Grand slam in Stratford (Part II)

In my first post about this strange lash-up I saw in Stratford, I shared some  photos of the CN crew bringing a short string of cars into Stratford's rail yard. The crew did a little switching, which was perfect for someone like me who never gets to see freight trains. My time in Stratford earlier this summer was quite prolific from a railfanning perspective. Not only did I get shots of a unique triple-header leading a CN freight, I also was able to catch an inbound Goderich Exeter Railway train returning from the Goderich Sub.

So you would think that would have been enough for one trip. And it was. However, I was surprised when I returned to the yard the following day for a quick peak to see this consist coming into the yard, with the same triple header I saw the day before.

CN had clearly kept the trio of geeps together for a return trip to the yard on July 19. This time, it was the BNSF geep in the lead, bring in a mixed load of mainly tank cars and a few covered hoppers. I tried to get a shot of the train emerging from behind the parked cars in the yard, as it made its way toward Romeo Street and the Masterfeeds elevator storage facility.

I also tried to frame the local with the entire elevator in the frame, just to give myself an idea of the scale of the Masterfeeds operations against the small consist. At least this way, I didn't have to fight the heat swivels coming up from the ground, which is always an issue in the summer when you are using the zoom on my camera. You can see the two searchlight signals showing the crew what it was allowed to do. The main line is red over red while the secondary track is red over green.

I don't take a lot of close-up shots of power anymore. I prefer shots where the train shares the frame with some other element of the landscape. In this case, the trio of geeps was too rare for me not to capture it in its own shot.

While I was in the yard, I made sure to try and find some unique rolling stock. I did spot these old Burlington Northern ribbed covered hoppers, which were in pretty decent shape considering how old they are.

That was the last really cool surprise before my family returned home from our trip. It was a really fun time for my kids and it was a very peaceful time for me at the rail yard at a time when I needed it. Great railway therapy.

Grand slam in Stratford (Part I)

I love being able to visit the rail yard in Stratford. Not only does it allow for a glimpse of a longstanding short line operation, the Goderich Exeter Railway, it also now gives you a chance to see a secondary operation in Canadian National's vast North American network. The trick here, as you would find on any secondary line, is to be there when the trains are operating, which is not terribly frequent. When you are along the main line in Kingston or in Toronto, you don't always have to wait long. In Stratford, there are long gaps you need to endure between trains sometimes. In my case, I did have some inside information from someone who is familiar with CN's operations.

But, as is often the case, when I arrived at the yard, it was quiet. Neither CN nor the GEXR was operating and the yard was only scattered with cars. As is often the case, there were a few strings of covered hoppers and some coil cars (unseen, but to the right of the hoppers).

Here's where being able to read railway signals helped me figure out that it was worth sticking around. The two signals to the left of the photo are what are commonly known as "searchlights." They are only activated when there is a train relatively close. On the Guelph Subdivision, even when these signals are activated, it doesn't mean you will see action imminently. The Guelph Subdivision often sees a more leisurely pace with its freight trains.

But a train did eventually appear on the main line, to the left. At first, it didn't seem like anything special. It was a string of covered hoppers pulled by the usual CN power on this line, which appeared to be a GP38-2 minus the wide safety hood. The train, which is usually 568, was pulling onto the secondary track leading to the yard. It was a sign that the consist was likely due to be switched, positioned in the yard, or added to cars already parked. Either way, it was great to know I'd be able to watch some freight action without any rush.

When it approached the Stratford Station platform, I was quite surprised to see that the leading geep was trailed by an old Grand Trunk Western and BNSF unit. Three liveries in one train. Talk about great luck.

The power, for the record, was CN GP38-2 4732, CN (GTW) GP40-2 6420 and BNSF GP38-2 2317. There were two tank cars immediately trailing, followed by a string of covered hoppers. I was surprised to see tank cars in tow directly behind the power, as they are usually separated by a buffer car. 

I waited for the train to move past the parked GEXR unit, so I could capture four liveries in one shot. This was a first for me. I would have to look through my photo archives to see if I have a shot with even three liveries. I know have a few shots with two liveries. But four? Well, this was a first.

I stuck around to watch the switching for a while, trying to get a few different shots as the crew did its switching duties.

And one last shot of the train in reverse.

I tried one last image with all four units and the Masterfeeds grain elevator in the same shot. When I was searching around a bit to get information on the units on CN 568, I saw that there were a few other railfans that caught this unique consist in Kitchener and elsewhere along the Guelph Subdivision. CN put on quite a show.

It was definitely the highlight of my time at the yard in Stratford.

Memories of Ottawa to Sarnia in the late 1990s (Part III)

Note: Although my time right now is dominated by a move, I have found some time to blog. This is the final entry in my reminiscences of taking the train between Sarnia and Ottawa in the late 1990s. The route between these cities on opposite ends of Ontario is filled with memories and items of interest for me. - Michael

In the second post of this series, I focused on a few points of interest between Union Station and Kitchener. Once you pass Kitchener on a westbound train, you get into the smaller, more pastoral stops that speak to railroading from another era. 

