A little railway history in Toronto

As I mentioned in my previous post, a June family trip to Toronto turned out to be a gold mine of railfanning fun for me, as I watched a fair bit of downtown commuter trains in action. Then there was the railfanning I did en route to the city. It was a fun weekend, which included a chance to visit the Toronto Railway Historical Society's Roundhouse Park museum in the old roundhouse across Bremner Boulevard from the Rogers Centre and CN Tower. 

This facility, known more commonly to railfans as the old John Street roundhouse, still has a working roundtable, which the museum uses to shuttle its cars to different positions throughout Roundhouse Park. There are old vintage station buildings (the former Don station), maintenance structures and a few places to grab a bite to eat in the actual roundhouse. It's a great place to visit on a summer day. I always make it a point to visit this park when I'm in the area.

Of course, it shouldn't be a surprise to any knowledgeable railfan that there's a roundhouse near the stadium, as this part of Toronto's core was once almost exclusively railway land. You can read about the history of the area in numerous posts Eric Gagnon has shared over the years in his Trackside Treasure blog. At one point, CN, CP, Via and Ontario Northland trains all shared trackage in this area. The roundhouse is the last vestige of this industrial past.

This early piece of GO Transit equipment was new to me. The last time I was at the park, this was in the roundhouse. People who know about GO's history know that its early days were a cobbled collection of cast-offs from other railways (sound familiar? Via? Amtrak?). This cab car, an exception to this rule, was built for GO in 1967 by Hawker-Siddeley in Thunder Bay (later Bombardier). The car, RTC-85 SP/D numbered 104, allowed trains to be used in push-pull mode, with full engineer controls in the car. This car was officially retired in 1994, when it was sold to the Montreal commuter agency before ending up being used in the Gaspé region for passenger operations. Metrolinx reacquired 104 to mark GO's 50th anniversary in 2016.

 

This old Baldwin switcher was parked behind a fence near the old coaling tower. Its numbering had not been stencilled onto the cab. I checked the TRHA website, which only lists CP 7020 on its roster, an S2 dating back from 1944, when it was at the forefront of dieselization efforts across the system. That old switcher bore the mulitmark scheme for years until it was repainted in its original CP switcher scheme, as delivered from the manufacturer. 

 

Here's a shot of 7020 when it was decked out in the action scheme, from my visit to the old John Street roundhouse in 2016. There are many differences between 7020 and the unnumbered maroon unit. The side grills and the trucks are both quite different, as is the front headlight. So the identity of the engine near the old coaling tower is a bit of a mystery. Anyone out there know more?

I found it interesting that the car hitched onto the old maroon switcher was stencilled for cider purposes. A real throwback to when railways carried more perishables.

Beside the old Baldwin was Canadian National 4-8-4 U-2g class Northern steam locomotive 6213. Built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1942, it served in both freight and passenger operations between Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The engine would have been serviced at the old Spadina Street roundhouse, which is now where the baseball stadium sits. This would have been among one of the last steam locomotives built for CN, as dieselization was already well underway in the mid-1940s.

These old wooden cabooses were particularly popular with people roaming through the park, as they are anomalies for people not old enough to remember them in use. I am pleased to say that I am in fact old enough to at least remember the old steel cabooses in use, although I can't say I ever saw one of these old ones in use. The orange caboose dates back to 1920 and is clad in the classic CNR maple leaf scheme while the other, built in 1921, is in the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo maroon scheme.

I like this old olive green clad CN GP7 high hood unit. I had to wait quite a long time for two teenagers to get off the walkways so I could get a clean shot of this unit. This locomotive was delivered to CN from GM Diesel in London. The museum says this unit is significant in that it is one of the few GP7s that is still largely intact with its original parts. The only thing missing is its traction motors. The unit was one of the few, the museum says, that was not cosmetically altered. It still has its high hood and most of its original controls. I tried to get a shot of it with the old CNR caboose in the background.

The museum's old 50-tonne Whitcomb switcher was hiding in the roundhouse. It was built in Kingston by the Canadian Locomotive Company and was used for an aggregates company for years before making its way to a heritage operation and finally to the Toronto musueum. This unit is clad in the old TH&B scheme. It is fully operational and is often used for switching the museum's rolling stock around.

