Before I forget

It's always a nice feeling when I remember I have a bunch of railway photos from last year that I still haven't shared yet. This week, I recalled a batch of photos I had taken in Sarnia and elsewhere that had not yet made it into a post. So here are some lost photos from my wanderings in the past year, as well as from this past spring.

Resting on an early November morning under a big Southwestern Ontario blue sky, a host of CN road power points east at the east end of the Sarnia Yard, likely awaiting the next train to pull toward Toronto. I would venture a guess that the power here is usually substituted onto trains that originated in Chicago and make their way east under the St. Clair River tunnel. I do know that significant cuts of cars from the Chemical Valley are put together here, so it is possible this power is for Sarnia-originated trains. I do see a CN 100 unit partially hidden behind a railway maintenance truck. 

I was aboard Via Rail Train 84 eastbound when I captured a few images in the yard. To be honest, one of the Via Rail service managers insisted on instructing me on the the safety features of the car, as I was one of the few people aboard. Being a good citizen, I listened patiently, even though I wanted only to capture a few photos before I left my hometown. 

 I like this shot as well, as it is a showcase of three different CN paint schemes from the side.

One final image from Sarnia Yard of a former leased unit, now stencilled as CN on the cab. This unit was sitting on its own, far from the area where the rest of the power was arranged. I would imagine this unit was between switching assignments. Usually in the yard, the switching is done by the older, smaller geeps without the wide nose at the front of the cab, but it's also not uncommon to find a larger unit like this one assigned to switching duties. 

This next shot was taken at Fallowfield Station in May. I don't generally take a lot of shots at this station anymore, because I think I've exhausted most of the photo possibilities there. However, I did see an opportunity to get low at the extreme east end of the platform. At this point, there is a shallow drainage ditch. I got down in the ditch a bit and took a shot from way down low, trying to see if it met my criteria as something different. 

As you know, Fallowfield is a place where you can get up close with trains, but the shots almost inevitably end up being very tight wedge shots. I like that we can see the gravel laneway to the tracks and the bundle of rubber strips that were used to refurbish the station platform between the main line and the passing siding. You can even faintly see the signals closer to Woodroffe Avenue. The clouds in the sky also lend this image a bit of interest.

 

Here's something from Stratford that I'll get into a little later in another post. I am lucky that I get to visit this town once a year to take in theatre, visit with family and make my way trackside to see both CN and GEXR in the city. Here's a shot taken against the harsh summer sun of a CN local heading into the city from Kitchener. 

 

 

As I was going through my photos from last year, I knew I had a few items from both Stratford and Sarnia to share. I'll share more of this meet in another post, but I thought I'd include one of my favourite shots, even if it's tainted by the harsh morning shadows. Even in touching it up, the shadows are still pretty profound. But how cool is it to see two GP9s (one GP9 actually, I didn't look closely at the second unit, which is a GP38...thanks to a reader for pointing this out) in the safety stripes scheme still soldiering on in 2025? This photo is timeless in certain respects. It could have been taken 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference to the scene today.

Old friend and a new twist

In late June, I was told by a friend that CN was using two Iowa Northern-painted geeps as power for local operations. Naturally, with so little to see in Ottawa from a freight train perspective, I was excited. Even better, CN's weekly freight west, Train 589, was operating on Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, which is a holiday for Quebec workers like me. My first plan was to camp out trackside along the Beachburg Subdivision, which is not too far from my house. But then I heard the train was making its way up the Smiths Falls Subdivision to Kott Lumber and on to Richmond, where it would do a runaround move on a switch, as the train was not going to Arnprior that day.

So, change of plans. I got in my car and went to Fallowfield Station, which is also not all that far from where I live. I missed the train as it made its way west to Kott, but I knew I was going to catch it on the way back, as there was a large group of railfans awaiting its return.

The double header dropped off two centrebeam lumber cars at Kott Lumber, on Moodie Drive, before heading further up the Smiths Falls Sub to Richmond, where the power ran around the two empty lumber cars it picked up, so the crew wouldn't have to shove its way back to Walkley.

It didn't hit me until later that these types of geeps, clad in the classic Canadian Pacific maroon, grey and gold, were likely similar to the diesels my grandfather saw when he worked as a rolling stock mechanic for the CPR in Chapleau and Windsor. 

