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  

Updated: The CP transcontinentals stir up young dreams in the 1950s

After hearing so many stories of life in rural Northern Ontario from my father, you'd think I'd get sick of them. But I don't. 

(Note: There was some confusion and errors on my part about what power pulled the transcons for CP in the 1950s and 1960s. Thanks to Eric Gagnon for setting me straight! That's why I ask the experts.) 

He told me a story the other day of growing up in Chapleau, Ont., where his father (my grandfather) worked as a rolling stock mechanic for the Canadian Pacific. My dad recently took the Canadian across Canada, allowing him to fulfill a childhood dream. He relayed to me a story after his trip, saying he used to enjoy watching the passenger trains go through his town when he was young, including the transcontinentals.

He recalls my grandmother telling him: "Those trains are for rich people." I think it might have been her gentle way of tempering his young dreams a bit, as my father was one of six children who grew up in a modest working-class household. Even though my grandfather had an employee's rail pass for the Canadian Pacific system, I doubt it would have been accepted for the premier transcontinental trains.

Above is a scanned image of a postcard I have in my collection of CP's early Canadian advertisements. I have this poster on the wall of my home office, where I spend my workday and where the Beachburg Sub takes shape. 

But I was curious about my dad's recollection. What train was it that he saw that ignited his imagination? The Canadian was launched in 1955 by the Canadian Pacific as the only streamlined transcontinental train across Canada with dome observation cars. CN's Super Continental could not boast the streamlined coaches or domes when it launched at the same time. 

Checking the CP Public Timetable from 1956, the westbound Canadian didn't arrive in Chapleau until 4:25 a.m., which means this was not the train my dad saw. However, the eastbound Canadian arrived in Chapleau at 7:21 a.m.*, which makes it possible that this is what my dad saw. 

(* - The timetable lists two separate arrival times for this train, the other arrival time being 7:06 a.m.) 

It should be noted that CP operated the Canadian from two starting points on its eastern flank at this time. One section operated from Montreal's Windsor Station, where it would make its way west via Ottawa, Carleton Place, Pembroke, Chalk River and through to Sudbury, where it would then be combined with the separate Toronto section of the train, which originated from Union Station in downtown Toronto. The Montreal section of the Canadian was Train 1 westbound while the Toronto section was Train 11. The eastbound return sections of the train, which were split at Sudbury, were Train 2 to Montreal and Train 12 to Toronto.

Postcard image of both CN's Super Continental and CP's Canadian at Ottawa's railway station in 1971. Both launched in the mid-1950s, these two transcontinental trains originated in Montreal, although CP also had another section of its Canadian that originated in Toronto (postcard courtesy of Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure). 

This image, above, is of the Canadian circa 1968 at Carleton Place, Ont., west of Ottawa. By this time, the train could have been fully transitioned to its CP Rail action red scheme, from its original maroon and yellow trim. However, I am reasonably sure that this was likely the style of Canadian that my dad would have seen in the late 1950s and early 1960s going through Chapleau. Photo is courtesy of the Canada Science and Technology Museum online archives.

There's another layer to this story from my dad. Was it really the Canadian that had him dreaming as a young boy? After all, the Canadian Pacific also had another transcontinental train, the Dominion, that made its way through Chapleau at the same time. 

Unlike the Canadian in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Dominion was not a fully equipped streamliner. It was CP's second premier cross-Canada train, having begun operations in 1931 as a summer special before becoming a regular fixture in the timetable. This train itself was the successor to CP's first transcontinental train, the Imperial. 

Like its sister transcon, the Dominion also operated in two sections east of Sudbury, one originating in Montreal and the other from Toronto's Union Station. The Montreal section was added shortly after the train first began operations from Toronto.

Looking at CP's 1956 schedule, this train was clearly the forgotten stepchild once the Canadian was introduced. Its slower schedule meant it was significantly shortened after 1955, as its express mail business was shifted to fast freight trains and the speedier Canadian. The concept for the Dominion changed from a true transcontinental train to a train that provided local service across the continent. It seems as though its mission switched to being a local train that people would take to various points all along its run from the east to Vancouver. It soldiered on until 1966, when it was officially discontinued. In 1967, a version of the train was retained to take people to and from Montreal for the Centennial Expo.

