Fresh perspectives in Stratford

Last summer, I was in Stratford to visit family and take in a show at the Stratford Festival. While there, I was able to carve out some time at the town's train yard to capture some images of the local freight operations. With a little help from those who are familiar with CN and the Goderich Exeter Railway's moves, I was able to catch several freight trains and some yard action. 

Here's a post featuring some GEXR freight movements on the Goderich Subdivision after leaving the yard.

CN's presence in Stratford is quite noticeable. It has a large maintenance yard where it keeps all sorts of supplies for track repairs. Of course, the Guelph Subdivision is hardly a speedway these days, but CN has still clearly invested in a maintenance operation here. I would say that it is much more extensive than what GEXR had in place when it was the sole leaseholder on the Guelph Subdivision.

 

This is the first shot I grabbed of an incoming CN local, which originated in Kitchener, as it came to do some yard work and move on further west to St. Marys. I took this shot because I wanted to capture a glimpse of the overall operations in Stratford, including the maintenance yard. You can see piles of ties to the left as well as a few structures. 

 

The local was led by an old GP9 and GP38 in the safety stripes scheme. It looked like 9555 was due for new paint, for sure. The train was a pretty typical consist of covered hoppers mainly, which is common in this yard. 

 

As the crew assembled the consist it would need to go west into St. Marys, I made sure to make my way to the Niles Street crossing, which allowed me a chance to get a different type of shot. As I have mentioned before, I am on a mission to capture new and different railway images. I could have easily taken shots from the station platform, as I have done many times in the past, but I wanted something different. 

 

Even though this angle was on the shadow side of the train, I though the angle of the tracks in the yard would give me a unique perspective of the train in its entirety. I thought this shot was more satisfying than an image of a long line of blank grey covered hoppers. Some of those hoppers were destined for the cement operations in St. Marys, which are served by CN.

 

Speaking of different angles. 

 

 

On my first day in Stratford, the yard was quiet but I did catch GEXR's local power at an odd angle in front of the Masterfeeds elevator. I was told this track is one of the last remnants of the old roundhouse complex that was once in place to service the steam engines of the Grand Trunk and the CN.

 

I could have gotten a much closer view, but I decided it would be cool to capture a shot of the long string of steel coil cars and the brooding summer sky in the image as well. I think this shot gives you a much broader picture of local operations.

 

That is a brief summary of my first days trackside in Stratford, I'd be curious to read your thoughts about how to capture different railway images. In two of these shots, the train or engines that were my main focus were actually quite small relative to the overall frame. Do you have your own ways of keeping things fresh while trackside?

Thankful for everything, even the faceless grey hoppers

I once had a conversation with my former parish's priest when I was struggling mentally and he said something that changed my life. He asked me a few questions. Did you ever wonder what a miracle it was, he asked, that you walk into a room, flick a switch and light magically appears? Or when you go to the sink, you pull a faucet and clean water appears? He asked me a series of questions like these and it made me rethink my life entirely. His point was simple. He was telling me I was very fortunate to have all that I have in my life. Since that chat, I have come to recognize the blessings in my life at all times, which have made me much more successful in managing my mental wellness.

For our purposes here, I wanted to share a few photographs from my last few months, many of which I have yet to share on this blog. Many of these shots were taken in my journey to Sarnia by train and my journey home to Ottawa.

There's a saying that it's better to be lucky than be good. I'm lucky indeed. As we near Christmas, I'd like to share a few shots in the spirit of gratitude.

This first shot was taken around sunrise on a cold Nov. 24 morning in Sarnia before I left on Train 84 to head to Toronto and eventually back to Ottawa. This train was backing up in the yard when I arrived at the station, before heading west through the tunnel into Michigan. If you look closely, you can see Via Train 84 on the spur beside the station, before it backed onto the main track. The cloud bank over station made for a cooperative sky that cut down on the shadows. I decided to leave the photo as it was, with no correction. This is one of my favourite shots of the year.

 

Here's a quick shot I grabbed aboard my train home from Toronto. The sun was sinking fast and the light would soon vanish, making any further attempts at photographs moot, but I liked that I got two different GO Transit schemes in this shot, along with a bumper in the bottom of the frame. This looked like a layover yard, which was just a short distance east of Union Station in Toronto. I'm thankful that the train home was not heavily delayed anywhere, which as we all know from last week's fiasco in Brockville, is all too common.