Iowa Northern mystery

I will admit that I knew next to nothing about the Iowa Northern Railway before seeing these two units. It was formed in 1981, when a group of grain elevator owners took over local lines from the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad. Over the years, the short line railway expanded and brought its tracks back up to speed. After a few ownership changes, the line was purchased by the Canadian National in 2025, which explains the appearance of these units up here in Ottawa. The Iowa Northern operates 163 miles (262 kilometres) of track in Iowa, from Cedar Rapids into northern areas of the state. It handles around 40,000 carloads of freight, according to stats listed on Wikipedia. It has connections with CN, CPKC and the Union Pacific.

You will notice below that the small eastbound 589 is taking the siding at Fallowfield Station, since it has to wait for the arrival of Via westbound Train 45 for Toronto.

Next up, I backed up into the parking lot to see if I could get a shot with the train's reflection in the rain puddles. The other railfans remained on the platform, getting very tight wedge shots, which is not my thing at all. I needed to see the sides of the train and that beautiful livery!

Not quite what I wanted, as I didn't get a terribly clear reflection in the puddle. I also didn't get enough of the car behind the power. But it's always worth a try to get an image that is not a standard shot. Next up, Via's Train 45 was due. A meet!

I had to get onto the platform and accept that this shot was going to be a tight wedge. I am reasonably happy with this image, given the harsh glare of the morning sun and the railfans I had to shoot around (everyone was quite accommodating to each other). The Venture had barely come to a stop before 589 geared up and headed back east to Federal Junction. Before it departed, I tried to get another two-for-one shot with both trains in the same frame. The CN freight train was a little too far east on the siding to get a side-by-side shot, but I tried my best to get something. 

Finally, it was time for a few going away shots.

I think this was the best of the bunch as the train pulled away, as I switched to my iPhone and was surprised that it captured the blue sky better than my regular camera, although that could be a function of me not having the camera on the best setting. I'll figure it out, one of these days. 

I am grateful for the tips I received from friends that allowed me to capture this unique train. I noticed the following week that the power in Ottawa had changed again, meaning this rare site is all the more precious. 

I don't know how quickly CN will be able to recover from the Canada Day flooding that slammed the west end of the city. The Beachburg Sub and Renfrew Spur both suffered washouts. CN will have to deal with the Beachburg damage while Nylene Canada and the city will have to fix the Renfrew tracks, as those rails are owned by the company while the right-of-way is owned by the city. I'm not sure how that responsibility breaks down.

All in all, it was a fun morning to capture a rare sight. It was also my first experience with local railfans. I know they're out there, but I so rarely run across them.  

From Main Street to the Back Forty: The Renfrew Subdivision (Part III)

In the first two posts about the former CN Renfrew Subdivision, I explored the rail line's creation as an important link between Western Canada and Eastern Canada. The line, as originally conceived, was meant to handle prairie grain at Depot Harbour on Georgian Bay and move it east. The same goes for timber harvested in Algonquin Park, which the railway's owner, John Rudolphus Booth, also controlled. In the 1930s, the line was severed in two in Algonquin Park, as a faulty bridge was never repaired. From that moment on, the rail line, now a CN concern, was a regional right-of-way with significantly less traffic.

Read Part I and Part II.

After that transcontinental resource and timber traffic died away, what were left were local freight and passenger services, linking the Upper Ottawa Valley with Ottawa. We traced the path of the CN Dayliner from Ottawa all the way to Barrys Bay in the first two posts. 

Through the years following the line being severed, the Renfrew Subdivision saw its share of interesting equipment, including the precursors of the Budd cars, the doodlebugs (as above). These units were meant to make marginal passenger lines more cost-efficient, but by the 1950s-1960s, the car was king and these passenger lines could barely hang on. 

In 1961, the passenger service was discontinued, as the line essentially became a marginal freight route. 

 

But, up until the discontinuation, you could ride the rails from Ottawa to Barrys Bay six days a week and back, except Sunday. There were even times when the passenger service came in the form of a full-fledged consist, with a steam engine, baggage car and coaches (all images in this post come from the Canada Science and Technology Museum Archives). 

 

As we explored in the first two posts, by the late 1950s and early 1960s, you could leave Ottawa's Union Station downtown at 4:30 p.m. and arrive in Barrys Bay at 7:30 p.m. via Budd car. If you were making your way to Ottawa from Barrys Bay, you would leave bright and early at 4:30 a.m. and arrive in Ottawa at 7:30 a.m., in time for some breakfast and the work day. 

