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 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.   

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

To most railway enthusiasts in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, what was once the CN Renfrew Subdivision is now technically Nylene Canada's Renfrew Spur. The track hosts one train a week, delivering tank cars of caprolactum to Nylene Canada's plant in Arnprior.

CN 589 crosses March Road in 2021 en route to Arnprior. The weekly train is the last vestige of a long history of operations on the former Renfrew Subdivision. Just to the right of the track is Station Street, where the old South March railway station once stood.

But what many people often forget is this lonely right-of-way was once one of the busiest railways in Canada. Yes, that's right. In all of Canada. 

Today, you'd hardly even be able to imagine it. Let's start briefly at the beginning. John Rudolphus Booth built a rail line from Depot Harbour*, on Georgian Bay, all the way to Ottawa, where it connected to Booth's other railway, the Canadian Atlantic. The two railways were soon joined under the CAR banner. The Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway began operations in 1897. 

(*- if Depot Harbour sounds unfamiliar, it's because Booth made the decision to establish his own port, away from Parry Sound, to foil the schemes of railway speculators in the town) 

Why was it the busiest rail line in Canada? Two reasons. Booth gained timber rights in Algonquin Park, which provided a great deal of traffic to his saw mill in Ottawa, not to mention to eastern U.S. markets via the CAR's terminus in Vermont. 

Secondly, Booth's OA&PS also shipped as much as 40 percent of the grain from the Canadian west to the St. Lawrence, as the fourth Welland Canal had yet to be completed. This meant that shipping grain via modern freighters on the Great Lakes was not yet possible due to the limitations of the smaller canals in the Welland area. The final Welland Canal was completed in 1932, which essentially replaced the Renfrew Subdivision's source of through grain from the Prairies.  

Booth's line was incredibly busy before this development, which is why it isn't surprising that the operations were acquired by the Grand Trunk in 1905. Of course, the boom years inevitably came to an end.

A Canadian National passenger train makes its way along the Renfrew Subdivision in the 1940s at an unknown location. Photo from the Canada Science and Technology collection.

The sharp downfall of the old Booth line happened mainly because of the grain movements shifting south to Welland, not to mention the fact that Booth had exhausted the useful timber in Algonquin Park, meaning the two main sources of through freight were gone. That meant that, by the 1930s, the Booth line had very much shifted to a secondary railway line under what was then the Canadian National Railways company, which bought the Grand Trunk in 1923.

It was a swift decline for a line that opened up vast stretches of Algonquin Park to tourists, considering it led to the creation of the Highland Inn and Cache Lake Station in the park. Many people forget that the Renfrew Subdivision was one of two major rail lines that crossed through the park, the other being the CN Northern Transcontinental Line. That line, the Beachburg Subdivision, went through what is now northwest Ottawa into the Pontiac Region in Quebec before crossing back into Renfrew County and all the way up to Pembroke, Petawawa and beyond.

The writing was on the wall for the Renfrew line as far back as 1933, when a trestle over Cache Lake/Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin Park was closed due to safety concerns. That meant the line was cut in two and never reconnected. The western section between Depot Harbour/Parry Sound and Cache Lake was operated until 1952, when it was closed for good. The eastern section, terminating at Whitney, on the eastern edge of Algonquin Park, soldiered on as a local branch line for some time.

Fast forward to more recent times when most of the car load business dried up. For many years, CN tried to rid itself of the trackage, even when it was severed west of Arnprior. The line's final customer,  Nylene Canada (formerly BASF), still requires train service, as it cannot easily receive its needed product, caprolactum, by truck.

In the 1990s, there was talk of BASF being serviced by CP Rail's Chalk River Sub, which also reached up through Arnprior at one point. That connection was never made and the Chalk River Sub is history. In the end, a compromise was reached, which meant that the former Region of Ottawa-Carleton bought the land on which the tracks sit, while Nylene Canada bought the rails. That relieved CN of the obligation to maintain the line. 

When the Ottawa Central Railway took over CN's local operations in 1998, there was no longer any real threat to the Renfrew Sub. But when OCR sold back to CN in 2008, the same threat that has faced this line for decades resurfaced.

CN now serves Nylene on contract each week, essentially with running rights on an otherwise dormant line. This system seems to work, although CN has tried in recent years to remove itself entirely from Ottawa once again. Right now, its focus is mainly on customers east of the city. 

