The 549 mile long, former Soo Line main line between Minneapolis and a connection with Canadian Pacific on the border at Portal in western North Dakota, is certainly one of the lesser known main lines in the western U. S. Yet traffic has tripled in the past 30 years on this line that is the center portion of CP’s transcontinental main line between western Canada and Chicago.   Only the easternmost part of this line has signals, so the western part of CP’s line to Portal is one of the busier rail lines in this country dispatched by track warrants. Intermodal, potash, grain, and Canadian chemicals have driven the growth on this line and CP has added heavy rail and thick ballast, transforming this line west of Glenwood from a long branch line with relatively light rail and ballast into the heavy duty main line that it is today. This DVD shows three days and a night of action on the western part of CP’s line to Portal – their Carrington and Portal subdivisions, in October of 2008. “Canadian Pacific’s Line to Portal” is 77 minutes long and sells for $30.95 and the usual $5 for S&H.  This DVD has menus and chapters and the option to be watched with or without narration.

The 549 mile long, former Soo Line main line between Minneapolis and a connection with Canadian Pacific on the border at Portal in western North Dakota, is certainly one of the lesser known main lines in the western U. S. Yet traffic has tripled in the past 30 years on this line that is the center portion of CP’s transcontinental main line between western Canada and Chicago.   Only the easternmost part of this line has signals, so the western part of CP’s line to Portal is one of the busier rail lines in this country dispatched by track warrants. Intermodal, potash, grain, and Canadian chemicals have driven the growth on this line and CP has added heavy rail and thick ballast, transforming this line west of Glenwood from a long branch line with relatively light rail and ballast into the heavy duty main line that it is today. This DVD shows three days and a night of action on the western part of CP’s line to Portal – their Carrington and Portal subdivisions, in October of 2008. “Canadian Pacific’s Line to Portal” is 77 minutes long and sells for $30.95 and the usual $5 for S&H.  This DVD has menus and chapters and the option to be watched with or without narration.

Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, fifty five miles west of Winnipeg in the Assiniboine and Red River Valleys, is one of the best places in Canada to see freight trains. All transcontinental traffic between eastern and western Canada on Canadian National and Canadian Pacific passes through Portage La Prairie. Both railroads have secondary main lines to Edmonton including CN’s aptly named Prairie North Line that diverge from the main lines on the west side of Portage. When grain or potash is moving, nearly 60 trains pass through Portage in 24 hours. And these are not just any trains. CN runs the heaviest manifest or mixed carload trains on the continent through Portage La Prairie and CP’s trains are quite fascinating also. The power on these trains can be anything on each railroad’s roster from the newest AC and DC units to venerable SD40-2s with many trains running with distributed power on both railroads. This program shows 24 hours of action on CP and then 24 more hours of action on CN in and around Portage La Prairie in October of 2008. “Portage La Prairie – Canadian Hot Spot” is two hours and fifty six minutes long and is a two DVD set.  This DVD has menus and chapters and the option to be watched with or without narration.