Summer days along the main line

Earlier this summer, my family burst out of the gate for our summer vacation. We were gone after the last day of school to visit Toronto for a few days and then proceeded to the Sarnia area to visit my family. While there, I made good use of some free time to visit the CN yard in the city. The yard, if you know what to look for, has many things a railfan can tick off his and her list. 

1. The yard has an old roundhouse still standing where Lambton Diesel Specialists work on all sorts of motive power, both new and old. You are guaranteed to find something you haven't seen.  

2. The city hosts one eastbound Via Rail corridor train (Train 84) for Toronto in the morning, as well as the returning westbound train in the evening. For those who don't see a lot of passenger trains, this is your chance. 

3. The yard is also located on a main line (Strathroy Subdivision) between Toronto and Chicago, meaning it regularly sees a number of through freights in both directions.

4. The yard is also a place where trains are put together, meaning you can see big-time switching action, if that is your thing.

5. CN also has a number of smaller locals that originate and terminate in the yard, with older motive power, sometimes in older schemes. 

6. Finally, the yard is the point where CN and CSX interchange. This is your best chance to see CSX in the Sarnia area these days, as CSX does not operate very far from its industrial customers in the Chemical Valley these days. 

I saw all of these things during my visit this summer, but I thought I'd start with a quick few observations from the first through freight train I saw on June 29.

I mentioned the locals deliberately, as I was trying to get a picture a local working deep in the yard east of the Indian Road overpass on the morning of June 29. When the westbound freight made its way up the main track, I tried to get a shot of both trains in the harsh morning sun. You can see the exhaust from the westbound freight obscuring the overpass. Once I got these two framed together, I backed up on the platform as quickly as I could.

Despite the harsh light and the washed out sky, I was happy with this shot, as it captured the movement of the train in the morning haze. The exhaust was the element I liked the best. It captured the movement. 

I moved the west side of the platform because I wanted to catch the early morning Via Rail passengers, who were waiting for the Via Rail crew to back up their Venture set, just visible beyond the station to the left, onto the main line. Again, you can feel the early morning heat and haze in this shot. I had to do a bit of touching up to work with the shadows cast by the morning sun. This vantage point in the yard is a tough spot to work with the natural light if the sky is clear. 

The lead unit was a CN centennial unit, which was a cool catch, as I don't see too many of these painted units in my summer wanderings. I like that I was able to capture the sky in this shot, as the light was a little more forgiving from this angle. It's hard to imagine that this image was taken just a few seconds after those other shots. It looks like an entirely different day, judging by the sky. I also got the station in the shot, which was my goal. I often find when railfans are presented with the opportunity to get photographs from a station platform, we often stay too close to the tracks and don't get enough of a profile of the train. These head-on shots have their merits, as evidenced by my first shot in this post, but I much prefer shots that are a bit farther back, with more of the train and rolling stock in the image. 

A long line of lumber cars making its way past the station. It sure beats a long line of grey hoppers or black tank cars. 

An old Government of Canada cylindrical hopper, a bit the worse for wear and smeared with the ever-present graffiti, but still an interesting site. It's hard to imagine a time even 20 years ago when capturing one of these would be a rare catch. 

I was happy to catch these cars as well, filled with pipes. I don't often see these cars.

I also liked this shot, as I captured a few different types of loads, not to mention a special duty flat car, usually used for special cargo. It was empty, but it's still something you don't see as much as other cars.

One final shot of a steel coil car bringing the end of the train through the gantry before descending downgrade to the St. Clair River Tunnel to the United States. I tried to frame the various engines clustered around the old roundhouse for interest's sake.

As mentioned, there are a number of things you can knock off your list as a rail enthusiast at this yard. I pretty much ticked off the entire list that I mentioned above, but that can wait for another post. 

Quickly

Sometimes I find the most interesting railway photos happen by accident or at least when I have no time to think about them. Sometimes, you just happen upon something and it's moving fast so you have to capture it without any preparation. I think this newfound desire for spontaneity stems from my boredom over modern railway photos and the relative scarcity of diversity in freight train consists these days. After all, if all we're doing is taking shots of the head-end power of freight trains, which are themselves long lines of containers or grey hopper cars, then things will get stale quickly.