 

However, the Renfrew Subdivision's story doesn't end in Barrys Bay, where regular passenger service ended. Up until the very end of passenger service in 1961, you could take a CN mixed train from Barrys Bay all the way to Whitney, which was the end of track after the line was severed in Algonquin Park. 

 

The mixed service ran Tuesday through Friday as 221 westbound to Whitney and 222 eastbound from Whitney to Barrys Bay. Since we took the train from Ottawa to the Bay in the first two posts, I thought it'd fun to take the mixed to Whitney in this post. There are very few passenger shots of the line past Barrys Bay, so we'll have to make do with what we found.

 

Barrys Bay Station - 9 a.m.

 

Given that the daily CN Dayliner arrived from Ottawa at 7:30 p.m., let's hope you found accommodations in town before getting ready for your morning departure west. This 1958 image, below, of a combine car, gives you an idea of what your accommodations would be on the mixed train west, near the end of service. 

 

From Barrys Bay, you'd be on the train for less than half an hour before coming to the first stop.

 

Aylen Lake flag stop - 9:20 a.m.

 

There are no images for this stop, which sits at the southern edge of part of Algonquin Park. It is listed as an access point for the park, so it makes sense that the railway would have service here at some point, if only for people looking to access cottages. 

 

From Aylen Lake, depending on if you stopped, you would make your way through the former flag stop of Opeongo, which is listed on the timetable, but without a time, which likely means it was no longer a stop.

 

Next up is a former division point and railway town, one that played a major role in the earliest days of the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway. 

 

Madawaska Station - 10 a.m. 

 

A this point, you've been on the mixed train for an hour and have travelled 21 track miles or 35 kilometres. That means you've averaged about 35 km/h so far. This might be a result one of two factors. Either there were slow restrictions on this part of the line, or the mixed train might have to stop to pick up or drop off freight cars along the way. I can't imagine a lot of trackside business at this point, but you never know.

 

 

This is an image of the Madawaska Station in the 1940s, although it is not clear from the archives information when it was taken. The caption mentions that there was a railway restaurant in the station at this point. This all makes sense when you consider that Madawaska was once a service point for the railway, as evidenced by the roundhouse that once dominated the railway lands.

 

The text accompanying the images from the museum archives mentions the roundhouse was abandoned in 1933. This would make sense, as this was around the time when the line was severed, which would mean it was no longer a through route to Georgian Bay.

 

Here's another image that points to Madawaska's time as a railway servicing point. This image above is from the Grand Trunk era and is labelled as a coaling station. You can see the water tower in the background as well as a caboose. The photos tells a story of a town that once was quite prominent in the CN network.

Stay on the mixed train for another half hour and you get to the second last stop on the remaining subdivision.

 

L'Amable Station - 10:30 a.m.

 

At this point, you're about 30 track miles outside of Barrys Bay, in an area that, judging by the photos I found, is increasingly remote. This is the only image I could find of the L'Amable stop. The caption reads that the water tower was installed here when the tower in Madawaska was torn down. There is another shot of an earlier L'Amable train station on the Bancroft, Ontario website. According to this site, the community was popular with early settlers, who liked its fertile soils for farming. L'Amable is just south of Bancroft.

 

 

With this stop out of the way, you are now into the home stretch of CN territory in this part of the province. You are now headed to the end of the line.
 

Whitney Station - 11 a.m.

 

Half an hour after passing through L'Amable, you will arrive at Whitney, the end of the line for this subdivision. You can see that there are loaded cars, possibly full of agricultural goods. Off in the distance is a caboose as well. 

 

 

Again, the stations on this stretch of the line seem much more suited to cottage country. They do not follow the architecture of the stations closer to Ottawa. And while this rail line by the 1960s was a branch-line operation, there is some photographic evidence that the line still held an important purpose for local businesses and farmers.

 

This shot, above, is one of the first I found when researching this line. You can see a truck dumping farm products into a car on the right side of the image. This means that the subdivision was still very much a vital link for farmers and their markets in the 1950s and 1960s. You get the idea how much the transport of grains has changed by looking at this image. No hoppers or cylindrical Canada cars; just these cars, which are loaded from the top by dump trucks. 

If you needed to get back east from Whitney, you'd have to take the following day's mixed train back to Barrys Bay at 11:30 a.m., which would put you in the Bay at 1:30 p.m. In many ways, right up until the line was torn up all the way to Arnprior, the Renfrew Subdivision was a throwback in most respects. It served the small communities along its line for decades, until the business dried up. 

