That time in Toronto

It's nice to be able to live again, without a cloud hanging over every aspect of my family's life. I am happy to share that our family is safely in our new home and our nightmare is pretty much over. That said, let's talk about trains. 

In early June, my family made a quick trip to Toronto to a Blue Jays game, which was a first for my two daughters. You can read about what we saw on the way to Toronto in this post. After we arrived, we stayed at the hotel attached to the Rogers Centre, so it was conveniently located near the downtown Metrolinx/Via tracks, which made for some great railfanning for me. Never mind the quick visit I was able to make to the Toronto Railway Museum, right across from the baseball stadium. I will leave those images for another post. 

Obviously, on a game day, my family was around the baseball stadium, which meant we were able to see plenty of GO Trains. I did even see one still being pulled by an old F59, but I was not quick enough to get an image of that one. But I did like this shot taken in front of the city's convention centre. The mix of old and new Metrolinx green is quite common on GO Trains still.

This shot below was taken from a pedestrian walkway above the tracks right beside the Rogers Centre. I like that this image captures the length of the train, the shadows mid-train and the signals. The lighting was tricky to work with, but a bit of colour correction helped define the train a little more clearly.

I wasn't able to devote a lot of time to train watching, as our goal was to fulfill a Christmas promise to take the girls to a game and let them choose one piece of team memorabilia at the team shop. However, given the steady stream of commuters to and from downtown, there was lots to shoot in a short period of time.

In addition to the GO Trains making their way to and from Union Station, I also managed to get a few shots of the UP Express, short for Union-Pearson Express. This is the three-car consist making its way past the convention centre. The UP Express has both three- and two-car consists plying the rails to and from the airport. The frequency of these trains was pretty steady as I was trackside. I know a few people who have made use of this service. They tell me it is a great experience. You can just see my daughter's hand in the bottom of the photo.

I have to admit that I hung out at my hotel room window way too much when I returned from the game. I found the steady flow of trains and the gentle rumble of the diesel engines oddly captivating. Here's a shot of a P42 with a Love the Way wrap leading a LRC consist past my window. The final car in this train was a refurbished HEP silver streamliner. The architecture of the hotel room meant I could not entirely crop out the part of the building that jutted out and obstructed my view. The grey cityscape really makes the yellow Via logo on the P42 stick out. It was fun to get shots of trains from up high. It's not something I've been able to do often.

Speaking of wraps. Here's a GO coach with a Desjardins message for riders.

Call this next shot a milestone shot, even if it was taken through a window at an impossible angle with some issues with glare. It's a moral victory for me because this is the first time I have ever captured the Canadian. You can see the multiple F40 units on point, as the consist backs into Union Station as a GO Train heads in the opposite direction with the control cab leading the way. The Canadian was on the track closest to my hotel, which made it hard to capture. It took me a moment to realize what this train was. I'm glad I was taking photos of it all the same. You can see some of the gargoyles from the Rogers Centre obstructing the view. Nothing to be done. Beggars can't be choosers.

I thought I'd finish with this shot. If you've ever been in Union Station and find yourself descending the ramp from the main hall to the area where people line up for their trains, you might notice this old plaque off the to the side. I find it interesting that the railway thought enough of its employees that it felt it had to erect a small monument saluting their service to our country during wartime. The plaque doesn't specify any war. It's quite a contrast to the railways of today, spanning continents and more focused on shareholder value than their employees sacrificing their lives for the cause of freedom. I'm not mentioning this as a critique, per se. Times change. It's just interesting to have a glimpse of where the CPR's corporate mentality was, once upon a time.

Those are my images trackside in downtown Toronto. It was fun to get a brief look at big city railroading. It made the awful baseball game we watched all the more palatable.

Trackside observations in Toronto

So our house is packed and the waiting game nears an end. We are officially ready to move, but we don't have possession of our new home yet. I'm at my work desk in the basement and there's a lull in my day. I figured it was a good time to go over some of my observations from Toronto on June 1, when my family made a quick visit to the city to take our kids to a Blue Jays game (they lost) and the Ripley's Aquarium. You can read about the westward rail journey to Toronto in my previous post.

