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.
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.