Here's the switcher on the turntable from 2016.

 I didn't stay at the roundhouse park long, as we had a lot of other things to do and a baseball game to get ready for, but I did make sure to snap a quick shot of this old heavyweight Canadian Pacific passenger car. The museum had a few such cars, one of which was later used as a work train crew car. The old maroon CP passenger cars are such a classy sight. Love to see them so lovingly preserved in their original colours. It makes me think of my grandfather, a rolling stock mechanic, who might have worked on this coach at some point in his years working for CP.

 

I did get some shots of the other pieces of the museum's collection in my previous visit in 2016. You can see those shots in this post and in this post. 

I was disappointed, after my visit, to learn that the museum had ex-Via Bombardier locomotive 6917 that was not yet on display. Having been a kid when those modern looking units prowled around the corridor, it would have been a real treat to see one again, but alas, it was not anywhere visible, as it remains at Via's Toronto maintenance centre, awaiting more cosmetic work. Next time, hopefully. I read that it is one of only two LRC locomotives that have been preserved. The other is at Exporail in Quebec.

All in all, it was a fun trip to the roundhouse. I even made sure my wife got a shot of me on one of the old GP7. It was fun to share my passion with my family for a few minutes.

Along the main line in Kitchener

I don't know what it is about Kitchener, but I have had some good luck in this city in the few times I have visited the area. You might remember that I caught some GEXR action in the grey and rain one time at the Lancaster Street crossing in 2018. In November, I was in Kitchener-Waterloo for a conference where I was giving a mental health presentation, which left me with some spare time to do little exploring and some railfanning in St. Jacobs and in Kitchener. 

Much has changed since I got those shots of the Goderich Exeter Railway in 2018. For one, the Guelph Subdivision in now back in CN's hands while the trackage east of the city into Toronto is essentially in the hands of Metrolinx. The last time I was in Kitchener last year, I didn't catch anything. But on the whole, it's been a spot where I've had a lot of success. It makes up for the years I lived in the city and didn't take any railway shots.

This time around, when I was approaching the Lancaster Street crossing near Victoria Street, I noticed that a CN conductor was flagging the crossing, which I found a bit curious, since the signals and gates were operating. It turned out, there was a crew in the Kitchener yard assembling a train. I managed to park my car in a nearby parking lot and walk down a sidewalk to get a few shots of the motive power shunting cars near the crossing. This was the first shot, which was taken from the west sidewalk on Lancaster. There were three four-axle geeps at work, two with the sergeant stripes. Interesting that the lead unit did not have its headlight on.

Here's a shot closer to the crossing. You can see that the crew had the power partially on the main line, as they hitched onto some hopper and tank cars in the yard. I waited around for a few minutes, to see what they were going to do, but my daughters were a little restless in my car, so I decided to move on. The early morning sun was not making it easy to get a shot, since many angles were a no-go due to the harsh light washing out images and casting unworkable shadows.

We were about to leave the area and make our way to the nearby Kitchener Via station near the corner of Victoria and Weber streets when the crew had the geeps moving again. They moved back into the yard in a position where the light was over my shoulder. it made for a decent shot, especially with the curved track. The zoom on the camera made it seem like I was in the yard, when I was still at the Lancaster crossing. Always stay on public property and be aware of the train's movement. Again, even with the engines moving, there was no light on the lead unit shining.

Within a few minutes, we were at the Via station just to see if there was anything to see, as I often say. See what there is to see. It's something railfans in Ottawa usually resort to, in the absence of a sure thing. The signals on the main line suggested there was nothing to see, which was fine. I like the Kitchener station. It's a nice old station, even if it's a little ragged around the edges. It's clearly seen better days, but it fits the character of Kitchener, which is as tough a town as I've ever seen. Also a town of good people, I should add. Great people, in fact. To be honest, it did appear as though some maintenance had been done to this old station in recent years.

I took a quick shot of the station and roamed the platform a bit. I've taken Via from Kitchener into Toronto a few times, since when I lived in the city, the GO Train service was not yet established. Speaking of the GO Train, as I looked east down the tracks from the eastern edge of the platform, I could see the trains parked on a spur just past the Weber Street flyover. In this shot below, I wanted to get as much of the cityscape in as I could. Here you can see the topography that the rail line traverses, a piece of the flyover and the GO Trains on the north side of the main line.