I'm skipping over decades of freight train history on this line, but it's not altogether that different from what you see on other marginal train lines. Without major freight customers, a branch line is not going to survive in today's highly centralized world of transcontinental railways. 

I figured we could relive some history and go on a trip from Ottawa to Whitney on the Renfrew Subdivision. 

Luckily for us, rail photographer Aubrey Mattingly was busy taking photographs of railways in the Ottawa area for decades. His collection passed into the hands of the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Many of his photos include everyday, somewhat mundane scenes that are now invaluable to us as we piece together the past. 

Let's start at the obvious place: Union Station in downtown Ottawa. This is what the old station looks like today, as the home of the Senate of Canada, which has been displaced from Parliament Hill due to construction of the Centre Block.

Thanks to some information supplied by Steve Boyko of traingeek.ca and Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure, I can pinpoint the final days of passenger rail service on the Renfrew Subdivision. CN ran its final trains on the line in 1961, but let's take the train in 1959, which is a significant year. It was the last year that many of the vestiges of the line's heyday remained.

UNION STATION: 4:30 p.m. departure 

Taking a Railiner (RDC or Budd Car in other words), you will leave Ottawa at 4:30 p.m.

This leads you to the first stop, which is the Bells Corners flag stop. It's important to note that, prior to the building of the Queensway, much of the land where the highway sits was the Renfrew Subdivision. After the National Capital Commission began lifting rail lines in the city under an expansive beautification effort in the 19502, the Renfrew Subdivision was largely scrapped from where it began all the way to Nepean Junction, where it branched off the Beachburg Subdivision.  

Sadly, there are no existing photographs of the Bells Corners station, but I imagine it would have been near Bells Junction, where the CN line met the CP Carleton Place Subdivision, which is also where there was once a flyover crossing. There is also a chance that the station was located west of here, near where Highway 416 is now. It's important to note that the 416 cut was obviously level ground in earlier days. 

Twenty minutes to get from downtown to Bells Corners? That seems slow by rail. There must have been serious speed restrictions. 

BELLS CORNERS flag stop: 4:50 p.m. 

SOUTH MARCH flag stop: 4:58 p.m.

This is the station that got me on the case of looking up the story of this rail line again. You might recall that I took a first crack at the history of this line in this post from 2019. I have often wondered what became of the Kanata train station, which was located on Station Street, just off of March Road, in the eastern part of the former city. My mistake was looking up Kanata Station in online searches. Needless to say, Kanata did not exist as a city until 1978, which I should have known.

Before Kanata was developed in earnest from farm land in the 1960s, it was mainly a rural township called March Township, hence the station's name, South March. The photo below is from the Canada Science and Technology Museum collection, as are all the remaining black and white images in this post.

 

This image was taken in 1958, shortly before CN demolished this building in 1959. That is why our 1959 trip west is so significant. It would have been the last time you could see all of these historic relics of the Renfrew Subdivision's past.

CARP STATION: 5:08 p.m.

This image, from 1944, is evidence of how important the railway was to small towns on this line. The Carp station seems quite large for a community so small. It's important to remember that, in the 1950s, the road network in this part of Ottawa was not nearly as developed as it is now. Same goes for many parts of Canada. Post-WWII, cars took over and the road network largely replaced short-distance passenger rail. Even in 1959, taking the train on this line would likely not have been a popular choice, as the operation was just a few years away from being discontinued.

This is where the history becomes fascinating to me. Many place names that are familiar to Ottawa residents but show no sign of their rail history, come alive, thanks to these images. Which brings us to our next stop.

KINBURN STATION: 5:19 p.m.

Note the similarity of the architecture of the stations on this line. It seems to me they were designed to provide accommodation to station agents and their families. It's hard for us now to understand the need for so many stations so close together.

 

This photo above was taken in 1959, again right before the station was demolished by CN. It's amazing that someone would think to capture images of so many stations in the 1950s. That brings us to our next stop, still in the western reaches of what is now Ottawa.

GALETTA STATION: 5:27 p.m.

You must be thinking that you're seeing double. The stations along this line were very much carbon copies of each other in many places, particularly in the smaller communities. You can see an old luggage cart on the platform of this station and the freight shed, for people who shipped goods via the railway express service.

At this point in the trip, you will be leaving what was then known as Carleton County, later the Region of Ottawa-Carleton (now Ottawa), so we will pick up our trip further east in the next post. You are by now an hour into your trip and you're not even out of Carleton County. This train is the definition of milk run!

