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stux 9jofvo iw mjrtj 1 i r 1 weekender saturday september 27 1997 p 21 riding the rails was truly a moving experience last saturday the big guy and i rode the yorkdurham heritage railway and do i have a moving tale to tell after purchasing our tickets at the new stouffville train station we met train conductor ken harding who welcomed us aboard we parked our cabooses and watched as the train filled up with passengers of all ages as president of the heritage railway ken told me that more than 4000 riders came on board this past season from masons to a mystery tour there has been a great variety of the happy travellers the train started and with whistle blowing we headed out of stouffville to begin our journey to uxbridge passing colourful sumacks we craned our necks peering into the wooded countryside looking for wildlife unfortunately the only animals we spotted were a herd of cows that raced the train and some horses as we headed home from uxbridge earlier in the spring though a mother fox with her pups became a familiar sight along the route standing on their hind legs the young foxes would watch in amazement as the large steel monster made its way down the track passing their den one hour 122 miles and 36000 railway ties later we pulled into the uxbridge train station where that the real fun began for me being an eternal kid at heart you can only imagine my excite ment when conductor ken arranged for me to ride in the engine it was here that i met the muchrespected bruce kearney a retired train engineer who has riden the rails for 41 years passenger safety is very serious business and bruce rules the roost in this engine he trains drivers and he doesnt miss a trick up front in the drivers seat was rob pare of stouffville along with frank stewart a longtime goodwood farmer who rode shot gun and served as a second pair of eyes with robs foot on the rural route ruth ruth leblanc education editorial provides false data dear editor your editorial education reforms should not be stalled sept 20 is full of misinformation and misguided comments it lacks both crit ical and judicious thought first by stating that ontario has increased spending from s82 bil lion since 1986 to 132 billion for 22 million pupils and should have a system unequaled you imply we are spending more than other jurisdictions in fact ontario ranks sixth among the provinces and territories in per pupil expenditures and 46th when compared to both us states and canadian provinces in us dollars ontario spends 5355 127 above the canadian average of 5228 whereas the us average is 6469 in a province with the highest cost of living and therefore the highest cost of doing business the reality is that ontario students are being underfunded in comparison to north american jurisdictions second you berate the system and suggest its in desperate need of repair since students are being illserved stating that ontario stu dents ranked dead last in canada internationally we were an even bigger embarrassment in a recent international math and science test letter to the editor this ominous condemnation stands in stark contrast to the toronto j stars report of the results of the third international math and science j study you base your opinion on the star reports that compared to other countries ontario grade 4 and 8 students do average or better that all the provinces grade 4 and 8 students scored about average j nationally and internationally in fact ontario grade 4 students came second grade 8 students performing a similar set of tasks achieved far better average scores than their younger grade 4 peers j slightly above the international average how do you explain your opinion in light of the stars report i can j only surmise a strong bias against the education system your editorial does absolutely nothing to aid students and educators i to improve the system in fact it is quite irresponsible it only adds fuel to an alreadytense labour situation and provides false data fori those who are predisposed to negative attitudes towards educators and the education system steve bull i dead mans brake off we went he explained that if a situation arose where the drivers foot left the peddle the train would stop within seven seconds while travelling the rails i felt the power of the 1 800 hp and v12 diesel electric engine pulling us forward from the best seat in the house i got to look out the window and wave at people as we rolled by i was having a ball at every crossing frank would announce the way clear as rob would cautiously proceed i was really impressed with the team work of volunteers who made a complicated job seem simplg approaching goodwood rob called me over and i got to blow the whistle i am not the only one to appreciate the grandeur of the once- familiar form of transportation televisions life network was recently up and spent a day interviewing passengers for an upcom ing episode you dont have to watch it on tv just hop on board and ride the 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