The last shot I took was an attempt to get the trains in the shot with fewer visual distractions.

I'm not sure it's all the much better, but the other shots where I zoomed in were not as sharp as this image. I made sure to keep the signals in the shot as well as the main line, as I think the topography is a visually interesting element. 

On the same trip, I took my girls up toe St. Jacobs to have a look at the Waterloo Central Railway yard on the Elmira Subdivision. That trip unearthed some surprises, which delighted not only me but my daughters as well, but I will save that for another post. 

All in all, it was a fun trip back to a city where I lived for a short while. It's interesting that I maintain such fondness for a place where I barely lived two years. I chalk it up to the people I met when I lived there. I will say this about Kitchener. Good people.

Mainline freight action near the station (Stratford, Part II)

In a recent post, I shared a few images of evening GO Train 3775 returning west and stopping in Stratford, en route to London. This is part of a pilot project where Metrolinx is providing weekday commuter service between London and Toronto's Union Station. For commuters along the Guelph Subdivision, the imminent discontinuation of this service will likely come as a disappointment. For me, I was grateful to catch the evening GO Train, complete with an old F59 trailing, in a rare setting. 

The bonus was that, as I waited for the GO Train, a eastbound CN mainline freight train was waiting for the GO Train to pass. This train, CN 581, was led by three idling engines, which were parked east of the Via Rail station, close to CN's yard office on Regent Street.

The parked freight was carrying mainly covered hoppers, making it quite possibly a grain or agriculture-related movement, as the Guelph Subdivision passes through some of Ontario's richest and most productive farmland. I was quite pleased to capture an image of an old Burlington Northern three-bay covered hopper, still visually intact sans graffiti. 

This car has 4,750 cu. ft. of storage space, made in 1992 by Trinity Industries for BN, all numbered in the 467XXX series. Given its fairly recent build date, that makes it positively new, in terms of the railway-branded fleets that are becoming less and less common these days. I know a lot of railway vets dislike BN's cascade green and white scheme and its ultra modern symbol, but I always liked it. It must have something to do with not growing up with BN's more well-loved predecessors, the Burlington Route, Great Northern and the Northern Pacific. I'm too young for them.

The train had quite a few of these old BN hoppers, still lettered BN, although this lettering is, of course, one of many combinations belonging to BN successor, BNSF Railway. In the late summer, this is the type of train that is quite common in this area, not to mention on the Goderich Exeter Railway, which originates in Stratford. I did catch a GEXR yard job preparing to embark for Goderich earlier in my stay in Stratford, but I'll save that series of photos for another time. That train was also very heavily weighted with covered hoppers.

Once the GO Train made its way west, I made my way east down Regent Street, which parallels the Stratford Yard. From a public vantage point, I managed to capture a shot of the head end of Train 581. There were some visual hazards, but I think they add to the scene quite nicely, as they put the image of this train in context. The head end was led by GP40-2 9449, which was given the new CN.ca scheme in recent years. The second unit, also a recent convert to the CN.ca scheme, is GP38-2 7501, although it does not have a wide safety cab hood, as 9449 does. The final unit is GP38-2 4725, still in its original sergeant stripes. 

You can also see the first car is an Ontario Northland ribbed boxcar, with the chevrons logo. Behind the parked freight were a large string of covered hoppers that were parked closer to the Masterfeeds agricultural products concrete elevator complex, which is on the east end of the yard, near the Romeo Street flyover.

Here's a closer shot of the two lead units, taken from Regent Street.

In both shots, you can see what appears to be a moveable wooden ramp, no doubt used to unload boxcars for use in carload service deliveries to local customers. I'm not sure how much business CN does like this, but it seems to me that this would be why they would keep this ramp around. Also, I'm guessing it might be used if they need to move heavy construction equipment onto a train for MoW service. These are just guesses on my part.

There was also one other cool sighting in the yard, as I explored it from all angles from the surrounding streets. On the side of the yard opposite the station, there was this electrical unit that was parked on a heavy-duty flatcar. I could only get so close on public property to get a proper shot of it. As we were leaving Stratford to head home, I saw a large contingent of local public utility vehicles carting this unit onto a truck for use somewhere in the local electrical grid.