 

Today, these images, which were taken over the decades by Aubrey Mattingly, give us a clear picture of what life was like along the rails decades ago. We're incredibly lucky to have this time capsule available to see, which is not the case for many other forgotten rail lines across Canada. 

 

A special thanks to Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure for helping me figure out some aspects of the history of the rail lines in this part of the province in the 1960s. Between him, Steve Boyko of traingeek.ca and Kevin O'Neil, I was able to share some fascinating history for a forgotten stretch of track.  

A moment of pause in the spring

I've had a few appointments in and around the city recently, which has given me opportunities to check out some railway spots that I don't always get to see that often. On one my jaunts into the city's east end, I was able to swing by the main Via Rail train station, as well as the Canada Science and Technology Museum. When I went to the museum, I saw this sight, as volunteers with the Bytown Railway Society were busy doing some refurbishments to their 1913 wooden Canadian Pacific caboose 436436. 

Note: My series on the history of the Renfrew Subdivision will continue with my next post. You can check out Part I here and Part II here. 

It was a neat scene, as a volunteer on the roof and one inside the cupola were busy working on the caboose's windows. Later on, that scene I had captured gave me a moment of pause. It occurred to me that my grandfather likely did work like this in Chapleau where he worked as a rolling stock mechanic at the CP facilities there. It made me smile thinking of my grandpa, who worked much of his adult life for the CP, in Chapleau and then in Windsor. 

While I was there, it was also nice to see the society's fully refurbished maintenance of way car, Central Vermont 4313.

The crew at BRS sure does heroic work in preserving railway history in Canada, which is all the more impressive given how little fanfare the organization gets in a city like Ottawa. While outside, I made sure to get a shot of the society's old 1946 GE switcher as well, which was coupled to the CP caboose. If you didn't know this was Ottawa in 2026, you might mistake this scene as being from the edge of a busy rail yard just about anywhere. I suppose the modern museum building in the background is a bit of a giveaway as well. I wonder if I could photoshop out the building and create a vintage image out of this.   

One final surprise was out on display, which you might have already caught a glimpse of in the second photo. The society's 1958 Pontiac hy-rail inspection car was also sitting in the spring sunshine, in its brilliant orange CN livery. This car is in operating condition and can sometimes be seen when the BRS crew goes to train shows. It's incredible how much thought and chrome went into the styling of cars in the 1950s. This would have been a comfortable way for railway crews to make it out to remote parts of the CN system back in the day.

You can see in the background that the doors to the BRS indoor rail shop were open. I was hoping that I might be able to see the Thurso & Nation Valley Official's private car 27. I could see a bit of it behind the half open door, but I couldn't get any short worthwhile. 

While I was in the east end, I was sure to swing by the city's Via Rail station, just to see what was going on in the yard. Unfortunately, there was not much to see from the Belfast Road overpass, which is where I chose to set up.

I wanted to get a shot of this train from a bit more of an angle so I could capture its profile, but there was construction happening at that area of the Belfast bridge, which prevented a more suitable image. This was also the only image I could get where the power wires weren't slicing through the train. Other than a baggage cart on the platform, that was about it. This is the lull in the day when most of the early westbound and eastbound trains to Toronto and Montreal respectively are gone. Closer to the evening, the pace picks up as trains originating from the big cities make their way to Ottawa and the evening runs from this city make their way east and west.

It's interesting to be able to contrast the lines of the Via Rail Ventures set at the Via station with the more angular lines of the heritage equipment at the museum. All in all, it was a fun bit of railfanning before my appointment. 

I had a few other small adventures recently, but I'll save those for another post. 

 

  

From Main Street to the Back Forty: The Renfrew Subdivision (Part II)

In part I of this topic, I covered off the history of the Renfrew Subdivision trackage, which once extended from Ottawa all the way to Depot Harbour (Parry Sound) on Georgian Bay. The line, built by John Rudolphus Booth in the late 1800s, was a resource line at the beginning, carrying western grain from Georgian Bay and timber from Algonquin Park all the way to Montreal or Vermont, where Booth's railway lines (Canadian Atlantic) gave way to others. 

Over the years, the western grain shifted to Great Lakes freighters via the most recent Welland Canal and the timber in the park was exhausted. The line ceased to be a busy link in the transcontinental  network. The original Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway gave way to the Grand Trunk and finally the Canadian National. In more recent years, the line was cut back all the way to Arnprior and is now owned by Nylene Canada.

