Part of our American Invasion this year included a trip on a “Milk Run/Flag Stop” RDC going from Sudbury, Ontario to White River, Ontario. This came about because of a conversation with our Canadian friends and a reference to a magazine article in the January, 2006 RailFan & Railroad Magazine called “Budd Cars Across the Canadian Shield”. The train leaves Sudbury at 0900 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
it is scheduled to arrive in White River at 1800, ours was at 2030. On Wednesday, Friday and Sunday it travels back from White River to Sudbury. Once again, 0900 to 1800. Ours arrived back at 2000.
This is the equipment
The train is loaded with anything and everything depending on the time of the year. Ours started out loaded with 7 canoes, about 25 people, lots of camping equipment and building supplies.
It stopped in small communities, where the train or a plane were the only way in
or just along the tracks were it looked like a good place to launch into the Spanish River or many other lakes or streams.
And watched the crew help unload supplies for people that seemed mighty hearty. She was 88 and he was 93.
The scenery was unbelievable
So was the equipment we met on a very busy line
We did a lot of sightseeing
And I even had a chance to sit at the helm. You can think I’m catching a nap or I’m watching the speedometer.
I’ll leave that up to you. It was a once in a life time experience, in a beautiful part of the World. I learned so much about flag stops, milk runs, mixed daily scheduled trains and how the railroad was the communication line of the community. One of the greatest things to me was the little screen on my cell phone that kept saying “No service available”. Wow, was that great.