CP's Orange Painted Locomotive

[CMStPnP]

This must be a recent repaint......have not heard of it until now.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32iV7m0_xhQ

 

[Overmod]

Honors the September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (originated, I think, out of historical First Nations education concerns):

https://www.cpr.ca/en/community/every-child-matters-locomotive

[SD70Dude]

The Wikipedia article nicely explains the history behind the significance of the shirt and this particular colour:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Shirt_Day

The complete history of the residential school system is far too long and horrible to explain here, and I am the wrong person to tell this story.  Suffice it to say that our treatment of native people is a great national shame that continues today in many ways.

While admiring CP 8757 it is best not to think too hard about the role railroads played in that history.

[CMStPnP]

SD70Dude

SD70Dude wrote the following post 12 hours ago: The Wikipedia article nicely explains the history behind the significance of the shirt and this particular colour: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Shirt_Day The complete history of the residential school system is far too long and horrible to explain here, and I am the wrong person to tell this story.  Suffice it to say that our treatment of native people is a great national shame that continues today in many ways. While admiring CP 8757 it is best not to think too hard about the role railroads played in that history.

The problem you have when looking back in history in this regard is we only primarily have our own accounts to look at.    The tribal history is many times oral and in many cases withheld from being told.    During research in which it was found that many tribes in the United States held black slaves during the slavery period several tribes admitted they avoided speaking about that part of their history because they were embarrassed about it.    We have similar issues going back further in history when we look at the stigma of cannibalism within a specific tribe.   While viewed a long time ago as symbolic of a tribes fierceness, etc.    As you advance forward in history it is viewed more and more as a stigma and tribes do not discuss it as part of history.     Hence it is really difficult to get an overall or comprehensive view of what happened.     The trail of tears incident in the United States is well documented on the settler side and orally well remembered on the tribal side.    Thats why we have that piece of history covered so well.

Reading the settlers letters in the Library of Congress, their treatment of Native Americans tribes is both highly complimentary and really damning.   Depending on the tribe being discussed.    It is not one narrative of "oh yeah we really screwed all the tribes over so we deserved to get slaughtered in return".    The tribes were generally dealt with historically by writings of the settlers on a case by case basis based on observations of their behavior and based on what other local Indian tribes friendly to the settlers told them about another tribes reputation and trustworthiness.

In regards to the railroads, they screwed everyone regardless of ethnicity back then.   Big scandal in Wisconsin with the Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad I read about in old editions of the Milwaukee Journal.    Very difficult to find on the Internet today or published in any railfan publications (including TRAINS) or other sources.    That specific railroad engaged in what would be considered Bond Fraud today and took out a huge swath of Wisconsin Farms because Wisconsin Farmers bought the bonds as a means of investing for the future.    Lots of Sherriffs sales of family farms afterwards.    It was a big scandal at the time that nobody even mentions today in relation to the Milwaukee Road.    Yet everyone seems to mention the happy go lucky history of the Milwaukee and Mississippi and Bryon Kilborn and company well published ride between Milwaukee and Waukesha.    Most forget the bad part of history of the Milwaukee predecessor railroads Milwaukee and La Crosse was just one I think there was a second or third as well that had a major statewide financial hit as well.     Don't remember the names off top of my head.

I mention all the above so folks know my perspective is a little different and why and so I do not get attacked for having a slightly different perspective on how Native Americans were treated.

[Overmod]

The current issue of Railway Age has an editorial on this; I'd have pasted a link to the issue but it's on issuu.com (directly from Railway Age's e-mails) and can't be referenced in a link from this phone.

I didn't go into the specifics of the 'reason' for the day or the campaign, as this is a railroad forum and the information is copiously available to people reading the sources.   The United States certainly has a corresponding national shame in the BIA regarding education in general as well as specific policies, but I won't discuss those in detail here either.

[Backshop]

That's the base paint for when BNSF buys them.  They just have to add the yellow and green over it...

[Ulrich]

It was a different era..It is perhaps unfair to judge past generations by today's standards. But the orange locomotive is a fine gesture on the part of CP to acknowledge what happened, and that there's a path forward to reconciliation.