Undated photo of a freight train passing by South March (Kanata) along the Renfrew Subdivision. Photo from the Canada Science and Technology Museum online archives

But in 1959, CN still operated local service all the way to Whitney. West of Whitney, the line was severed in Algonquin Park. The western portion was then operated as a stub before it was shut down. As we outlined in the last post, you could still take a CN Dayliner all the way to Barrys Bay on the Renfrew Subdivision, although this service would not last much longer. It was discontinued in 1961.

We began our evening passenger ride from Union Station in downtown Ottawa, where CN's evening train left at 4:30 p.m. Here is what you could expect from this train.

Union Station - 4:30 p.m.

Bells Corners (flag stop) - 4:50 p.m.

South March (flag stop) - 4:58 p.m.

Carp Station - 5:08 p.m.

Kinburn Station - 5:19 p.m.

Galetta Station - 5:27 p.m.

At this point, we are leaving what was then known as Carleton County, later the Ottawa-Carleton Region, and what is now the City of Ottawa.

Once the train crosses over into Renfrew County, it will pass by the former flag stop of Marshalls Bay, which was listed on the CN schedule but without any service. At this point, the railway had already eliminated what it considered more marginal flag stops. The first stop after Carleton County would be Arnprior Station, one of the biggest towns on the line.

Arnprior Station - 5:35 p.m. 

This is a shot, also from the Canada Science and Technology Museum archives of the last CN Dayliner calling at Arnprior Station in 1961. You can see from the image that the Budd car is split in half with one part being for baggage and cargo and the other for passengers. There clearly was not much left in terms of demand. Still, from downtown Ottawa to Arnprior in an hour isn't all that bad. Try doing that by car on the Queensway-417 these days. According to the passenger schedule, the train has travelled 42 miles or about 68 kilometres. That means the train was averaging more than 70 km/h on the line, with station stops considered.

That brings us further west into Renfrew County, into the Upper Ottawa Valley, which once saw multiple train lines running through it (CN Beachburg, Renfrew subs and CP K&P, Chalk River subs). 

Glasgow Station - 5:48 p.m. 

What fascinates me about stops like Glasgow is how close they are to towns. Glasgow was less than six track miles from Arnpior, yet it still warranted a regular stop on the line. This tiny hut trackside is very much in the style of the South March Station, which we saw in the first post. Despite its rural locale, there are two tracks at Glasgow, suggesting there was a passing siding that was perhaps used for local freight delivery. You can see a large barn beyond the station. What I don't see is any road or parking lot next to the station. There looks to be a ramp from the building for a speeder to be eased onto the tracks.

Goshen (flag stop) - 5:55 p.m.

Just a few miles down the line, Goshen is listed as a flag stop station. There is no photographic record of what was trackside at milepost 53.4. but at this point, you would have been quite close to the actual town of Renfrew, so I'm thinking this was a minimal priority at best by 1959. 

Renfrew Station - 6:03 p.m.  

Next up is the town of Renfrew, one of the larger towns on the line. 

Renfrew was one of a few towns in the Upper Ottawa Valley that was served by two railways at one point. The town boasted not just a CN station, but a CP station as well. The CPR took over the former Kingston & Pembroke Railway, which terminated in Renfrew. Its Chalk River Subdivision once passed through town as well. This image above shows you what the Renfrew CN Station looked like 1972, 11 years after the last passenger train called at the depot. Unlike other stations on the line, Renfrew's seemed to have a more decorative turret on the roof instead of a squared off gable. 

It's interesting to note, as well, that CN also had facilities at what was known as Renfrew Junction. This image below showed its facilities at that junction. This building was demolished in 1957, so you wouldn't have seen it if you were taking the Dayliner in 1959.

Admaston Station - 6:15 p.m.

A few miles past Renfrew, you will reach Admaston, although no photos in the archive I check exist for this station. 

Douglas Station - 6:23 p.m.

A few miles past Admaston and you will hit Douglas Station. Here is an example of a station with different architecture compared to what we've seen so far. The platform is covered from beginning to end by a station-length eave. You can see a pallet at the end of the platform and a luggage cart. There's a piece of the community visible in the background to the right as well.

Caldwell Station - 6:28 p.m.

