'Idle no more'...

[wmoebis]

Not sure if sitting at home not eating will get much attention. But if you were to go hand cuff yourself to the employees gate at the Ogden yard you would get the media there I am sure. Good on you!

[cottonpicken]

Remember watching the ackman/Harrison drama unfold "bringing a guy in who knows how to run a railroad" and Chinese/toronto shareholders clapping didnt think it would turn into this should have known better

[TOM4CWB]

Captain Tractor...This is our new "Implement of farm Husbandry" Built well to protect our farm! We spent a month putting it together. It is really well lit up... and flagged... to make sure all forms of traffic can not miss its presence!


<a href="http://s142.photobucket.com/user/tom4cwb/media/9460%20with%20blade_zpszcg9qzbx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r113/tom4cwb/9460%20with%20blade_zpszcg9qzbx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 9460 with blade_zpszcg9qzbx.jpg"/></a>

[TOM4CWB]

It was Used...New to us... It is actually a 2013 that was traded in on a Multi...

[TOM4CWB]

I can almost see the CP tracks... between the bins in the background... they are just beyond the far bushes!!!

Our dogs are always annoyed by the train honking and making all the coyotes howl!!!That really sets them into motion!

[cottonpicken]

Couldn't watch yet adbe needs upgrade

http://www.bnn.ca/Shows/Business-Day.aspx

[rockpile]

Tom - H.H. was in Toronto yesterday where he gave a speech in which he said that he was more concerned about terrorism than a few rail cars derailing here and there. What a bizarre comment I thought. But now it is all coming together. Tom, are you a terrorist? A terrifying terrorist? I think Hunter is setting up the trap to get rid of you once and for all. And you just posted the picture of the weapon to carry out your terrorist attack!
P.S. - I bet CSIS is tracking your every move right now. Keep a heads up for drone activity...

[Hopalong]

Saw interview with Harrison on BNN tv today.
Came across as reasonable and had to agree with him.
Did not see reference to grain movement and profitability as compared with other traffic.
Maybe time for farmers and graincos to ask what changes in maximum revenue entitlement agreement would prompt railways to increase capacity.
Recognize that, for some, any concession to railways is seen as sacrilege but see it as most promising path toward avoiding similar problems in future to what we have had past two winters.

[bucket]

I watched that interview and thought there is a bullshitter extraordinare.

Why not just use profits to increase capacity.

He talks about grain moving fast while oil moving slow and they are not compatible on a single line. Then build another line ****head.

Do most Canadians think exports are going to slow? They will with guys like this in charge. He has no plan or vision.

[Hopalong]

Don't think it is likely that CTA or review panel is going to get us as grain growers any farther ahead.
As suggested by some other posters, time for grain to compete with other traffic without special treatment it has been getting for last eighty years.

[bucket]

If farmers go to commercial rates without getting something in return we are ****ed.

[TOM4CWB]

Dear Rockpile,

Good for a chuckle... thanks after watching the great Hunter on BNN... Hunter wants a big conference... and to set everyone straight!

Hunter talked about 'Common Carrier' obligations... and how he must haul ALL the freight... no choice.

Hunter did admit in Canada... that more capacity can be created, as we are not subject to a congestion problems as the NE US struggles with.

Hunter told BNN that he must 'go slow' with oilrail cars... and go fast with grain cars! That this problem with Oil/grain frequency causes problems and reduced capacity.

Strange how Hunter keeps building 150 car oil loading terminals... yet says they are at peak capacity.


I found an article in;
Canadian Business: Forward, Fast
Hunter Harrison’s CP transformation.
Apr 23, 2013 Matthew McClearn

"Early evidence suggests his strategy is working. CP’s trains spent less time languishing in terminals last year, and average velocity rose 15%. Increased efficiency means CP can do more with less, allowing it to remove hundreds of locomotives from service. (Goodbye, SD90s....SD90s are often accused of being unreliable and inefficient, and anything matching that description at CP today is toast. Late last year, the company tendered virtually its entire fleet of SD90s (58 of them) for sale. It offered eight for scrap in January.)... It’s also returning thousands of leased freight cars. Observing all this, analysts at J. P. Morgan posed a pertinent question: “Why on Earth weren’t these opportunities pursued before?”

The up-front costs, though, are sobering. Consider Harrison himself. Simply by announcing his candidacy for CP’s top job, he put himself at odds with his former employer. CN promptly cut off his pension and other benefits and sued, alleging (among other things) that Harrison had breached contractual obligations. Pershing Square, which had promised to indemnify him against lawsuits and compensate him for any lost benefits, deftly handed the tab to CP following its proxy battle victory. In 2012, half a year of Harrison’s time cost CP $49 million. (The two companies buried their litigation hatchets earlier this year, and CP recovered US$9 million.)...

By way of illustrating how efficiency and service sometimes clash, May recalls a branch line in Alberta, on which CN served four companies with a 120-car train. One of the customers doubled its business, and wanted 80 cars instead of its usual 40. But a 160-unit train was too long, and CN balked at adding another train. “The response by the railway, initially, was to not give them the service they wanted,” May recalls. “And when pressured, they took away cars from the other customers on that line. But nobody ended up getting what they needed.” Customer service, he says, became thoroughly subordinated to driving profitability for shareholders. “That’s really what’s at the core of what’s wrong with Mr. Harrison’s model.”

Some customers fear CP’s service is now suffering. “Some of our members have expressed concern over how much service, attitude and communications have deteriorated at CP over the last several months,” says Susan Murray, spokesperson for the Forest Products Association of Canada. But customers probably have less leverage than the unions. Their best hope was the Fair Rail Freight Service Act bill, the result of years of complaints and lobbying about rail service in Canada. Unveiled in December, it would give shippers new rights to service contracts with railways, and a new system to resolve disputes. But May calls the legislation underwhelming, saying it benefits railways more than shippers"....

We have been subjected to a formula... performance motivated Hunter Emperor. Grain Growers are paying a huge price in unreasonable service that creates an unreliable product for our customer end users... particularly isolated graingrowers in the Northern and Northwest prairies.

[TOM4CWB]

Hopalong,

Hunter is slick. He convinced you? With Oil cars travelling in the opposite direction... (NOT WEST BUT South and NE)... this is primarily a ruse to distract attention away from Hunter's real plan... to convince grain growers they must pay 30 percent more... with zero assurances of better service.

As Hunter said in the interview... they must haul all freight. Asked about freight discrimination... Hunter (of course) denied there was any. And how would we prove otherwise?

I suggest that oil cars be monitored... just like grain hoppers...

And see how many oil cars shippers are short... and how many weeks behind in shipping compared with grain hoppers to the same/similar destination.

What a master wordsmith!

[Braveheart]

Rockpile, not a joke. CSIS will be watching Tom. They have before. CSIS has files on many farm "activists"

[rockpile]

Hopalong, the rr's have never lost money hauling grain. In fact they have a legislated guaranteed return on cost and investment. So a profit on grain transportation is a given and therefore a low priority to other less captive commodities. And pay careful attention to the wording. They don't call it the freight rate but rather a 'tarriff', which normal means tax. And they are pleading that grain prices have increased dramatically since the original fees were instituted. I beg to differ. $5.00 wheat in the 70's, $5.00 dollar wheat today. Grain has paid a very substantial portion of capital investment that has brought many other products and commodities onto the rails. And finally, the rrs aren't saying more profit will guarantee better service. Grain just happens to be low hanging fruit that Harrison has stated in the past should bring 30% more return to shareholders just because it's there.
Braveheart, not sure I meant it as tongue and cheek, lol.