I recieved an article a minute ago that originally ran in the Florida Times- Union. It's mostly about CSX problems in New Orleans but contains this bit of misinformation:"Other railroads -- including Canadian Northern, whose predecessor ran the passenger train City of New Orleans, made famous in a blues song sung by Willie Nelson -- don't actually enter the city proper". http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id ... nologyMike

yeah, its really amazing how clueless the media can be..up here in Rochester, NY, we occasionally get news reports that say the New York Central and the B&O still run through town..at least thats some good news about all those locomotives and freight cars that dont seem to be leaking..one less thing to worry about down there.Scot

They may not be called the NYC and the B&O anymore, but at least they're not some fictional name like "Canadian Northern"!!! Another thing I noticed about the article, not sure if Willie did a version of the song or not, (wouldn't call it a "blues song" either), but I remember "City of New Orleans" done by Arlo Guthrie. I heard that the IC was extremely livid with him for writing that song as it didn't accurately reflect the train at all, but made for a sensationalist image for people to think about that sold a lot of albums! Museum and tourist train operation has to be the last thing on those poor people's minds down there. God bless them!!! Dave J

Actually, the song is by Steve Goodman, though Arlo's cover of it is probably more famous than Goodman's own version.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Goodman

Sorry, but I cannot let that one go by. I lived in a town that was originally called "Model City" on the island of Montreal. It was the brain child of some railway entrepreneurs who built a three mile tunnel through Mount Royal and wanted to have an excuse to carry commuters to downtown Montreal. The GE box cab locomotives they bought soldiered on for eighty years. I lived on a street called "Canora". The name was derived from the railway - CaNoRa.

Sorry, but I cannot let that one go by. I lived in a town that was originally called "Model City" on the island of Montreal. It was the brain child of some railway entrepreneurs who built a three mile tunnel through Mount Royal and wanted to have an excuse to carry commuters to downtown Montreal. The GE box cab locomotives they bought soldiered on for eighty years. I lived on a street called "Canora". The name was derived from the railway - CaNoRa.[/quoteMy apologies! For some reason I always thought the old name was "Canada" not "Canadian"! I think I was getting it confused with the CASO- Canada Southern. I should get 10 lashes with a CN wet noodle... I should know better- Canada is a short view down my driveway! I've read numerous articles and stories on those old boxcab electrics and they've been one of my favorite aspects of Canadian railroading! Oh well... Homer Simpson said it best when he said "DOH!"Dave J

For the record, yes Willie recorded the song, which as Eric states below was written by Steve Goodman. Arlo Guthrie's version is by far the best known. It doesn't sound much like a blues song, but the sentiment is similar. BTW, Goodman also wrote "You Never Call Me By My Name" which contains the classic line "she got runned over by a damned old train".Mike

The name Canadian Northern is not at all fictional. There was a Canadian Northern that was either a predecessor or subsidiary of the present day Canadian National. I'm not making up excuses for the reporter, but if the abbreviation "CN" was used in his or her notes, the railroad that merged with the IC may have accidently become the Canadian Northern.The only reason I have for knowing about the Canadian Northern is that as a teenager I had a few rides on NH&I 1533, built for one CN and retired by the other CN.