 

Yes, I'm even thankful for the old P42s. This is the train that I took from Fallowfield to Toronto on my way to see family in Sarnia. The city was cover in a light film of ice from a messy evening of freezing rain and snow, so getting to escape that to spend the weekend in warmer climes was certainly a bonus. Also, the fact that I was on an older consist meant that there were no speed restrictions on this train. Granted, the delays from being held for freight trains is another story, but I'm trying to stick with my theme of gratitude.

 

This shot is from my July visit to Stratford, where I was lucky enough to catch a few Goderich Exeter Railway trains in the Stratford yard and on the GEXR Goderich Subdivision. I like this shot because I was able to capture a bit of smoke coming out of the old geeps, as the crew assembled its train in the yard before heading northwest down the Goderich Sub. I have many other photos to share from this trip, which I have yet to sort through for the purposes of a thematic post. 

 

 

Here's a shot from August when my family was in Waterloo for a music camp. I always try to make time to go up to St Jacobs to get some shots of the historic collection of locomotives and rolling stock in the Waterloo Central Railway yard. I like this shot because it captures the back end of an old heavyweight passenger car, a RDC Budd car as well as a repainted switcher. Then there are the axles in the foreground. This is the type of shot I am trying to capture more and more these days. I plan a post in the coming weeks to outline what I feel is the state of railfanning right now and how it has changed my perspectives on the hobby.

 

Looking for your thoughts

 

I'm thankful, as well, for blog reader Kevin from Windsor for alerting me to the fact that Firecrown Media has somehow decided to stop shipping its magazines to Canada, despite the fact that people have subscriptions. He told me he cancelled his subscription, as a result of this decision. I went online to see what was happening, as I have not received my latest issue of Classic Trains, which is a quarterly. It appears that the company that took over Kalmbach Media has indeed made this decision, although no one seems to have been notified. Needless to say, I have cancelled my subscription. Classic Trains was one of the few ties I retained to the United States after this spring's tariffs frenzy. Now, I have cut all ties.

 

I don't mean this as a slight against any blog readers from the States. I grew up on the U.S. border, have family in the U.S. and am an avid Detroit Tigers fan. Putting all politics aside, it's just a prudent measure for me to cut ties at this point. 

 

My question to my fellow railfans from Canada is which magazine should I subscribe to in this country to replace Classic Trains? I'm thinking Branchline, as I am a big fan of the Bytown Railway Society. Does anyone have any other suggestions? 

Say hello to Belton

Over the course of my travels this summer, I was able to take photographs at many of my favourite spots, including the Sarnia rail yard and the Stratford rail yard. What's rare is when I come across a new railway find and am able to properly capture it for the sake of discussion on this blog. After all, my trips to see family are usually quite busy and they don't leave a lot of time for wandering. 

In July, as my family made its way to London to visit our family there, we drove through a wide swath of countryside, which is when we came across a small farming hamlet called Belton. North of London, Belton is a tiny community that is home to the Agromart Group fertilizer storage and distribution site. It's a large facility with various storage domes. The site is used as the company's administrative centre as well as a storage and distribution hub for farming customers throughout southern Ontario. In total, 25-acre site can house 80,00 metric tonnes of "urea, potash, SOP, MAP, DAP, ammonium sulphate, MESZ and NitroK." 

If you know what some of those abbreviations mean, let me know. I took it directly from the company website. Most importantly for our purposes, this facility is served by an interesting loop track near milepost 106, off CN's Guelph Subdivision.

 

This was a shot I took from the passenger seat of our car as we made our way back to Stratford from London. As you can see, the track serving the facility is a long loop. I would think this would be the domain of GP9s, GP38s or other more nimble engines. The tight radius would not accommodate larger motive power. I can imagine the squeal of the trucks and axles on this track!

 

Here's a closer look at some covered hoppers parked beside one of the storage domes, behind which stands a very large feeder. I don't know that I have ever seen an industrial rail siding with this type of radius in real life. I've seen a few on model railways, but that's it. This would be a neat facility to model.

 

Belton is just a short jaunt south of St. Marys, which is also on the CN Guelph Sub. I can't imagine that Belton is served by CN's Kitchener operations, which serve St. Marys. I would assume this facility is served out of London's CN yard, on the Dundas Subdivision. But I stand to be corrected, as I am not familiar with CN's operations in this area.

