A quiet few moments to capture railway history

Last November, I visited my family around Remembrance Day because I hadn't seen my father over the summer and I wanted to visit with him in his new home. It was a busy weekend with not a lot of time, but I did manage to sneak a couple of minutes trackside to see if there was anything to see at the Sarnia CN Yard.

The yard was largely quiet, although I did manage to see an interesting CSX interchange train picking up a massive piece of equipment that was to be delivered to one of its industrial customers south of Sarnia. You can read about that here.

Other than that, I busied myself taking some shots of the odd assortment of locomotives parked around the old CN roundhouse, which is now the home of Lambton Diesel Specialists, which repairs, rebuilds and leases motive power. You often see old engines there, when they are stripped for parts. Sometimes, you see old units there that are given new life. It's always a mixed bag, which adds a little colour to your railfanning in this area.

This unit below was the one that really caught my eye. I had never seen this scheme before or heard of this railway. It was a misty, grey day so I did my best to grab a photo of it.

 

I was immediately stumped at to what GIO Railways was or where it would have operated. At first glance, the hood is a giveaway as to this engine's lineage. This is clearly a former CP Rail GP9. Thankfully, a couple of quick searches on this unit yielded some unexpected results. 

 

Since I no longer live in Southern Ontario, I didn't know about GIO, which is a fairly new shortline operator. This unit, which was leased from LDS, was first used several years ago when GIO took over operations on the dormant Cayuga Subdivision. The sub, which stretches from St. Thomas to Delhi (pronounced DEL-high), was once a CN concern before it was abandoned. After CN stopped operations, Ontario Southland operated the line before it went dormant again in 2020. In 2022, GIO Rail cleared the brush, laid some new ties and resumed operations, with this old GP9 as its first unit running light over the line.

 

That unit has since been returned to Sarnia, obviously, as operations on the line have been upgraded to include GP38s, judging by this YouTube clip. The newer units no longer have the GIO Railways grey scheme. Instead, they are straight black and are patched LDSX, which means the railway continues to lease its units from Sarnia. GIO Railways is perhaps better known as the company that bought Trillium Rail in the Niagara Region. 

 

This summer, when I returned to Sarnia, the old GP9 was still there, looking like it was either being readied to return to action or being kept in storage. It looked like it had been refurbed at the very least. Note the motors under tarps on flatcars right beside the old roundhouse.

 

While at the yard in November, I also caught this old SW switcher in a red and grey scheme. As this was the only vantage point I had, I couldn't get a side view of the unit. I'm not sure what railway it once belonged to, as I am not familiar with this livery. That's what I love about this old roundhouse. You never know what you are going to see. We live at a time when the number of railways is shrinking and many of today's trains cars are lease fleet blanks, which doesn't leave a lot of variety. This is a spot where you can see railway history.

 

There's also a straight red geep to the left of the image, with a livery similar to CP. I'm not sure where this unit might have originated, since I couldn't see its operating marks from where I was standing. In the centre of the image, there appears to be two other GIO units, one a GP9 of CN origin and a GP38-2 in the rear.

 

Here's a shot of some other SW units, including Nova Chemical's SW unit, which appears to be patched as LDSX 7316, meaning it's a leased unit in Nova colours. In my travels around Lambton County this summer, I noticed that a newer switcher is now handling the tank cars at the Nova Corunna refinery, where Nova handles its own industrial trackage, off the CN St. Clair River Industrial Spur. That means this old unit is either in for servicing or awaiting reassignment. 

 

 

Here's one last image from my November visit trackside in Sarnia. The LDS roundhouse is adjacent to CN's refuelling pad, which means when things are quiet, you can get a glimpse of a lot of yard horsepower in one image. Here's a shot of quite a few old warhorses sitting idle on a quiet November day.

 

 

It's always fun to see old engines that aren't common on railways anymore, like the SW1200s or old CP-style GP9s. I like sharing shots like these because you can look at the image for a while and always find something new. All of these shots have multiple elements that are worth exploring. It might not be as exciting as watching a mainline freight roar by, but for those of us who appreciate rail history, a few shots of a quiet yard can be quite illuminating.

 

UPDATE ON MESSAGES 

 

Since I have switched my messaging over to moderation mode, I'm happy to see that the spam messages have disappeared from my site. There are two sides to this, obviously. My messages from readers has also decreased, which is understandable. I don't want to make it harder for anyone to share their thoughts here or contact me, but I will be sticking with moderated messages for the time being, until I am satisfied that the spam scourge has abated. I'm curious to read what you think. 

