Northgate

[cottonpicken]

Take condolence in the fact your property value went
up 400%,even if your tax rate went up 25%.

Unless you wanted it to be north gate population 1.

[oldjim]

Has any mention been made of the CN line from Regina, whether it will be rebuilt (This is CN Lewvan from east of Regina to Lampman and the CN Northgate line from Lampman to the border)? It is still held by CN, I believe, even though the rails have been taken up. It has heavy steel on the new section from Regina to Rowatt but was light steel from there-on down. Seems like it would be a natural tie-in from the refinery in Regina to the border as well as servicing the proposed potash mine to be built north of Gray, Sask. which is only a couple miles from the railbed.

[Oliver88]

This looks like good news to me. The less
demand for freight headed to Vancouver or
Thunder Bay in theory should = better service....

Bucket - to add to your list of Gates investments is
John Deere. He recently purchased 7% of Deere
stock.

[sumdumguy]

Opportunity knocks Northgate.

[wd9]

Oneoff, not sure if you thought my comment of
awesome was sarcasm, but it isn't.

Especially the locomotive connection is quite
simply brilliant.

[oneoff]

"I can't comment on the oil, but if you actually believe that they
will be handling 1 million tonnes a year, you must also believe in
the easter bunny. My guess is 200,000 mt tops."
Well sir I have no idea where you got the 1 million tonnes from. The press release from Ceres as reported in more than one credable paper says 40,000,000 bushels per year. Ego no direct connection between any easter bunny and your inaccurate assessment of my beliefs. Its all in your mistaken figures and jumps to unwarranted conclusions.

As mentioned earlier; it is quite probable that everything most people hear that does not confirm what they already know, is immediately ignored and discarded from their memory.

[LEP]

If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.
Hahahahahahaha.

[oneoff]

Welcome ...jim Your comments regarding "Has any mention been made of the CN line from Regina, whether it will be rebuilt (This is CN Lewvan from east of Regina to Lampman and the CN Northgate line from Lampman to the border)? It is still held by CN, I believe, even though the rails have been taken up. It has heavy steel on the new section from Regina to Rowatt but was light steel from there-on down. Seems like it would be a natural tie-in from the refinery in Regina to the border as well as servicing the proposed potash mine to be built north of Gray, Sask. which is only a couple miles from the railbed."

Here are some observations from area near the southern terminus of the Northgate-Lewvan sub. A couple of years ago the aging ties and snaky light rail was torn up and sent to scrap. The railbed (at least at this end ) remain in the name of the CNR and the rail yards and locomotive turn around in Northgate are current with taxes levied. From memory I think that the SAMA assessment sheets have more than a 2 million dollar rail line assessment as of maybe last fall. However that could be the amount for all the railbed property back to Lewvan. Someone else just recently made the comment that part of this line was turned into a "bicycle" trail; but that is not the case in this area. When a rail line is abandoned; the local RM's can acquire that proerty and use it as they see fit. In fact I have been informed by a former reeve that other than Coalfields, Browning and Enniskillen (who went on their own) that the other muicipalities received payments for the CNR abandonment of this grain dependent line. The mentioned RM's received nothing; but no real suprise I guess.

They didn't ask for help; certainly wouldn't have appreciated the intrusion and of couse never mentioned anything in any case. But at least one other RM did get money and RM Weyburn never got back to me about my enquiry.

Corus has put some money into Stewart Southern Rail and does have the right to be represented on this private company. There must be some connection that may evolve into a bigger rail network. They have the port of entry; the terminus and the connection to Warren Buffets empire. And with CN's cooperation; new steel and a bridge or two would create a functional third North-south rail connection in Western Canada (BC excepted).

Nice hint about Gray Sask as the site of a potash mine. With another half dozen of the same billion dollar investments in the future; there is a distict possibility that there wouldn't be enough trucks or pavement to haul it all away. Kleyson Transport used to haul from Esterhazy to Northgate ND until a couple of decades ago. That route involed putting six inches of pavement on the west lane of #9 highway to withstand the traffic at the rate of one truck every fifteen minutes. And with oil trucks at 70,000 barrels day into Northgate and more than 100,000 bushels of grain to the proposed terminal; plus potenial potash exports it is quite probable that a twinned highway would be in order.

Don't bother with LEP's math and pooh poohing announced plans.