This is an image from my map of the CN Rail system, back when the Renfrew Subdivision was still in place to the town of Renfrew in Renfrew County. After the train leaves what is now Ottawa, there are a few more surprise in store on the line. That will wait for the next post. 

Post 490: Thirteen years later...

I received an email recently from a friend who is celebrating a milestone in his online writings, which got me to thinking about my little corner of the internet, the Beachburg Sub. With this post, I have reached 490 posts, meaning I'm closing in on that magical milestone of 500. 

 

On April 30, 2013, I posted my first entry on this blog. I was a fairly new father at that point, not to mention a little less grey. A lot has changed since then. I became a father again (in 2015), changed jobs in the public service twice, moved twice, and have grown into the person I am today. I say grown into who I am today because my mental health journey from 2013 until now was not without its bumps. However, with hard work, I was able to overcome bouts of mental instability and enjoy life.

The name Beachburg Sub was my first choice and only choice. I think it symbolizes my approach to railway blogging, which is talking about the old and the new. Waxing on the nostalgic and looking forward. The Beachburg Sub is now a short piece of track that was once part of a national transcontinental line. It now sits in limbo, possibly as a key future piece to Ottawa's commuter rail network. 

Much of my journey has been made easier through the online bonds I have formed with other railway bloggers. Everyone I have encountered has been most gracious with their time and with helpful information. And I'm not just talking about Eric Gagnon and Steve Boyko, two of the best railway bloggers out there today. Eric (of Trackside Treasure) and Steve (of traingeek.ca) have helped me along the way and offered encouragement as well.

But many others (Dave M., Keith Boardman, A.J., Kevin from Windsor, J.D. Lowe to name a few) have contributed to this blog just by reaching out, offering information, asking questions, steering me to new topics and pointing out where I've missed the mark.

I consider myself lucky for getting to know everyone who has helped me. Whenever I encounter something where I don't know as much as someone else, I always find those people are quick to fill in the blanks for me. I recall how intimidating it was to start a blog in 2013, simply because people often give in to their worst impulses online. I wanted no part of that.

Thankfully, I have encountered almost no hostility on this blog. To be honest, I don't know if I have ever had to deal with anything unpleasant from readers. You have all been very kind. 

That's why I thought it would be a good time to express my gratitude to you all now, rather than wait for some other arbitrary even number.  

 

 

My family's history in the railways is what sparked my lifelong interest. But everyone who has dropped by this blog is what has kept me going. We live in a time when railways are not nearly as colourful as they once were. We also live in a time when civility is sadly at a premium. That is why I value everyone that has helped me along the way. This blog is in my name, but it is the work of everyone who came before me and is as much the product of your contributions as it is mine.

 

Thank you.

 

Michael

 

hammmond DOT michael77 At gmail DOT com

GO Trains return to Stratford, but what about Ottawa?

The recent news that Metrolinx is once again extending its GO Train service to Stratford, Ont., well west of Kitchener-Waterloo, got me to thinking about Ottawa's beleaguered rail transit service. My thought was, if GO Trains can regularly operate between Toronto as far west as Stratford, what's preventing Metrolinx from applying the same logic to Ottawa? 

A shot of an evening GO Train making its way through Stratford in summer 2023. That pilot service was cancelled soon after this photo was taken.

For those who might not know, the province agreed to work with Ottawa so that Metrolinx would take over operation of the O-Train. That arrangement has led Metrolinx to send new axles for Line 1 O-Train sets that had been damaged due to spalling issues. We need not get into the many, many issues that have plagued Ottawa's east-west Line 1, formerly known as the Confederation Line. Rails not properly installed, axle issues, catenary failures, door jamming problems and weather delays are just a few problems that have reduced the line's schedule many times since it launched. 

The end result is the city's electrified rail transit line is notoriously unreliable and the winters make the problem worse. The state of the line is such that, trains now have to slow at various curves to avoid derailing and causing further damage. The trainsets, which were once coupled end to end, are now single sets, due to the same track issues.

The eastern extension of Line 1, all the way into Orleans, is set to open this year. The western extension, which will reach as far as Crystal Beach at Corkstown Road, will take more time. 

 

A commuter waits for the next eastbound trainset on Line 1 in March.

So, here's my thought. How about some sort of GO Train service here in Ottawa?

