Five reasons to be grateful in 2024

As the year winds down to its precious last few weeks, I find myself somewhat glad to be rid of 2024, although not for the reasons you might think. Yes, as many of you know, my family went through a terrible ordeal, having to move from our home due to the very serious threat posed by a former neighbour. Happily, that is behind us and we are safe. But I don't want to be rid of 2024 to be rid of this experience. In essence, a new year is simply a new number. I am happy to be heading into 2025 because I want to use my experiences from this year as a way of moving forward as a better, more grateful person.

I hope this is reflected in the tone of the posts I include on this blog. Just yesterday, someone sent me an email with an inspirational quote/graphic. I usually discard these emails out of hand, as they are a throwback to the days when people used the internet to perpetuate tired old jokes. But I read this message for some reason and I'm glad I did. It basically said, I have a roof over my head, my home is heated, and I have food on the table. I am grateful. Something like that. 

And I am. Grateful, that is. For all the discontent in the world and all the endless bickering, political grandstanding, political manipulation, tribalism, shaming, irrational hatred, old world grudges and general lack of courtesy, we are lucky. There is no other place I'd rather live than Ottawa, Canada. I have gone out of my way since we've moved into our new house to thank people more often, praise people for doing good work and letting people know they matter. I cannot believe what a difference it makes when you actively show gratitude and share it. I have been like this increasingly in the last few years of my life, but I have made sure to more actively show gratitude with others lately.

With that in mind, here are some reasons for me to be thankful.

1. I am grateful that I was able to share my writing with the Western Ontario Division of the National Model Railroaders Association's online magazine, Model Railroad Inspirations. For the sake of their intellectual property, I'm merely offering a screenshot of part of my article.

If you wanted to read about the Point Edward Spur, you can read my original post here. My thanks to Paul Hurly, editor of Model Railroad Inspirations, for reaching out. This is good lesson for bloggers out there. It pays to check out the comments on old posts. You never know.

2. I am grateful to be inspired by other writers. They should know that their writing matters and sometimes, their writings move people to action. 

Recently, I read this post on the Prince Street Terminal blog. I have to admit, when I read it, it felt like Chris, the blog's author, was reading my mind. He explored the beauty of an imperfect image and went on to muse on the people who operate trains, how they are masters of a very rare skill. They know how to balance the immense power of their diesel engine and the sometimes intimidating crush of the weight behind the engines. This dance between push and pull, slack, resistance, strain and raw physics is indeed an incredible skill. We should be thankful for these people, who help bring us the goods that make our lives more comfortable.

Chris is one of a number of great writers in the train blogosphere that inspire me to think harder, research more, write more clearly, and remember what my strengths are. 

I must admit, I have often thought about writing a blog post about the human element of each train. When Chris shared his thoughts in the blog post I linked to above, he managed to express some of the thoughts that have been rattling ahead in my head for years. He read my mind. And he managed to express those thoughts in a way I never could.

His post reminded me of this photo below, which is another reason I am grateful.

3. I am grateful for surprises. As someone who often relies on road trips to get the train photos that feed this blog, it's the surprises in my travels that make this blog sing.

This photo above was taken in late November as I was driving on the Rokeby Line back to my brother's house after visiting with my sister's family. This was a CN local picking up cars and doing its switching duties on the St. Clair River Industrial Spur, a long stretch of track that serves a number of industrial customers south of Sarnia's Chemical Valley.

And just like Chris mused in the Prince Street Terminal blog post above about imperfect shots, I'd like to take a moment to share how much I love this shot above, even thought it's far from perfect. I had to scramble to get anything as I was in my car and there was almost no light, save for the light of the engine's headlight. The signals, as well, did me no favours, as the red lights often washed through the images I was taking.

But this shot, which was the last one I took, worked out pretty well. It reminded me of that human aspect of railroading that we often forget, when we get caught up in talking about heritage paint schemes, locomotive numbers, axle counts and other technical aspects.

To me, there is a human story to be told here. Who was working this train late on a Sunday night, when he/she would rather be home with their family? What was the train picking up or dropping off? Why was it important that it be done at that time? How many other people relied on that engineer and conductor in the cab of that GP38 so their company could continue operations? Do the people who need these trains to operate even realize the work railway employees put in around the clock to keep their companies operating? These people are our unsung heroes in these blogs. They keep the wheels in motion (literally and figuratively) so that we can enjoy the lives we live.

