The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Oct. 30, edition that a strong economy has boosted demand for consumer and industrial goods that are increasingly moving by rail. The Globe's Eric Atkins writes that railways that have tried to cope with the resulting congestion by boosting the size of their locomotive fleets have found suppliers sold out. Much of the growth in freight volume at Canadian National Railway has come from grain, oil and sand used in hydraulic fracturing for petroleum extraction, all heavy commodities that need trains pulled by two or more locomotives. In the past two years CN has bought 141 locomotives. CN plans to add another 120 to its fleet of nearly 3,000 over the next two years. "We have options to get us through well into 2017 [and] 2018," says CN chief executive officer Claude Mongeau. Canadian Pacific Railway is taking a different approach. CEO Hunter Harrison believes more locomotives will worsen congestion, not alleviate it. He has instead worked on improving efficiency at the company. CP has no new locomotives on order, but has an unspecified number on lease to other railways that will soon be returned to CP's service.