Weird cargo and rare cars

The thing I love about railways is there is an escapism about them. Granted today, we know more about railways than ever before, but I still like to watch a train go by and wonder where everything will end up. Sometimes, you have an idea of where a certain car came from and where it's going. Then again, sometimes you take in a sight that makes you scratch your head. I love those moments when you see a rare car or a piece of rolling stock with mysterious cargo. With that sense of escapism and mystery in mind, here is a gallery of some interesting pieces of rolling stock and unique pieces of cargo.

The first photo is courtesy of my brother, who was trackside in Sarnia late last year when he spotted a long line of windmill blades heading west toward the Paul Tellier Tunnel beneath the St. Clair Tunnel. That would have been a sight to behold, seeing these impossibly large and long pieces going into the tunnel. I would like to know what type of planning and engineering goes into moving these things over such a long distance.

Here's one of my favourite shots from a 2017 visit to London. I was on a side street next to CN's yard along the Dundas subdivision when I spotted this heavy duty flatcar, which amazingly had almost nothing in the way of freight on it. Still, three sets of trucks on either side, which suggested to me that this car was made for large bulky loads. So, why then, was there so little strapped down to it on that day?

This hopper might not look like much of an oddity, but it's rare enough. It's one of the type of covered hoppers that delivers what it known as carbon black to companies like Cabot in Sarnia's Chemical Valley. This product is a powdery substance used for rubber products as well as for pigment purposes in plastics. It's a messy product, to be sure, which would explain why it is carried in black covered hoppers. The plant in Sarnia once had a full fleet of of these hoppers, with ribbed sides, stationed on a three track spur. All of the cars sported a Cabot logo. I wish I had a picture of those old cars.

You don't see these yellow tank cars very often, so I was happy to capture this one in 2013 in Ottawa. These cars were once patched with a Safety Kleen logo and are used for what is known as fluid recycling services. Some of the liquids this company recycles include oil, coolants and antifreeze solutions. So it's anyone's guess what was in this car on that day.

This is one of my favourites. At first site, it's not much to look at, since it is a tired looking CN gondola, with its markings barely visible. But on closer inspection, you can clearly see that it is a side dumping gondola that looks to me that is used for ballasting and maintenance of way purposes. Given how little is done to secondary parts of CN's system, seeing such MoW equipment in Ottawa was always a rarity. This car was captured in 2013 as well.

I saw this piece of equipment on a mixed freight barelling west on CN's Strathroy Subdivision several years ago. At the time, I remember asking if anyone knew what this was. No one knew for sure. It bears some resemblance to a piece of HVAC equipment, but there are too many small components and pipes for this unit to be that, to my uneducated eye. So I will throw it out there again to those more knowledgeable than me. Does anyone know what this is?

This last shot isn't necessarily a rarity, at least not in Southern Ontario, but it is rare elsewhere. It's not uncommon to see a long string of these underframes making their way from a parts supplier to an automotive manufacturing plant somewhere in the heartland of the province. I have often seen these strings of cars in the Sarnia area when I visit that area. I saw this string on an eastbound train crossing Camlachie Road, just outside Sarnia's eastern city limits.

I've often mentioned in this blog that railfanning isn't just about getting shots of locomotives. To me, that's boring. There is always something else to see on a train. In some ways, it's better to be train starved like me, because it makes you appreciate everything you do see. And it motivates you to take a few extra shots.

One last loooooong look

London, Ontario, Part V

With my last post about my weekend of railfanning in London in August, I wanted to share some photos of a long freight train I caught up with in CN's London East Yard. I was on Egerton Road, a city street that literally crosses the entire rail yard (six tracks at this crossing, if you can believe it). I noticed from a signal that a train was making its way from the west so I decided to head back a few tracks and get a few wide shots of the slow moving consist. I tried to frame the train around the excavator in the middle of the yard at first.

Here's a better attempt at incorporating the construction equipment with the train. As I have mentioned throughout this year, I really feel as though my rail photography has improved this year, since I have paid better attention to details like these construction vehicles that are trackside. The results aren't always there, but I was happy with this shot below.