Beachburg Sub Post 400: Time to give thanks

Stratford, Part III

A little serendipity on this Thanksgiving Monday in Canada, as I was sifting through my recent photos and wondering what to share for this latest post. When I scrolled through my recent posts, I realized that this post will mark my 400th since I began this blog in 2013. There have been a few bumps along the way and a sabbatical, but it's still pretty cool to reach 400. Think of how many hockey players have reached 400 goals or how many baseball players have reached 400 home runs. It's a little different on the Interweb, as you can easily produce and proliferate at a prodigious pace (that pun is for Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure). Nonetheless, I am happy to hit this round number.

In late July and early August, I was in Stratford for a family reunion, which allowed me several opportunities to see trains. You can see the photos of a meet between a GO Train and CN freight in this post. Or, if you prefer freight, you can check out some of the rolling stock on the freight train waiting in the hole for the GO Train. Those images of CN 581 and a few interesting cars are in this post.

Earlier during my stay, I caught a westbound freight train making its way through the yard, although the train was initially waiting behind a signal to proceed, so I was lucky to get the chance to set up and get a few shots of it waiting. Since I could not see the signal from my vantage point on the public platform, I'll leave it to you to figure out.

This was my first shot of CN 568 westbound, waiting to proceed from the signal, which is not seen in this image. You can see the Masterfeeds elevators just to east of the yard and a few strings of covered hoppers. This was not an easy shot to get. There are a number of visual hazards at the edge of the Stratford station platform that were not there prior to the GO Train experiment in Southwestern Ontario.

This shot gives you an idea of what you need to work around when you see a westbound train approaching the platform. Not an easy task to work through these distractions to get a clean shot!

Since the GO Train service to London will not continue beyond the fall, the platform erected to accommodate GO passengers with disabilities might not last much longer. Via does not make use of this ramp, as its trains are too short to reach it. The railway has its own equipment to accommodate passengers with disabilities. 

The cloud cover was actually a blessing for me as I awaited this train to make its move, but sadly, the sun peaked out for a few minutes, which meant I was on the shadow side of the train. I backed up on the platform and picked an image I wanted to get. I decided to frame the CN westbound against the parked GEXR GP38-2 and the covered hoppers in the yard. I call these images railway family tree shots, where you see multiple railways together in an image, but not as shared power on a train. You might recall I did the same in Smiths Falls in 2017 with a passing westbound Via train and some parked Canadian Pacific GP20s.

The reason I chose this freight train to feature on a Thanksgiving post is because it was mainly a grain train, as the two CN geeps were pulling a consist of mainly covered hoppers. Not the most exciting thing to see, but when you rarely see freight trains, you're always thankful. I also thought that a train that might be carrying part of the annual grain harvest was as good as anything to feature as we count our blessings.

Two paint schemes and an old GP9 warhorse to boot. I was happy to see and old GP9, as even Ottawa has seen a scarcity of these units lately. Over the years, CN has used a fair number of GP9s in the Ottawa area, but the power of choice in Eastern Ontario these days seems to be the GP38-2s, from what I've seen. It's been a few years since I've seen a GP9 in Ottawa.

Note, I said the train was made up of mainly covered hoppers. There were a few tank cars in the consist, surrounded by hoppers. A little variety is always nice.

The cloud cover returned quickly, which cast a fair shadow over the train as it made its way by Downie Street, next to the station. Not an easy day to get a clean shot.

Here's one final shot of the train rounding the curve past the station. I tried my best to get a shot of the entire train, including the engines, but the visual distractions could not be avoided in this shot. Still, as I have been making an effort to do different things this year, I like the results of this shot. Remember, 2023 is The Year of Different. Go out there and find a new perspective, new angle, new approach to your railway images.

So, as I circle back to the theme of gratitude as I complete Lap 400, I would like to thank everyone who drops by to read my meandering musings on the railways and helps me out with advice, information, tips and photos. I have gotten to know a few people through my blogging over the years and I am thankful for their friendship and guidance.

Happy Thanksgiving. 