Catching that train late on a cold November evening after spending time with family was a wonderful surprise.

4. I am grateful for the chance to learn from others. Since I relaunched my blog in 2022, I have been fortunate enough to pick up some new readers and reconnect with people who have been reading this blog since I launched it in 2013. To everyone who stops by the read my ramblings, I thank you. I have never considered myself anywhere near the calibre of other bloggers and I don't try to pretend I know more about railways than I do. That is why you will often find me making educated guesses and opening myself up to being corrected. It's the only way to go, if you want to survive online and learn.

But I am thankful for some of the new people I have met along the way since I relaunched, because it has allowed me to explore new territory. For example, I have been trading messages with a reader from Windsor, who has fed me all sorts of railway information from the city. I am slowly working on a few blog posts about Windsor, with his help. Thanks, Kevin!

Here's a shot from my brief time in Windsor in November, when I was lucky enough to catch a Venture set about to depart the city's Via terminal in the Walkerville part of the city. More on Windsor to come.

5. I am grateful to be published. I saved the best one for last. I don't want to go into great detail, as the details are yet to be finalized, but I can share with you that one of my photos will likely be published in a forthcoming book from a writer who is a well-known name in Trains and Classic Trains Magazine. 

A tip of the hat to Steve Boyko of Traingeek.ca for putting me in touch with this well-known writer. Not surprisingly, this writer reached out to Steve, who was able to relay the message to me. As I said higher up in this post, I don't consider myself anything other than what I am. I am an okay photographer and I know a bit about railways. But I am no expert. Everything I know I learned by reading or listening to people, especially those in my family who worked on the railways. I don't want to share the photo that will be published in the book on this particular post, but I can assure you that you can find it on one of the 400 plus posts I have already published on this blog. 

Instead, I will share this shot from 2015 of CN 589 making its ways to Arnprior, led by a GP38 in the CN North America scheme. The shot was taken along the Trans-Canada Trail crossing near Corkstown Road. No, the author was not looking for photographs of the Arnprior Turn. He was interested in another shot I have of a CN diesel in the short-lived North America scheme.

I hope to share more details about this new book of his soon. 

To conclude...

Would I do it again if I could redo my family's troubled time between September 2023 and 2024? I might have done a few small things differently at the outset, but even when things were at their worst earlier this year, I took time each day to remind myself to be grateful, even for the smallest things. Being a person of faith, I constantly remind myself that there is no guarantee in any sacred scripture from any faith that says a Higher Power promises us an easy life. Even if you're not a believer, I think we can all agree on the old adage, what doesn't kill us...

Let me expand on that for a moment. Whatever doesn't kill me will make me more thoughtful, more grateful, more sympathetic, more alert, more understanding, more aware of my mental health and more patient. All those things make me stronger.

So I wouldn't trade in the last year at all. Because if I did, I wouldn't be a better version of myself today. Even in hardship, I am grateful. 

This will likely be my last post before Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone who has dropped by this year. I will see you all after Christmas.

Michael

hammond.michael77 AT gmail dot com

A rare find: CN diesel still sporting the North America scheme

As I mentioned in a previous post, my brother has been busy taking photos in and around Sarnia with his son in the past few months. We here at The Beachburg Sub have been the happy beneficiaries of his contributions. I have a number of shots of tunnel trains, including one series taken from the Port Huron, Michigan side of the tunnel. These will appear in a future post. There was one photo that Marc sent my way that really caught me off guard recently. Here it is below.

That's right. That is the CN North America scheme still logging miles on a Grand Trunk SD40-2. You can read about the CN's subtle red-white-and-black paint scheme tinkering in this post here. The number boards on the top and side of the cab look a little different as well. Now check out this 1990 shot of the same unit. It looks like this diesel has had a colourful history. It was clearly a Union Pacific unit at one point before being repainted in the CN North America scheme, like in the 1993 timeframe. How this unit has endured in this scheme for so long is likely an interesting story. I'm always fascinated by engine that carry old colour schemes far past their best before date.

His find reminded me of the day when I took a bunch of shots of CN diesels at the old Sarnia roundhouse and ended up capturing a few units in the North America scheme. I never cared much for this logo, since I felt it was needlessly complicated. I can't imagine that those who had to paint these logos were terribly enthused with it either.

