I have no doubt that many people there that day saw a long train, it is just claiming to be the longest that still bothers me. Oddly enough, I was reading amost exactly the same information in the above post in “Nicholas Morant’s Canadian Pacific” as it was being posted. I am now trying to figure out where I read about the time consumed in making up and breaking up of the train. I think it must have been in one of the various iterations of the CP Spanner magazine that came along later under various names. My next plan is to go to the local library and see if they keep old Guiness record books. Maybe one day I can post a more definitive answer.
CPRail did once run a test long grain train, it was the longest grain train in Canada, but by no means the longest in the world, not even in the US. It was a logistical nightmare to operate. Maybe this is the train you may be thinking of, exagerated as time went by. I think it ran from Medicin Hat to Thunder Bay loaded.
The Australian train is the real thing, well documented using equipement that can support it. Even the axle load is 40 tonnes, about44 US tons. Short heavy loaded cars, pretty cool stuff.
Again, why does it bother you? The entire operation was well documented and widely publicised, and my understanding is the Guinness mob had a representative on hand to verify the event, and so on. You seem to be implying that this train is no more than an internet myth, which simply isn’t the case. OTOH, you can’t come up with any evidence for your 11-mile long wheatie, which I think sounds rather far-fetched.