The ghost that haunts me (Part II)

In the first part of this post, I shared a few photos of CN's Arnprior Turn crossing the Merivale Road flyover as it returned to Walkley Yard recently. I was extremely lucky to capture this shot, as it is a rare opportunity to capture something different in and around Ottawa. I recently dubbed this year the Year of Different, as it seemed to fit with my goal to capture some different railway images for the blog. Truthfully, it was done out of necessity as well, since the overwhelming majority of my images this year have been of Via Raul corridor trains. There are only so many images you can capture of F40s and P42s and four LRC or HEP cars. Sure, it was cool capturing some rarer Via rolling stock during the tail end of the buffer car period, but that has come and gone, leaving me with fewer options for railway images to capture.

So, as I mentioned in the first part of this post, I caught images of 589 crossing over Merivale Road, while traffic was stopped. When it began moving, I knew I might have a chance to catch 589 crossing over Prince of Wales Drive, since its speed is severely restricted on the last remnants of the Beachburg Sub. I decided to give it a try, as I had time to spare before my daughters' dance class on Colonnade Road.

Colonnade parallels the Beachburg Sub for a short stretch in what was once known as Nepean, just north of Hunt Club Road. There was a parking lot to pull into, which allowed me to get a clear vantage point of the old stonework flyover that takes mainly Via Rail corridor trains over busy Prince of Wales Drive. The one issue I encountered was I barely had enough time to set up, which meant I couldn't run fast enough to get a spot beyond the wires. In weeks past, I have caught images of Via Rail's westbound Train 59 on this bridge a few times, which I will be sharing later.

This time, it was 589 I was desperately trying to catch.

I was really happy with this shot, given that it was rushed. I would have liked to have been beyond the hydro poles, but this was the closest I could get as my timing was extremely rushed. I like that I captured two old GP38-2s with the sergeant stripes. The old stonework flyover is a nice feature as well, as it goes well with the old geeps. The only giveaway that this image isn't from the 90s or 80s is the parade of newer cars on Prince of Wales.

Here's a shot of the caprolactum empties it is bringing back to Walkley after unloading at Nylene Canada earlier that day. This meet fulfilled my Year of Different objectives well, as I was able to capture an image of a freight train in two new spots and each shot was taken from a vantage point that was not a 3/4 or wedge shot. The evening light was just about perfect, as the clouds in the sky reduced any potential shadows that would have required a fair bit of touch-ups afterward. 

One final shot of the last three tank cars before I headed back to take my daughters to dance class. If you look carefully, you can just make out the cab of the geep to the extreme left of the image. All in all, it was a lucky meet and a wise decision on my part to bring along my camera after initially toying with the idea of not bringing it along.

My daughter's dance classes have resumed after a short summer break, which means I am back in this area on Wednesday evenings, which allows me to hope that I might catch up with the Ghost once more over the summer months. Last week, we were too late to catch it, but I did capture a shot of Via's Train 59 heading under the Hunt Club Road overpass. I saw a few interesting things while in the area, which I will share in an upcoming post.

The ghost that haunts me (Part I)

I've called the weekly CN freight run to Arnprior the Ghost several times, and for good reason. It's a tricky train to catch, if you are so inclined. The Arnprior Turn, as it is commonly known, has changed a fair bit since I have begun to take notice of it with the advent of this blog in 2013. When I first started blogging, CN made two weekly trips to the west end of the city. It made a run out to Kott Lumber and SynAgri on the Smiths Falls Sub on Sundays (and sometimes Thursdays I'm told, depending on demand). The run to Arnprior was on Wednesdays, which continues to this day. 

Of course, the two runs out west have been combined into one run now, as CN 589 heads up the Smiths Falls Sub early in the morning before backing up to Federal Junction and then proceeding  west up the Beachburg Sub to what was Nepean Junction, where the now continuous line becomes the Renfrew Spur, which takes the train to Nylene Canada in Arnprior. This is the usual routine, if both runs are needed. If there is nothing to do on the Smiths Falls Sub, CN crews proceed directly up the Beachburg Sub to Arnprior.

To be honest, I don't pay as much attention to this train as I once did, because I have been branching out in my blogging a bit, trying new things, finding new subjects as well as thinking about new spots and angles to capture railway action in this area. That doesn't mean that I don't sometimes look out for it. Since I work from home, I do have opportunities to swing by trackside to catch this train, in theory. But, even breaking away on my break time is a difficult thing to do, which means I usually don't chance it, as my workday can become busy in an instant (like it did this week).