In that post, I detailed some interesting observations from our train journey from Ottawa's Fallowfield Station all the way through to Cobourg. Our ride included a meet with two CN freight trains, a westbound container train parked in Belleville and another westbound mixed that had stopped for us around Brockville. This was the best shot I could get of the front end of that train from my small window in the ex-CP HEP car. I think the clouds and the trees make this image more interesting. I would have liked to get more of the cab, but this is what you sometimes get when you take photos while in motion.

But let's focus on Toronto. As our train pulled into Oshawa, I was able to get a quick shot of a parked GO Train with the power facing east. Oshawa is usually a busy station, with a yard that holds autoracks for a nearby automotive plant and other freight cars on any given day. I like the fact that these are images I could not otherwise get trackside.

As we headed west, we passed the Metrolinx GO Train maintenance facility in Whitby. It was not easy to get a proper image of the yard, since the glare from my window and the narrow vantage point made it a challenge. I had to touch up this image quite a bit to account for the glare and reflections on our window. I like how this one turned out. There are a lot of trains visible.

This shot also had to be touched up to account for the fact that it was taken behind a narrow window in our passing HEP car. I liked how this one turned out as well. Most of the quick shots I took passing by didn't turn out. But it's always cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at railway facilities from a vantage point that you could never get from public property.

When we entered the home stretch of track leading to Union Station, I didn't expect to see much, but I still kept an eye out for anything. I did make sure to get a shot of this trackside building on Cherry Street. I remember always seeming to notice this building when I rode the train in my university days. It brought back a lot of good memories seeing it again. It's nice to know that, despite all the changes in Toronto over the last few decades, a few old vestiges of its gritty past remain. You can see some light rail (street car?) right-of-way in the bottom right corner of the image.

The tracks leading into Union Station are the exclusive domain of GO Trains, Via Rail intercity corridor trains and the Union Pearson Express. But once in a while, you might catch a few freight cars that are being used for maintenance of way purposes. This was an unexpected catch.

A few ties were on this flat car, but I wasn't sure if they were old ties that had been removed or new ties that were awaiting placement on one of the lines. My guess is they are old ties, given they seemed to be thrown onto the car without any thought to organization. I would expect new ties to be in a neat bundle.

End of the line for us as our train pulled in under the now brightly lit platforms of Union Station. This is quite the contrast with Montreal's platforms, which I was also able to see later in the summer on a quick trip to Montreal with my daughter. The windows and lighting makes for a better first impression of Toronto than travellers had from the old platform. A gleaming GO Train awaits its next run east as we pulled in.

In my brief time in Toronto, I managed to get a bunch more material but I will save that for another post. It has been a really rewarding summer for me as a railfan, as I have taken three trips and acquired a fair bit of new material. It's always good to have too much, for a change.

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.

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.

Patriotism on the rails

I’ve just finished nearly two years in a marketing role for a government agency and it’s provided me with some interesting insight on branding. Of course, this experience motivated some thoughts about how railways brand themselves. At work, I was put in charge of marketing a certain project, but soon found myself at odds with the decision makers. The reason was they didn’t want to use the actual name of the project we were asked to promote. Instead, they insisted we use a more general word “Modernization” in all of the documents and ads we produced. It made little sense to me that the actual name of what we were promoting took a back seat to the word “modernization,” which seemed overly long and a little bland as a brand name.

Oh well. On to more interesting topics. Here are a few branding insights I have gained in my time in communications and marketing that I think railways should consider.

1. A country is not your brand. I have seen this trend in the last decade or more, where railways wrap themselves in a flag, as a way of promoting themselves to be patriotic companies in it for the good of their country. While I do not have a problem with a company expressing its pride in country, I think several railways have begun to lose brand power because their own name often plays second fiddle to their country.

Whose railway is it anyway? Well, to the casual observer, you wouldn't know the yellow engine is a UP engine. Thanks to my brother for grabbing this shot in San Luis Obispo, Calif. recently.

The best example I can find is Union Pacific. My brother recently found himself in San Luis Obispo, where two UP engines were tied up at the station. When he shared his photo with me, I was immediately struck by the prominence of the American flag on the side of the power. I don’t have any problem with UP using patriotism as part of its corporate image, since its roots stretch back into the very founding of the modern west of the United States. The critique I have is that the flag is so prominent, it drowns out the actual company’s identity. That’s a shame because UP has a great, patriotic logo that has stood the test of time. The railway also has an outstanding slogan “Building America” which really does sum up what a railway should be doing on a daily basis. On some locomotives, you see a small UP logo near the rear of the long hood with the company slogan, but it’s the flag that is the dominant image. Given my experience in government in the last years, I think UP’s branding needs more balance.