Here's a shot taken near the Sarnia roundhouse in the summer of 1993.This one is another SD40-2 with a wide nose. This unit has since been converted to the current CN scheme, as you can see here.

And here another shot of 5324, and another unit in the North America scheme, right around the fueling station in the Sarnia Yard.

SUGGESTED READING

Those readers who might occasionally glance at the right-side tab on the main blog page will notice some changes. I have added a few blogs that I think will interest you as well. One will be familiar to many of you who have drifted over here from Trackside Treasure or Confessions of a Train Geek. CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision is one of the better model railroading blogs I have come across. It also adds in some excellent posts about big-time railroading. It is definitely worth checking out.

The second you might not know. However, I can tell you that the future of railroad blogging is in safe hands, if this blog is any indication. I first came across Nathan O'Neill in this article in the Toronto Star. I encourage you to check it out and read up on what this 7-year-old rail fan has already accomplished. He sounds like an amazing kid. I have linked to his blog because it will no doubt remind many of us where our passion for railroading started. I encourage you to read his blog On the Rails and send along an encouraging word to Nathan. I did. He returns messages.

Finally, for my Ottawa readers, I am adding Ottawa Rewind, an absolutely fascinating blog about Ottawa's history. The author focuses on a number of lost pieces of Ottawa's history, including this post about the Prince of Wales bridge. I would invite you to check this blog out as well, especially if you are interested in this city's history like me.

The wet noodle, the safety scheme and beyond

One thing I've noticed about Canada's two major railways is their consistent appearance. Their looks have both remained largely unchanged over the last half century. CP has not deviated from its choice of red on its locomotives, although its more recent decisions to adopt the gold beaver and then the new Canadian Pacific script for the side of its engines stand out as the biggest changes to the CPR's looks since it adopted the modern red and multimark look in 1968 (I'm leaving out the 1993 decision to adopt the CP Rail System Flag scheme, which was short-lived).

CN has been even more consistent since it first developed its wet noodle logo in 1960. Along with that decision came the radical transformation of the look of its locomotives, cabooses, freight cars and passenger coaches. Amazingly, after 50 plus years, one could put a 1960s vintage CN diesel next to a modern diesel and easily make the connection that the two belong to the same road.

The first, and longest-lasting version of CN's modern look, was the so-called safety scheme, which featured slanted white stripes against a black backdrop and a red cab. The wet noodle was plastered on the front of the engine. When you look at the modern paint schemes of North American railroads, CN was definitely an anomaly in that it did not have its corporate logo on the side of most of its diesels when it changed its look in the early 1960s.

CN F7A 9162 in Edmonton, Alta. in 1973 (Photo from the Canadian Science and Technology Museum archives)

However, there were some exceptions to the rule when CN went modern. Over the years, a number of its locomotives were painted in a nearly all-black scheme. These units had the CN logo on the side and red fronts and backs. I've often wondered why some units were given this scheme.

CN GP9 in 1967 at an unknown location (Photo from the Canadian Science and Technology Museum archives)

Another notable exception to the safety scheme was CN's fleet of workhorse SW1200s, which prowled rail yards and local spurs for decades. These units were given a mainly black scheme with the CN logo on the side. Unlike the GP9 above, the SWs were given red cabs and red trim on the front panels. This grunt and mate 1215 are pulling a load of autoracks to the St. Clair rail ferry in 1993 in Sarnia Yard.

These schemes changed in the early 1990s when CN finally decided to make a change to its look by adopting its CN North America logo, which featured the grey continent image beneath the CN logo. This look coincided with CN's first major marketing foray into the US. You can read about this paint scheme in greater detail by checking out this post in the Trackside Treasure blog. This scheme was around for a few years and it really did suggest what was to come for CN after it was privatized in 1992-93.

CN SD40-2 6002 in Sarnia in 1993

The CN North America logo didn't last all that long and was soon replaced with the look that CN locomotives sport today, like these two brutes below, shot in Markham on Aug 10, 2013. When I was looking through photos in government archives, like the two at the top of this post, I was struck by the consistency of the CN paint schemes over the last 50 years. Compared to the era before the modern logo was adopted, which was marked with constant image tinkering, the wet noodle and red/black/white scheme have been remarkably stable. It's hard to think of a railway that has had such consistency over the same period.