But as I find myself in the Colonnade Business Park every Wednesday evening, when my daughters go to dance class, I have time to keep an eye out for 589's return to Walkley Yard. Over the winter months, the timing hasn't worked out, as the daylight was nonexistent. However, I did see the train twice over the winter months. It got me to thinking that, once the time change happened and I had daylight, I would start bringing my camera each Wednesday, just in case I got lucky.

For the most part, the timing hasn't worked out, as the Arnprior Turn has been unpredictable. There are shifting factors that affect this train's timing. The most obvious is the switching that needs to be done in Walkley Yard before 589 prepares for its trip west. The next factor is whether 589 needs to make a run to Kott lumber or (rarely) SynAgri in Twin Elm, which isn't always the case each week. Depending on its timing on the Smiths Falls Sub, there is the Via Rail Toronto-bound trains that CN needs to accommodate, as they have the right-of-way usually. 

Add all those factors together and it can be hard to predict when this train makes its way to Arnprior and back to Walkley Yard again. There's also the factor of how many tank cars of caprolactum that Nylene Canada requires. There have been weeks where I saw a single tank car in tow on this train, while other weeks see as many as 6-7 cars. The unloading process is not terribly straightforward, I'm told, as caprolactum isn't like unloading a tank full of petroleum gas.

So, long story short, it's anything but predictable, which means you always need to be ready. Case in point was a few weeks ago when I was bringing my daughters to dance class and nearly left my camera at home. I was having no luck catching this train and I was getting a bit discouraged by my bad luck. At the last minute, I decided to take my camera anyway, just in case. I'm glad I did. The railway gods finally smiled on me.

This is a shot of the train heading east back to Walkley Yard on a flyover. Since traffic was at a standstill on Merivale Road, I quickly snapped a few shots through my windshield as the train trundled by. I would never attempt this otherwise, but I knew it was relatively safe as the cars around me were not moving. For once, I was thankful for an unusually congested Merivale Road, which is a nightmare of outdated urban development, with retail plazas tacked onto each other in seemingly endless links.

This shot shows two GP38s in a somewhat faded safety scheme. There were four tank cars in tow being brought back to Walkley. This shot came out surprisingly well, as it fits with my newfound desire to get some different shots of trains this year. You can see the hydro towers that follow the Beachburg Sub in this part of Nepean. You can also see the billboard for a local store on Merivale, which is a strip mall nightmare. But, I like that all these elements came together in this lucky shot.

As I followed the train, I tried to get a few more of the tank cars in the shot, but the glare and reflection from the windshield killed a few shots. The shot above was the best I could do. 

The interesting thing here is that, given the speed restrictions on the Beachburg Sub, I knew I would have time to proceed to Prince of Wales Drive ahead of the train, since it was in the direction of my daughter's dance class on Colonnade Road. Since we were early for class, I passed by the dance class on Colonnade Road and headed for the Prince of Wales flyover, which sees Via corridor trains every day, as well as this weekly freight train. I knew it was going to be tight, but there was a parking lot where I could safely park and a grassy hill next to Prince of Wales Drive, with a great view of this rail bridge.

I have been experimenting with shots from this vantage points recently, as Via's Train 59 passes by at the same time every night. It's a great spot to get a different image, if you're so inclined. I will be sharing shots from this spot in the comings weeks and months. Stay tuned for that.

Something different: Challenge accepted!

You might recall that in a recent post, I declared 2023 as the Year of Different, where I challenged my fellow rail enthusiasts to get creative and capture different railway images this year. A good friend of the blog Keith Boardman accepted the challenge and shared this shot from near Fitzroy Harbour, a picturesque community in the extreme northwest edge of the amalgamated city. Fitzroy a spot where the old Beachburg Sub crossed the Ottawa River into the Pontiac Region of western Quebec, before crossing back into Renfrew County before reaching its terminus in Petawawa. Of course, before CN dismantled its Northern Transcontinental line through Algonquin Park, this was once a busy rail line with regular freight trains. Even after it was truncated, the old Ottawa Central regularly serviced customers in the Pontiac and even as far as Petawawa, before the economic recession in 2009 led to OCR selling its assets to CN. That was it for the Beachburg Sub past Nepean Junction.