The other rolling stock sightings were part of the GEXR move, so I will save those images for another post.

This meet between the freight train and the GO Train was one of many such sightings that dotted my weekend in Stratford. I was quite happy to catch so much action in Stratford, which can be a hit-or-miss place to railfan these days, unless you're there to catch the regularly scheduled Via service. And yes, I did get a few shots of a Via passenger train making its way to the station, since it was carrying members of my extended family into town for a family reunion. 

More material for another post. Stratford proved to be a gold mine this summer!

Railway Reads: Trains of Newfoundland has heart and the goods

Over Christmas, I was able to do a little railway reading, which is not a common thing for me. I don’t read a lot of railway books and the ones I do are usually focused on the big picture and not necessarily the technical details. But a tip of the hat to Steve Boyko at traingeek.ca for alerting me to the book, Trains of Newfoundland, by Kenneth Pieroway.

The book is not a definitive history of the Newfoundland Railway by any means, but it is a stunning time capsule of the rugged railway’s last half century of operations. Through a surprisingly diverse collection of colour images and well-informed captions, it tells you the railway’s story from its takeover by CN after the province’s entry into Confederation in 1949 to its disbanding in 1988, after the Trans-Canada highway made the railway largely obsolete in the eyes of decision-makers. I’m sure many people would argue this point, but that’s the impression I get in reading about CN/Terra Transport’s final days in 1988.

The first thing that surprised me about this book is how many different types of railway images the author has collected. I really appreciated the photos that paid as much attention to the surrounding scenery and details around the right-of-way. There are some poignant shots, like the image of a station agent in Hollyrood about to hand off train orders to a conductor on a passing train. You don’t see much of the train in the image, but the photo is quite powerful nonetheless. You will also see images of old cars that were converted to hunting cabins, trains peeking out from behind buildings, shots taken from vestibules on numerous mixed trains and shots of people on small town station platforms.

Of course, there are many shots of NF210 and NF110 locomotives, as well as a few G8s. All of CN’s paint schemes are represented in these images, from the original green and gold to the wet noodle to the sergeant stripes to the Terra Transport dueling arrows. There are even a few shots of the final few Mikado steam engines that were in use in the mid-1950s before being replaced by diesels. The book is broken up into subdivisions, which take you from St. John’s all the way to Port Aux Basques.

As I mentioned, this book will not give you a history of the railway, but the captions for each photo are impressive, as they impart a lot of information for those who might not know a lot about the railway. I will confess that I knew precious little about this railway, other than it was a narrow-gauge road that meandered through the province. After reading this book, I have a much better idea of the railway’s operations and its unique operating practices and features.

When you see the geography that this railway traversed, it gives you a great deal of respect for what the people who ran the trains had to do just to keep the wheels moving. I was shocked at the dips, grades and curves of this line, which are plainly obvious in many images. It’s not the typical right-of-way alignment you will see on the mainland. It's also rare to see train photographs where the grade of the railway is so obviously noticeable in the image. This is not your typical mainland railway book.

There are even a few vignettes in the book, one from the author in the introduction and one from a former CN employee. The book is all colour and very reasonably priced for a photo book of this quality. You can order through Flanker Press, which is based in St. John’s. The book is listed on Indigo, but it appears to be unavailable through this outlet at this time. Those looking for a more complete history of the railway should check out Pieroway’s other books about the railway. They aren't hard to find online.

If you are a railfan like me that is not looking for something comprehensive, this book will be a fascinating read and one that you will return to just to check out the many, many details in the images. It is a high quality and surprisingly detailed coffee table book, with a lot of heart. I have made my way through it twice already and I am still learning more about this unique operation. A pity I will never get to see it in person.

Something is better than nothing

I've made the trip from Ottawa to the Sarnia area on Highway 401 more times than most people. Being from Sarnia originally and having lived in Ottawa most of my adult life, the trip is unavoidable as much of my family remains in the Sarnia area. While it is a long, often boring drive with very little in the way of scenery, it at least gives me the opportunity to get a glimpse of the busy CN, Via Rail and GO Train operations along the CN mainline through the Greater Toronto Area.

Recently, my family spent part of our March Break in Toronto, as we visited the city's zoo. On the way into Toronto, I was able to get a quick shot of what appeared to be an eastbound local freight as it made its way east around the General Motors office building in Oshawa.