After a few shots with the construction equipment, I pulled the lens back to try and get a wide shot of the train. I was intrigued that a single autorack would be the buffer car between the two lead units and the tank car behind it. I don't often see autoracks leading a mixed freight consist, but readers have assured me before that it does happen.

I also tried to keep an eye peeled for some interesting rolling stock. Sadly, this train didn't have a lot to offer, but I did manage to catch this old RailGon gondola, which is now patched DJTX. I recall seeing a better shot of this type of gondola in another blog recently. The logo is barely visible in this shot, but I'm glad I got the shot nonetheless.

I love seeing these carbon black hoppers, since they remind me of the old Cabot Carbon fleet that once graced the St. Clair River Industrial Spur in the Chemical Valley in Sarnia when I was younger. At some point, the cars lost the Cabot logo, which was usually stenciled top right.

This shot shows you the train making its way through the yard. As the train made its way past Egerton Road, I noticed it was crawling to a stop. I took a few shots of the train going away and scrambled back to the Highbury overpass (you can see it just beyond the front of the train. Also, can you see the yard geep in the right of the image?).

As I made my way up the overpass sidewalk, the lead units were uncoupling from the train, although the autorack and tank car were kept in tow. I tried to get a shot of the train alongside three of the yard units. The wires frustrated my efforts, but I thought I'd share this shot anyway.

Here's a closer shot of the two lead units making their way toward the overpass. I tried to capture the two workers in this shot, but I couldn't work around the one wire.

The two units made their way under the bridge, which allowed me to get these overhead shots of the vents, although the afternoon light washed out a few of my shots. Yeesh.

I shuffled around a bit and tried to mitigate the effects of the sun. I was pretty happy with this shot.

So, that concludes my five part series based on a single weekend in London. It was a great weekend for me and a lot of fun. Next week's post will bring me back to Ottawa. Lots going on here with the O-Train Confederation Line. Lots to talk about. Stay tuned.

Perfect!

London, Ontario, Part IV

When I mentioned that August was a record month for me, I wasn't kidding. My visit to London alone yielded more railfanning than I have ever done in a weekend. The highlight of the weekend, at least from a photograph standpoint, came when I caught this container train from the Highbury overpass over the London East Yard.

It started when I was passing over the Highbury overpass and saw the signal lights for eastbound traffic flashing green. I knew that meant that something was on its way. So I turned my car around and headed for a nearby parking lot, which allowed me to scamper up the overpass sidewalk and position myself for some great shots. In a few seconds, a container train with two locomotives rumbled around the curve near the Western Fairgrounds and hit the straightaway. I initially set myself up almost straight on (see above), so I could get a shot of the train and the train yard in the same shot.

But I quickly shifted to my left so I could get a little more of a profile of the train. I was pretty happy with the above shot, since it pretty much confirmed to me that everything came together. Perfect lighting, perfect positioning (no shadow) and great framing. I won't pat myself on the back too much. I know my limitations as a photographer. But when I saw this shot of 5487 and 2635 pulling a long string of containers, I knew I had a special shot.

I did a quick zoom and got a close up of the lead units. You can see the exhaust in this shot. Always a plus for me.

I zoomed out a little and got a shot of the train itself with some of the London skyline in the background. You can see this train snaking around the curve in the top of the photo. I was waiting for traffic on Highbury to lighten up a little so I could cross to the other sidewalk and get a going away shot of the train, especially since the other side had some interesting features for a rail photo.

I really like this shot of the containers heading under the gantry as the train heads east toward Toronto.

One final going away shot, although by this time the sun was washing out the sky to the extent that I couldn't colour correct it in a way that still did the rest of the photo justice, so I left the shot unfiltered.

This was the first CN container train I have shot since I ran across two container trains in Markham in 2013. Yep, it's been that long. I will concede that these trains hardly thrill most railfans and I am no exception. However, when you get an overhead shot and the light and positioning are just perfect...well, it's a satisfying meet for sure.