St. Marys

One of these stops is found in the beautiful community of St. Marys. The town is located in Perth County, has a population of 7,200 and boasts a few historic curiosities. It is the resting place of Canada's ninth prime minister, Arthur Meighen. It is also home to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, which I have visited. Finally, it is home to an historic stone railway station. The station is situated on a hill just beyond a large trestle crossing.

The station itself has been well maintained and still hosts daily Via Rail service. That additional platform you see is the Metrolinx platform that was used when GO Trains were run between Toronto and London in a pilot project. That service has since ended. Just beyond the station sits an impressive trestle that crosses a creek that wends its way over Rotary Park. This bridge shows you the impressive geography that had to be forded to operate railways through this terrain.

The last time I was in St. Marys, I made sure to walk beneath the bridge just to get some perspective as to how high it is over the valley. This view below gives you an idea of the size and height of this railway structure. This town is known for its limestone deposits, which explains the stone piers holding up the metal girders. Now you also know the origin of the St. Marys Cement company name. It's this town.

When I took the train between Sarnia and Ottawa in the late 1990s, I always made a mental note to look out my window when crossing this bridge. It was cool to see people from my perspective atop the bridge. It always filled me with a sense of comfort to see people going about their business in this small town when the train passed through. As a small town guy at heart, I have a soft spot for this town. Also, there's an ice cream store near the station that has a dairy free option, which makes me happy. 

Stratford

I won't dwell on Stratford too long, as I have blogged about this town many times. I now have family living here, so I have made many trips to this station, which is one of the nicest in Southwestern Ontario. It really does suit the town, which has one of the richest cultural scenes of any community in Canada. The impact of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival cannot be underestimated.

London

London is the big city in Southwestern Ontario. If you are from Sarnia, it's the easiest big city to get to, as it is only an hour east. My first-ever train trip was between Sarnia and London when my Dad had an appointment in London. I remember travelling on a classic blue coach to London when I was quite young. I could not have been much older than 4 or 5, but I remember the excitement I felt as a train obsessed little kid. When I travelled between Sarnia and Ottawa, London was either the last major stop before I came home or it was the first major stop as I settled in for a long day en route back to Carleton University. 

Via's station here has been well maintained. It was not always this way, before the station was renovated in the early 2000s. This is not the station I remember from my travels in the 1990s. You can just make out an HEP silver streamliner to the right of the picture. As London is at the junction between rail lines going to Sarnia and Windsor, this station continues to host both Toronto-Windsor and Toronto-Sarnia trains in both directions. 

London's station has a small yard, which at times has hosted some oddities over the years. Here's an undated shot shared with me of the old GM Diesel switcher at the old London station. The last I saw, this old unit resided at the Lambton Diesel shop in Sarnia yard.

Wyoming

Between London and Sarnia, Via makes two stops, although in the 1990s, it made three. Heading west, the Via corridor trains stop in Strathroy and Wyoming. Just east of Wyoming in the 1990s, Via also made a brief stop in Watford, but that service has since been discontinued.

The Wyoming stop is a throwback to earlier days in railroading, when railways served small towns. Wyoming's former CN train station is long gone, as are the rails of the old rail yard, but there is still a tiny station just off Broadway Avenue, Wyoming's main street.

When I took the train in the 1990s, there always seemed to be someone who either got off in Wyoming in the evening or boarded the train in the early morning. It's somewhat of an anomaly that this town has Via service still, but given the population growth in this part of the province, the station might see more activity in the coming years. In my time on the train in the 1990s, Wyoming again was one of those stops where I was either itching to get off the train after a long day or it was where I was settling in for a long trip east. I have visited this spot a number of times to train watch. It's a great spot to watch mainline freights roar by.

Here's one of my meets with a passing freight in 2022.

Okay, here's a shot of the power. A shot of an autorack seems like a bit of a rip-off, I'm sure.

Last stop: Sarnia

I've disembarked on the Sarnia platform many times, always late at night when my train pulled in at the end of its run. My clearest memory of this station was when I returned home in October 1996. It was the first time I had visited my family after moving away to attend journalism school at Carleton University in Ottawa. I was homesick, as my first year hadn't gone all that swimmingly to start. My roommate and I didn't mesh. He was a good guy but I couldn't live with him. When the train pulled into the station, I had a window seat overlooking the station platform. I had already gathered my bags and was beginning to stand up to stretch my legs, as I was eager to get home. I recall my brother on the platform, jumping up to see where I was in the train, as he was excited to see me. I have never forgotten that moment.