I’ve noticed Amtrak is beginning to use this flag approach on the sides of its new electric locomotives in the Northeast Corridor. The stakes are much higher for Amtrak than they are for Union Pacific and here’s why.

2. Patriotism has a dark side, too. I don’t want to get into the political divisions in the United States. That’s not my point at all. From a marketing point of view, I think Amtrak, and Via Rail Canada, have a very fine line they need to walk. Why? Well, in Amtrak’s case, it is forever fighting an uphill battle to maintain a good reputation and many of the factors that are working against it are out of the railway’s control. We all know about the battles it faces to maintain proper operating and capital budgets in order to provide service that passengers want to use. This is not always easy when you must go cap in hand to the government for funds each year. That is why wrapping yourself in the flag is dangerous. Passengers often associate Amtrak, and Via Rail Canada, as wards of the state, for better or for worse. And most people do not relate the government with quick, efficient service. I don’t know why Amtrak or Via Rail would want to invite those comparisons.

3. Government branding should be avoided at all costs. This is, in my opinion, a branding challenge Via Rail needs to address. At one point, Via Rail consists did not have any maple leaf flags or Government of Canada wordmark on any of their locomotives or rolling stock. I’m not sure when the flags first began to appear, or the Canada wordmark, but I’ve always found these additions to be visual distractions to what was once a very clean, modern and effective look.

When Via Rail began wrapping its cars for Canada 150 and for the railway’s 4oth anniversary, the Canada wordmark and the by now faded Canada flags were removed. I thought this was a good move. Again, I want to stress that I don’t have a problem with a company expressing its patriotism, but I do think there needs to be a balance. In the case of Via, I found the fluttering Canada flags to be a tad too large and also at odds with the more two-dimensional Via Rail logo. I also found the Canada wordmark to be far too large. The brand is Via Rail, not the Government of Canada. The company’s logo should always be the biggest, most prominent feature. This is why I think Via Rail can learn from its years of wrapping cars. While you might not like this scheme, it at least makes one thing clear: the brand is Via Rail.

Just like I don’t think Amtrak wants to associate itself with the U.S. federal government, I don’t think Via Rail has done itself any favours by associating itself so closely with the Canadian government, especially given the ever-changing political whims of those in power. I don’t know how much of the Canada wordmark placement and size was mandated, but if there was no directive, I think at the very least the wordmark should be minimized and placed elsewhere in the future. Same with the flag. If the flag is bigger than the Via logo, then there’s a branding problem.

Does anyone remember when Via replaced its logo at the bottom of the F40PH-2 hoods and replaced with the wordmark? The railway was then forced to jam their company’s logo above the headlights on the hood. That was a marketing disaster.

[PHOTO]

One railway operation that has it right is Metrolinx. The GO Train operator does have an Ontario flag on the hoods of its locomotives, but it’s subtle. If you were to plaster a large Ontario flag on the side of the green and white commuter trains, it would create an inconsistent look at the very least. At worst, it could create an unnecessarily visceral reaction. After all, I’m not sure that many in the province are terribly enamored with the provincial government, no matter who is in charge.

I guess my message is simplicity is always the best solution. I’ve read a lot on marketing recently and that message seems to be the central theme to any successful branding exercise or marketing campaign. Railways need to be railways first and foremost. Being patriotic is a good way to create goodwill, but it can’t replace your central message. And that message should always be: We are a darn good railway.

2016's Favourites, Part I

I'm coasting into the Christmas break this year and with good reason. I am about to start a new job and have already finished Christmas preparations at the homestead. So, in the spirit of things winding down, I thought I would go through my posts this year and share a few of my favourite images with you. This post covers the first half of the year. I will cover the second half of the year next week.

This first shot was taken shortly after the new year. Ottawa had just emerged from one of the freakishly warm Christmas seasons in recent memory, so the site of snow was a welcome site for me. I made sure to find some time to take shots at the end of Cedarview Road in Barrhaven to get some winter shots of this passing westbound Via Rail corridor train. Later on in the year, I took a shot from the same point of view and was surprised with how different the view was. For example, there are a number of homes behind that train that are obscured by the snow flying in the train's wake.

