model Railway History
    • Manufacturer Histories
    • Bibliography and Reference
  • Opinion Piece
  • Links
  • Postage Stamps - Railways and Traction
    • Common Terms and Abbreviations
    • North America
    • British Isles and Ireland
    • Europe - Western - Continental
    • Europe - Eastern
    • Caribbean Islands
    • Central America
    • South America
    • Middle East
    • Far East, Asia and Pacific Ocean
    • Australasia
    • Africa
  • Trains on TV and Screen
  • About My Railway Interest
  • Contact Me

Canada’s passenger rail crisis and HSR v HPR  

Back in 1977, VIA Rail was established to take the passenger rail business off the CPR’s and the (then) CNR’s hands to allow them to concentrate on what they were doing best – and profitably – that was adapting Canada’s aging rail infrastructure to provide a profitable and sustainable freight service. Branch lines were either torn up or sold off to short line operators. 

Not that a sustainable freight service was a slam-dunk without the millstone of passenger trains around their necks – they still had to…

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01/31/2018

Railways and climate change, especially in Canada  

We have all heard that the “Industrial Age” precipitated our climate change woes. And we all know that the Industrial Age began with the invention of stationary and later “locomotive” boilers to produce steam that would drive machinery and enable cars to be drawn along rails for easier transportation. 

In fact, the steam locomotive was the marvel and the defining economic icon of the 19th century. 

Steam locomotion ended almost abruptly in the mid-20th century when diesel-electric and electric power ended…

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01/30/2018

The Future of Canadian Rail - 2014  

It is true that as a railway history researcher, one's focus tends to be on the past.
On the other hand, I have often been asked at railway history presentations what I think the future of railways is.
Broad question. In Canada? Passenger, or freight - or both? Yes and yes.

My answer? I have tried to be 'guardedly optimistic'. I speak of re-invention, the economic imperative, the vital contribution to Canada's economy, low population density, our environmental future, deregulation, technical innovation…Read more

09/10/2014

The Sociology of Model Railroading 

In the January-February 2006 (Train 14 Track 4) Issue of the Canadian Railway Modeller there was a website review of a controversial article by this title to be found under http://www.trainweb.org/lfnwfan/html/Sociology.htm .

(CRM review p. 8: "Model railroaders like to build things and run trains - most of us don't spend a lot of time philosophizing about the hobby. But John Bruce does. He has written a very long critique of things like train shows; prototype modellers' meets; model railroad clubs; the…

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02/20/2014

Prototypical model railways - a key to the survival of the hobby? 

The future of the model railway hobby is definitely on everyone's mind and a very frequent topic of discussion - as we look around, grey hair certainly predominates among the practitioners of our passion. Most clubs are struggling with declining memberships, and hobby stores hedge their bets with model planes, boats and games.

Many reasons have been advanced for this state of affairs - the disappearance of railways from our daily lives as the principal means of travel - the competition of the wonders of…

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02/20/2014

It's All About the Memories 

It came to me a short while ago, when the son of a model railroader I had known years ago (and who had passed on well before he should have done) offered me his father's three-rail Hornby-Dublo goods train set in mint condition "free to a good home". I jumped at the offer, not only in his memory, but also because Hornby and then Hornby-Dublo were the electric trains I grew up with many, many years ago. (For my railway-mania story, see About My Railway Interest.)

On reflection, methinks it is all about the…

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02/20/2014

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