Three miles beyond Douglas brings you to Caldwell Station. There were no shortage of stops on this route for the Dayliner. There is no photographic evidence of what was trackside at this stop.

Eganville Station - 6:40 p.m.

Eight miles further west and you will come to another larger community on this line, Eganville, home to a well-known community newspaper, the Leader. Eganville has struggled in recent years, but the community was featured on the CBC Show Still Standing, where they profiled the community's efforts to keep going amid challenges. The photo below, also from the Canada Science and Technology Museum archives, shows you what the station looked like in the early 1970s, long after the last passenger train stopped at its platform.

 

Like other towns in the Ottawa Valley, Eganville once boasted a CPR station as well, when railways were building lines throughout the area in a competition to exploit the resources of the area. One reference to the CPR station stated that it was on the Eganville Subdivision, which terminated in the town. I had never heard of that old trackage before.

 

Golden Lake Station - 6:52 p.m.

 

We are beginning to near the end of our journey on the Dayliner. The next stop is the community with the picturesque name, Golden Lake. This shot, from the 1950s, shows you another example of somewhat unique architecture on the line. The station is a two-level structure without the angled roof and dormers that many of the stations on this line boasted. It looks more like a commercial building you'd find on a main street. There is a bay window jutting out onto the platform, where the station agent would have worked. The platform has two baggage carts. Off in the distance, you can see a boxcar set off on a siding.

 

Ruby (flag stop) - 7:00 p.m.

 

There is no photographic evidence of what was at this flag stop. But, again, it sounds quite nice, given its picturesque name.

 

Killaloe Station - 7:08 p.m.

 

Killaloe (pronounced Kill-a-LOO) is a name many people in Ottawa are familiar with, as this is a spot where many from the region escape to, as it is commonly known as cottage country in this part of the province. The community's station was very much consistent with other stations on the line closer to Ottawa. I would imagine that this area's status as a getaway was a source of passenger revenue for years for the Canadian National.

 

Simpson (former flag stop) 

 

At this point in the line's history, the Simpson flag stop is still listed on the schedule but there appears to be no service offered at this point, as the timetable does not even list a time.

 

Wilno Station - 7:20 p.m.

 

The second-last stop is Wilno, which is 105.7 track miles from Ottawa, or 170 kilometres. The station has a bit more of a rustic cottage-country look to it, which is in keeping with its location and surroundings. At this point, you've been on the train for nearly three hours and travelled nearly 200 kilometres. Not exactly a speedy ride.

 

Barrys Bay - 7:30 p.m.

 

Finally, you have reached the end of the line for this passenger run, 112 track miles or 180 kilometres from downtown Ottawa. Barrys Bay, unlike other communities on the line, has preserved its station and railway heritage. This is what the station looked like when you would have been taking the Dayliner. This photo was actually taken in the 1970s, after service ended. The station looked a bit rough, but the rail yard it still in place and the station looks like it is still ready to receive passengers or express cargo.

 

Now compare that to what the station looks like today, thanks to friend of the blog, Kevin, our eyes and ears in Windsor. Kevin was recently in Barrys Bay and shared these photos of the station and the adjacent water tower, which once served the railway.

 

The station looks great and has found new life as a restaurant in the community. 

 

 

 

I also like that the community preserved the CN sign on the water tower. It's the little things that make a difference.

 

There is more to the story of the old Renfrew Subdivision than this one train, which made its run between Ottawa and Barrys Bay six days a week (Sunday being the exception) as Train 689 and 690. I'll leave the additional service details for a third post, as the history of this line just keeps offering more for me to share and for us to discuss. I'll finish this post with another image from the Canada Science and Technology Museum archives of a CN special that made its way up the line into the Ottawa Valley in 1972. I would imagine that some of the 1970s photos in this post were captured by Aubrey Mattingly, who might have been aboard this special. It's incredible to me that so much history of this line was chronicled.

 

At one point, it seemed like every community in our vast country was either served by a train or was near a train line. Although much of the Renfrew Sub is a memory, we have lots of chronicled history to relive its glory days. One final post to come, which will chronicle another surprise.

 

Again, thanks to Steve Boyko of traingeek.ca and Kevin O'Neil for their help with this post. All photographs, except for the two modern Barrys Bay images, are taken from the Canada Museum of Science and Technology Archives.   