But, even though the rails are gone past Nepean Junction, there are still reminders of what once was in this area. I'll let Keith pick up the story. Here's what he wrote:

I happened to be travelling on Galetta Side Road where you'd turn north to go to Fitzroy Harbour a couple weeks ago. I've been on this road many times over the years, always wondering what the scene would have been like had the Beachburg Sub still been in use. As I passed by where it crossed, this little structure caught my attention. It was interesting in that it's still painted and lettered with the CN logo. Pretty sure nobody has bothered going in it now for several years, but it still stands.

Thanks to Keith for sharing this shot of an old CN utility shed, which seems to be near a telecom tower, which might explain why it's still in place. You can even see the CN 8231 numbering on the side of the shed. 

I was thinking of Keith's shot the other day and I figured it fit thematically with this post. As I looked at the shots of CN 589 making its way over Merivale Road, I wondered how many trains used to ply these rails in their prime? How many trains did people see each day on their commute? It's funny how many rail fans talk about these days with fondness, when a generation of Ottawans probably couldn't even tell you anything about this rail line at all. Many think it's abandoned and they'd be forgiven for thinking that.

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, as the song says.

By the way, the title of this post is a play on the 1991 album, The Ghosts That Haunt Me, by Canadian band the Crash Test Dummies. I was never a huge fan of theirs, but they had their moments. I appreciate their devotion to their craft. Their music was anything but dumb.

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.

Let's begin at the end

I'm old enough to remember when freight trains had cabooses at the end. I remember, in fact, the union campaign, Trains are safer with a caboose. Of course, the march of progress was unstoppable and the caboose went the way of the dodo on many railways in the 1980s. CSX maintained them on the Sarnia Subdivision until the early 1990s, which was cool for me when I watched trains when younger.

So imagine my surprise on June 8 when I heard the Arnprior Turn (CN 589) making its way through my neighbourhood and I decided to follow it, only to see this at the end. It was a GTW 79047 caboose still in its original scheme. Of course, there was no crew in the cupola, or even in the caboose. The car is clearly being used for shoving moves, giving the conductor a safe platform to watch the tracks ahead.

Of course, this isn't the first time CN has made use of an old caboose in its Ottawa operations. CN has made use of an former Devco caboose and the famous Millennium caboose in past years. Walkley Yard even hosted an old CN caboose hitched to an old RDC unit, both of which were owned by a company in Toronto and patched DAWX.

Over the course of my wanderings trackside, I did see CN using the infamous Millennium caboose once when it was shunting cars in Walkley Yard. I just managed to get this shot from the end of Albion Road on public property.

I will get into the history of CN's cabooses in its Ottawa operations in my next post, but for now, let's just admire the fact that the railway has used more than one caboose locally over the course of the last 10 years. It's an anomoly for sure, but not unexpected, given that there is a significant amount of shoving operations that the railway needs to perform in this area.

On June 8, I would not have caught up to the train if not for the fact that the crew stopped at a private crossing before March Road to grab a coffee at Tim Hortons, which sits trackside along the Renfrew Spur. That allowed me to park near the Tims and get some shots from March Road, like this head-on shot, which is not possible usually. The skies washed out on this shot, given the angle of the sun but I did manage to frame the trackside sign. You can just make out a railfan to the left of the shot. He had a camera set up on a tripod on the private crossing, which is blocked to vehicles.

Right when the train was easing to a stop, I took a quick photo of the two units from across Carling Avenue. I noticed the GATX unit doesn't seem to be a leased unit anymore. It's patched CN 4905, which suggests to me that the unit is now CN property.

 

As the train slowly made its way toward March Road, I tried to get some shots of the overall consist, which featured four tank cars loaded with caprolactum and the GT caboose bringing up the rear.

CN continues to use two GP38s on its run to Arnprior, including the GATX unit, which has been a common site in Eastern Ontario for the last several years. The March Road crossing offers a fairly unobstructed view of the Renfrew Spur right-of-way, although you do have to position your shots around a few guy wires and trackside poles. But at least the crossing gives you clearance against the trackside shrubbery, which can ruin your shots.

This is a shot of the March Road crossing, which gives you a better shot of the GATX unit. This is the first time I have captured anything at this crossing. Now that I know what I'm facing here, I will definitely come back, if the chance presents itself.

Even though I was on the sunny side of the train, this side of the caboose was not nearly as photogenic as the other side, which sat in the shadows. There was no graffiti on the other side, while this side was pretty marked up. 

