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. 

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.

Guest Post: More GP9 memories from across Canada

I seemed to have hit a sweet spot in my previous post about the history of the venerable GP9 locomotive. As I mentioned in that post, this old relic is fast disappearing from most major railways, given its age. The last GP9s produced in Canada came off the line at the old GM Diesel in London, Ont. in 1963. CN and CP have used them for decades, although there are none left on CP and only a few dozen left on CN rails.

I shared a few photos of my meets with these engines over the years, including on the CP, CN and even the Goderich Exeter Railway. After I published that post, I received interesting feedback from a few fellow bloggers in appreciation of these geeps.

It occurred to me that perhaps my generation of railfan will wax poetic over these first-generation diesels the way previous generations bemoan the loss the steam locomotives after the late 1950s and early 1960s. I have to admit I don’t understand the fascination with steam locomotives at all, given my age and my lack of experience with them trackside. However, given my fond memories of old GP9s and even SW1200s, maybe I’m not all that different from steam fans after all.

One of those who seemed enthused about my GP9 retrospective is Steve Boyko, author, poet and prominent rail blogger extraordinaire. Most people who come to this blog will know Steve from his long-running railway and photography blog, traingeek.ca. It was one blog that directly influenced my decision to start The Beachburg Sub. Steve was kind enough to share a few of his own shots of GP9s from his time trackside, which I am pleased to share below.

I’ll start with a shot Steve took in Winnipeg, where he lives. The descriptions below the photos are Steve’s, not mine. Read on:

CP operated many GP7s and GP9s in Winnipeg in the first decade of the 21^st century, in local switcher service and local yard service. They frequently operated in pairs, like these two about to cross Plinguet Street, south of Whittier Junction.

An overhead view of CP 1540 in yard service, October 29, 2011.

Many CP switchers met their end here in late 2009. A scrapper used a siding in Fort Garry to scrap quite a few locomotives over a few months. I documented many from a distance, including this massacre of four CP GP9s – 1558 and 1556, bracketing two SOO GP9s, 4202 and 4204.

You might wonder why a CN GP9 is at the famous McAdam, New Brunswick train station – a former bastion of CP power. This line has been owned by shortline NB Southern Railway for quite a while, and they leased a few CN GP9s for local switching in Saint John. Occasionally, one would be put on the Saint John-Brownville Junction freight for extra power. However, they are not permitted to cross into the U.S., so they would be dropped in McAdam. When I visited McAdam on July 19, 2008, 7038 was being used to switch the yard.

This is a very pedestrian shot of CN 7059 passing the Staples store near Island Yard in Saint John, coming back from perhaps switching the Irving refinery. I include it because I have one of the number boards that used to grace this locomotive, which has since donned Cando colours and a new number.

CN often used a pairing of GP9s and a slug for local switching in the Winnipeg area. Here are two pairings, with 7213 at Transcona (with modern CN.ca paint scheme) above and 7254 in Winnipeg below.

Here's an oddity below. Read Steve's caption of this scene below the image.

I’m not sure why this GP9 was on top of the hump in Symington Yard in Winnipeg. Typically, hump locomotives were GP38-2 locomotives at this time, but for whatever reason, 7258 and slug 268 were up high.

For a long time, CP 8251 was one of the very few active locomotives around Winnipeg still bearing a multimark. Here a rainbow graces the scene after a summer storm. CP 8251 was retired in 2013 but has been leased to Viterra to serve a grain elevator.

My thanks to Steve for sharing these photos. It’s a real treat to feature photographs and information outside my usual haunts here in Ottawa and southern Ontario. In keeping with this post’s theme of GP9 photos, I’d like to share three additional GP9 photos that didn’t make the cut in the previous post. 

The first is an old shot my Dad took at the GEXR yard in Startford in the early 1990s. Note the faded Shakespearan name "Falstaff" on the lead engine, in appreciation of the railway's hometown.

A few years ago, Eric Gagnon, author of the equally acclaimed Trackside Treasure blog and several railway books, shared this photo print with me of GEXR GP9 177 leading a string of old EMD power in switching the salt mine on the Lake Huron habourfront in Goderich. Date unknown, but it appears to be a 1990s shot. 

Finally, I'll add one last shot of my own that I did not manage to squeeze into my original post on these engines. Here's a great shot of GP9 720 and slug 223 leading 4761 in Sarnia Yard in August 2014.

So that just about wraps up my tribute to the venerable GP9. I am also working on a similar post about the equally venerable SW1200 and its family of switchers. Stay tuned for that one a little down the road. My thanks to Steve Boyko, the original Train Geek, for sharing his photos this week and his contribution to the cause on this blog. And thanks to Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure. It's been years since he shared a bunch of prints with me. I finally have the chance to share one of them.

