Southern Rails Co-Operative Saskatchewan's Short Line Railway
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THIS MONTH IN RAIL AND TRANSIT 3 SOUTHERN RAILS CO-OPERATIVE led Deller describes the background and operations of Saskatchewan's only short line railway. 6 WANDERING IN THE WEST Rob Scrimgeour's railfan trip following NUMBER 522 - MAY 1993 CP Rail through British Columbia and Alberta. 10 PUBLISHED BY RESEARCH AND REVIEWS Upper Canada Railway Society RAILWAY ARCHAEOLOGY RO. Box 122, Station A . Hotels on stamps and trails with rails Toronto, Ontario M5W IA2 INFORMATION NETWORK UCRS DISPLAY AT ONE . QNS&L passenger trains The UCRS will have a display booth at the BOOKS Two new BRMNA books Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto this EDITOR Pat Scrimgeour 15 August and Septembei; as part of a group of 250 Queens Quay West #1607 TRANSCONTINENTAL heritage organisations. We need volunteers to THE RAPIDO . Ottawa Valley co-production help staff the booth - the more, the bettei; Toronto, Ontario M5J 2N2 THE PANORAMA BC Rail strike as the booth will be open from 10:00 a.m. to CompuServe electronic mall: 731 12,1037 MOTIVE POWER . Rebuilds on CP and CN 10:00 p.m. for the 20 days of the Exhibition. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS IN TRANSIT TTC track construction Please call Rick Eastman at 494-3412 if John Carter, Art Clowes, Scott Hasklll, THE TRAIN SPOTTERS .... CN in the U.SA you are able to give us some of your time for this important project. Don McQueen, Sean Robltallle, Gray Scrimgeour, Chris Spinney, ON THE CALENDAR READERS' EXCHANGE John Thompson, Gord Webster Friday, July 16 - UCRS Toronto summer Wanted: Photo and paraphernalia on the meeting, 7:30 p.m., at the Metro Toronto Cunarder/tMS. Franconia - 1920s version, Archives auditorium, Spadina Road at slides of the QE2 at Halifax, and P&O/Prin- Please send news and short contributions to MacPherson, just north of Dupont subway cess cruise ships at Vancouvei; 1960s to the addresses shown with each news section. station. Please bring your edited slides or 1990s. David Hales, 1473 Wildlark Drive, Articles and photos should be sent to the videotapes; contact John Thompson at Peterborough, Ontario K9K 1X4. editor at one of the above addresses. If you 759-1803 regarding video equipment. are using a computer, please use electronic EXCURSION UPDATE Friday, July 16, to Sunday, July 18 - The trip from Toronto to Sudbury on July 16, mall or send a WordPerfect or text file on an Sudbury railfan weekend excursion. (See '/t" 3/2") 17, and 18, is looking promising. We will IBM-compatible (5 or disk, along with the update to the right.) leave Toronto on Friday evening and drive a printed copy. - UCRS Hamilton meeting, Friday, July 23 north. On Saturday, we'll likely spend a few 8:00 p.m., at the Hamilton Spectator audi• hours on the CI) then move over to the CN torium, 44 Frid Street, just off Main Street Subscriptions to fto/7 orxl Transit are available for the late afternoon and the northbound at Highway 403. The programme will be with membership In the Upper Canada Rail• Canadian in the evening. The return south on recent news and members' current and Sunday will be via North Bay. Call Rick way Society. Membership dues are $29.00 per historical slides. Eastman if you'd like to join us on this trip. year (12 Issues) for addresses In Canada, and Saturday, July 31, to Monday, August 2 - $32.00 for addresses In the U.S. and overseas. Weekend excursion to northern Pennsylva• Student memberships, for those 17 years or nia and western New York State. (Plans are younger, are $ 19.00. Please send Inquiries and in development; see the notes to the right.) changes of address to the address at the top Friday, August 20 - UCRS Toronto sum• of the page. mer meeting, at the Metro Toronto Archives auditorium. UPPER CANADA RAILWAY SOCIETY Friday, August 27 - UCRS Hamilton meet• ing, at the Hamilton Spectator auditorium. DIRECTORS Rick Eastman, President 494-3412 John Carter, VP- Services 690-6651 COVER PHOTO Pat Semple, VP-Administration WA3-9123 Cartier, Ontario An eastbound empty coal train passes under Gordon Shaw, Corporate Secretary 889-6972 On the Civic Holiday weekend (July 31 to Art Clowes 514 934-5549 three rock sheds protecting the CN Ash- August 2), planning is continuing for the trip Steve Danko 287-2844 croft Subdivision from slides. These sheds to New York State. We will not be able to Al Maitland 921-4023 are at Miles 93.7, 93.8, and 93.9, between visit General Electric this time, but there are George Meek 532-5617 the sidings at Pitquah and Lasha, east of many other interesting locations to see. We Pat Scrimgeour 