The city has already committed to seeing the second phase of the Line 1 extension through to completion, essentially linking Orleans with Crystal Beach. Fine. The missing piece here is how to serve the booming west end of the city, namely Kanata and Stittsville? Also, how to properly serve Barrhaven, which is a city in and of itself?  

I suggest that, instead of extending the problematic electrified Line 1 operations, make use of existing track and serve Barrhaven and western Ottawa with diesel trains. 

Metrolinx knows how to do this. I'm not saying that we should see massively long double-decker GO Train consists like we do in the GTA, but who's to say we couldn't extend a slightly modified diesel service throughout the city along our lightly-used tracks?

Possibly the answer would be to use the existing diesel trainsets that are currently in use on Line 2, or the Trillium Line, which now runs from Bayview all the way out to Riverside South. 

A northbound diesel O-Train makes its way past the Walkley Diamond en route to Bayview Station in early spring 2025

This is why I think it could work, if there was a will. Consider the trackage we have in the city that is greatly underutilized, to say the least. Using the city's Via Station on Tremblay Road as a possible starting point, consider the possibilities of heavy rail going west. The one challenge would be to time all diesel O-Train runs between Ottawa's westbound corridor train departures in the morning and its eastbound arrivals in the evening. This is possible, as Via has installed a passing siding at Wass, and there is also a possibility of holding trains at Federal Junction, where the Beachburg Sub connects to the Smiths Falls Sub.

Using the Beachburg Sub from Tremblay through to North Kanata*, Ottawa has the potential to connect vast neighbourhoods with hundreds of thousands of people.

Beachburg could easily host stations where the tracks pass over Merivale Road, Woodroffe Avenue and possibly Greenbank Road. After Greenbank, there would be a possibility at multiple points to connect Bells Corners, after which the train could make its way to March Road in Kanata via the Renfrew Spur (* Then, if there was a will to reconnect the Beachburg line from the old Nepean Junction, the Beachburg Sub could link North Kanata, where many people work in the North Kanata Business Park). 

And we all know CN would desperately like to be rid of the burden of maintaining what little trackage it still owns in Ottawa. 

Easy, right?

No. 

The bridge over Carling Avenue that once took the Beachburg Sub into Kanata and beyond is gone. The rails from Nepean Junction running northwest are long gone. That part of the plan would require time, money and planning.

I haven't even mentioned the Smiths Falls Sub so far, but I don't think it's unreasonable at all to assume that diesel service couldn't be extended to Fallowfield Station, as there is already a Park and Ride facility there. Fallowfield Station was originally designed to be a commuter rail stop anyway. Why not use it for its intended purpose? The passing siding is already there.

What about laying tracks on the former Carleton Place Sub, which would link Bells Corners to Stittsville, where tens of thousands of people could make use of a link to the downtown? That old trackage was initially acquired by the former Ottawa-Carleton region as a possible commuter option. 

A meet between two Via corridor trains in May 2023 shows that this station was originally designed to be a frequent stop for commuter rail. Its name was meant to connect it to the Fallowfield Park and Ride facility, where people can park and take the bus.

 

The Barrhaven part of any diesel extension would be far easier to accommodate, as the rails are in place and the station is well established, with perhaps only some small changes to be made on the platform. You can see how Via stations operate side-by-side with commuter trains throughout the GTA and even at Dorval in Montreal.

 

I guess my point is, before the city doubles down on its electrified O-Train service, which most agree has been a failure, why not extend a proven technology? Diesel O-Trains work well and are almost never out of service. GO Trains or some form of heavy commuter trains (nor LRT, in other words) can withstand the Ottawa winters. There is no catenary to maintain.

 

Better yet, Metrolinx knows how to operate diesel commuter service in the GTA. Why not let this organization do what it can do, but here in Ottawa?

 

How could it possibly be worse than what we have in place now? 

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. 

Taking the track less travelled

This week, as I had a day off following Easter, I decided to head out and get some train photos in Ottawa, which I haven't done in a little while. True to my evolving approach to railway photos, I thought of some new perspectives to showcase trains as part of the landscape. My first thought was to get a shot of a Venture trainset going over the Rideau River on the Beachburg Sub rail bridge.

I have taken photos at this bridge before, but not from the south side. I have taken multiple shots from the north side. In this case, since the sun created shadows on the north side, I decided to try and find a piece of shoreline on the south side to get a decent perspective.