 

I had to do a little searching to figure out what railway served Belton, as I had no idea where it was relative to nearby CN and CP lines when I passed through in the car. I assumed it was CN served, and was proven right when I consulted the geography of the area using the Railway Association of Canada's online Canadian Rail Atlas. It's a handy resource if you are unsure about railway geography. I was surprised how much I was able to drill down on the interactive map to see the loop track in Belton. It's a really handy resource.

 

Speaking of surprises, here's a shot below that I was able to take that I would not have thought possible without a little luck and some great information from people who know about the movements of trains in Stratford. As I mentioned in this previous post, I was able to stay at an AirBnB in the city that was close to the GEXR Goderich Sub. Since I had already visited the Stratford rail yard and took photos of GEXR assembling its train, I was able to drive back to my place and wait by the tracks to get a shot of the westbound freight train making its way over two overpasses as it headed out of town.

 

You can see the train snaking its way around a building as it heads over the first of two overpasses that take the GEXR northwest out of the city en route to its rural customers. I was surprised to get an image like this, as my timing was perfect and there was just enough shade to allow me to get a decent shot, even through the morning sun was unforgiving. If you don't believe me, look at the small patch of sky behind the train. The sky was blue that morning, but the angle of the sun in this shot meant that the sky was washed out, no matter what I did. I stayed off the tracks and found the best spot to take a shot legally and safely.  

 

Those were among the bigger surprises from my adventures this summer. I have a fair bit of material from this summer to share still, so I won't get ahead of myself and drop it all into one post. As I have not really been trackside in Ottawa of late, it's good to have a backlog from this summer.  

Updated: The smell of diesel in the morning

In mid-July, after my family visited the Sarnia area, we paid a visit to Stratford to spend some time with my in-laws and catch a play at the Stratford Festival. My family ended up seeing Anne of Green Gables, which was an interesting, modern take on the classic story that I have read to both of my daughters numerous times.

While in Stratford, I was able to make it to the CN yard a number of times, but I was also in luck since our AirBnB was close to the Goderich Subdivision; in essence the main line of what it left of the Goderich Exeter Railway. 

Our place was near the Birmingham Street level crossing. Also, we were lucky that St. David Street also parallels the GEXR tracks for a long stretch, which means you are able to both hear the trains coming, when they come, and have the opportunity to scout out a spot to capture them. I was lucky enough to have run into a train twice. Once was on purpose, as I knew the train was outbound for Goderich so I waited. The second time was a fluke, as my daughter and I were stretching our legs during a walk when she heard the rumble to two GP38-2s coming toward us long before I did (my hearing is awful).

I had my iPhone with me so I ventured into the green space beside the tracks and found a small window to capture this shot. As always, with an iPhone, I never use the zoom function as it instantly pixelates your image. Always get as close as you can, safely and legally. Leave the rest of the work to your photo software.

I like this shot more than most of the images I captured this summer, because there's the human element. I was a a little hesitant about sharing it, because I didn't want to identify the crew capturing a bit of fresh air, but it was too good of an image to keep to myself. You can see the GEXR still has an old Southern Ontario Railway unit permanently assigned to Stratford, along with a GEXR unit as its mate. Update: Upon reflection, I blocked out the person's face in this version of the photo just because I didn't feel comfortable identifying him, even if his face is largely unidentifiable to begin with 

 

It was a blazing hot morning when I got this shot, so I'm not surprised the crew wanted a moment for some fresh air as the short train made its way northwest toward Goderich. I'm sure he was wondering who I was and why I was taking shots of the train. How to explain that I'm a train-starved railfan from Ottawa? I didn't come across any railfans around the Stratford CN yard, so possibly they're a rare breed in that area. I don't know for sure.

 

 

The train was clearly a run to the railway's agricultural customers between Stratford and Goderich, as there are many farm clients along this stretch of railway. This Potash Corp. hopper car added a bit of colour to a largely grey consists. Modern rolling stock has become very bland, sadly. 

 

 

The train ended up with a few tank cars on the rear as it made its way out of town. I was happy to catch this train by surprise, as it just added another set of photos among the many I took in Stratford during the week that I was there. I have a number of other photographs to share from around the town during my time there. 

 

My New Book 

 

Those who have followed this blog from the beginning know that I am also an independent author of (now) four books. I don't really have any expectations for these books. I put them out there because someone once told me, "Until you release them, they will never be art. They're just files cluttering up your hard drive." I appreciate the sentiment, but I know these books are not art. Even if they were, it would not be for me to say. 

