dowlingm
Senior Member
Ah yes, at Ted's Shed.
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Peterborough Commuter Rail
- Thread starter RedRocket191
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DSC
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A good read it today's Toronto Star!
Jim's chuffed with his train
Mar 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
In the hurly-burly of the political arena, so much gets done in the heat of the moment that it's always good to see cooler heads prevail.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who, in his recent budget, baffled many people by announcing a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Peterborough, has had time to reflect on what might otherwise be quite wrongly regarded as pork-barrelling at its most egregious; a Conservative crowd-pleasing anachronism.
Flaherty, having looked up "anachronism" and its meaning and committed it to memory (and written it on his hand in case he forgets), is now vowing, "This will be the biggest and best anachronism Canada has ever seen, a monument to our far-reaching policies."
The civil servants tasked with making these words flesh are being given unprecedented access to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's personal library and his priceless collection of Thomas the Tank Engine original manuscripts.
(Tory insiders are cackling that this is one in the eye for the Liberals, given that deputy leader Michael Ignatieff's Gutenberg first-edition of Walter the Farting Dog is a literary wonder but seems unlikely ever to be of practical use to his party. NDP Leader Jack Layton, meanwhile, is repining a recent fire in his party's library that destroyed both books, one of which members hadn't finished colouring.)
A spokesperson for Flaherty, who pleaded not to be identified, told this column: "The minister has thought long, hard and deeply – well, maybe not deeply – about this and, in retrospect, believes that instead of having his shoes resoled for the budget, the money would have been better spent on one of those cool striped engine-driver's caps. But he believes now he's on the right track, ha-ha."
Flaherty's new trains will actually be old trains, powered by steam locomotives refurbished with no expense spared to the public purse. Though, says the spokesperson, the Tories "hope to kick in a few bucks by filing libel suits against mouthy opposition MPs. And having bake sales."
The engines will be named in honour of Thomas and his colleagues: Henry, Gordon, James, etc. There will only be two passenger cars per train – traffic on the line is not expected to be heavy – and each pair will be dubbed Annie and Clarabelle after the duo that are Thomas's customary followers.
Asked how this could be considered a high-speed line, the spokesperson, after fidgeting for a while, replied: "Compared to how fast a stagecoach could get you from Toronto to Peterborough, it'll be pretty darned quick."
The anticipated $150 million cost of restoring the track includes replacing welded rails with old-style short segments to give the train an authentic jolting ride and "biddly-bong, biddly-bong" sound to complement the "chuff, chuff, chuff." Station staff will be provided with pocket watches and steel-rimmed spectacles which, for employees with 20-20 vision, will have plain glass in them.
Anyone taking the train will be expected to enter into the spirit of the venture and wear period costume.
"This should bring at least two additional industries, corsetry and crinolines, to Durham Region," said Flaherty's flack. "There's likely, too, to be considerable resurgence in the sale of derby hats and button boots. An economic boom; everybody wins."
Also in keeping with the good old days, passengers will be required to smoke during their journey. This could be seen as potentially derailing the new line but, as the spokesperson pointed out, "We have to keep ridership down somehow. The trains will only have two cars, remember, and the Prime Minister is most insistent that he doesn't want poor Annie and Clarabelle overburdened."
wtaylor@thestar.ca
Jim's chuffed with his train
Mar 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
In the hurly-burly of the political arena, so much gets done in the heat of the moment that it's always good to see cooler heads prevail.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who, in his recent budget, baffled many people by announcing a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Peterborough, has had time to reflect on what might otherwise be quite wrongly regarded as pork-barrelling at its most egregious; a Conservative crowd-pleasing anachronism.
Flaherty, having looked up "anachronism" and its meaning and committed it to memory (and written it on his hand in case he forgets), is now vowing, "This will be the biggest and best anachronism Canada has ever seen, a monument to our far-reaching policies."
The civil servants tasked with making these words flesh are being given unprecedented access to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's personal library and his priceless collection of Thomas the Tank Engine original manuscripts.
(Tory insiders are cackling that this is one in the eye for the Liberals, given that deputy leader Michael Ignatieff's Gutenberg first-edition of Walter the Farting Dog is a literary wonder but seems unlikely ever to be of practical use to his party. NDP Leader Jack Layton, meanwhile, is repining a recent fire in his party's library that destroyed both books, one of which members hadn't finished colouring.)
A spokesperson for Flaherty, who pleaded not to be identified, told this column: "The minister has thought long, hard and deeply – well, maybe not deeply – about this and, in retrospect, believes that instead of having his shoes resoled for the budget, the money would have been better spent on one of those cool striped engine-driver's caps. But he believes now he's on the right track, ha-ha."
