Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 14, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba T my Winnipeg free january s ends Era All aboard for trip Down memory Lane hundreds of Canadian communities will no longer have passenger trains when via rail cuts its ser vices in half in this article the heyday of Canadian rail the trains tied the country and its people by John Ward the Canadian press there was a time when the Lifeblood of the country throbbed along the rail it was a big Back the said Irving a re tired they were import that How people the railways and their Hiss clanging steam engines and later the roaring die Sels Canadas arteries and they tied farms to towns and linked province to they carried wheat and Coal and milk to they moved cars and toasters and hockey Sticks from passengers numbered in the Mil the accompanying Telegraph lines were the telephones of their beads on a string the railway made much of Cana look at a especially in the see the towns and cities Strung along the rail lines like beads on a the rail whether Cav echoing mausoleums such As Toronto Union station or modest wooden shacks painted Flat railway were the focus of communities Large and the trains pulled in with Immi Grants and visiting with mail and orders from the Eaton on the blushing Bridestowe and nervous via rail pipe fitter Kirk Jorgensen of Vancouver is among hundreds of workers who got Layoff notices last via rail present and future in april via Etta pm an Independent Crown via gradually took Over for rail passenger services from in and up and by april 1979 assumed responsibility for All rail passenger services in the National effective january via will eliminate 18 of its 38 the number of trains running will drop to 191 weekly from in Union and no unionized workers will lose their Puperi smllhtri1 total subsidies per passenger i 101 88 Iii Neil i960 full 82 83 84 85 36 total passengers millions notion Niagara Falla eliminated route now via rail route cities no longer serviced grooms met future Young men boarded trains to go to War and Rode them Home from pensioners gossiped by the train children came to gawk at the great puffing engines or put pennies on the tracks and watch the ponderous wheels Squash them to Mirror right trains have always conjured pow Erful images in the minds of Canad Pierre bretons books on the building of the car have been Best Gordon Lightfoot Sang his popular Canadian railway trilogy about the hard drinking they Laid the rails across the Muskeg and Rock of the Canadian shield and Over the High passes of the Rockies and the one of the seminal photographs of canadians is that slice of Frozen time snapped at As Donald Smith hammers Home the final Spike of the think of the haunting Wail of a train whistle moaning through the ice flecked darkness of a Prai Sylva Caron Rie night the hypnotic Clickett Clack of steel wheels on steel rails that train station smell that is a mix of hissing steam connections and Galley Aromas and lubricating Oil and hot it changed from one real service thing to just a Mode of transport said another retired rail Berton says the construction of the transcontinental railway is for can Ada what the civil War is to the United states or the defeat of the Spanish Armada to its the Only country in the world it seems to has a blood epic moment by which the country is he but he also says the railways role As the psychological Brace for the country is we have things that replace he its been replaced by Satel television and in its rail travel was Gen even dining cars used real Linen napkins and solid no plastic Forks or foam Coffee sleeping car bedrooms had a Small Compart ment beside the door where Passen Gers could Deposit their Over night they be polished and it was a with the real Silver Tate another retired passenger employee Pride on transcontinental trains there were dome cars and bar cars and lounge in the the Steward would Call Bingo games for sleeping car in the when they had real they had four transcontinental trains and they filled darn said a retired con every employee had a lot of said Charlie a for Mer Engineer now a it was a pleasure to go to half a Century 55 million people Rode Canadian last ridership had dwindled to less than seven the trains fell victim to the jetliners Cut travel time across the country from Days to private cars proliferated on four Lane passenger trains became Money losers and the railways wanted schedules death of Bill allowed political fight by Alex Binkley the Canadian press Ottawa the conservative government let a Bill die in 1986 that would have spared it a political Battle Over cuts to via rail Passen Ger that Bill would have put the trains out of says Eddie the head of the Canadian railway labor association who has helped Lead a Union fight against the tories plan to Cut via service by half the Bill would have set Cost recon Ery targets and required trains to meet them or be those targets were beyond Abbott and the Bill would have let the govern ment chop trains one by Jeanluc a former Liberal Cabinet minister who reduced via service by 20 per cent in says the latest cuts have been needed if Deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski haunt restored in 1985 the trains he Mazankowski made the move with the approval of former Liberal trans port minister Lloyd Chubb my Mimi buy now before Spring save As Low As 14976 All remaining 89l priced to Clear below original dealer invoice Price by restoring the lines i had Eli they made sure via never had a said who retired from politics in they forced the government to spend Money on trains which didst make financial sense when it should have been buying new Harry Gow of transport a lobby group that supports Public agrees the 1986 Bill would have let the government Cut via trains far More certainly it would have the Bill gave the Cabinet the Power to get rid of any train that didst meet its financial then transport min introduced the Bill in the com Mons on it was part of his Promise to restore the Romance to passenger rail travel in set targets four months Mazankowski was promoted and John Crosbie took Over As transport the Bill died and so did the governments affordable just dial ii interest in revitalizing passenger rail what Mazankowski had was a beautifully designed Bill which set out financial targets passenger trains had to meet or they would be chopped by says the demise of Vias trains would have been completed Over