 

 

My latest book is titled 1999. It's a story of that final lousy summer job you have before you graduate and join the real world. That was the genesis of this story, anyway. I had way too many surreal experiences in my summer of landscaping and working for a property management company for it not to fuel a story. 

 

Truthfully, my story about the real Trailer Park Boys (that's what I called them, for good reason) ended up being about much more.  

 

I am very proud of this book, which has been twenty years in the making. I originally began writing it in 2005 and have worked on it periodically since then. It never seemed like the right moment to release it, until my daughter convinced me to take up my writing again. So there it is. If you are interested in it, you can find all my novels listed on this page of my author's website. There are links to all my books, except for the first one, which was legitimately published by a real publisher, but is now out of print. 

Or you can skip right to the Amazon.ca page to find out about this book.  

Odds and ends on my summer travels

My family has done a fair bit of travelling so far this summer, as our life is more stable. After a wonderful visit to my hometown around Canada Day, we were able to visit my wife's family in London and Stratford in recent days. 

This being vacation, I was able to make my way trackside quite a bit and was fortunately, saw lots of mainline action in both Sarnia and Stratford. I have not even begun to process some of my better shots and figure out how to present them thematically. So, as these are the lazy days of summer and I am not thinking too hard, here are a few random photos that I captured in my travels that I thought would be interesting to share.

This shot made me laugh a bit. This was taken in the eastbound lanes of the 407 as we approached MacMillan Yard. There is an overpass in this area where container trains are often passing over the highway. On the other track, a trio of engines sat, awaiting their next assignment. The unit in the middle was clearly an ex-BNSF unit that was hastily patched over by CN. I shared this with a couple of my friends, and they had the same reaction. Nice patch job!

Over the course of any year spent railfanning in Ottawa, it is inevitable that there will be a large amount of Via Rail pictures. A friend jokingly told me as we were preparing to head home to Ottawa, "It's back to Via Rail purgatory." Don't get me wrong. I will take photos of any trains, but Via Rail photos can become monotonous after a while, which is why I wasn't all that keen to capture passenger rail photos in my travels. This shot is an exception, though. I thought it was cool to catch Train 84 backing into Sarnia Station from its overnight parking spur.

Via operates one train out of Sarnia each morning and one train into Sarnia each evening. The new Venture sets mean that Via no longer has to wye its trains in the yard, as they are bi-directional. All they have to do is tuck in to the spur beside the station each evening and back in to the station the following morning. Easy. 

Via Rail used to have early morning service from Sarnia when I was a university student, but the train now leaves mid-morning, which is better for those who aren't earlybirds. I wasn't specifically seeking out Via trains on this morning, but I was happy to catch this move. 

When we first arrived in Stratford, I headed for the CN/GEXR yard to see if anything was moving. This isn't like Sarnia, of course. You need to know when things are moving on the CN Guelph Subdivision or you will be waiting quite a long time. Luckily, I had some good information to work from, which allowed me to catch both CN and GEXR action. However, when I first arrived, there was nothing happening in the yard and the familiar GEXR units were nowhere to be seen from the station platform, which I found odd.

So I took a walk across Nile Street crossing to Guelph Street, which gives you a different perspective of the yard. Deep in the yard, tucked away behind long strings of steel coil cars, were the two GEXR units, parked at an odd angle. I was told that these tracks are situated like this because they once led to the old Stratford roundhouse. I didn't know that until I shared this photo with a friend who knows the local operations.

So it was cool to catch these units framed against the massive Masterfeeds complex. Those elevators helped frame many of my shots over the course of my visit. 

It was a ridiculously profitable vacation for me for future blog content, but as mentioned, I need to get some themes together to properly share some of my photos. I look forward to the challenge. 

 

Still Standing: Glimpses of the Goderich Exeter Railway

It was a mixed blessing for railfans when Canadian National took back control of its Guelph Subdivision in 2018. At that time, its 21-year lease with shortline operator Goderich Exeter Railway expired, meaning that the GEXR railway had been severed from its London-Guelph-Georgetown operations and was forced to continue operating mainly on its Goderich Subdivision between its namesake town and its junction with the Guelph Sub in Stratford, Ontario. It also retained its Exeter Subdivision, which diverges off the Goderich Sub at Clinton and goes to Centralia. Stratford continues to act as the home base for this railway, which now shares the rail yard with Canadian National. GEXR's main customer base is agricultural, as well as the salt mine at the Goderich port on Lake Huron. 