Of course, it wasn't much of a shot as it was taken from the passenger seat of our car, which was travelling west on the highway. The train was lead by a solo unit, which I believe was CN 2334, which is an ES44DC. I got a few shots where the number was almost legible, so this is my best guess. The train was about 50 cars long, with two buffer cars behind the power and another buffer car at the rear.

This was about all I saw on my travels, with the exception of a freight I glimpsed in Kingston as it passed below the highway, but I was not in a position to capture a proper image from the eastbound lanes across to where the train was.

Oshawa is an interesting place.When I was a reporter at the Peterborough Examiner, this city loomed large in the Central Ontario economy. Many people commuted into the city to work at the GM plant, or for the industries that fed the plant. I recall being assigned a series of stories about downtown revival in a number of cities, including Oshawa. At the time (2003), the city's downtown had seen better times, although efforts were afoot to create housing in the core and take advantage of the creation of what was then known as the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (OIUT), now known as Ontario Tech University.

Given the waxing and waning fortunes of the city's automotive industry, Oshawa had certainly seen changes of fortunes over the years. It still maintains a robust economy, given its commuter town status that feeds into the City of Toronto. Oshawa's GO Train service remains steady, which insulates the town from economic busts, as many people have the option to work in Toronto and live in Oshawa. I'm not sure how much of this has changed amid the pandemic, when many people ditched their daily commute to work from home.

As you can see, the Oshawa Via Rail/GO Train station is a busy place, with frequent GO Train service, not to mention a steady presence of autoracks. It's tough to photograph from the 401, but I tried. It's a modern, well-equipped station with a massive park-and-ride parking lot for commuters. Ottawa would love to have the same type of ridership for its troubled O-Train as GO Transit enjoys in cities like Oshawa.

As we were heading east, we passed by the GO Transit maintenance facility in Whitby, which is a train facility I would like to visit. You can just make out the GO locomotive at the left, parked in front of the building.

Here's another shot of the maintenance facility, with a few cars parked in front near the paint shop.

As I as preparing this post, I remembered that I had taken a quick shot of the Union-Pearson Express at the Pearson International Airport last September when my wife and I were returning to Ottawa from a trip to Indiana. This shot was taken from inside the terminal, but I liked how it turned out, even with the window frames in the shot. You get a clear idea of the size of these trains as well as the UP Terminal at the airport. There's something about the look of these trains that I like. I can't put my finger on it. I like them, though. I suppose anything is better than Ottawa's hideously ugly O-Trains.

I often mention on this blog that travelling along the 401, or anywhere outside of Ottawa for that matter, is an opportunity to capture an image of railway activity. I realize that many of these shots are not all that riveting and most don't show you all that much, but for me it's part of the challenge of capturing something when travelling through southern Ontario. 

Once in a while, you get something. When you never see mainline action, something is better than nothing.

A busy day on the mainline in Kingston: Part II

As I mentioned in Part I, I had the chance to spend the better part of a day trackside at Kingston's Via Rail station, as my family was in the Limestone City for a music conference downtown. After dropping off my children for their musical activities, I spent much of my time watching the steady flow of rail action at Kingston station, which resulted in five Via Rail trains in the morning, including the 60/50 J-Train eastbound along with the 62/52 J-Train eastbound, along with a westbound later on. So, for those keeping score, that's five trains in just a few hours. Still, I was waiting for a freight train, as that was what I was there to see. As many railfans south of Ottawa know, much of the CN freight movements happen earlier in the morning before the onslaught of passenger trains between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto in the mid morning to afternoon.

My afternoon began with the arrival of another westbound Via Rail corridor train, being led by an F40 in the blue-ish scheme. Once again, staff was on the platform ready to greet the crew in the engine.

For much of the day, it was cloudy, which was actually a real plus for me, as the sun was making shots from my side of the platform tricky, given the sharp shadows, as you can see in this shot. I did take this shot of the corridor train boarding passengers with 6432 reflecting the brief moment of sun through the many clouds. As it was a windy day, the blue skies didn't last long. And for once, I was thankful for the return of the clouds.

