Thanks for all the input. I should have specified the timeframe. I was thinking the late 70's about the time the exEL C424's made their way to BCR.
I agree that the number of foreign road cars will be less than what you would see on most carriers, however, they were there. Living on the West Coast where I was in the (fortunate) position to see many PGE/BCR trains on a regular basis and there were enough to notice but not enough to not notice.
I suspect a lot of the foreign cars had equipment and supplies for the resource industry on them being delivered from various places on the continent. Also, off continent suppliers could have equipment land anywhere, such as the Gulf States and be loaded onto rail at the terminal.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
mbinsewi BC Rail is now owned by the Canadian National. You see reporting marks from every where. Mike.
BC Rail is now owned by the Canadian National.
You see reporting marks from every where.
Mike.
You'll see reporting marks from CN and any of its predecessor/merged roads such as BCOL, IC, CV, GTW, WC, etc. Plus leased cars with shortline marks like AOK, NOKL. All of that is pretty much counting as "home road". And this is very era dependent, depending on being after the dates of any of those mergers. I'm guessing the OP's video and question comes before that.
Still BNSF and UP etc. cars will be in the great minority.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
doctorwayneIt's possible that you could see freight cars from any common carrier railroad in North America, as thousands of freight cars are interchanged among railroads every day.
Possible, however BC Rail (or British Columbia Railway before 1984 and Pacific Great Eastern before 1972) ran through relatively remote areas that mostly extracted resources, and it's not a bridge line to anywhere. There would have been relatively lower amounts of in-bound traffic, with most of their traffic being outbound exports of paper and lumber to points all across the US and Canada. So keep that in mind when studying this railroad. Foreign cars that show up will be proportionally low in number and specifically billed to somewhere on-line.
The NFB video linked by BATMAN above does show mostly Canadian Pacific and some home-road PGE cars in the barge segment, but one CB&Q car with "The Way of the Zephyrs" slogan is visible along with an Canadian National car around the 10 minute mark after the barge is reloaded for the trip south.
After there was a more direct rail connection in Vancouver, a lot more volume was easier to export off the railway.
So you're likely to see far more BC Rail cars on Union Pacific that Union Pacific cars on BC Rail because of all the export traffic, but any inbound traffic that did come in could certainly come from any railroad. And cars from direct connections CN and CP will be the most common "foreign" cars.
fisker4jcWould you see american railroad freight cars on British Columbia Rail trains? would you see CN or CP cars on BCR trains?
Yes.
Go to the 7:00 mark of this film for PGE barge service.
https://www.nfb.ca/film/eye_witness_no_54/
It's possible that you could see freight cars from any common carrier railroad in North America, as thousands of freight cars are interchanged among railroads every day.
Wayne
My You Tube
Would you see american railroad freight cars on British Columbia Rail trains?
would you see CN or CP cars on BCR trains?
The Pentrex video I have on the BCR doesn't show any foreign road cars