Shareholders at the annual meeting for Red Coat Road and Rail will see a slight loss on the last fiscal year, but the picture looks much brighter for the current year. The AGM will be held on Thursday, Dec. 15 in the Pangman Rec Centre at 2 p.m.

Red Coat operates a locally-owned short-line rail line, extending from Pangman west to Assiniboia, with much of their income derived from the shipment of producer cars.

Director Lonny McKague of Red Coat commented, "Last year was not a great year with the frozen grain. In six and a half years of operation, it will be the most difficult year to date. We will show a slight loss."

He explained the loss is mainly due to the frost-damaged crop of 2004, a condition which hit most producers on the prairies.

"We anticipate almost tripling the movement of producer cars this year," said McKague, noting while they are moving more, they are also experiencing some of the same trouble accessing rail cars as the larger grain terminals in the area.

They had had a 35-car train scheduled for Saturday, but the day before they received word that the train run was postponed, with its delivery date "to be determined".

"We've been significantly shorted on rail cars," he said. "It may be that it impacts us more than the grain companies. We have producers who set aside a day to load their cars, and were only told the day before they wouldn't be getting them."

He added that Red Coat will be getting the cars, it's mainly a question of when.

Another help for the rail line has been the growth of the grain car refurbishing business in Ogema; Red Coat actually makes very little on the movement of cars, but having the rail line in place has made the business there possible, along with the jobs it has brought into the community, said McKague.