Caption: Unknown to most nearby, this special secretive nuclear waste train carrying radioactive uranium (spent fuel rods) from a nuclear power plant sits on an industrial siding near a quiet residential Brampton neighbourhood. This short train would almost cause a US-Canadian national emergency when hijackers commandeered another train full of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and set it on a crash course towards this one, after leaving the nuclear plant. Disaster would be averted by the actions of a few courageous Mounties onboard.

Or so that was the plot of one episode of CBC's TV series "Due South" filmed in the mid-90's on CP's Owen Sound Sub in Brampton, Caledon and Orangeville. This was the nuclear prop train, featuring CP-leased HATX GP38-2 216 (an ex-UP/MP unit, now with HOG) back in the early-mid 90's when power-short CP was leasing anything it could get its paws on, an ancient 8-axle 309960-series heavy duty flatcar with a painted wooden nuclear waste prop load, and a caboose (likely for movements on the line, and not used for the scenes filmed). The train is shown parked on the spur tracks at the former Brampton Caterpillar assembly plant (opened 1983, closed in the early 90's due to an economic downturn and post-NAFTA plant consolidations) at Hurontario and Sandalwood in the Heart Lake area of Brampton. On this date, the "hero train" with the Mounties was also parked nearby.

One story from a retired CP RTC dispatcher was that both movie trains were parked in Streetsville overnight after filming, and the crews stayed at local motels. Local residents complained to the Mississauga mayor's office about CP storing trains of nuclear waste in their area, and CP got a phone call about it. From then on the nuclear waste prop car was left out of town overnights, and tarped.

Peter Jobe photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.