RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. French respect for international institutions does not extend to international conventions on railroad interchange.

France, long one of Europe’s holdouts in using only state-run trains, reports long-time railroad writer Don Phillips, has finally allowed a private train to operate between Germany and France – but the impact of that single daily train may pale compared with the big plans of the English, Welsh & Scottish Ry., which has been operating freight trains in Britain since the British Ry. privatization of 1995-96.

Names are about to be taken, and butts kicked.

The Canadian [chief of English Welsh] has let it be known that he is training locomotive engineers to operate on six routes of the French railroads. On May 31, he filed the proper safety documents with the French railroads. Next comes permission to operate huge Class 66 freight diesel locomotives in France, locomotives that are already certified to operate in almost every country in Europe – except France.

"Huge," here, is a relative term. Put a Class 66 alongside an SD90MAC or a Dash-9 and it looks like a toy. But the Class 66 might accomplish in peacetime what the S-160 G.I. Consolidation did in wartime, namely be positioned to move freight from the Atlantic (as a British "Yankee") to the Pacific (as a Soviet "Shch.") In the Superintendent's opinion, the Polish came up with the best designation for the G.I.s, classifying them "Tr" for "Truman."