The GP9: A Scrappy Survivor

When I was visiting another blog a few months ago, I was interested in a comment about the fast-fading GP9s still out there in service. It hit me then that I have tonnes of photos of this unit from my years of sitting trackside. It also hit me that I might not be able to see these old beasts much longer. So I decided to create a small tribute to this unsung hero of railroading, which has done yeoman's work for decades without much glory.

The GP9 officially ended production at General Motors Diesel in London, Ontario, in 1963. The engine first sported a 16-cylinder, 1,750 horsepower engine running on four axles, not factoring in the B units and slugs that were produced as well as the CN GP9RM rebuilds. Some of the slugs are still in service in certain CN yards. Various sites online peg sales of the engine at 3,500 units in the United States and nearly 650 in Canada.

GM London's production of this unit actually ended four years later than EMD in the United States. The 2022 Canadian Trackside Guide says CN still has 29 in active service. CP has retired its fleet, with the bodies and chassis of the old locomotives used for its fleet of GP20C-ECOs. What seems strange to me is when I find references to these engines being preserved. It makes me feel old.

Searching through my photos from my teenage years, I found two early 1990s photographs of these geeps in Southwestern Ontario. The first shot is from Canadian Pacific's Windsor Yard, where GP9s were once a common sight. The most prominent GP9 in this shot is CP 1619, with a fast fading action scheme still visible, complete with the multimark at the rear. Beside it you can see CP 8226, in a more recent action red scheme. This newer one lasted a long time, as you can see it in action on the Galt Sub in this photo in 2008. Although these two units look similar, note that they are numbered in different series. Scanning through some sites online, it seems CP had these geeps numbered in the 1500s, 1600s and 8000s. I tried to find a more recent shot of 1619, but was no able to find anything worth a link. You can also see a piece of a lumber car to the left in this shot from 1991. Note CP's unique high number board plates and classification lights above the front windows.

Closer to where I grew up in Sarnia, I did come across GP9 rebuilds a few times in the 1990s, although at that time, CN's stables of SW1200s shared local switching duties with the GP9s. Here's one of my earliest shots of a GP9RM from Sarnia Yard, when you were able to roam the yard more freely.This shot below is of CN 7226 with slug 259 in front. It was an unforgiving day for sun when I took this shot in 1992. No amount of photoshop could fix this. You can see how CN's number boards were not mounted on extra high plates like their CP counterparts. In fact, their number boards were much smaller and oval shaped.

The slugs are very useful in yards like the giant Sarnia Yard, as their traction motors allow the GP9's horsepower to be distributed more widely, which gives the unit more leverage to pull long strings of cars at low speeds. Great for switching duties. There are still a few being used in Sarnia.

This shot was taken at a time when CN had yet to privatize and seemed to operate as a very different railway. It was not uncommon at this time to find 15-20 units all parked and idle near the CN roundhouse. This is not the case today.

Fast forward to the 2000s and you see that these old beasts are still kicking up a fair bit of smoke in Sarnia Yard and in CN's local operations. This shot below is one of my favourites, taken just south of Corunna near the Rokeby Line, as a CN local switched local petrochemical industries in August 2017. You can see three GP9s in this shot, two are able to be identified: 7038 in the lead and 7278 hitched elephant style as the second unit. The third unit, which is clad in the safety stripes, is not identifiable. 

This brings up another interesting point. These units, which have been able to soldier on thanks to CN's rebuild program, can be found in their original mainly black scheme with the wet noodle on the side and the more recent safety stripes scheme. I have even seen one in the CN privatization anniversary scheme, but I have never seen one in the modern CN.ca scheme.

Here's a GP9 in the CN 15 scheme, celebrating the railway's privatization. This is not a terribly common scheme. I was lucky to run into GP9 7256 a few years ago on a brief stopover at Sarnia Yard in July 2021. It was pulling a long string of hoppers in the yard, with a carbon black from Cabot Carbon first in the consist behind 7052.

I should mention as well that, in the two years I lived in Peterborough in 2003 and 2004, CP's affiliate, the Kawartha Lakes Railway, often used GP9s and even a few SW1200s to service local industries on the line, from Havelock to Peterborough. I wasn't in the habit of photographing trains at this time, so I have no hard proof of these observations other than my memory.

One of the great things about these old beasts is they put on quite a show, if you are a photographer. You might recall a post from several years ago titled Smoke! where I was treated to quite a show in Sarnia Yard in October 2016. Here's my favourite shot from that post, below. The GP9 in the shot is coupled with what looks like a GP38. The real smoke is all from the old man, though.

