Anyone looking for 200,000 insulators!

[D Laframboise]

Thanks for the detailed info! That's a good thing that they do recognize some value in them and are taking them off first. Did you offer to purchase any of them from the piles? If so, how much were they asking? Now you mentioned the foreman was keeping the "good stuff". Are these "good" ones they are trying to sell or are they being squirrelled away to maybe be sold at a later date?

D.

[cdnbeehive]

"Good Stuff" is anything mint regardless of value. The piles have good stuff, but they are not being gentle. You might come back with some pieces that were missing from your collection, but they will be bruised or chipped.

If you want to see what they are taking back, I suggest contacting Jojo at the number in the ad. They are bad at getting back to you though.

[Chris Minicola]

As the rail lines and telegraph poles gradually disappear from the landscape it would be nice to have some pictures or videos of this line being dismantled. It seems a shame they are wrecking out this line in the first place as I remember it being in fairly good condition. It's too bad they didn't find a buyer, once the tracks are removed it's unlikely the line would ever be used again.

[cdnbeehive]

I personally find it downright bizarre that CN and CP could not get together in the valley and make the line work. A smaller outfit bought the CNR from Ottawa to Pembroke, and tried to get Pembroke to Mattawa from CP, but the deal "fell" through. If you ask me, CP knows that a small operator could run the competitor's trains through the valley and save a day to Montreal. The attititude is "we don't want it, and there's no way anyone else is going to make money off it".

[cdnbeehive]

Has anyone else been up to look around? I can think of about 5 guys that probably would

[Chris Minicola]

Probably the next time I'll be up that way is in April for the next Perth show and I assume it will be all over by then, that's why I was hoping for a few pictures.
I think there should be some blame to the government too, as they would be the final hurdle toward abandonment. If someone at the gov't had stood up and said we don't want this line abandoned, then it would have opened the door for either someone to buy the line or for CN/CP to maintain the line properly. Probably not that simple, but the sheer cost of putting in a completely new line would be way higher I would imagine versus upgrading an older existing line...

[cdnbeehive]

I may be in the area again this weekend, and I will take pics and maybe video as well.