Friday, December 13, 2013

Winter railroading in Ottawa

Winter has unquestionably arrived in Ottawa, which has allowed me to correct a longstanding gap in my railway photograph collection. Searching through my images the other day, I realized that I had but one winter railroading photograph. With that in mind, I lugged my camera into the arctic air to get some shots of the most Canadian of scenes: trains trudging through the snow.

The first shot, which I grabbed this past week, was Via Rail No. 33 arriving at Ottawa Station from Montreal, with P42 910 leading an all-Renaissance consist. The long shadows in the morning light, combined with the restricted vantage points around the station, made this shot tricky. I wasn't thrilled with it, but I do like seeing the exhaust from the locomotive in the crisp winter air. There wasn't much activity at the station at this point, so I didn't stick around.


On Dec. 7, I made one of my periodic visits to Walkley Yard to see if there was anything interesting to shoot. My daughter accompanied me for the first time, although she was busy watching Barney in the back seat. I did find several of these tank cars in the yard, which were a nice surprise. This tank car, Procor 50265, upon closer inspection, has a marking reading "Fluid Recycling Services" painted over on the left side. As to what fluids it carried, I'm not sure. I dug around a bit online but didn't find anything conclusive. Maybe a reader knows more than I do.


I also spotted CN's two local cabooses side by side near CN's local offices. I've shared photos of these two cabooses before, but never together. From what I've noticed, the former Devco Railway caboose never seems to move from this spot in the yard, which makes me wonder if it's operational at all. The old millennium caboose seems to be the unit of choice. The graffiti on the Devco caboose makes me shake my head. How bad is security in this rail yard?


I've shared photos of this old RDC unit before. I'm lucky that there is a service road running the length of the east end of the rail yard, which allows an excellent vantage point of this old gem. I noticed some interesting light and the cloud movement as I drove by, so I took a quick photo and was quite happy with the result. I wanted to capture a shot of this old unit, hooked to a former CN caboose, in a way that makes it look as though it's moving.

The best thing about shooting in the winter is the overgrown weeds in the yard are gone, which allows me to get a full shot of the RDC, complete with the old trucks and undercarriage. One of the small perks of this arctic weather.




8 comments:

DaveM said...

Do you know the approximate schedule for when trains run on the Beachburg sub these days?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing photos of this interesting rolling stock, Michael. The PROX tank car looks like a former Safety Kleen/Fluid Recycling Svcs. tank car. Sorry, no still photo, but there's one in this video at the 1:27 mark...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNAnfUOUtCw

Like that snow on the ties header photo, too.
Eric Gagnon
Kingston, Ontario

Michael said...

Dave- Thanks for your comment. Short answer to your question is that the Beachburg Sub is currently inactive. I've discussed a few possibilities for this line, but the reality is there aren't enough car loads to justify CN running any regular service on what's left of this line.

Michael said...

Eric - Thanks, as always, for your insight. I will check out that video. That shot on the top of the blog is a shot of the actual Beachburg Sub at Corkstown Road in Ottawa. It's a perfect spot for photos, but alas, I don't think I will ever get the chance to make use of this spot.

DaveM said...

Is there still traffic on the Renfrew sub (I think) between Kanata and Arnprior?

Michael said...

I did a quick search and found that there is still (as of very recently) weekly service to Nylene Canada in Arnprior. The tracks end in Arnprior. This line passes by my part of town (Bells Corners) but I have yet to catch any of these trains. Most of CN's service locally is focused on industry east of the city.

Anonymous said...

If I understand correctly, the runs to the Nylene plant depart Walkley Yard on Sunday mornings around 9 a.m. Not sure about the timing of the return trip, but it's never after dark.

Michael said...

That is great information. Thanks! I have been planning to catch up with this local and shoot it. In my part of town, there are several amazing vantage points for rail photos, but sadly, very few trains.