Caption: The Ted Ellis image showing a single CP Rail F unit on the Soo-Sudbury CP Rail freight prompted me to dig up this Kodak Plus X negative: One unit nine cars. CP Rail train #11 – the Toronto section of 'The Canadian' – works through Palgrave, Ontario. The engineman must have the throttle of CP 1414 placed in notch 8, that FP9-A could be heard for miles! >> How about a single unit contest? >>First generation only single units (where are all those 8921 RSD-17 shots?) <<.[What's interesting: So how did the CP Rail 'The Canadian' become an all season short train?The summer season eight car ( the nine car train in this image is unusual) Toronto section of 'The Canadian ' was common in the 1970's but uncommon prior to that. Let me explain. A comparison of the CPR 1966 passenger train time table to the 1971 time table show a dramatic contraction. Stations served by CPR trains, shown in the company public timetable, contracted from 3 pages to one lone page. Very evident that CP Rail executives had given up on passenger service. I rode 'The Canadian' in August 1970, Toronto to Vancouver (three nights westbound) and return, boarding (entraining) 'The Canadian' in Toronto, Vancouver, Banff, Calgary and Winnipeg. Five different consists. What really impressed me was the professionalism and care of the crew and on board staff – from the Sleeping Car Conductor, Train Conductor, Trainmen, Dining Room Car staff to the Porters. They all had incredible pride in CP Rail's flagship transcontinental train. And quite the train, the only train, given The Dominion's last summer was 1966, replaced by the one summer season Expo Limited (for the Expo 67 Montreal (international ) Exposition. For the 1970 Summer season (August 1970), west of Sudbury The Canadian is a minimum eighteen cars ( I'd like to see someone model this!) : nine sleeping cars (five Toronto (likely 3 Manor, 2 Chateau), four Montreal (likely 2 Manor, 1 Chateau, plus 1 Manor or Chateau), two Dining Room Cars, two 100 series coaches, two 500 series Skyline (coach – coffee shop), two 3000 series Baggage-Dormitory and the Park Observation – Sleeping car (Montreal). ( no tourist sleepers :the fourteen section U series tourist sleepers (22 were re-conditioned for use on The Canadian) may have been retired about the same time the Dominion was discontinued (can some confirm?)). West of Sudbury, normal power is two CP Rail 1400 series FP7A or FP9A plus one 1900 F7B GMD built units, all geared for 89 miles per hour – the latter is important, west of Thunder Bay to Calgary 'The Canadian' is western Canada's 'Rapido', a sharp contrast to the eastern portion of the trip (i.e. east of Fort William (Thunder Bay). [1970 schedules: The CN Rapido, on double 90 m.p.h. track Montreal to Toronto 335 miles average speed with two scheduled stops: 67 mph and that may be not quite fair: so how about CN Tempo train 144 Windsor to Toronto 228 miles with six scheduled stops average speed 52.6 m.p.h. , whereas the CP Rail train #1, 'The Canadian', on single 75 m. p. h. track Calgary to Moose Jaw 433 miles average speed with six scheduled stops: 53.4 mph]. Toronto section power would typically be one CP Rail FP7A or FP9A , either a 1400 or 4000 series plus one MLW RS-10 road switcher. So a typical 1970 summer season Toronto section is five sleepers, one Dining Room Car, one coach (plus one Toronto-Sudbury coach on long weekends), one Skyline, the Park (Toronto-Sudbury only) and one Baggage-Dormitory. Some trips included an Express car (Toronto – Sudbury only). And presumably the 1966 to 1969 summer season consists were similar.Ok, so back to how The Canadian became the mini twelve car train – west of Sudbury - of the 1970's that we are all familiar with. Upon my return from 'The Canadian' adventures, late August 1970, I was riding the Coxwell TTC streetcar to work and on my seat was the daily Globe and Mail folded to the page on an article about the CP hearings in Ottawa by the Canadian Transport Commission (the predecessor to Transport Canada). The CP's position on passengers is straightforward: we want out. The CP Rail 1970 proposal: daily summer service for the 'The Canadian' and for the off season - the October to May eight month period - the proposal is to operate 'The Canadian' three times per week. H'mmm, wonder where....Remember, this is 1970. What was going against the CPR was that the CNR was still actively pushing passenger service, but the CN really did not have a choice being a ward of the federal government. For some reason the CTC Commissioners did not seem to be able to grasp the full difference between reporting to shareholders (CP Limited shares being a publicly traded) verses being a ward of the government (ie CN). (perhaps some viewers may have better recall on the details of the CP Rail CTC hearing/ proposal). In the end CP Rail was compelled by the CTC to continue operating 'The Canadian' daily all year round - after all the CNR was not asking to reduce its transcon service to tri-weekly - irregardless of the strong evidence that transcontinental train travel had become (and remains today) a summer tourist operation. The CTC did allow CP Rail to 'rationalized' the service - to limit costs hence limiting revenues during peak travel periods – a death knell for the service. Hence commencing 1971 CP Rail limited the size of the rationalized 'The Canadian' to twelve cars west of Sudbury. (presumably in part that limit was set do to what two F's could handle). One can only wonder what would have transpired if CP Rail was allowed to match the service to demand. Certainly the experience of the Southern Railroad (The Southern Crescent) comes to mind – that company declined to join Amtrak. Perhaps CP may have declined to join Via? We may never know. The view here is some service is better than none at all - and what do we have today on the CPR route? NO SERVICE. And it appears we (the public) are now stuck with the CN route (& four nights) on a SUMMER tri-weekly basis, and further off season reduction in services forthcoming for 2012-13. Not knowing at the time, but it appears that my August 1970 rides on The Canadian were the final month of an eighteen car CP Rail “The Canadian” ! ]And for all those modelers out there: here is proof only one CP Rail F unit is needed for "The Canadian" !Summer 1978 negative by S.Danko.