HOW'S this for another kick in the teeth for British industry? A large proportion of the operating stock running on what's left of our railway network has been purchased by a Canadian railway company.
So the profits generated by what is now known as the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway Company will go overseas.
It now appears that an order for 250 new locomotives, to replace ageing stock purchased from British Rail, has been placed with - yes, you've guessed it - a locomotive manufacturer in Ontario at a reported cost of £250 million.
Perhaps the conductor of the current European pantomime in which Britain seems to have the leading comic role should turn to the auditorium and see if there's any audience left before he brings the curtain down.
RON CRANE, Walden Road, Blackburn.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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