That's how I feel anyway. 

Since June, I have had several chances to capture railway photos in Toronto, Sarnia and Stratford, as well as places in between, as my family made its annual pilgrimages to see family and enjoy the Canadian summer. I want to share a few unplanned shots as a way or promoting spontaneity in rail photography.

The first shot I captured as my family made its way to our hotel in the Toronto suburbs for our short weekend in the city. East of the city, CN has this bridge over Highway 401. I have caught trains on this bridge a few times. This time, I caught a string on container cars trundling over the busy road. The sight of these containers isn't all that interesting on its own, but I like the overall image, with the busy highway very much part of the scene. 

Here's a closer shot, with the highway sign very much a part of the image. The angle of the tracks over the highway becomes more noticeable as you pass under the line. I like this shot as well. It's something different, anyway.

On the same trip, I caught the tail end of an eastbound CN freight train around Ajax, with some borrowed power at the end. I was in the passenger seat, shooting across the highway at the time. It would have been cool to pull off a better shot, but the traffic and highway signs conspired against me. Still, it's a shot of something different.

 

 

I had a few other shots in this sequence, which show more of the power, without the highway sign, but those shots were equally imperfect due to the shrubs near the tracks and the traffic heading eastbound on the highway. I like this one since it shows the BNSF logo and the front of the unit. Again, this is far from an ideal shot but it at least captures movement and something atypical. 

 

I have noticed, from my limited observations this summer, CN is making use of a fair bit of leased power. I have more shots from Sarnia that bear this out, but that will wait for another time. 

 

Closer to home in Ottawa, my daughter took this shot of a passing eastbound Via Rail corridor train making its way past Woodroffe Avenue en route to Ottawa Station. Whenever she is in the car and a train passes, she tries to get a shot for me when I'm either not present or driving. I've taught her well. 

 

 

Yes, it's another shot of a Vanture set in Ottawa, which I have in spades, but I like that it has the traffic in the shot and the crossing guards activated. Again, there is a sense of movement and drama in this shot. Whenever I try to capture images in and around Ottawa, I try to take this approach to Via Rail corridor trains. If I cannot find an element that sets the shot apart, I won't take it. I always try to find a bit of the cityscape in my images. I like this element of the image. 

 

Finally, in my trip to Sarnia in July, I was making my way around Sarnia Bay when I stopped for a moment to take a quick shot of the Cargill elevator, which is in the news in the city these days. You can make out a lone crossbuck in the shot, minus crossing signals. This gives you the idea that the line is not terribly busy. This is the end of the Point Edward Spur, which exists the serve the elevator. It once extended into Point Edward itself, but was cut short decades ago. You can just make out a hopper in the shot. 

 

Cargill has been in the news of late as it is trying to block a city plan to build housing a few hundred metres from this operation. The development is slated to be situated on the site of a former harbourfront restaurant. Cargill claims there are regulations preventing residential developments within a set distance from operations like this elevator. The company says the noise and dust from the elevator will become a source of friction in the future. It wants to avoid any future problems and has appealed to the province to block the development. 

 

Some area municipalities near Sarnia, with substantial agricultural economies, support Cargill, as they do not want to see any disruption to this operation's business, which would have an impact on local farmers.

 

The city, and another local restaurant, which is within that restricted area near the elevator, both feel there is no potential issue. The matter will be settled in the coming months.  

Thanks to everyone for their best wishes on the blog hitting 500 posts. This is post 501. Onward we go.

Beachburg Sub 500: How I got here

As I alluded to a short while ago, this blog is now on Post 500. I began this blog innocently enough in April 2013 with the goal of sharing my passion for railways with like-minded people. I had a small trove of photos from the 1990s that I felt would allow this blog to operate comfortably for months. In the meantime, I would take photos around Ottawa and maintain an ongoing discussion that way. Simple right?

Well, no, but the ride since 2013 has been fun for the most part. Everyone I have encountered both online and the few I've met in person have been very friendly and supportive. In a world where decency sometimes seems in short supply, it's heartening to know there are good people out there.