GEXR has had three owners in its history. RailTex was its first owner when it began operations in 1992, followed by RailAmerica, which purchased the railway in 2000. Genesee & Wyoming, the shortline holding company with operations across North America, took over the railway in 2012 when it bought out RailAmerica. GEXR was initially known for its green GP9s that were named after Shakespearean characters, a nod to its base of operations in the Festival City.

Earlier in July, I paid a visit to family in Stratford and caught a few glimpses of the GEXR in its hometown, although the yard was largely quiet when I initially visited. Still, you can pretty much always find a few orange G&W painted units parked up against a bumper in the middle of the yard.

On July 20, after two days of watching really interesting CN action in the yard, I made my way back to the station, but it was quiet. There was a train coming from the east on the main line, but my time ran out waiting for it. I made my way across from the station to get shots from an adjacent street. In this shot, three G&W units, all GP38-2s, were sitting in the yard. The three roads represented were Goderich Exeter, Huron & Eastern (Michigan road) and the old Southern Ontario Railway. The SOR is another former G&W shortline in the Hamilton-Norfolk area whose trackage was brought back into the CN fold. Although all the units look alike, there is some interesting shortline heritage here in this shot.

Here's a shot that gives you some clues as to how it is for GEXR these days. On the final afternoon when I visited, the yard was largely empty. The hopper cars are the most common sight on the Goderich Sub these days, given the various crops and fertilizers that make up its freight services. Besides the hoppers, which are also used to serve the Godrich salt mine, the railway uses tank cars for servicing the salt mine as well. The coil cars are for CN customers on the Guelph Sub.

Which brings me to an interesting shot my brother took when he was in Goderich in June. He likes to snag images for me when he can, which is greatly appreciated. Take a close look at these tank cars.

You can see a box atop tank car TILX 220285. The key to understanding what is in that car is the material placard in the bottom right corner, which reads 3257. The placard tells us that this tank car is carrying an elevated temperature material, which would explain the box atop the car, which is used to maintain higher temperatures, I'm guessing. Since this car was parked in the Goderich yard, just up the hill from the salt mine, it's a safe bet that this car was carrying molten salt, which is listed as one of the common products carried in these special tank cars. 

Molten salt, unlike salt at room temperature, is a liquid and can be used in the industrial production of magnesium and aluminum. It can also be used in nuclear power generation. There are a number of other applications. I'm not sure what this car's contents would be used for in this instance, since I wasn't sure if it was an inbound or outbound car. Someone with a better knowledge of the salt mine might be able to shed further light on this.

My brother also caught the GP9 Goderich yard switcher 4001, which has been up in Goderich for years, which would explain why it has never been repainted in the G&W colours. At one point, this engine had its former road name painted on the side, but that has since been patched over.

Back to Stratford in July. When my family was staying in the city, we rented an AirBnB home just down Birmingham Street from the GEXR Goderich Sub trackage leading to the yard. My first day in the city, I caught a glimpse of a southbound train heading into the yard, although I was too late to catch it with any photo. Later during my visit, on my way back from the yard, I caught another southbound train on my way back to our AirBnB and managed to snag a quick photo through the front windshield. That's the old Southern Ontario Railway geep in the lead, pulling a long string of covered hoppers back to the yard.

And below is the Huron & Eastern geep trailing with the first covered hopper in tow. I moved a bit closer for this shot, but the sun was peaking out from behind the trees, which caused some windshield glare. I should have stayed put!

I took a quick shot of CAEX 471400 covered hopper, which had its Agri Industries lettering patched over at some point, but the patch was clearly fading amid the elements. This is another clue as to what the train was carrying, as GEXR is still very much involved in the movement of crops, seed, fertilizers and grains from the farming economy in this part of the province.

All in all, I was happy to be able to cobble together enough shots of the GEXR to put together a post about this fascinating operation in a picturesque part of Ontario. Here's one final shot of the GEXR right-of-way from the Birmingham crossing, which I took on a walk through the neighbourhood. This is facing northeast in the direction of Goderich.

This is one of my favourite railways. I was lucky enough to capture quite a bit more action from Stratford in my time there in July, which will be shared in several upcoming posts. Stay tuned.

