Probably the most unusual parallel rail lines in the world are being operated over the 811 miles between Fort William, Ontario, and Toronto. They run, one on top of the other, from Hawker-Siddley's Canadian Car plant to the Davisville Yards of the Toronto Transportation Commission. Both lines are the property of Canadian Pacific.

One line is part of the Company's transcontinental route, and the other is mounted on specially-equipped CP flat cars for the accommodation of 164 subway cars being constructed for the TTC. A Canadian Pacific team of freight and transportation advisors worked with Canadian Car engineers for an entire year, mapping plans for the rail transport of the subway units to Toronto.

Mounted and securely anchored to the flat cars' mobile rail line, the first two of the 164 ultra-modern underground transport units moved out of Fort William by fast Canadian Pacific freight on 3 May 1965, for delivery the following day. Rate of delivery movement is one car per day, five days a week, until the $16,000,000 contract is completed.

Toronto's newest subway cars are 74 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches wide, and 16 feet 6 inches above top of rail when loaded. Each car has seats for 83 passengers and can accommodate 217 standees, providing total accommodation for 300. They are designed for operation in two-car units in trains consisting of two, four, or six cars, and will be seen in service on TTC's Danforth Extension, running eight miles from Keele Street in the west, to Woodbine Avenue in the east. They will connect with University Avenue and Yonge Street lines.

Canadian Pacific's heavy 12-wheel flat cars are 83 feet long and were specially reconstructed and equipped with rails and tie-downs for the unusual and valuable freight movement. They are operating without running restriction.

The current TTC subway car freight movement is in high contrast with the first-known transport of wheels on wheels which began in Nova Scotia in 1858. At that time the Nova Scotia Railway (now part of the CP subsidiary Dominion Atlantic Railway) began carrying farmers, their wagons, and produce to market at Halifax.

Each flat car carried four wagons. Horses were carried in boxcars, and a coach was supplied for accommodation of the farmer or driver free. This uneconomic system was soon changed.

Canadian Pacific officials who worked closely with Canadian Car officers to plan the challenging subway car movement included C.S. Doupe freight traffic manager Prairie Region, and Gordon Seddon industry service representative, both of Winnipeg, A.J. Cowie superintendent, and W.H. Johnson district manager freight traffic, both of Fort William. Δ