Serving up suds?

London, Ontario Part III

As I continue to sort through my epic weekend in London and all the railfanning I was able to do, I think my CP highlight was being able to watch this local getting its consist together before making its rounds. As I mentioned in my last post, taking photos on the Quebec Street overpass does afford you a great view of the railyard, but the electrical wires are a visual hazard that you either have to work around and put up with in your shots. I was happy I stuck with it because this local featured a couple interesting aspects that were worth the hassle with the wires.

This first shot was taken in between the wires. You can see that two geeps are pulling some pretty sizeable boxcars, a few lumber cars, a string of covered hoppers and two more lumber cars. Given the back and forth that was being done, I believe there was some shuffling of the order of this train being done, although I didn't stick around for the full show. You can see the conductor in this shot.

As the train came closer, being led by CP 4426, the wires became a visual hazard that I could not overcome, but I couldn't resist sharing this shot of the two geeps kicking up a little smoke. You will recall that I got quite a smoke show from a couple of old CN GP9s in Sarnia in this post. As I mentioned then, you don't see many of these type of action shots. I'm not sure why. I love shots with lots of smoke.

Thankfully, the other side of the overpass was distraction free, so I was able to get some shots of the local (and CP 3043 with the golden rodent logo) heading out of the yard. The industrial backdrop was a bonus, although it didn't seem as though any of those businesses were rail served.

Since the train was moving slowly, I was able to get some shots of the rolling stock, including this old boxcar, which still has the old CP Rail script, although without the old logo. I was intrigued by the old script, which looked like it was somehow modified or corrected at one point, although the paint appears to be chipping away.

Here's a long shot of much of the consist. I like this shot because it illustrates something I don't often see. There were four tracks leading out of this railyard. Most railyards I have seen usually narrow to a single or double track at the end of the yard limits. This four-track expanse looks like a throwback to me. It's not necessarily the NYC Big Four mind you, but you get the idea.

You may wonder about the title of this post. Well, when I saw this line of crisp new Canada Malting Co. hoppers, it made me think of the Labatt Brewery in London. I checked out the brewery on Google and it doesn't seem as though there are any tracks serving this plant, although there is a nearby railyard. It made me wonder if any of the products for Labatt are brought by rail. Not being an expert on this city or its rail operations, I will leave it to a more informed reader to let me know.

Here's a closer shot of the company logo on another hopper, although this one is already showing the first signs of being tagged. I should mention that this was the first time I have seen this company's cars. As I have mentioned this year, it always pays to take a quick shot of the rolling stock on a train.

One last overhead shot.

I hope you're not getting too tired of the shots from Southern Ontario, because I have two more posts from London before I turn my attention back to other locales, including Ottawa. I am going back to Southern Ontario to visit family for the Thanksgiving weekend, so I might have more to share from this region in the weeks to come.

Happy Thanksgiving.