The Railfans

On my recent trip to Sarnia to visit family, I was able to make repeated visits to the Sarnia Via Rail station, which sits on the edge of CN's rail yard. It's interesting that, in my recent visits to the yard, I have come across a number of railfans quite often. It's interesting, in that, I have very rarely come across railfans there in the past. But there is no doubt that there are a number of regulars who sit on the Sarnia platform and film the mainline trains. There are even some others that come and go, including kids (see picture below). Most seem interested in taking videos. 

I mention this because I don't know that I have ever shared my experiences as a railfan and my limited interactions with railfans. When you live in Ottawa, your experience with fellow railfans is limited. But this summer in Sarnia, I have to say that I saw a wide swath of railfans and it left me feeling somewhat ambivalent.

 

I will come out with the truth. I much prefer railfanning on my own, without any interaction with anybody. I don't say this because I am antisocial. I say it because railfanning, to me, is my own private time where I can zone out trackside, listen to the wind, smell the creosote and forget about the world. I've always been this way. Not many people know I am a railfan, even among my close friends. I prefer it that way. It's certainly not a popular hobby and, let's be honest, outside our railfan circles, we are ridiculed. It's not unlike the people who camp out at the end of the runway at the edge of the Ottawa Airport property, watching the planes. I think it's cool, but not everyone sees it that way.

For some people, I simply explain it this way. Some people like classic cars. Some people like following ships. Me? My family has a long history with the railways and this is my way of keeping up the tradition.

So I will say I was a bit surprised when approached by railfans in Sarnia when I was there in July. They were camped out trackside and had been there for quite a while, they told me. One of the railfans was from Guelph visiting family and was sitting next to his cousin. Beside the two of them was a woman who could not have looked any more disinterested. I felt for her. If you're not into it, I can't imagine why you would be there! The whole vibe to me was a little off.

What surprised me was that they were asking me when I was coming to the station next, because they figured we should all get together during the time when trains were sure to come. I appreciated the offer, of course, but told them I was squeezing in time trackside in between visiting my family, which was my main priority in visiting. I found it surprising that someone would come to visit family and spend hours watching trains instead. But maybe that was the plan all along for them. If so, I guess that's fine. It's just not my thing.

Even here in Ottawa, I rarely come across railfans. I think that we are a unique breed up here. Some rabidly chase the one west-end freight train each Wednesday. Me? I don't bother following CN 589 to and from Arnprior much. If I have a chance, fine. If not, I'm not all that bothered by it. Others fill their free time capturing Via Rail corridor trains at either one of our two local train stations. There's not much to choose from and, as I have a job, family and other duties in my community, I suppose my options are even more limited than younger railfans.

I generally find the vibe on the Eastern Ontario Rails Facebook group to be very friendly and supportive. I appreciate everyone's outlook on that group. 

But I can't help but mention my ambivalence over that encounter in Sarnia. I guess railfanning is not a social thing for me at all. I enjoy discussing railways online and trading messages with fellow bloggers, but I'm just as likely to trade messages about music, writing, current affairs or anything else that captures my attention. I hate to limit myself. That is why my railway photographs have changed quite a bit over the last few years. I'm more interested in capturing a railway scene, rather than capturing a tight shot of a train. Sometimes, we tend to limit ourselves, I feel.

Maybe I'm just not as big a railfan as others. Maybe it's because I prefer to split my time between multiple pursuits. That's why I find it fascinating when I come across railfans who talk about epic bike rides, or their family history, or their pursuit of music, or their love of hockey, or whatever else it is they do.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that railfanning is a small part of me as a person. I am in the midst of preparing my next two books for publication. My daughter is a budding writer and it's inspired me to take up a pen again. I find this just as exciting as being trackside. I'm thankful for my curious mind.

When I have these encounters with railfans, I wonder what else is there to these people? My guess is everyone has fascinating things to share and has many unique strengths and talents. We are all unique in this world. We all are complex, interesting and baffling in our own ways.

Railfanning is just a part of who we are.   

  

A quiet few moments to capture railway history

Last November, I visited my family around Remembrance Day because I hadn't seen my father over the summer and I wanted to visit with him in his new home. It was a busy weekend with not a lot of time, but I did manage to sneak a couple of minutes trackside to see if there was anything to see at the Sarnia CN Yard.

The yard was largely quiet, although I did manage to see an interesting CSX interchange train picking up a massive piece of equipment that was to be delivered to one of its industrial customers south of Sarnia. You can read about that here.

Other than that, I busied myself taking some shots of the odd assortment of locomotives parked around the old CN roundhouse, which is now the home of Lambton Diesel Specialists, which repairs, rebuilds and leases motive power. You often see old engines there, when they are stripped for parts. Sometimes, you see old units there that are given new life. It's always a mixed bag, which adds a little colour to your railfanning in this area.

This unit below was the one that really caught my eye. I had never seen this scheme before or heard of this railway. It was a misty, grey day so I did my best to grab a photo of it.

 

I was immediately stumped at to what GIO Railways was or where it would have operated. At first glance, the hood is a giveaway as to this engine's lineage. This is clearly a former CP Rail GP9. Thankfully, a couple of quick searches on this unit yielded some unexpected results. 

 

Since I no longer live in Southern Ontario, I didn't know about GIO, which is a fairly new shortline operator. This unit, which was leased from LDS, was first used several years ago when GIO took over operations on the dormant Cayuga Subdivision. The sub, which stretches from St. Thomas to Delhi (pronounced DEL-high), was once a CN concern before it was abandoned. After CN stopped operations, Ontario Southland operated the line before it went dormant again in 2020. In 2022, GIO Rail cleared the brush, laid some new ties and resumed operations, with this old GP9 as its first unit running light over the line.