But for my purposes, I am interested in when it made its way through Chapleau. Looking at the same CP timetable from 1956, the westbound Dominion arrived in town at 11:55 a.m while the eastbound arrived at 5 p.m.

This, to me, is proof that my dad likely saw the Dominion coming through town, and not the Canadian. Still, to a young boy, I would imagine either train would have been fairly impressive in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At a time when both CP and CN were seeing the last of steam, the steamlined transcons, likely pulled by sleek diesel units, would have been a modern marvel.

I'm assuming that, since the Canadian was all sleek and modern when introduced in 1955, the Dominion was still very much a product of earlier passenger rail cars, like this.

An example of Canadian Pacific's older passenger equipment that would have seen use on its transcontinental train, the Dominon, when the Canadian was introduced in 1955. This car was part of CP's Holiday Train in 2017, here making a stop in Finch, Ont.

The other question that comes to mind when considering my dad's story is what pulled the Dominion in the mid- to late-1950s? Thanks to Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure, I can confirm that this train was usually pulled by General Motors FP units in an A-B-A arrangement. The same was true for the Canadian. Here's an explanation from Eric:

The FPs (ordered by CP as dual service Freight/Passenger) were needed for the steam generators on the Canadian. They were four feet longer than Fs, due to the steam generator in the carbody. CP ordered eleven new FP9As, 1405-1415, and eight F9Bs, 1900-1907, for the Canadian. It also renumbered five FP7As (4099-4103) to 1400-1404. These FP7s had been purchased in early 1953 and had served on passenger and freight trains in southern Ontario. In dual service, they were geared for 77 mph. When dedicated to the Canadian, they were re-geared to 89 mph, the same as the FP9As.

 

 

This is an example of the type of locomotive that sometimes pulled the Dominion in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Photos of the Canadian show it being pulled by FP units almost exclusively. Photo is courtesy of the Canada Science and Technology Museum online archives.

What's interesting is that, in my searches, I found several images of PA units like this one above pulling the Dominion. This was clearly not the norm, judging by the images available of CP's transcons at the time.  

In sifting through some images from the 1950s in books, which I cannot not reproduce here, I did find one image of the Dominion making its way along the Lake Superior route in 1951. That train, pulled by a steam engine, had six coaches of some sort (possibly a sleeper or dining car, although there's no way to tell from the image), two baggage cars and four mail express cars. 

In the same book, I found another image of a passenger train with both streamlined silver and older red passenger cars intermixed. The shot shows the tail end of the train, with a curved observation car with the Dominion markers attached to the back of the train. This image looks like it was taken much later, but there is no way of knowing what train it is from the information in the book. It seems to me it is not the Dominion, which by all accounts was a short train after 1955. Maybe it was an expanded version of the train that served the demand for people going to Montreal's Expo 67.

But, in seeing this photo of the mix of older and newer CP passenger cars together, once again my research jived with information provided by Eric. Even in the 1960s, when the Dominion's status was very much in limbo, the consist of this train was very much a regular mix of older and newer passenger equipment, depending on when you caught the train. The train would look different depending on where it was at in its journey, with cars added on, depending on the needs of where it was geographically. 

All this to say, would a train like the Dominion, which was far removed from its peak, be enough to capture the imagination of a young boy in Chapleau in the 1950s? Maybe. 

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.

Wrong place, right time

After the school year was through, my family headed out of town to Toronto to do some touristy things. While there, I was able to sit trackside for a little while, taking in the continuous movement of trains in and out of Union Station, most of them GO Trains as well as the Union Pearson Express. This time around, my family decided to stay at a hotel near the airport and commute into the downtown aboard the UP Express. This made our trip much easier, as the downtown was packed with fans for a Friday World Cup match at BMO Field, uh Toronto Stadium. 

I was quite impressed with the overall experience of riding the UP Express. At our hotel, you could catch an hourly shuttle to the airport, where the UP Express leaves from an elevated platform, high above ground level. The train itself is quite comfortable. The seats are very much a step above what you would expect to find on a commuter train. The fare for the downtown service is about $12, depending on your age. There are also family passes, which we used several times.