cutting 18 of 38 via trains is supposed to save the government billion Over the next five years while keeping a Basic passenger train net work in transport minister Benoit Bouchard he says Only three per cent of canadians used the train and on average taxpayers were paying a subsidy for every via but the three percent figure is for the whole including areas where there Are no on that Only four per cent use buses and seven per cent use airlines while the rest travel by the subsidy for every Passen Ger Falls to to for Vias heavily travelled routes in Southern the 1986 Bill would have required via trains in the Quebec City to corridor to recover All Basic operating expenses while transcontinental trains had to meet wholesale footwear company closing after 83 years Hochmann foot Ware entire Stock to be liquid a Ted at less Thau wholesale Cost Sale by Caprice distributors 910 Wall location 7742481 96 99 a Sirai Complete size color ranges of Winter foot arc joggers run ners dress shoes casual shoes work boots shoes Western by states Jarman Cougar Bata Greb hang 10 Tuff Mac Boulet Frontier mens ladies youths childrens Gordon hotels newly renovated banquet meeting facilities from 35200 people where Fine food service accommodation is a tradition Montcalm Gordon motor hotel 228q Pembina Highway 2691406 60 per cent and regional trains 40 per Pierre via president at the said his officials thought Many of the corridor and transcontinental trains would be Able to meet those transport 2000 says that in trains in the corridor had Cost recon Ery ratios ranging from 50 to 70 per Over Vias Cost recovery was at 50 per via Doest give out Dollar figures for specific Bouchard insists that Vias Cost recovery was Only 32 per cent in 1988 but he is using a different calculation than that proposed in the in Vias american count reached a record 72 per cent cos recovery rate in it did that while carrying Only one per cent of travellers in the United Gow says Amtrak has modern a much better Deal with the freight railways whose tracks it uses and operates fewer trains per population than it is also Al Lowed to carry mail and express and borrow on the private Bouchard says Vias ridership has fallen since actually it began to increase in 1987 and business was brisk in the first half of Gow says the decline in ridership since 1981 int surprising because via was running fewer and Shorter future shop correction notice due to urn welted demand end product mme harm advertised in our layer Dalr titled May my tin wherever me i substitute products of equal in Trier cases rain Croka May Neve to of 216 computer cellular car Remote Ramondt cloned converters mrs store if its Mitsubishi classic Sharp he Pena into my due in Sharp Carousel u Ceme Cllon video Ria Ria pra4dn i Vox upgrade Monitor and Dot Malbru 9 is Peru Only kor Sharp memo it Noel Lam Samsung disc Sharp Ilo Wall my ii Najwa compact stereo Portage Sharp portable cd player Kay Cann Star sly Nyo canal Tutor Rlyta vacuum 74 i of for any May fun cjum0 our valued tax Bykow change referred for study a controversial proposal to re move exemptions from Winnipeg amusement tax bylaw has once again been referred to the Board of commissioners for further members of the civic executive policy committee agree last week on an amendment that would remove the tax exemption to All nonprofit organizations except the Winnipeg they want the Board to again look at possible solutions for efficiently curtailing abuse of the exemption while ensuring deserving groups Arent harmed by removing the we Are trying to kill a Mosquito with a sledgehammer with this pro posed said Chris Lorenc he said the bylaw May eliminate abuse by some nonprofit groups who have taken advantage of the but would cause a Bureau cratic Nightmare when it came to reimbursing needy groups through it just seems crazy to put All this paperwork in place to collect the then turn around and create another procedure for giving reimbursement Grants to the same peo he amusement tax under the amended the cites finance committee would have the Power to hand out Grants to deserving groups to compensate them for the giving Council More discretion Over the projects that Are the amended bylaw would also continue the present arrangement by which the Winnipeg enterprises which operates Cit owned sports facilities such As the Arena and stadium reimbursed through a Grant for the amusement tax paid on All nonprofit events other than those involving the Al Golden Glen Lawn said its important the City quickly plug what he called a very expensive the City is losing Money with every he Golden has said the exemption had Cost the City More than As some nonprofit groups wrongly Lent their names to private Corpora which is prohibited under the City Golden seeks mint land Deal the City should ask the Federal government to donate land around the Royal Canadian mint site in Boniface to help defray the costs of building a virology lab Al Golden Well need All the help we can get to pay for Clearing the Central works Yards to make Way for the Golden Gle Lawn told executive policy committee last noting the Cost could be As much As he said if the land were Given to the City for a it would allow other land already set aside for Parkland to be rezoned for residential the City would then reap tax Revenue from these which could go toward the Cost of Clearing the lab he in Council voted overwhelmingly to Clear the Yards to make Way for Federal virology Laboratory instead of hav ing it built on land adjacent to the mint sell for the City would sell the six Hect ares of land to Ottawa for and give its word to Clear the land within two barring any delay in the environmental assessment mayor Bill Norrie said he support asking Ottawa for the land near the mint i dont think it would be right to go Back to the government and ask them to give us that land so soon after we came to an agreement about the downtown Yards he Norrie said it might be a Good idea to ask Ottawa to take the cites donation into account when negotiating other for he said the City is talking to Ottawa about what to do with the Kapyon Barracks once it closes in the next few Man uses handgun to Rob Gas station a gunman robbed a Portage ave nue Gas station yesterday morning and escaped with an undisclosed amount of police a Lone a 25yearold was washing the floor at the Esso station at 845 Portage when a Man stuck a Small calibre handgun in his the attendant was not Winnipeg police ;