Truthfully, this blog began in my childhood, possibly in my mind's eye, as blogs or the internet didn't exist when I was younger (wrap your head around that, for those too young to remember!). By this time, regular readers know I have a long history of railways in my family. My grandfathers worked for the CPR and my uncles and father did as well, albeit for short periods of time. There are still those in my family that work for the railways.

In my case, I have been fascinated with trains since before I can remember. Some of my earliest recollections of trains involve watching CN trains traverse rails that no longer exist today. I also recall seeing a Chessie System passenger special when I was incredibly young. Even then, I wondered why there was a passenger train on a freight-only line!

1980s

I didn't take photos of trains when I was little, but my dad occasionally did. My love of railways grew from watching the local railway go by in my hometown (Chessie System/CSX) and enjoying my model train and toy trains. At grade school and in my spare time, I often drew train pictures or looked at train picture books. Whenever I was in the car, the sight of a train coming to a crossing excited me. There are scattered family photos of trains from this time, but most of these prints have been lost to time, moves etc. This shot below, taken at the Windsor waterfront, is me (bottom left), my brother, my sister (back right) and a family friend posed in front of an old steam engine. The cars being loaded onto the ferry were likely a source of interest to me. I see a N&W hopper, Chessie high-cube boxcar and a RailBox pool boxcar. Note the lack of graffiti. This is probably the earliest rail photo involving me, likely taken in the early 1980s. 

 

1990s

When I was in grade school, I received a portable camera as a gift from my uncle (around 1986). A few years after getting it, in 1991, I decided it would be fun to take photos of trains. It was an incredibly simple point-and-shoot camera with no focus and almost zero tolerance for anything indoors. My first photo taken with this camera might have been this shot. I remember seeing this train parked on what was then the southern limits of my hometown and asking my mom if I could take shots of it. Thankfully, she said yes. 

I took many shots of CN operations in Sarnia, which I've chronicled in this blog many times. I also took my camera to Alberta to get shots of a grain train and the Rocky Mountaineer in Banff. Those are among my favourite railway photos. But in high school, I lost my love for railway photography, as I became more interested in other things. I still tinkered with my model trains in the basement and read about trains, but I kept quiet about this part of me, likely not wanting to face the mockery of others. 

2000s

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I went away to university in Ottawa and pretty much forgot about my love of trains, although it never really went away. I recall, after graduation, working in Peterborough and setting up a very small train display in my apartment. In Kitchener, where I worked for the newspaper, I remember watching the GEXR trains go by my gym, which was next to the tracks. As I mentioned, my love of trains never went away. I loved taking the train when I was in university and loved the sight of a train wherever I found myself in later years.

This is the only railway photo I took in the 2000s. I was wandering around a quiet city park in Kitchener in 2008 and took a shot of the train trestle that spanned the Grand River, on the city's eastern edge. 

2010s 

After getting married in 2010, I dusted off my old trains and set up my train set in a spare room in my first house. It was fun for a few years, but the extra room was needed when my first daughter arrived in 2012, which meant the train set had to come down. This was when my hobby changed to railway photography. My first real attempts at taking photos happened when I went to pick up family at Fallowfield Station. 

This is Via Rail Train 55 westbound approaching Fallowfield Station, led by P42 908, still in Via's blue, yellow and silver livery. This was my first attempt at taking railway photos again in 2012, around the time I began my blog. I knew I had only so many older photos and would soon run out of things to share if I didn't start feeding the beast. So began my leap back into railway photography, blogging, sharing stories, meeting many of you fellow fans, and enjoying a conversation that has now spanned 500 posts and 13 years.

Today

There have been some hiccups in the 13 years. I took a sabbatical, which was originally a full-on resignation, only to return when the pandemic began to wane. I am glad I kept on in my endeavors, as it really does bring some joy to my life. It's something I do just for myself. Much of my life is dedicated to my family, my job and my work in the community. These are all important parts of who I am.

But so is this. I love what I love and I am constantly in search of my next challenge or next bit of information to share.

This post was not intended to be a victory lap or a long drawn-out speech thanking innumerable people. I've done that already. They know who they are. This was just a simple explanation of how I got to this point. Railways will always be a part of who I am. 

Thanks to everyone who has played a role, large or small, in this ongoing chat. Let's keep talking.

Michael

hammond DOT michael77 AT gmail