That was because the next train through was an eastbound mixed freight, just minutes after the Via Rail westbound left. The train was led by ES44AC 2993. I mentioned that the sun was mostly gone by this point, but it was still wreaking havoc with shadows as the train came closer to the station.

Given that that train was being led by a single engine, I was pretty sure I was going to see a mid-train DPU. I was right. The DPU snuck up on me, so I wasn't able to get a great shot, but I did like this shot of the unit sandwiched between an ADM covered hopper and a RailBox boxcar. It was one of the former Citi units that CN has regularly used on this main line.

As always, I was on the hunt for interesting pieces of rolling stock to shoot, possibly with fallen flags on the side. Sadly, there wasn't much to shoot, so I at least got a going away shot of the DPU 3977 in better sunlight. This shot also reveals the size and length of the RailBox car. This type of boxcar reminds me of the auto parts boxcars I used to see regularly on the CSX trains that passed through my hometown, back when CSX shuttled oversized cars from Chatham to Sarnia.

I thought getting an overall shot of the train was a good idea. I took a few going away shots toward the station, but those shots weren't as interesting as this shot, given the colour and assortment of rolling stock.

After that afternoon mixed freight passed, I stuck around to see what else there was to see, as I still had time to kill before picking up my daughters and heading home to Ottawa. Not surprisingly, the afternoon was filled with more Via Rail corridor trains, including this westbnound, led by F40 6416 at 4:17 p.m. This as on my third trip to the station. The intermittent sun peaking through the clouds cast a glare on this train, which washed out most of my shots. This one I was able to touch up a bit. It was a tricky day at times for photos.

I was still holding out hope for another freight, but the Via Rail corridor train parade continued, with an eastbound about 10 minutes afterward, led by wrapped P42 913.

The LRC cars were pretty standard, but it was nice to see this outlier, a reminder of Via's branding efforts from a few years ago, which started with Canada 150 and then continued on during Via's 40th anniversary.

A lot has been written about the early days of Via's operations, when it wasn't uncommon to see Via cars mixed with old CN cars. Even more colourful were the early Amtrak years, when any number of its predecessor passenger carriers would find their way onto early Amtrak trains. I don't know if we'll look back on this era of Via as the rainbow years. There certainly is a wide variety of different paint schemes and wraps to shoot, if that is your thing.

My day in Kingston ended with this westbound, led by P42 905 just after 5:30 p.m. I was a bit disappointed that the new Siemens train didn't make an appearance, as it has been in use periodically on a few Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto trains (33 and 26 for example), but no such luck on this day.

But as I wrapped by day of railfanning, I was happy to see 10 trains, even if the ratio of Via to freight (9:1) was a bit slanted for my tastes. Overall, it was fun to watch a busy rail operation in action throughout the day. The frequency of trains, combined with the various scenes on the platform, made the day a good first effort in Kingston. I can't wait to go back.

Two trains, two very different images, one day

Two trains in one day in Ottawa? It’s not as tough as you might think, as this city continues to be a busy hub in Via Rail’s Windsor-Quebec City corridor. But in early October, I managed to catch two trains in one day and one of them was CN’s weekly west end freight train, the Arnprior Turn, as they call it. It took a little bit of luck, as it usually does.

I was in Kanata checking out a federal government office building, where I am now working once a week, as part of the government’s mandate that all public servants return to the office. I won’t get into the absurdity that I can telework from a generic government office and fulfill my back-to-work commitment, but I can’t telework from home on that day. Either way, I don’t have to return to my employer’s actual main office in Hull.

Anyway, as I was returning home after checking out the office building, I saw the telltale light from an old geep winding its way slowly down the Renfrew Spur. At the moment, I was on Carling Avenue, which follows the tracks for a short distance east of Kanata. I was able to turn off Carling and found my way to Bayfield Avenue, a tiny residential lane that has an unprotected crossing with the tracks, with only a set of crossbucks and a stop sign.

I have to say that I was excited to get a shot on this seldom used street. It affords you a chance to get a shot of trains from an interesting angle up close. I started by taking a shot of the signage. Notice how the Renfrew Spur is not listed as a CN property. It is listed as the Renfrew Subdivision, which is a legacy of its former status. It’s technically a spur now. The official name of this rail line is the Arnprior-Ottawa Railway, which is owned by Nylene Canada, its only customer in Arnprior. The rails are owned by the company while the land is owned by the city, which inherited ownership from the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton.

