Track inspection: The Sperry car, a yellow, self-propelled, rail car
and its crew of technicians makes its way to Vancouver Island.

  NANAIMO, B.C. - The Sperry car, a yellow, self-propelled rail testing car, has been making its way across Vancouver Island trackage.

  The car, equipped with sophisticated electronic equipment, is used annually by the railway to test for flaws and faults in the rail. The Sperry car and its crew of technicians are hired by CP Rail from Automatic Industries Inc. of Connecticut as part of the railway's annual works program.

  The 1980 works program on Vancouver Island is expected to top $2 million, an increase of $300,000 over 1979 spending. Work includes the repair, replacement, and upgrading of bridges, retaining walls, culverts, and track.

  Two bridge projects in Victoria are scheduled for completion this year and will see CP Rail spend approximately $125,000.

  Annual maintenance of culverts and retaining walls will cost almost $100,000. As a result of heavy rains and flooding last December, an additional $125,000 will be spent to repair and replace retaining walls and culverts just south of Malahat.

  Track maintenance activities on Vancouver Island include the installation of almost 30,000 feet of rail at various locations, most of it 100 pound rail to replace 85 pound rail on curves.

  Almost 45,000 tons of ballast will be applied to 30 miles of line and 40,000 rail ties are to be replaced this year across the territory.

Tight Zone: Photographed at work in the Laurie tunnel and snowsheds west of Revelstoke, B.C., the Clearance Measuring Device mounted on a flatcar is part of a new survey of track clearances throughout the Mountain and Canyon divisions. Forty-five symmetrical "feelers" provide a series of individual records of trackside projections, which will eventually be used to set standards for system high-wide loads - Nicholas Morant.