260-5652 Lytton, B.C., In the Thompson Canyon. need your views on whether this should be a —Photo by John Carter, SepterrAer 18, 1989da y trip, an overnight trip, or a two-day trip. Completed June 30, 1993 2 * Rail and Transit • June 1993 Southern Rails Co-Operative Saskatchewan's short line railway By Ted Deller Photos by the author From Telegraph Lines, March 1993 When the last Canadian National train rolled away from Parry, Saskatchewan, three years ago, a group of farmers decided to do something about it. The railway line that had carried their grain to port for decades was about to be abandoned, and they had come to the end of their rope. That's the way Paul Beingessner tells it. He and the other farmers were presented with one option: if they wanted to keep the rails open, they could run it as a short line. "I can assure you that at the start, that sounded like a pretty loony idea - that farmers could operate their own railroad," Beingessner says, "but we thought it was a pretty important thing to do, so we formed the company and learned along the way." It was - and still is - a noble pursuit. After all, these people are carrying on a tradition that was started in the days of the Iron Horse and boxcars brimming with Saskatchewan wheat. But you won't find a stereotypical The Southern Rails-CN interchange at Avonlea, Saskatchewan railroader among the staff. Die-hard railroaders, yes, but no one with a romantic idea about what he's doing. the railway line, and then moves onto the rails to haul For the three men and one woman who run hopper cars. Southern Rails Co-operative, theirs is a job like any "It's all off-the-shelf parts, in terms of the truck," other. They enjoy their work, but there are no delusions Beingessner explains. "The chassis is obviously a lot about working just to keep a tradition alive. This is a stronger in terms of doubling the frame rails and that railway that's intended to make a profit. The profit just sort of thing." And because the truck ends up hauling comes in smaller portions than on the national road heavily loaded freight cars, it comes equipped with a down the line. conventional railway braking system. Beingessner, along with the local rail retention Both areas the railway operates in had strong committee, had been fighting for the resurrection of the conununity support for the short-line concept, and the line for several years when he decided to move into the railway has close ties to the people it serves. job full-time. He spends his days on the phone and on "Pretty much everybody here is also involved in the the road now. The company operates two branch lines: agriculture industry," Paul Beingessner explains. a former CN line from Avonlea to Parry (the Avonlea Beingessner, himself, lives in Truax, midway Subdivision), and a second line about 100 miles west of between Parry and Avonlea. He still runs a few head of Avonlea (the Colony Subdivision). The latter is a former cattle and does a small amount of farming on the side. CP line, and runs from Rockglen to Killdeer, near the The engineer and brakeman also farm, although Montana border. their jobs with the railway come close to full time. "It was apparent that in order to operate as a branch "We've managed to increase our handlings on the line and to save some of the viable branch lines, we lines fairly substantially in every year of operation," were going to have to operate lines that didn't join Beingessner boasts. "Which says that there's some together," Beingessner recalls. loyalty there; that p>eople want to maintain the service Even though the two lines are far apart in railway so they're less likely to shop around and take their grain terms. Southern Rails succeeds in operating them elsewhere. We've done pretty well in that regard." profitably due to its novel choice of motive power. The The railroad operates about once a week on the railroad doesn't own a typical locomotive. Instead, the Avonlea Subdivision during the winter months, and rail crew drives a converted Kenworth semi-trailer unit once every two weeks on the Colony Subdivision. When (April 1992 Newsletter) on the highway to the start of the warmer weather arrives, business will pick up on Rail and Transit • June 1993 • 3 the Colony Sub. as well. "We would average a train a week on the Avonlea Sub. over the whole year. Maybe a train and a little bit. On the Colony Sub., maybe 45 trains a year." Since the mainline railways pulled out. Southern Rails is the only thing keeping two Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators open on the Avonlea Subdivision. On the second line, between Rockglen and Killdeer, no elevators are in use.