The crossing gives you the opportunity to get a shot down the tracks, since Bayfield has almost no local traffic except for people from the handful of households on the street. After framing the train alongside the signs. I tried one shot without the signs. Given the low speed limit on this line, you have lots of time to set up these shots before moving back to safety when the train gets back.

This is not the type of shot I take all the much anymore. I don’t really like close wedge shots as much as I once did. However, I was happy with this shot because the angle of the tracks gave me this dramatic shot. You can even see old GP9 4140 behind the lead unit, CN GP38-2 4700. I was surprised to see the old geep in the consist. It’s been years since I saw one of these old geeps in Ottawa. You can check outmy tribute to the GP9 in this post.

 

I was also happy to catch a lumber car in the consist. This is the first time I have seen one of these cars on the weekly west end train.

Later in the day, I was waiting for my daughters to finish their weekly dance class in the Colonnade Road area, close to the Federal Junction where the Beachburg and Smiths Falls subdivisions meet. Since I am there at the same time each week, I was able to see Via Rail Train 59, westbound for Toronto at the same time. My first attempt to get this train was atop the Hunt Club Road overpass, which I snapped on Sept. 28.

 

But on the same day I was able to catch CN 589, I decided to try catching Via Rail Train from beneath the overpass. There was a spot near the fence, where I stood on a small cement block to get the shot. I liked this shot the best of the train coming out from beneath the overpass.

As the daylight was getting shorter, I figured there wouldn't be many more chances to capture this train with decent lighting, but I managed to squeeze in a few more shots in subsequent weeks. I am not in the habit of taking shots of Via Rail trains at Fallowfield Station or the Central Station, since I have so many shots from both places. I am really trying to find new places with different photographic elements, so this area is a new challenge for me. I like that this train is using the old silver streamlined cars. It makes up for the P42 in front, as this engine my least favourite locomotive to shoot.

All in all, it was a fun day trackside. Given that it happened in Ottawa, that makes it all the more special. You always feel like to earn everything you get in this city.

The old guy in the lead

On a trip back from Southwestern Ontario in July, I encountered this strange consist idling on an overpass over the 407, near CN's Brampton Yard. There are a few things about this consist that caught my eye after my wife snapped a few shots from the passenger side of our car, which was headed east.

I liked how the old GP9 was the lead unit of a three engine consist lashed together elephant style. The engines in the image are GP9RM 7029 followed by GP38-2 7509 and GP38-2 7512. Look closely and you can see the differences between 7509 and 7512. One noticeable change is the extended roof overhang on 7509, which 7512 does not have. Also, the placement of the horn on each is different, as 7512 has it mounted on the cab while 7509 does not, although it's hard to judge by the image. Also, there's the obvious difference in paint schemes between the GP38s and the GP9, which looks tired.

A shot from further back gives you a better idea of the size of the container train on the parallel track.

The noteworthy aspect of the image in my mind was that the GP9 is in the lead. This is not all that surprising at first glance, as I'm sure it just happened that this is how the locomotives lined up when they coupled them together.

But given that CN has only 29 of these old units left on its system, any sighting of these engines is worth noting these days, before they disappear forever. Over the years, I have come across a number of GP9s in action in Windsor, Sarnia, Lambton County and even here in Ottawa in recent years.

The GP9 is a survivor, many of which were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although CP's fleet has disappeared and morphed into the GP20 ECOs, the CN roster continues to toil in its yards scattered throughout its system, but for how long.

I have been thinking about these old warhorses in recent months and thought that this image taken in late July might be a perfect opportunity to do a little retrospective on these engines and my encounters with them over the years. 

That will wait for the next post.

Summer Observations in Ottawa

I will admit that I have mixed feelings about CN's weekly train out to Arnprior, CN 589. While it's fun to catch this train, as you almost always have to earn it, it seems like it's sometimes the only thing us rail enthusiasts in Ottawa want to talk about.

Recently, I was taking my daughter to soccer and heading down Carling Avenue around the intersection with Herzberg Road in Kanata, when I saw CN 589 heading east back toward Walkley Yard after making its weekly run to Nylene Canada. My daughter in the passenger seat was able to capture a few images from our vantage point with an iPhone. Granted, these are not ideal shots by any means, but any sighting of this train is always a plus in my book.