And speaking of those slugs, here's a more recent shot of a GP9 and slug still working the rails in Sarnia Yard in 2015 near the old roundhouse. Notice the old SW1200s in the background, which are either being repaired for industrial use or possibly scrapped for parts.

Of course, it's not just on mainline railways that this unit survives. The GP9 has long been a staple of short line railways, like the Goderich Exeter Railway. I caught this unit idle in Goderich in August 2014. Note its paint scheme. GEXR was once famous for painting its GP9s in a unique green and taupe scheme, with certain units being named after Shakepearean references. Many of the railway's units were later left in their leasing unit or previous railway schemes.

Surprisingly, even CN's operations up in Ottawa have made use of a GP9 on several occasions. Recently, the railway has made use of multiple GP38s, including some former GATX leased units. But as recently as 2017, the regional operations out to Hawkesbury and Arnprior were being handled by units like 4139, seen here near the Queensway overpass in the Greenbelt in 2017. I find this fascinating, as these units are not usually synonymous with long runs, like the 40-km turn out to Arnprior and the long 80-plus-km haul out to Ivaco in Hawkesbury. That's a lot of distance for a yard and local engine.

So why is this little runt of a locomotive worth discussing, remembering and preserving? Well, for one, it is fast becoming an antique, as the last Canadian units made are already 59 years old, and those are the youngest of the bunch. A quick glance through some sites online will show you that this unit propelled General Motors' EMD into the locomotive production lead, which was not the case before the GP9 was built. This brief article discusses how the market for road switchers was still very much the domain of Alco/MLW's RS series until the GP9 came along.

CN purchased 349 of these units while CP purchased 200. CP's numbers might be a reflection of the large number of MLW RS units it brought before the GP9 began production. Other Canadian buyers included New York Central, which purchased 12 for its Canadian operations in Ontario, Northern Alberta Railways (10), Ontario Northland (60), Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo (3) and the Quebec North Shore & Labrador (54).

When you do see one of the surviving GP9s roaming around, take a shot. With their unique curved cab roofs and chopped noses, they are pieces of living history that are sure to fade quickly in the coming years. I am lucky that I was able to see so many of these engines in my time trackside. That's worth celebrating.

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.

The traffic jam

This March, while I was visiting family in the Sarnia area, my brother and nephew took me on a tour of their favourite spots in the area, including many railside haunts. On our way home, we saw a CN train perched near Telford Road, just east of the limits of Sarnia Yard. My nephew was excited by this slow moving train, as we had not seen any freight trains at speed during our day of railfanning in the area. This was the train as it approached the crossing and then stopped. Note that the Strathroy Subdivision is double-tracked here, and there are trains on both tracks visible in the image below, taken from the Confederation Line.

Just a few minutes earlier, we had left Sarnia Yard, where another freight train, this one heading west toward the Paul Tellier Tunnel, also stopped before proceeding down the grade to the tunnel. A few railfans in the parking lot explained to us that the train was backing up and proceeding forward for a reason. At first, I'll admit that I was curious as to why this train would be doing this, unless they were assembling part of the train that I could not see. The railfans said they were "x-raying" the train. I'm not exactly sure that is the right term, but the sense I got from what they told me was the the train was being scanned before it headed into the United States. Here's a shot of the consist inching forward.

At either end of the yard, there were two enormous freight trains, one due east and one due west. Neither was moving. I joked to my nephew that it was a genuine rail traffic jam. Of course, this was not the case, as precision scheduled railways do not usually have trains with massive dwell times taking up space in congested rail yards. Sarnia Yard usually has its share of cars in the yard, but it's never what you would describe as congested or backed up. The blocks of cars appear very organized, at least to my untrained eye. Still, it was an odd sight to see two freight trains, on both tracks on the main line, apparently motionless. 

Moving back to the train due east near Telford Road. Here is a shot as it moved ahead past the end of the westbound train from the image above. I find it interesting whenever I see autoracks behind the engines. It's not something that was terribly common when I was growing up. These cars always seemed to be blocked onto the end of a train. Not the case anymore.

You can see in the image above that the fields looked to be almost ready for planning, even in mid-March. Going back to the westbound train, which we watched for awhile before giving up, here's a shot of the head end through the gantry, which governs trains movements around the tunnel. The bridge also controls the connections to the converging St. Clair River Industrial Spur (and by extension, the CSX Sarnia Subdivision) and the Point Edward Spur, both of which merge into the yard west of these signals.

