Model Railroading > The sale of Ontario Northland...

Well, it's been in the news lately that the provincial government up here in Ontario, Canada wants to sell off Ontario Northland Rail Services.

Yesterday, about 500 residents of Ontario's Far North communities boarded a train and landed at the government stronghold in Toronto to protest against this idea. These folks travelled from as far away as Hearst (check your maps - about 600 kilometres) to get their point across:

Many of them live in isolated communities which are pretty well snowbound during the winter and the ONR (being the one railway servicing that area) is the only way to get anywhere (yes, even in this new millenium there are still some areas that depend on the railways as the only method of transportation).

So, the government sells the ONR, fares go up, number of scheduled trains goes down, use of the service decreases as a result, and the ONR becomes another 'Fallen Flag'.

What else is new, huh?