I have one last item to share from my time in London, which I will save for the next post. Actually, I have two items, but one of them will be saved for a more thematic post later this year or next. I think a six-part series about London might be overkill.

Found in the rail yard (Part I)

Lambton County 2017 Part IV
London, Ontario, Part I

I've been to Sarnia Yard many times over the years and as anyone who watches trains in Sarnia knows, there really is only one decent spot to shoot pictures in that yard. The old Via Station, off Campbell Street, offers one of the few legal spots with a decent vantage point. The drawback is, given the direction where you are shooting the action, you almost always have to make do with terrible light. Cloudy days are usually best there. And now that the pedestrian portion of the Donahue Bridge is now closed off, forget about taking shots of the tunnel entrance.

When I went down to visit family in the Sarnia area, I tried to stay away from the yard so I could focus on getting some shots of trains moving on the Strathroy Sub (mission accomplished), the St. Clair River Industrial Spur (check) and the CSX Sarnia Subdivision (check).

However, I did manage to drop by the yard and spotted something I hadn't seen before.

Yes, it was track maintenance day in the area. I say this because I saw these types of MoW equipment on both the CN tracks and the CSX tracks in the area that day, although this was the only opportunity I had to get a decent shot. Other than that, all the action in the yard was taking place behind that long line (actually multiple lines) of covered hoppers.

The skies were threatening as you can see from the top image, but I did manage to see a set of GP9s and a slug idling away, no doubt in preparation for work on the St. Clair River Industrial Spur, which is where those engines are situated. It began to rain shortly after I arrived and the gantry was not suggesting that anything was imminent, so I moved on.

Shortly after my time in Sarnia, I visited London for a family wedding. It was during this week that I discovered the Highbury Road overpass, which offers a stunning view of the London East CN yard, and Egerton Street, which amazingly crosses over multiple tracks (I think it may have been seven) in the yard. I don't think there are many places where a rail yard is as open as this one, so I took full advantage of the opportunity. I was amazed at what I was able to see up close from Egerton Street and from Pine Street, which parallels the yard and allows you some great close-up shots of interesting rolling stock. Here is what I found.

The three units in the yard were idling and ready to go when I first arrived. I liked that they all represented a different CN paint scheme. Also, the yard engines seemed to parked on the track right next to a scrapper's yard, which helped add another industrial element to the shot. That's quite a pile of old cars heaped up next to the tracks.

There was nothing going on the first time I arrived, even though the yard engines seemed to be set for action, as the lead unit was lit and seemingly ready to go. The second time I visited the yard proved to be a gold mine as I was able to catch two eastbound freights in the yard, one from the Highbury overpass (stay tuned for those trains in future posts).

From Pine Street, I was able to get relatively close and take a shot of this twelve-axle heavy duty flat car. I have never seen one these in person and was happy to snap a few shots of these brutes. I was a bit surprised by the relatively small cargo attached to the car, which is clearly meant for much larger items. There were several of these cars in the yard, which were shunted around a few times in the days I was in the city.

This shot above gives you an idea of how close you are to the action while on the sidewalks of Egerton Road. Again, I am surprised that there is this type of access to a rail yard in London. You can see some large silos in the distance. I wasn't able to make my way to those elevators to see what they stored.

You can see the limits of the yard from Pine Street. I was surprised how many people ignored these signs and crossed over multiple tracks to get to where they were going. Security seems to be light here and the potential for danger seems immense, given how little people seem to care about the dangers of being around trains. Stay off private property, especially when it's something as potentially dangerous as an active rail yard. Railway officials often say anytime is train time. I can't stress this enough.

One final shot of a lonely ex-Government of Canada grain hopper, now patched for CN. I took this shot because it also gives you an idea of how large those heavy duty flatcars are.

I purposely spaced out all that I saw in this rail yard, as well as the CP London rail yard because there was simply too much to cram onto one post. Stay tuned for four more posts that will show you my meets with two massive CN freight trains, one CP local and all the rest of the miscellany I saw in the CP yard.

I can't wait to railfan in this city again.