 

While I was at the yard, I did spy a tank car that had an old logo on it that is not terribly common these days. I remember these CGTX tank cars when I was younger, but they have slowly disappeared over the years. It was cool to spot one. I know it might seem like a mundane image, but I think it's more important now to capture images of old rolling stock than ever.

These images we got from the yard and from Telford Road rounded out a great day or railfanning, even if the actual number of trains we saw was pretty light. You can check out our other adventure from this day in the post Next stop: Glencoe. 

One last shot of an old GP9 idling behind the old roundhouse. This engine is on the approach track that trains off the St. Clair River Industrial Spur and CSX Sarnia Subdivision use to access Sarnia Yard. Sadly, this engine didn't move either. It seemed like a gridlock kind of day when nothing was moving. My nephew wasn't thrilled. I was just happy to get a few images.

Ghost in the Yard, Part I

Those who have been with me on this blog from the beginning know that I often do a lot of rail photography in Sarnia, where I grew up. I was finally able to travel with my family this summer and even squeeze in a little time trackside at Sarnia's train station. 

I'm not a picky railfan. I see so little here in Ottawa, I will settle for watching a rail yard being switched. That was what was happening when I visited the yard on a cloudy morning in late July. To be honest, the cloudy conditions were ideal for me, as lighting from the station vantage point is tricky at the best of times, with the trains always being obscured by shadows. That morning, there were no such headaches, thankfully.

The first hint of activity was east of the station, as a consist of coil cars, a few hoppers and a long line of tank cars made its way toward the station. With the exception of the coil cars, this was a pretty typical consist for Sarnia, as much of the railway's local customers are in the Chemical Valley, which usually require tank cars and hoppers. These two types of cars are by far the dominant presence in this yard.

I tried to include some of Sarnia Station in the first photo. At this point, I caught a glimpse of a ghost in the consist, but I wasn't sure. In this photo, you can see an old GP9 long hood forward leading the way.

I had to wait a while for this train to make its way closer to the station. While I waited, I snapped a shot of this hopper car that is lettered NOKL, which you would think would belong to the Northwestern Oklahoma Railroad, but this is another case of a shortline leasing its reporting marks to a leasing company. 

I looked up its history, because I was interested in the plate on the upper right hand side of the car and found that this car once belonged to First Union Rail (FURX) and Iowa Interstate (IAIS). The plate in the upper right corner once sported the Equity logo, which you can still make out in the middle of the car. There's a tiny decal still there. Here's a closer shot of that old logo.

With an assist from Eric Gagnon at Trackside Treasure, I was also able to find out a few more things about this car, which Eric told me was once referred to as the "sash scheme" hoppers, which have a capacity of 4,750 cubit feet. They were made by Thrall. Eric also shared that there are a number of more common yellow hoppers with the Equity plate on them.  

Here was another NOKL lettered hopper with the XTRA lettering down the side. I know I have said this before, but taking photos of any type of rolling stock that is out of the ordinary may seem like a waste of time now, but it could one day prove interesting. I always make sure to find a car or two to capture whenever trackside.

This car once had the reporting marks CFWR, which belong to the Caney Fork and Western Railway, a shortline owned by Ironhorse Resources in Tennessee. 

As the yard job finally approached the station, I was able to confirm my suspicions about the rare piece of motive power in the consist. And there is was. Ex-GT 5849 GP38-2 still in its original GT colours. I know this might not seem all that rare to some more regular rail watchers, but it's the first time I've seen this scheme in person since the early 1990s. So, rare for me. What's even cooler is that this unit was once Pittsburgh and Lake Erie 2156. So it has a lot of history.

Here's a shot of just the GT unit. A nearby railfan at the station told me that the unit has been making the rounds in Sarnia for a few months. In the shot below, you can see that one of the front number plates had to be replaced. Not a great match, but it gets the job done, I guess. I also find it interesting that there is no CN stencil below the side numbers. It's as if the GTW never ceased to be its own operating entity.

 

Here's an overall shot of the yard job. I had to strain the limits of my camera's capabilities to get a clear shot. It was a hazy morning and the rain was just about to fall. You can see three yard signal sets in the background as well as the Indian Road overpass over the rail yard.

Here's a more conventional shot of the yard job, with a bit more clarity.

You can even see a carbon black covered hopper behind the coil cars. That hopper is either coming from or going to Cabot in the Chemical Valley. I got a better shot of that type of car when another yard job approached from the west end of the yard from behind a string of other cars. Stay tuned for that in the second part of this series.

In a way, I was lucky enough to catch a meet between two yard jobs, although they were a few tracks apart. It was quite a challenge trying to capture an image with both trains in the frame. I will leave that for the following post.