1972

Canadian National
Toronto, Ontario (Toronto Union Station)
June 9, 1972




A fine example of Canadian National's workhorse coaches, here interestingly sandwiched between two obviously well-used freight cars. This view is from Front Street, with the Bathurst Street bridge in the background.

In the late sixties and early seventies CN was bucking the trend towards discontinuance of passenger trains (Canadian Pacific was beginning its final exit from the passenger business at the same time), adding a considerable number of new cars and heavily promoting passenger service with special fares and improved equipment. Passenger ridership did indeed show major gains, and much of the CN data was used by Railpax (ultimately Amtrak) planners in Washington. Unfortunately, it later became evident that as ridership went up so did deficits, and ultimately CN joined CP in turning over the Canadian passenger business to Via Rail.




This page posted 3/28/2018. Text and photo ©2018 Lamont Downs.