You can tell my windshield has seen its share of bugs. The image is a bit grainy and blurred, but you can see the usual two-engine consist of a CN GP38-2 and the former GATX GP38-2 leading the way home. That cyclist nearly ruined the shot, but we just managed to squeeze the train in. There are five tank cars in tow, although the much-talked-about GT caboose is nowhere to be seen. I've noticed on Facebook in recent weeks that the caboose has yet to make another appearance in the west end, which makes my recent meet with it all the more special.

This (above) might be the second best shot, but it's all relative when you're shooting through a bug-stained windshield with an iPhone. Here's a tip I've learned about iPhones. They are perfectly acceptable to use if you are fairly close to a train but the shots pixelate in a hurry any time you zoom in, especially with the older models. I use them in a pinch when I don't have my proper camera, but I always resist the temptation to use the zoom for this reason. 

In recent weeks, people that follow the weekly Arnprior Turn have been wondering why they haven't been using the Grand Trunk caboose. I was in the area of Walkley Yard and managed to capture a fleeting glimpse of the caboose in the yard in late August. 

This image was taken at the end of Albion Road on public property. I know some people still make their way into the yard on the service road that is an extension of Albion Road. I can's stress it enough that this is not a great idea. That road is more than likely on private property and is not a public road. Don't risk it.

While I was at the end of Albion, I had a fairly clear view of the new O-Train diesels that will soon be plying the Trillium Line all the way from Bayview to the southern extension past the airport. From an aesthetic point-of-view, these new units are much better looking than the electric trainsets that make their way east and west on the Confederation Line. I won't get into the recent mechanical failures and technology failures that took the O-Train out of service yet again. The best thing going for the O-Train right now is not that many people take it, as most public servants continue to work from home. The uproar over this malfunctioning line would be a lot louder if more people actually used it. But, for now, here's one of the new diesels.

 

 

I should mention that, with the ongoing construction happening on the Trillium Line, which is behind schedule, one of the developments that will affect railfans is happening in Walkley Yard. The city is building a maintenance facility in Walkley Yard that blocks much of the view railfans once had from the Bank Street overpass. This is unfortunate from our perspective, as this overpass did once offer a reasonable view of Walkley Yard from a safe, publicly accessible vantage point. This means you will not be able to get a view like this anymore.

This shot, from 2017, can no longer be duplicated, as there is a large maintenance facility on the left track, which blocks much of the view of the yard. Thankfully, the vantage looking west toward Walkley diamond is still unobstructed, so that area is still in play for photographers. 

Recently, I spent some time in Waterloo, Ontario and saw its own light rail system, dubbed Ion, in action. My friends in that area say the system runs very well and has rarely had any operational problems since it began operating on a full-time basis. I will explore this system in a future post.

Finally, the big stir this summer in Ottawa was caused by the Canadian Pacific bringing some business train equipment to town, behind its F-series units. Some have called this the Royal Canadian Pacific train, which I'm not sure is entirely accurate. I did managed to snap some shots of it from Conroy Road from quite a distance, thanks to the zoom on my camera. The CP police officer, who told me he was from Regina, said the train was in town so the railway could entertain VIPs as part of its sponsorship of the CP Women's Open golf tournament at the nearby Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. 

The next day, August 29, the train was scheduled to head back west and leave Walkley Yard in the morning. A group of railfans waited at Fallowfield Station, but the train had not shown up yet, as it had obviously not been given clearance between Via's many corridor trains to and from Toronto on the Smiths Falls Sub. I stayed as long as I could, sacrificing my lunch hour, but I only saw Via Train 52. I did like that it was being led by a wrapped F40PH-2. I don't have that many shots of these old warhorses in the wrap design. It was better than nothing, but I was quite disappointed to have missed the CP heritage equipment. Oh well.

One last shot of the train beside the station as the passengers boarded.

Those are a few observations from my limited railside adventures this summer in Ottawa. Much of my material for further posts came from outside Ottawa in recent months. Stay tuned for some material from Waterloo, the GTA, Kingston and even a few items from the Sarnia area. And with an imminent trip to the United States looming, I hope to add some railway photos from the heartland of America in Indiana. Stay tuned.