[lenaitch]

A bunch of things. Railways not wanting the hassle, accountants using sharper pencils, lawyers taking a far more cautious view of liability, senior executives taking a far more controlling position on local management decisions, availability and cost of labour very different.

Somehow I inherited a bunch of old correspondence between the railways and a certain frequent trip organizer from back in the 1960's. It's fascinating just how casually these were arranged and how much was made possible over a coffee or just by asking. These are simply not the same times.

- Paul

Even the railways themselves have curtailed or eliminated their own heritage runnings, such as CPKC's Royal Canadian Pacific and their 2818 trainset. It appears they stay pretty close to home out west.

It seems the ONR is a fairly regular host to the North American Railcar Operators Association ('speeders'/'jiggers'), which surprises me given the usual risk-averse nature of government agencies.