I'll even mix in some observations. This train was heading west toward Fallowfield station with the control cab leading the way, meaning Via Rail has resumed its push-pull operations in the corridor with its Ventures after wyeing many sets in the winter so that the engine was always pulling. A few readers mentioned this change in operations to me, as they had heard from Via personnel that the trains were having trouble in the push configuration over the winter months. 

Anyway, back to my image. In this case, I pulled back from the bridge a fair way so I could get an overall view of the west shoreline. I couldn't pull back far enough to get both the eastern and western shores of the Rideau, but perhaps that is a thought for future visits. The waters on the Rideau were not at their peak, as much of the snowpack has already melted. This allowed me to venture out onto some rocks that are sometimes submerged in the spring. It all helped to frame this image.

Since I had time to catch an eastbound train from Toronto, my thoughts turned to another spot along the Smiths Falls Subdivision, which would allow me to get another unique perspective. Alas, the train had made up significant time between Brockville and Ottawa on home tracks, which meant I had to quickly make my way to Fallowfield Station and try to get something unique there. I am generally avoiding the station these days, as there isn't much I haven't tried there. So I tried to get a shot that was near the station but didn't necessarily scream "station stop" in the photo.

This was the best I could do. I got to the edge of the parking lot and backed away from the tracks as much as I could. I tried to get a shot that showcased the sky and the fallow farm field behind the train. It's not a groundbreaking shot by any means, but it was at least an attempt to avoid the extremely sharp wedge shots that are all too common at this station. I have been guilty of this in the past.

Then, I figured I would try to get a shot of people disembarking from the train, but at a distance, so as to respect their privacy. 

You can see a gentleman in the centre of the platform, waiting for a loved one to get off the train. It would have been nice to get a little closer to the people, but I also wanted to see if I could get a shot of the end of the train as well. It was an imperfect trade-off. I had to decide to either get closer and lose the end of the train, or, by get closer and getting the people, risking having to blank out their faces. I also ensured that I got low, as it tends to add a bit of an element of size. You get a better appreciation as to the size of trains when you shoot them from ground level.

Some new territory

In my quest to find new topics and pursuits to fill this blog, I've begun the process of looking to the past. I recently applied to get a membership card to the Library and Archives Canada, as it is only a bus ride away for me. I have been digging through the online search tools in an effort to find some rail history that interests me and might be of interest to you as well.

One of the topics I've always had in mind is old train stations, especially the ones that have been demolished. It seems as though every city, town and village once had a train station but many are no longer standing. But we still see roads in many communities that are called Railway Street, Terminal Avenue or Station Street. Yet, the actual stations are long gone. 

With that in mind, I have decided to dig up some historic documents to see if I can find out more about some of these old stations. The first one I intend to research is the station in my hometown of Corunna. I did find one document dated 1936 that apparently outlines the details of the station's establishment, decommissioning and removal. 

My hometown station has been a complete mystery to me ever since I found the slightest mention of it in a document a while ago. I have no idea where is was located, what it looked like or how long it was standing. I do know it was shut down when the Pere Marquette Railway discontinued passenger operations in the 1930s on what became known as the Sarnia Subdivision. It's amazing to me that there was regular passenger service at all on that line. I hope I can shed some light on that station. My hometown's history is not terribly well known, and its old train station is almost a ghost in any records that I have found.

I also want to find out more about Kanata's old train station, in Ottawa's west end. That station, which sat on Station Street, is also a complete mystery. I know it stood near modern day March Road along the Renfrew Subdivision. The road remains, but there is not a trace of any old station there. 

Those research efforts are to come. For now, here is an interesting photo I found on the Library and Archives Canada online archives of the old CN station in Windsor, Ont. (Update - See the comments section below. The Library and Archives seems to have mislabelled this image. A reader says it does not match any Windsor railway landmark. In fact, looking at it, I believe this image to be of the Sarnia railway station, which still stands).

There was no information associated with the photo other than that it was the CN station in Windsor. Judging by the heavyweight passenger cars and power lines in the background, the photo could have been taken at any time in the war years. 

So that is a bit of a teaser as to what's to come, hopefully. I really need to shake up the direction of my efforts, I feel, as modern railways in Ottawa just aren't enough to keep this interesting. If you have any topics you'd like to me to research, feel free to let me know. I can't guarantee I will find anything, but I'm willing to try.