Enjoy the drama

I've written a lot this year about how I have changed my approach to watching trains, writing about trains and photographing trains. Quite frankly, I'm doing this because I find myself bored with what's out there. Ottawa is essentially a dead zone for railfanning. I find most fans in this city dedicate themselves to the Arnprior Turn, a short train that services Nylene Canada and sometimes Kott Lumber on Wednesdays, via the Smiths Falls Sub, Beachburg Sub and Renfrew Spur.

Online, I often find railfanning photos are focused exclusively on the engines. That's fine if that is what keeps you motivated, but I just don't find these photos all that interesting anymore. There is more to a train than the power up front. Many photos, I find, are tightly focused on the engine with no thought given to the scenery around the train. Again, if this is what you prefer, I can respect that. It's just not my thing.

Here's an example above of a tight shot of an old F59PH commuter diesel passing by the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last November. I took a tight shot of this unit because they have become increasingly rare on Metrolinx rails in the Toronto area.  

Now contrast that with another shot I took from the same vantage point, but with more context. I won't say this is massive improvement over the top shot, but you can at least see some buildings in downtown Toronto, not to mention the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Possibly the fact that there are two trains in the frame makes the biggest difference. Still, I like that I can see more of the trains in the frame. What comes after the engine matters as much as the engine itself.

This brings me to a point that I don't think I've made in all my ramblings about rail photography this year. In all my images, I feel that giving your photos context also gives your photos drama. I don't means to be dramatic (pun intended) but I will mention that there is an essential truth to what we all do.

That truth is this. When we stand trackside, we all have a sense of anticipation over what is to come or what may come. When we first see headlights on the horizon, we all feel some sort of excitement, wondering what we might be able to capture. Is there a heritage unit? An old piece of rolling stock? An old legacy piece of passenger equipment? A caboose? These are all possibilities.

Then there's this. As we stand trackside, there is always some sense of drama as these massive machines make their way over polished, smooth rail, on their way to deliver people to their loved ones, or to deliver essential goods to make life easier for us all. There is always drama in the movement of a train.

This shot above, taken last April at the Belfast Road overpass in Ottawa, is an example of drama. You can barely see the P42 in front, as it makes its way down the Alexandria Sub to Coteau, Quebec, where it will then make its way to Montreal via the Kingston Subdivision. Can you see the smoke from the engine? Can you sense the momentum building? Do you see the old LRC equipment with the original Via colours? Did you know the houses to the left of the frame belong to a neighbourhood in the city where all streets are named after letters of the alphabet (Avenue A, Avenue B, etc.)?

Here's one of my favourite images, taken last August in Stratford. I like that you see multiple lines of cars in the yard, the faded paint on the old CN engines, the Stratford Masterfeeds grain elevator, the grass in the foreground, the communications tower and some sky. The local was slowly making its way east through the yard on a hot day. I think you can get a sense of what it was like to be standing where I was near Niles Street and what it felt like to see this train.

In other words, I think we need to enjoy the everyday drama of watching these machines and capture some of that drama. 

Part of the landscape

Railways are as much a part of Canada's landscape as they are of the country's history. The same can be said for a number of countries. This week, I am busy working on my house, which needs some TLC, but I had a moment Wednesday afternoon when I took my children out for a drive. We encountered a Via Rail corridor train making its final last few kilometres east from Fallowfield Station toward Ottawa Station.

This is the quick photo I took while we waited for the train to slowly pass the Woodroffe Avenue crossing on the outskirts of Barrhaven. This was the shot that was taken while we were stopped.

I've mentioned several times this year how much I am emphasizing railway photography that includes the landscape. I like this shot because you get a lot of landscape elements. You can see the traffic waiting, the trackside signals governing westbound trains approaching Fallowfield Station and a nice profile of the clear winter sky over Ottawa.

Yes, there is a Venture set in profile, which is supposed to be the purpose of the shot, but I don't mind that it isn't necessarily the dominant element in the photo. I would be lying if I said I set up this shot intentionally. The shot was taken with what there was available in that moment. Using the zoom on a smartphone might have given me a shot with more of the train in the frame, but it would likely also have turned out pixelated, as the camera function on older phones doesn't give you the same crisp shot that an actual camera offers.

The other element I like in this image is that you get to see a fair bit of the train in profile, which I find can be much more interesting at times than a train taken from a very sharp angle. At some point, we need to get away from the 3/4 wedge shot. There has to be more to this hobby than that fall-back option.