As brothers, we don't often need to say anything to each other. We know we are each other's best friend. My older brother has been a great influence on me all my life. I have always looked up to him. When I saw how excited he was to see me, it reminded me of what family is all about. When people ask me why I am so sentimental about trains, that moment in 1996 is one of the reasons. Trains have brought people together for generations. That is what keeps me fascinated.

Thank you to everyone who has sent along their best wishes as my family tries to navigate through the last portion of a very difficult year. We're close to being free of this situation. I can't guarantee when the next post will appear, but I'm hoping it will be soon. All positivity welcomed.

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.

Along the main line in Kitchener

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get on the GO, while you can (Stratford, Part I)

My family recently returned from a trip to Stratford for a family reunion. It's been two years since we've been here. Stratford is best known for its annual summer theatre festival, which has a decidedly Shakespearean flair. For my purposes, it serves as the headquarters of the Goderich Exeter shortline railway. Stratford also serves as the regional hub for Canadian National, which assumed operations on the Guelph Subdivision after leasing out the line to GEXR until 2018. 

On my recent travels to Stratford, I was lucky to be able to spend a fair bit of time at the town's railway station. On the whole, I was able to see two mainline CN freights (CN 568) as well as one GEXR yard job as the crew prepared to head north on GEXR 581. Part of the weekend required a short stay to pick up family on the platform, as they were arriving from London. So that was another one to add to my list. 

Perhaps the rarest catch was the evening eastbound GO Train 3775 from London, as it stopped in Stratford en route to Union Station in Toronto. It's this train I wanted to focus on first, as it is the rarest of birds one would expect to find in a small town like Stratford. Metrolinx launched a pilot project in 2021 to connect a number of southwestern Ontario cities to Toronto via a GO Train. That project will conclude this autumn, without a permanent link being established. All the same, I was able to find myself at the station just after 7 p.m. on Aug. 1 as 3775 made its way past a stopped CN westbound 581. A meet! Two for one! I tried to capture a shot of the control cab making its way to the platform with the Masterfeeds elevator complex in the shot.

This was a surprisingly difficult shot to capture, as Metrolinx has a wooden platform on the edge of the station platform that was obstructing my view. There was also a CN employee in a car parked right next to the tracks. I managed to adjust my zoom and aim my shot in between these visual hazards to get this shot. You can see the searchlight signals appearing double red to the left of the GO Train. CN 581, which was on the second track in the yard, was stopped with three units in the lead. The train was all covered hoppers.

This shot shows you a bit of the visual hazards that could not be eliminated entirely as the GO Train made its way to the station platform. This pilot project by Metrolinx is one that had me scratching my head, to be sure. I'm not sure a two-hour-plus milk run is what qualifies as commuter rail. I did notice when my family arrived on Via Train 87 that the train seemed to be quite full, so I would imagine there was some understanding between Metrolinx and Via about this GO service, which to me is otherwise encroaching on intercity passenger rail service, which is not in its mandate.

Of course, given the size of the Greater Toronto Area, GO already extends quite far on either side of Toronto, making a run out to London not entirely out of character, although to me it's too far. The train leaves London at the crack of dawn and arrives back in London fairly late into the evening. I suppose it's a cheaper option than taking Via, but it begs the question in my mind, which company should be providing this service? It seems to me to be Via, given its mandate to provide intercity service. 

All of this is a moot point, as the GO service will be ending soon, which made me quite happy to catch this train in Stratford. My wife and I also made a quick trip to St. Mary's, near Stratford, where we took photos of the town's beautiful train station as well as its towering train bridge. There is also a GO platform in that city (watch for my St. Mary's post in the near future). 

Seeing this commuter service so far outside the GTA made me wonder why something like this hasn't even entered the local discussion in Ottawa in recent years, as Ottawa tries to sort out its light rail nightmare called the Confederation Line. In an upcoming post, I will share some recent history from Ottawa where leaders were in fact calling for commuter rail on existing rail lines in the city. Alas, I think more people were entranced by the thought of a more European electrified light rail system on a brand new right-of-way, which leads in part to the mess we've inherited today. 

The slight curve on the Guelph Subdivision just past the station does make for some great pictures, although the evening sun was washing out the sky a fair bit. I was not expecting to see an old F59PH unit at the tail end, as these old beasts have mostly been replaced by newer, sleeker MPI MPXpress units, but there it was, rounding the curve as I snapped away.

One final shot of the westbound as it makes its way past the Downie Street crossing. I was happy to capture a few shots without local traffic obstructing my view of the train as it made its way back to London.

I was happy that I could capture a few shots that I will file under different, as this year is the Year of Different. However, it got me to thinking about how much of an opportunity Ottawa missed in not using the rails it has (and recently had) to try some sort of GO Train experiment in the city. In a future post, I will examine what GO service could have looked like in the city, if it had not been for the differing views of our local leadership.

All in all, it was a good catch and it was even better since there was a waiting freight in the hole as well. I will share shots of that train in the next Stratford post.