Vol. 12 Number 6 May 5, 1982

North Portal Saskatchewan - Spring was already more than two weeks old, but in this tiny border town in southern Saskatchewan, the only sign was the date on the calendar.

Overnight on 8 Apr 1982, heavy arctic winds had blown in, often gusting to more than 65 kilometres an hour. With the winds came driving snow and sub-zero temperatures. Visibility for most of the night and the next day was at or near zero.

At CP Rail's station, within a stone's throw of the U.S. border crossing, a train crew was awaiting the arrival of Soo Line's train Number 943. The mile-long freight was hauling eight miles of natural gas pipe, bound for Burstall, Saskatchewan. and Edmonton, Alberta.

Pipe shipments are not normally unusual events in this oil-laden corner of Western Canada. Pipe is nearly as common as prairie grain. This train, however, was somewhat different. It had left Panama City, Florida, four days earlier with orders to highball it north in order to make the 4,827 kilometre journey to Edmonton by 15 Apr 1982.

Organizing this type of run is no simple feat. Six railroads, including CP Rail, were involved. When the train left Panama City in northwest Florida, the temperature was in the high seventies fahrenheit. By the time it pulled into Chicago, weather advisories had been issued. The mid-west was about to be hit by a whopper of a blizzard.

Still, the train orders were explicit. Except for brief stops to change crews, locomotives, and to conduct inspections, the train must continue on.

A special contract between the purchaser of the pipe, Nova, an Alberta Corporation, and the railroads called for delivery at Edmonton by 15 Apr 1982 or severe financial penalties would result.

The 3,719 tonnes of pipe, 1,200 pieces in all, was manufactured in March by Berg Steel Pipe Corporation, of Panama City. It would be used by Nova in its Empress Relocation Project, an upstream facility of the Foothills pipeline.

The pipe, ranging between 60 and 91 centimetres in diameter, was specifically designed to be used in a metering and injection system and therefore had to have particularly thick walls. The 1.1 to 2.06 centimetre, heavy wall pipe is not available from Canadian sources. The only plant manufacturing such pipe is Berg Steel Pipe Corporation.

By late Friday, 9 Apr 1982, the train had cleared customs at North Portal and was heading west to Swift Current, Saskatchewan. where the train would be split in two. On Easter Sunday, 11 Apr 1982, the load destined for Edmonton rolled through Medicine Hat, Alberta. The next day, the pipe was sitting on a siding, ready to be unloaded at Nisku, south of Edmonton, two days ahead of schedule.