November Surprise in Stratford

In November, my family made its way to Southwestern Ontario, as my wife and I were involved in a conference in Waterloo. That meant I was able to bring my daughters for a visit to Stratford, where their grandparents live. While there, I naturally made my way to the town's train station, which is always a treat for me. I haven't been to Stratford's rail yard at that time of year, so I wasn't sure what I would see. Given the seasonal nature of some of the traffic on the CN Guelph Subdivision and the GEXR Goderich Sub, the look of this rail yard likely changes with the seasons.

When I initially walked past the yard, I captured this image of a field full of rail and a blue boxcar in the background. CN maintains a fairly extensive maintenance of way facility to the east of the station, with large piles of track supplies. I thought this made a good image.

Next, I captured a clear shot of this piece of snow clearing equipment, a Jordan spreader. This car has been in the yard for quite a while, but I have never had a clear line of sight to capture it. I was happy to get a shot of it finally. Surprisingly, there were no identifying numbers on the car. I blew up the photo and saw the remnants of an old CR reporting mark and some numbers, but it was too hard to make out what they read. I can assume though that this car once belonged to Conrail, given its CR reporting marks that are still faintly visible.

For those who don't know about this part of the country, snow clearing equipment like this can sometimes be absolutely critical to keeping trains moving. Southwestern Ontario, especially areas not far from Lake Huron, are susceptible to extreme snow events and heavy snowfall, or lake effect snow, as they call it. 

In some areas, the wide expanses of open farmer's field make for dangerous drifting, which requires heavy duty equipment to clear rail lines. I often tell people that parts of the southwest are like the prairies, only with more trees. But the wide open space can still be quite forbidding in the winter. 

The Goderich Exeter Railway up to Goderich, in particular, is sometimes forced to use drastic measures just to keep its line open in the winter. I am guessing this equipment didn't get any use this past winter.

As is often the case, the yard was quiet when I walked by, with this GEXR-clad geep sitting on a stub-end track. I tried to frame it with the old Burlington Northern hoppers in the background, since they were remarkably intact and free of graffiti. Hoppers in this yard are very common, as agricultural products are a key commodity for the GEXR and CN on the Guelph Sub. Also, the Masterfeeds elevator facility is served by rail in the east end of the yard.

I also found this two-bay hopper a bit curious, as its metal sheeting was a bit angular at the ends.

Figuring that was it, as the mainline was showing nothing coming, I went downtown to enjoy some time at a coffee shop and a used record store with my father-in-law. I took one final overall shot of the yard from the platform. The little hint of sun on the old geep was a nice little surprise.

It is always a bit disappointing to capture bits and pieces, but since this trip was an impromptu visit, I figured it was a win since I managed to capture some additional interesting images to share.

Later on the same weekend, we went back to Stratford for another quick visit. This time, I was able to leave the kids with the grandparents so I could wander the town by myself, which I did. I returned to the rail yard and began to see if there was anything I had overlooked on my previous visit. It turns out, I had. As I walked around the yard on the nearby roads, I caught sight of something deep in the yard near the elevator.

Two GEXR units sat near the elevator, with a splash of sunshine illuminating the cab of the front unit. I was quite surprised to see these engines sitting there. I have only ever seen two GEXR geeps in this yard in all my visits to this yard. I figured the extra power might have been needed, as the end of the harvest in Ontario likely meant more moves to and from the elevator. 

I tried a few different approaches to capture these engines in the yard, but I like the shot above the best. I did zoom in to maybe get some more information on which engines were actually sitting back there. The lead unit is ex-Southern Ontario Railway GP38-2 2111. I was not able to get a shot that helped me identify the second unit. I did like the Grand Trunk Western coil car that was in the shot, although it made it a bit more challenging to focus on the engines. You can even see two brooms just to the left of the GTW car, for clearing off switches in the winter, I'm guessing.

Before leaving, I spotted a BC Rail lumber car, so I took a shot, given I don't have many shots of any BC Rail equipment, so I figured it was worth it. I also like that you can see a Burlington Northern hopper in the background. Two fallen flags in one shot.

Just before leaving the yard, the searchlight signals east of the yard came to life and showed that a train was on its way. I stuck around for quite a while waiting for that train, but it never showed and I had to move on. I made my way once again to a great used record store in downtown Stratford and found a cheap copy of Gordon Lightfoot's first Greatest Hits record on vinyl. I love listening to Gord at dinner time. So I missed the train, but I gained the Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Not a bad trade-off.