In total, the trip takes about 20 minutes. The cars feature lots of storage space for luggage, which is to be expected, given its purpose in serving the airport. What I did not expect was that the train is very much in use as a local commuter connection for Toronto residents. It makes stops at Weston, Mount Dennis and Bloor before ending its eastbound journey at Union Station. While aboard, I took a quick shot of the layup yard west of Union Station, where a few GO Trains were parked before heading back into service during peak times.

On our first day downtown, my wife took my oldest daughter to enjoy some theatre while my youngest wanted to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which is just a quick walk from Union Station. We had a good time there, as the Hall of Fame is very much geared toward young people. When we were done, we proceeded back to Union Station and took a quick walk along the Skywalk, which is an interior pathway from Union Station over the tracks to the CN Tower. At that point, it becomes an outdoor pathway to the Rogers Centre (I almost typed in SkyDome). 

After a walk to the Rogers Centre and a few photos, we decided to head back to the Union Station food court for an early dinner and a train ride back to the airport aboard the UP Express. I did get a few photos of GO Trains. I thought this one was nice, as the train is emerging from the shadow of the stadium as it makes its way to the station.

But it was on the way back to the station that I saw something I had never seen before.

I had to look twice before I realized I was seeing the Canadian, Via Rail's premier transcontinental* train. I have only seen this train one other time, just barely, as I caught a glimpse of it backing into Union Station from my hotel near the tracks. Those photos were mostly useless. 

(* - transcontinental is a bit of a stretch, as it covers the distance from Toronto to Vancouver in each direction, although in earlier times, the Canadian also served Montreal as well) 

This time around, I was able to confirm with a friend in Toronto that this was indeed Train 2, hours late, in the wrong place at the wrong time, essentially. My friend said the train was overly late arriving at the station and was parked in an awkward spot, as it was getting near to the evening rush hour, when GO Trains would be flocking to the station. It was bad timing for Via Rail, but perfect for me. 

 

Given the glass in the Skywalk is almost universally clouded, I had a hard time finding a decent pane that would allow me to get a good image of the train. This attempt was okay, but I would have liked to find a wider angle.

 

This shot from almost directly overhead was okay as well, especially since I was able to get an evening GO Train in the same frame. However, it doesn't do the Canadian justice, as you cannot really make out the train's true character from this vantage point. You can make out the two F40s, hitched to each other elephant style, but other than that, there aren't a lot of clues to let you know what train this is, unless you are in the know.

 

Here's one final shot, with another GO Train on the left of the frame. Again, since my choices were limited by the quality of the glass I was shooting through, I did the best I could and tried a few different angles. The other limiting factor was that the train was only partially visible from beneath the train shed.

 

That lucky meeting with the Canadian kicked off a week of epic railfanning, both in Toronto and in the Sarnia area, where I was visiting family for a few days afterward. Much more to come from my summer travels. 

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.  

Hello, I must be going

Summer is about to officially begin. My daughters are finished with their schooling and my family's thoughts are turning to time off, trips, visits to family and other leisurely pursuits. With that in mind, I am going to park all activities on this blog for the coming week.

But not before sharing this quick shot captured yesterday (June 24) at Fallowfield Station. 

This might be the biggest rail sensation to hit Ottawa since the Canadian Pacific brought up its vintage rail cars for the CP Canadian Women's Open several years back. Here are two Iowa Northern-painted geeps on the siding at Fallowfield Statiom, coming back from dropping off two loaded centrebeam lumber cars to Kott Lumber on the Smiths Falls Subdivision. 

The train, CN 589, was awaiting the arrival of  westbound Via Train 45. Once the Venture set arrived, the two-car train shuttled off back toward Federal Junction, on its way to Walkley Yard. There was no run up to Arnprior. But the appearance of two locomotives adorned in the vintage CP maroon and grey was amazing to see. 

I'll have much more to share about this meet later on. For now, I'll leave you with this one shot. I have a summer full of railfanning to do, which will fill the pages of this blog in the coming months. 

But I have to say one quick thank you. I would not have seen any of this had I not been given some great tips from railfans nice enough to help me out. Also, it didn't hurt that I am a Quebec worker and had the St-Jean-Baptiste Day holiday off.

Have a good summer. I'm closing in on 500 posts. But for now, let's just enjoy this vintage scene! 

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.