ANYONE WHO HAS ENJOYED a trip on the Credit Valley Explorer tour train will be

well aware of the fact that at Snelgrove, GO Transit has a golden opportunity that may soon be missed.

Although Snelgrove once was about four miles from the north end of Brampton, it's now within the city limits, and subdivisions have sprung up in all directions, one of them already pressing up against the former CP Rail line, where it's currently used as the southern terminus for the three-hour rail tours.

On the other side of the tracks, the land is still undeveloped, and within the Town of Caledon. But there's little doubt that it won't be long before Caledon council will be faced with a proposal to permit a development there similar to the Valleywood community immediately north of the border with Brampton.

That surely should not be allowed to happen, since the site could and should be used for a new "Brampton North" GO station.

Although the ideal long-term commuter facility for South Dufferin and Caledon would be full GO train service out of Orangeville, that would require a costly railbed upgrading and perhaps a strengthening of the Forks of the Credit trestle.

In the immediate future, a more practical alternative would be an agreement between GO Transit and the Orangeville-Brampton Railway that would permit GO to acquire land for a terminal and large parking lot and the OBR to extend the existing sidings to permit overnight storage of one or two 10- car GO trains.

Were GO Transit to opt for two trains, the existing trackage would permit two routes to Toronto's Union Station. The trains could either switch to the CNR tracks in Brampton or follow the former CP Rail line to Streetsville and proceed to Toronto through Mississauga on the existing GO service out of Milton.

Of course, the agreement should also involve the OBR providing limited commuter service between Orangeville and Brampton North.

Ideally, that service would involve the use of self-propelled diesel cars of the type that CP Rail introduced 50 years ago between Toronto and Owen Sound, and which still are in use on Vancouver Island and between Sudbury and White River. (One such unit, minus engine and driver controls, was recently acquired for possible use on the Credit Valley Explorer, and our understanding is that a number of operable 'Dayliners' are available, as-is, for about $200,000 apiece.)

There surely is no doubt that the worsening gridlock in the Greater Toronto Area presents a golden opportunity for expansion of GO Transit rail services, or that the major growth-limiting factor in Brampton is a lack of parking facilities. The parking lot for a new Brampton North station would likely be full from the day it opened.

And assuming that even the existing rolling stock for the Credit Valley Explorer could make it to Brampton North in about 50 minutes (averaging 30 miles an hour), commuters could reach downtown Toronto in roughly 90 minutes - not much more than it now takes in the peak of the morning rush.