 

That unit has since been returned to Sarnia, obviously, as operations on the line have been upgraded to include GP38s, judging by this YouTube clip. The newer units no longer have the GIO Railways grey scheme. Instead, they are straight black and are patched LDSX, which means the railway continues to lease its units from Sarnia. GIO Railways is perhaps better known as the company that bought Trillium Rail in the Niagara Region. 

 

This summer, when I returned to Sarnia, the old GP9 was still there, looking like it was either being readied to return to action or being kept in storage. It looked like it had been refurbed at the very least. Note the motors under tarps on flatcars right beside the old roundhouse.

 

While at the yard in November, I also caught this old SW switcher in a red and grey scheme. As this was the only vantage point I had, I couldn't get a side view of the unit. I'm not sure what railway it once belonged to, as I am not familiar with this livery. That's what I love about this old roundhouse. You never know what you are going to see. We live at a time when the number of railways is shrinking and many of today's trains cars are lease fleet blanks, which doesn't leave a lot of variety. This is a spot where you can see railway history.

 

There's also a straight red geep to the left of the image, with a livery similar to CP. I'm not sure where this unit might have originated, since I couldn't see its operating marks from where I was standing. In the centre of the image, there appears to be two other GIO units, one a GP9 of CN origin and a GP38-2 in the rear.

 

Here's a shot of some other SW units, including Nova Chemical's SW unit, which appears to be patched as LDSX 7316, meaning it's a leased unit in Nova colours. In my travels around Lambton County this summer, I noticed that a newer switcher is now handling the tank cars at the Nova Corunna refinery, where Nova handles its own industrial trackage, off the CN St. Clair River Industrial Spur. That means this old unit is either in for servicing or awaiting reassignment. 

 

 

Here's one last image from my November visit trackside in Sarnia. The LDS roundhouse is adjacent to CN's refuelling pad, which means when things are quiet, you can get a glimpse of a lot of yard horsepower in one image. Here's a shot of quite a few old warhorses sitting idle on a quiet November day.

 

 

It's always fun to see old engines that aren't common on railways anymore, like the SW1200s or old CP-style GP9s. I like sharing shots like these because you can look at the image for a while and always find something new. All of these shots have multiple elements that are worth exploring. It might not be as exciting as watching a mainline freight roar by, but for those of us who appreciate rail history, a few shots of a quiet yard can be quite illuminating.

 

UPDATE ON MESSAGES 

 

Since I have switched my messaging over to moderation mode, I'm happy to see that the spam messages have disappeared from my site. There are two sides to this, obviously. My messages from readers has also decreased, which is understandable. I don't want to make it harder for anyone to share their thoughts here or contact me, but I will be sticking with moderated messages for the time being, until I am satisfied that the spam scourge has abated. I'm curious to read what you think. 

Odds and ends on my summer travels

My family has done a fair bit of travelling so far this summer, as our life is more stable. After a wonderful visit to my hometown around Canada Day, we were able to visit my wife's family in London and Stratford in recent days. 

This being vacation, I was able to make my way trackside quite a bit and was fortunately, saw lots of mainline action in both Sarnia and Stratford. I have not even begun to process some of my better shots and figure out how to present them thematically. So, as these are the lazy days of summer and I am not thinking too hard, here are a few random photos that I captured in my travels that I thought would be interesting to share.

This shot made me laugh a bit. This was taken in the eastbound lanes of the 407 as we approached MacMillan Yard. There is an overpass in this area where container trains are often passing over the highway. On the other track, a trio of engines sat, awaiting their next assignment. The unit in the middle was clearly an ex-BNSF unit that was hastily patched over by CN. I shared this with a couple of my friends, and they had the same reaction. Nice patch job!

Over the course of any year spent railfanning in Ottawa, it is inevitable that there will be a large amount of Via Rail pictures. A friend jokingly told me as we were preparing to head home to Ottawa, "It's back to Via Rail purgatory." Don't get me wrong. I will take photos of any trains, but Via Rail photos can become monotonous after a while, which is why I wasn't all that keen to capture passenger rail photos in my travels. This shot is an exception, though. I thought it was cool to catch Train 84 backing into Sarnia Station from its overnight parking spur.

Via operates one train out of Sarnia each morning and one train into Sarnia each evening. The new Venture sets mean that Via no longer has to wye its trains in the yard, as they are bi-directional. All they have to do is tuck in to the spur beside the station each evening and back in to the station the following morning. Easy. 

Via Rail used to have early morning service from Sarnia when I was a university student, but the train now leaves mid-morning, which is better for those who aren't earlybirds. I wasn't specifically seeking out Via trains on this morning, but I was happy to catch this move. 

When we first arrived in Stratford, I headed for the CN/GEXR yard to see if anything was moving. This isn't like Sarnia, of course. You need to know when things are moving on the CN Guelph Subdivision or you will be waiting quite a long time. Luckily, I had some good information to work from, which allowed me to catch both CN and GEXR action. However, when I first arrived, there was nothing happening in the yard and the familiar GEXR units were nowhere to be seen from the station platform, which I found odd.

So I took a walk across Nile Street crossing to Guelph Street, which gives you a different perspective of the yard. Deep in the yard, tucked away behind long strings of steel coil cars, were the two GEXR units, parked at an odd angle. I was told that these tracks are situated like this because they once led to the old Stratford roundhouse. I didn't know that until I shared this photo with a friend who knows the local operations.

So it was cool to catch these units framed against the massive Masterfeeds complex. Those elevators helped frame many of my shots over the course of my visit. 

It was a ridiculously profitable vacation for me for future blog content, but as mentioned, I need to get some themes together to properly share some of my photos. I look forward to the challenge.