It's time to change the approach to . . . everything

I've been trying to put into words what it is that I have been trying to do with my rail photography recently, but I think I've fallen short. That was until I read the comments to my last post when a few fellow railfans commented and the words came to mind. So thanks to Steve and J.D.

And here is how I came to clarify my new approach to rail photography. It started with a memory of what my counsellor told me many years ago when I was struggling with my mental health. His name was Woody and what he told me I never forgot. He said, "No one makes you feel anything. People act and you choose how you REact." It was a revelation to me at the time.

That made me think of how I am approaching my photography right now. I thought back to what my counsellor said and I applied it to my hobby. I have no control over what railways do, which is in line with another thing my counsellor told me. He said, "You have no control over anything but yourself." I am applying those lessons in my photography. Since I have no control over how the rail industry has changed, I can at least control how I approach my photos.

So here is my new approach, boiled down to something more pithy, thanks to recent comments from readers and old lessons from my counsellor.

Railways might be more standardized, boring and faceless these days. I don't know if anyone can argue this. I cannot change this.

If you can't change the trains, change everything else in your camera's frame. That means change your angles, your spot, your height, your lighting, your choice of background, your location, your time of day, your approach to the sky, your . . . well, everything. 

This photo above is perhaps not the ideal image to prove my point, but bear with me. In this frame, you can see the interior lights of my Venture coach and the reflection of the laptop screen of the young lady sitting in front of me. I tried to get images that would avoid the interior glare but this is the best I could do. In the image, you can see a string of GO coaches in the background and part of an old Via F40PH-2 in the foreground. The Via engine looks like it has just completed a run from Montreal or possibly Ottawa. It needs to go through the washing station, for sure. The buildings in the background tell you this is Toronto and the platforms tell you this is near Union Station. Put all those elements together, and you have some context about where this photo was taken. 

As for the computer screen in front of me, I do have a funny story to share about that. I couldn't help but notice via the reflection in the glass that the young lady in front of me was attempting to study for an exam or possibly upcoming test. However, she was also clearly messaging friends, which meant her attempts at studying were distracted at best, and I say that nicely. She was mostly messaging. At times on the ride, I wondered when she would give up the ghost with her studies. Whatever it was she was trading messages about was clearly her main focus.

Here's another image that I have come to enjoy. I took this shot at Via Rail's Windsor Station when I paid a very brief visit to the city in 2024. Here you don't see the front end power or much of the train, but you get to see a timeless scene of people boarding an eastbound train for Toronto at the station. I like that you can see the people in silhouette (sort of), a beautiful fall sky, the coaches and the station. It's a scene that could have been captured 20, 30, 40 or even 100 years ago. The trains and stations might look different but the scene is the same. Timeless. 

How many times do we stop to capture a bit of humanity in our images? After all, trains are still a very human endeavor.

Here's an example of angles. I have more photos of Via Rail corridor trains than anything else, so I have given a lot of thought in past years as to how I can capture images of them in different contexts. This is a shot of incoming Sarnia-Toronto Train 84 making its way into Stratford across Niles Street. I deliberately stepped back and made sure I got the people waiting at the crossing (on the left) as well as the cars waiting on the other side. You can also see the railway stop sign. There are many elements in this image, which made the task of framing the train a bit of a challenge, but I like the end result. So often, I find we obsess over getting the train or locomotive itself but lose sight of getting its surroundings. 

I would have liked to attempt this shot from the other side, but the harsh summer sun meant the shadow side of the train would have ruined the image of that train on the curve.

Here's one final image that I captured in February 2021 on the Canadian Pacific Winchester Sub at Bedell, Ontario. There was a maintenance of way crew working on the South Prescott Spur to Oxford Station, with a genuine CP caboose sitting on the spur, offering a warm place for crews to get out of the biting cold. I took a few shots of the caboose but I made sure to back up and get a shot of all the surroundings, so I could have a complete picture. The fencing in the foreground and the enormous pile of ties gives you can idea of the scale of the work being done here. I only wish I could have done a better job with the morning sky, as it did not turn out nearly as crisply as I would have liked. 

With these images, I hope I have made my new approach clear. It's time to change my approach to everything in my rail photography outside of the trains themselves. I've done this in fits and starts over the years, but I'm really trying to make it a major focus going forward. It doesn't mean I'm not taking standard photos anymore. I am. But at a time when everything tends to look the same, the one major thing about rail photography that provides endless variety is your background. And that is what I am trying to change in my images.

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?