[LEP]

My math is fine. 40,000,000 bushels is 1 million tonnes of a mix of
wheat, canola etc. My point was you were doing the the breakdown on
daily truck traffic and its effect on the roads, when there is absolutely
no way they will ever attain this volume. WIT is the largest inland
terminal in the area and they do less than half a million tonnes.
I doubt they will give up market share willingly.

My other point is apparently while you claim that this was so obvious
that it was the ultimate western canadian development opportunity,
thrown out the window by your RM council, you didn't act. Your
uncommon foresight and intellect that you offer to all area RM
councils failed you.

In my opinion this is a good thing to have on the north side of the
border.

You better start a residential subdivision, airport, and retail big box
development.

[boarderbloke]

Just using wheat for ease of calculation,

40,000,000 bus = 1,088,613 tonnes
7,348,800 bus = 200,000 tonnes

A place like Oxbow probably handled about 1,000,000 bus in the late 70's
Where's the nearest terminal in N.D., maybe a large amount of grain would come from the south, perhaps high volume corn?

re; Oil, hopefully pipelined from Alameda, Glew Ewen and Steelman terminals. Alameda and Glen Ewen each less than 18mi from Northgate, Steelman maybe 15mi from Alameda. We don't need any more trucks on the road down here.

[oneoff]

I didn't dream up the 40,000,000 bushel/year figure.

It is correct that Oxbow handled a million bushels per year (in an exceptional year from the Pool elvator) and probably about 600,000 usually. There also a Pioneer facility that had probably a lessor number of customers too. And Glen Ewen Pool elevator(s) and Alameda were still handling grain. But that was when wheat was the biggest crop grown and basically all handled by line companies. Brokers and semi's were rarities and contracts were not exactly commonplace. New farmers of today wouldn't recognize the marketing system. In those days grain wasn't generally haulde sort of 20 miles at the very most; ad mostly a few miles with one to three ton trucks.

I beg to ask what the point is.

I think that those who simply say WHOOPIE a $90 million rail facility. We'll get free farm taxes from this windfall; congestion and grain delvery is solved........have never considered that every bushel and every barrel will be trucked down gravel feeder roads to reach maybe provincial highways... from distances possibly from Manitoba and maybe Alberta when it returns an extra penny.

And it will (in some cases and especially when the changeover has to occcur) put severe financial strains on both rural municipalities and the provincial government to provide the infrastructure.

We can't adequtely lookafter the municipal road and paved highway for the presnt demand base. And those are the words of our officials who are completely responsible for the road system that exists.

Else why is it a problem mowing existing ditches; clay capping grid roads and replacing pavement that inevitably becomes too rough and punched out where you can literally lose control of any sized vehicle. Check your memory banks to see if you can confirm.

As for oil; and grain too; there is a 49th parallel which has separated two countries. It is a divide; it still remains albiet with emphasis on differ aspects of trade, immigration; securiity etc. but has not disappeared. In the past it mostly caused infrastructure to not be placed within 10 miles or miles from this boundary because the radius of Canadian supply would basiclly be cut in half. So those pipelines and gas lines are 18 or 30 plus miles away from the new rail hub; and there is a pretty impressive Souris river channel to cross and the Moose Mountain Creek nearby and Lake Alameda and the DesLacs all in near proximity. And that doesn't mention the stones to the west in the PFRA pasture. And don't think a rock picker would help much.

What I'm saying is that the infrastructure for oil ppipelines to a transload/rail loading facility isn't in place; and even if you can identify a pipeline; it would wouldn't be like in Moose Creek where the reeve one boasted that the largest and most numerous cuverts were plced at the upstream end of the drinage basin; and towards the natural outlet the plan was to regulate flow with restricted flow capacity.

As proof of this concept he publicaly asked a women from the upstream end if that hadnt worked perfectly; and apparently everyone was completely satisfied with the affirmative answer and the municipal water flow policy and plan.
That why it often takes three tries to get it right. And when resources are scarce; sometimes you don't get the third chance.

Ah!!!! Planning and input. Then a reasoned decision
Now attack the messenger; divert the discussion to a personal attack and get back to the decided agenda.

[Burbert]

Sounds like Saskabush is open fer business
two! Gobermonts in Comedia think that
visionaries are well simply put, bullshit
artists, that'll run the economy given a
chance. Fraudsters, hucksters are loved
in Comedia right now, as the economy
slows!