Re: [cpsig] Re: President Roosevelt's Train Trip to Birch Island, Canada in 1943

  • From: "KVRailway" <kvrailway@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:30:02 -0700


----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Rozeboom" <michael.rozeboom@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] Re: President Roosevelt's Train Trip to Birch Island, Canada in 1943


Steve Lucas wrote:


Rail union contracts to this day allow the companies to hand-pick
operating crews for Royal and POTUS trains, and those carrying heads
of state.  Those crews would be have to be vetted by the RCMP and/or
Secret Service.  It stands to reason that these precautions also
extend to those charged with arranging the movement of these trains.



My aunt is always proud to say that her great-grandfather was one of the
select few at the throttle of 2850 during that operation.

Those perks didn't just go to anyone.


Hardly what I'd call a 'perk.' So far as I know, there was no special pay involved or any other meaningful reward, just bragging rights if such things impress you. Some people saw it as an honour, no argument, but being picked for such duty implied some unspoken assumptions, too. For certain, if the slightest thing went wrong, history would remember your actions forever, for better or worse. In a worst case scenario, being chosen for such a train could mean putting your own life on the line for no other reason than you were too close to a politician or prominent person that somebody wanted to get rid off. In the case under discussion, if the truth be known, I wonder how many of these POTUS trains, especially in Canadian Pacific territory, were run as smoke-screens while the President was actually elsewhere or travelling either on another train or by another mode.

Joe Smuin


1. - "Joey, the secret to telling a good railway story is to always try to stick just as close to the facts as possible." --- (the late) Cliff Inkster; CPR Engineman, raconteur and philosopher.
2. - The secret to contacting Joe by email is to be sure to insert "Joe" or "Smuin" into the main text portion of any message you send to him, and thus your message should percolate through his spam filters.>


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