Here's another technique I love to see in the other railway blogs I visit regularly. I love it when we are able to get shots of trains from overhead. This shot of a Venture set, which I took last Nov. 24 in Toronto, is one of my favourite recent shots. There isn't all that much to it. You can see a bit of Rogers Centre and the Blue Jays logo in the upper left. There is also a fair bit of the cityscape all around the corridor of railway tracks just west of Union Station. You can also see the signals in the distance. I'm not sure why I like this photo so much, but I do. I like that it looks different than my more standard railway shots. There's elevation, cityscape and a logo. In short, there's a little bit of a story that you wouldn't get if you had zoomed in and focused exclusively on the train.

Here's one final example of what I mean. I will state again that this shot was not taken intentionally. I was in Markham and was near a set of double tracks. There was a parked intermodal train that was waiting another container train heading in the opposite direction. I did get some shots from an overpass, but I was looking for something a little more dramatic, which I was able to get after climbing down a small gully. I found an area where I was safely behind a fence. I took this shot of one train heading one way while another facing the opposite direction waits for the line to clear to it can continue on in its journey. I kept the brush in the shot, as it meant I could also keep more of the containers in the shot. It's not my best shot by any means, but I like that it was a departure from my early railway photography attempts (this was taken in 2013, which was barely a year after I started taking railway photos again).

I know I have made this point a number of times this year, but I can't stress enough how important it is for me to be pursuing my railway photos this way now. We are railfans at at a time of increasing standardization. Much of the rolling stock looks exactly the same. Long lines of grey hoppers and black tank cars with no visual identifiers or logos are now the norm. Most Via Rail consists are essentially carbon copy Venture sets. Motive power on most major railways is essentially the same, in that it all looks very similar. 

For me, I am trying to keep it interesting by changing the one thing that can always be changed, which is the background. By getting new elements in my images to surround the trains featured, I am keeping this hobby interesting. I'd be interested to know what you are doing to keep the hobby interesting.

Fresh perspectives in Stratford

Last summer, I was in Stratford to visit family and take in a show at the Stratford Festival. While there, I was able to carve out some time at the town's train yard to capture some images of the local freight operations. With a little help from those who are familiar with CN and the Goderich Exeter Railway's moves, I was able to catch several freight trains and some yard action. 

Here's a post featuring some GEXR freight movements on the Goderich Subdivision after leaving the yard.

CN's presence in Stratford is quite noticeable. It has a large maintenance yard where it keeps all sorts of supplies for track repairs. Of course, the Guelph Subdivision is hardly a speedway these days, but CN has still clearly invested in a maintenance operation here. I would say that it is much more extensive than what GEXR had in place when it was the sole leaseholder on the Guelph Subdivision.

 

This is the first shot I grabbed of an incoming CN local, which originated in Kitchener, as it came to do some yard work and move on further west to St. Marys. I took this shot because I wanted to capture a glimpse of the overall operations in Stratford, including the maintenance yard. You can see piles of ties to the left as well as a few structures. 

 

The local was led by an old GP9 and GP38 in the safety stripes scheme. It looked like 9555 was due for new paint, for sure. The train was a pretty typical consist of covered hoppers mainly, which is common in this yard. 

 

As the crew assembled the consist it would need to go west into St. Marys, I made sure to make my way to the Niles Street crossing, which allowed me a chance to get a different type of shot. As I have mentioned before, I am on a mission to capture new and different railway images. I could have easily taken shots from the station platform, as I have done many times in the past, but I wanted something different. 

 

Even though this angle was on the shadow side of the train, I though the angle of the tracks in the yard would give me a unique perspective of the train in its entirety. I thought this shot was more satisfying than an image of a long line of blank grey covered hoppers. Some of those hoppers were destined for the cement operations in St. Marys, which are served by CN.

 

Speaking of different angles. 

 

 

On my first day in Stratford, the yard was quiet but I did catch GEXR's local power at an odd angle in front of the Masterfeeds elevator. I was told this track is one of the last remnants of the old roundhouse complex that was once in place to service the steam engines of the Grand Trunk and the CN.

 

I could have gotten a much closer view, but I decided it would be cool to capture a shot of the long string of steel coil cars and the brooding summer sky in the image as well. I think this shot gives you a much broader picture of local operations.

 

That is a brief summary of my first days trackside in Stratford, I'd be curious to read your thoughts about how to capture different railway images. In two of these shots, the train or engines that were my main focus were actually quite small relative to the overall frame. Do you have your own ways of keeping things fresh while trackside?