We were visiting The Durand Union Station which is a 110-year-old historic building on the Grand Trunk, now CN Line. The restored Depot houses a wonderful collection of railroad history. As we were leaving that tiny town, the flashers at the crossing started flashing, the bells rang and the gates came down and soon a train came along. I decided to count the number of cars and I soon passed the hundred mark and continued counting. I hardly believed it when my count got up to 185 cars. Later when I discussed this with my son David who works for CN in Battle Creek he said my count could well have been correct. He said that each night their train #399 comes through with a train that is 12,970 feet long, that being over two miles.
As I watched that train I visualized that same load traveling down an expressway. There would be twice that number of trucks because rail cars are generally twice as long as trucks on the highway. Imagine 370 trucks for this passing train. These trains often travel at 70 MPH with clear sailing all the way.
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