Not knowing if I would ever see this old relic again, I tried to get it from as many angles as I could, including this profile shot, which gives you a view of the entire train as it makes its way slowly east toward the Huntmar crossing and eventually, Arnprior.

One final shot as the train made its way west. I don't take a lot of vertical shots but I took quite a few this past week, which made for some interesting shots. All in all, it was a lucky meet, as I decided at the last minute to chase this train on my break from work and caught it only because of its unscheduled stop near March Road.

It was quite a week for the Arnprior Turn, as it was featured in a story on CTV Ottawa's local newscast. The message that Nylene Canada was delivering was nothing new. There's 40 kilometres of track that the company owns that is being used by one customer. The company would obviously like to see more customers use rail service. It's a great idea in theory, but as readers of this blog know, Nylene has made this pitch before to the Ottawa Sun. I mentioned that story, which was behind a paywall, in this blog entry from 2014.  

I guess I'm skeptical that this latest pitch will get anywhere, since CN is a reluctant service provider in this case, as it is mandated to provide this service to Nylene. If CN does indeed pull out of Ottawa, as it has publicly stated that it wants to do, who steps in? All of the publicity in the world won't help if there is no railway company to provide the service.

Hide and Seek, Part II

Ah, to go back in time and right past wrongs. I often think of my time in Kitchener and kick myself for not using that time to capture the then-Goderich Exeter Railway Guelph Subdivision action. I lived in KW from 2007-2009. The only train photograph I came away with was a shot of the trestle over Kolb Park on the city's eastern boundary. You can check that photo out in this post. Since living in the city, I have had very few opportunities to return. I did go back in 2018 and managed to catch a few really cool things, which are even more meaningful now that GEXR is but a memory on the Guelph Sub. You can check that post out here.

This is all a very long-winded way of introducing the second part of my Hide and Seek posts. Hide and seek is really just a fancy way of putting a name to my maddening pursuit of railway pictures from the passenger seat of my car when my family is driving on Highway 401. This summer, my family made two trips to Southwestern Ontario and saw a few things on the way. The second trip was much more fruitful, but I want to focus on one area where I never expected to see anything, but I did.

When you are travelling westbound on the 401 through Kitchener, you don't have to wait long once you exit the 401 and drive onto Highway 8 before you might see some trains. You have to look to the right of your car as you head into Kitchener (west). If you strain your eyes and you are lucky, you will see the Canadian Pacific switching, mainly autoracks.

You will notice that this is not much of a photo. I had to blow it up, sharpen the blurred lines and crop out the extraneous highway dividers. But it feels so good to earn a bonus shot, especially for me, since I so rarely see freight trains and CP freight trains especially. You can even see a hint of some golden farm fields in the background.

I almost came away with a brilliant shot, but then this happened. The shot is pretty sharp and there would have been nothing blocking my view of these distant engines, but then the dump truck ruined my shot. Taking shots from a moving car is the definition of crap shoot. You never know what you are going to end up getting or just narrowly missing. Hence, hide and seek. Sometimes, you get something and sometimes, it all disappears in a flash.

But I was happy to get anything, to be honest. When I lived in Kitchener, CP was a busy railway in and around Cambridge, which is on Kitchener's southern border. CP switches for Toyota in Cambridge, along with a number of smaller light industries in the area. But, the automotive production plants are its big business here. The railway built Wolverton Yard specifically for its flourishing autorack business at a time when it was not really in the habit of such capital expenditures. The yard handles Kia and Hyundai distribution, as well. I do remember when I was covering stories for the Record newspaper in Cambridge, I would sometimes happen across CP's switching moves and my eyes would linger for a moment. There are some great spots in Cambridge to watch local switching. Alas, I never took any photographs.

I knew I had to be aware when we pulled into Kitchener on Highway 8 this time around, since I first noticed the CP switching moves last year when we travelled the same stretch of road. This year, I was ready and I was lucky enough to see a train once again. Great train karma for once!

The shot above is not bad, all things considered. You can see that the head unit, GP38-2 3118, is in need of new paint. You can barely see the Canadian script or what's left of the golden rodent. I wasn't able to get a clear shot of the second unit, which looked like it had newer paint. Considering how few CN geeps I have seen (excluding the GP20ECO rebuilds), I was happy to see this old warhorse.

This shot below is the one image that was clear enough to allow me to identify the one unit. As you can see, much of the train is obscured, but that's how this game is played.

It's not much, but when you see as little as I do, every small victory counts.