Flaherty's new trains will actually be old trains, powered by steam locomotives refurbished with no expense spared to the public purse. Though, says the spokesperson, the Tories "hope to kick in a few bucks by filing libel suits against mouthy opposition MPs. And having bake sales."
The engines will be named in honour of Thomas and his colleagues: Henry, Gordon, James, etc. There will only be two passenger cars per train – traffic on the line is not expected to be heavy – and each pair will be dubbed Annie and Clarabelle after the duo that are Thomas's customary followers.
Asked how this could be considered a high-speed line, the spokesperson, after fidgeting for a while, replied: "Compared to how fast a stagecoach could get you from Toronto to Peterborough, it'll be pretty darned quick."
The anticipated $150 million cost of restoring the track includes replacing welded rails with old-style short segments to give the train an authentic jolting ride and "biddly-bong, biddly-bong" sound to complement the "chuff, chuff, chuff." Station staff will be provided with pocket watches and steel-rimmed spectacles which, for employees with 20-20 vision, will have plain glass in them.
Anyone taking the train will be expected to enter into the spirit of the venture and wear period costume.
"This should bring at least two additional industries, corsetry and crinolines, to Durham Region," said Flaherty's flack. "There's likely, too, to be considerable resurgence in the sale of derby hats and button boots. An economic boom; everybody wins."
Also in keeping with the good old days, passengers will be required to smoke during their journey. This could be seen as potentially derailing the new line but, as the spokesperson pointed out, "We have to keep ridership down somehow. The trains will only have two cars, remember, and the Prime Minister is most insistent that he doesn't want poor Annie and Clarabelle overburdened."
wtaylor@thestar.ca
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It appears that Mr Harper is backing away from the Flaherty Flier train line. This was just announced by the Provincial and Federal governments "Among these will be a commitment to initiate a feasibility study for a Peterborough commuter rail line, accelerate the extension of the GO Transit line from Lakeshore East to Bowmanville, and to launch a regular GO bus service to Peterborough." We seem to have moved from a rail line to a feasibility study so I would not count on getting to or from Peterborough by rail any time soon - or probably anytime ever! A rail link to Peterborough is not a totally stupid idea, but it was stupid to announce it with no consultation and no thought about how it would fit into the existing network and its expansion plans.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
This is just so silly. I dislike Harper and Flaherty as much as anyone, but I'm still happy when they spend on something I like. Peterborough is an obvious train destination, and this would have remedied a sad mistake when the service was abandoned years ago. I wish they'd just get building, run a few VIA trains a day to start, and skip these feasibility studies.
Dan416
Senior Member
There's soooo many projects that have higher priority than this. This is more of those things that would be "nice to have" but how many people are really going to use it?
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Lots will use it, and lots more in the future. So what if it's well down on some people's priority list? It's not like cancelling the train is going to mean that some other transit project is going to get built instead. It's a net loss for transit, no matter how you cut it.
Panzerfaust
Active Member
Remember that a lot of people thought the Barrie South extension would be wasted due to few people using it. "How many people could conceivably be commuting from Barrie?" they asked.
Last that I checked that extension was performing above expectations. So remember, just because something may seem useless to the average person, that doesn't make it useless.
Last that I checked that extension was performing above expectations. So remember, just because something may seem useless to the average person, that doesn't make it useless.
dowlingm
Senior Member
I'd say Barrie GO ridership was really helped by the atrocious weather. I'll be interested to see if it persists into spring/summer.
Le Gique
Active Member
"Peterborough rail link nixed" SUN
'Joint study' sees government put aside plan -- for now -- while pushing bus service instead
By BRENDAN WEDLEY, SUN MEDIA
via
http://www.octa.on.ca/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=20&Topic=1862
and:
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/news/Product.asp?ProductID=2076
half way down is "PUBLIC TRANSIT CAPITAL TRUST 2008"
'Joint study' sees government put aside plan -- for now -- while pushing bus service instead
By BRENDAN WEDLEY, SUN MEDIA
via
http://www.octa.on.ca/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=20&Topic=1862
and:
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/news/Product.asp?ProductID=2076
half way down is "PUBLIC TRANSIT CAPITAL TRUST 2008"
Wasn't this guy the Finance Minister of Ontario for the longest while. Did they look east at that point?
K
krooj
Guest
Man, I hope to hell this line is never built. Anything to keep Peterborough's white-trash population in Peterborough is a good thing.
Mod: Note that the kind of talk here, especially from a first-post newbie, is unacceptable.
Mod: Note that the kind of talk here, especially from a first-post newbie, is unacceptable.
Dan416
Senior Member
I'm not from Peterborough, but I find this comment offensive and racist.
K
krooj
Guest
Go to Peterborough. Observe. Come back. Post.
billonlogan
Active Member
adma
Superstar
Methinks that the so-called white-trash Peeburg population'd be more fearful of the influx of Torontonians than vice versa...