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 Rise and Fall and Rise of a Railway Town

At the end of the summer in 2020, I visited family in Stratford and caught my first glimpse of the Stratford rail yard under CN control. It was underwhelming to say the least. In 2019, I was much luckier when I caught a GEXR train heading out of the yard and onto the Goderich Sub. In my two visits since, including last year's time in the city, the rail yard is really different.

I'm not going to say it's better or worse. To be honest, I noticed that the yard looked to be much more full this year than it was last year. I missed the CN local, which dropped off a long string of cars at one point over my stay, which appeared to be the only major freight activity on the Guelph Sub in my time there. I was disappointed, because most railfans in the area spoke of the healthy GEXR operations on the sub. That's not to say that CN has flushed all this progress down the toilet. The number of cars and activity in the yard suggested otherwise. There was a lot of work being done on the rails and the volume of cars was definitely high compared to 2020.

On my first morning at the station, I saw some CN maintenance of way workers welding a joint near the gain elevators. It was hard to get a decent shot, since they were quite fair away, but it was cool to catch some of the smoke coming off the welder in the early morning light. This type of work is always a good sign. All around the station, the railway properties that CN now controls seem to be much busier than they were when I visited here in past years. Several buildings beside the yard appear to have been refurbished and are hives of activity. Does this mean CN has plans for the Guelph Sub? Or it is catching up on deferred maintenance? I don't have an answer, but the signs of CN's increased presence were everywhere.

I also spotted this ballast car hidden behind a graphics and printing business on the edge of the yard. Again, these loaded cars, combined with the stacks of other railway maintenance materials next to the station had me wondering what CN's long-term plans are for this rail line. I had to take this photo on the shadow side of the ballast cars, so this was the best I could do to clean up the shot with a little retouching.

I mention all these observations because Stratford is a fascinating railway town. It was once a very busy division point in the days of steam when it serviced Grand Trunk's and eventually Canadian National's steam engines. The local Stratford museum has lots of information about the railway's influence in this city's development. At one point, it is estimated that 40 percent of the city's workforce was employed by the railway. That's a staggering number by any stretch. Even in the streets close to the rail yard, you can see the remnants of many industrial operations that owe their existence either directly or indirectly to the railway.

Of course, it would be unwise to suggest CN's takeover of the Guelph Sub after decades of GEXR operation is a sign of a railway resurgence. Many rail observers suggested that the Guelph Sub is now being used mainly as a relief route for the Dundas Sub, which allows CN to spread out its traffic during times when one line isn't enough. Via Rail continues to use the Guelph Sub, just as it has for decades. Via's Sarnia-Toronto service makes its way through this city in the morning and evening each day, as part of a milk run service that also serves other small towns including St. Marys. 

While I was trackside, I did snap a few shots of the GEXR units on a stub end track. They didn't move in the four days I was there. That, to me, was a sad site. I did see one GEXR work crew at the yard briefly one day, but otherwise, the shortline railway appeared to be quiet.

The GEXR unit was listed as a GP38-3, which means it has been refurbished and updated. It was pretty shiny. It was linked to a comparatively beat-up RLK (Rail Link) 4095. This unit has turned up online a number of times. It's an old GP40 that was once an Ottawa Valley Railway unit. It was originally CN 4004 in 1966. A bit of a relic. I don't know that I've seen many GP40s lately. I only have a handful of photos of these units, although they look quite similar to the ubiquitous GP38s.
 

 I noticed 4095 appeared to have some engine issues at one point. Looks like a small blow-out or fire. 

Since nothing else was happening at the yard, I took some time to frame some shots with the station in mind. Stratford's station has been beautifully preserved. You can see more shots of it in this previous post. 

I also managed to take some shots of the rolling stock I found interesting, including the Ontario Northland boxcars. 

Here's a better vantage point.

I did manage to catch some live railway action eventually, which was a relief as I was getting a bit bored of looking at this still life. You can only take so many roster shots.

I will definitely be back in Stratford to visit family in the years to come. That means I will likely get a better idea of what is happening in this area with CN and GEXR. For a town that has risen to great heights and seen its railway industry virtually disappear, the re-emergence of CN is a curiosity at best right now. I doubt very much that it will change much of anything. Personally, I am sad to see GEXR diminished to what it is now, but maybe all the activity I noticed over my time in Stratford means there might be better days ahead for the railway in this historic railway town.

Stranger things have happened.