Later on in January, I began to experiment with shooting around Twin Elm, a rural hamlet that is crossed by the Smiths Falls Subdivision. I found myself at the Twin Elm Road crossing a few times with my baby daughter, since I was on parental leave and these rides in the car would calm her down when she refused to nap in the afternoon (ahh, the memories).

This was my favourite image from these meets with Via Rail corridor trains. This shot was taken of an eastbound corridor train right around sunset. The sky really made this shot work, even though the light was less than ideal. It did take a fair bit of editing to get this shot to look like this.

My efforts in catching up with the Arnpior Local (The Arnprior Turn) on the Beachburg Subdivision were largely fruitless, although I did catch the train one time on the way back from an appointment. I caught this tiny consist on a snowy March morning at Northside Road in Bells Corners. I almost missed the train, so I had to fire off some blind shots as I drove along Northside and focused on the road. This was my favourite shot from that meet.

On the March Break, my family spent a few days in Toronto as a little vacation. We stayed in a condo near GO Transit's North Bathurst Yard. From our 37th floor perch, I captured countless images of commuter trains, Via J-Trains, and the Union Pearson Express. I took a few trips trackside and caught this shot of the UP Express. I think this shot really captures the essence of downtown Toronto. You can see the Bathurst Street bridge, a pedestrian bridge to Front Street, numerous trackside signals, a gantry, condo buildings and a whole lot more.

Those days in Toronto were filled with all sorts of opportunities. I decided to make the most of the time there and get shots of GO Trains from a variety of vantage points. Here is a shot of an eastbound consist with a Metrolinx painted car first in tow. You can just see the North Bathurst Yard to the right of the shot with a few trains waiting for rush hour.

As I mentioned, being on the 37th floor next to the tracks offered some unique opportunities to get shots that I wouldn't otherwise ever be able to get. Here we see two eastbound Via Rail consists heading to Union Station, one led by an F40 and another led by a P42. Note the contrasting paint schemes.

In the midst of all the family fun, I was able to get a few minutes at Roundhouse Park, right across from the Rogers Centre. I was able to capture a few cool images, like this olive green clad Canadian National geep.

In April, I was visiting a friend in Richmond when a late season snowfall dusted the area. I was surprised when I approached the Ottawa Street crossing to see this maintenance of way consist on the spur. I later learned it was used by Via Rail for a number of their area track improvement projects over the course of the summer. If you look closely, you can just make out the snow falling over the swamp next to the tracks.

In June and July, I began to experiment with the area of the Smiths Falls Sub which crosses beneath Highway 416. This shot below is probably my favourite because it also captures a storm headed north toward the city.

Here's another shot from the same shoot with a little more of the train crossing beneath the highway.

In Part II, there were a number of shots I managed to get outside of Ottawa and a few other surprises.

37th Heaven

Toronto Part IV - The following post is the fourth of four I have put together to chronicle the various trains I saw on a recent trip to Toronto with my family in mid-March. You can read the first three parts here, here and here.

Call it a Moveable Feast.* When my family spent a few days in Toronto last month, I was thrilled that we were treated to a trackside seat to all the comings and goings at Toronto's Union Station. As I have mentioned, our rented condo was just west of Union Station, in between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street.

This week, I thought I would share some of my favourite aerial shots of the railway action that were taken from the 37th floor balcony, which fronted onto Toronto's busy passenger rail corridor. Let's begin with a Via Rail combined train. I saw this consist twice over my three-day stay. I like this shot because it captures the entire consist heading beneath Spadina Avenue. The first engine is trailed by three coaches while the second is trailed by six. I have only seen this type of consist on other people's blogs, so it was a real treat to see something like this in person. Via Rail's J-Train has been shot a number of times in Quebec and other points east of Toronto. Does anyone have an idea what this consist might be? I didn't think it was the so-called J-Train.

Another scene I have rarely seen outside of Ottawa's Central Station. As you see below, two Via Rail corridor trains cross paths on their way to Union Station. In this case, the F40 consist was stopped while the P42-pulled streamliner consist proceeded ahead to Union. It was cool to see a diversity of Via Rail equipment from up high.

This perspective gives you an idea of where my perch was in relation to the tracks. In this shot, a Via Rail corridor train heads west out of Union, just beside my spot. This is what a train looks like from 37 floors almost directly overhead. You can see some bundles of rail and ties beside the train.

As I mentioned, I saw the Via Rail combination consist twice. This shot, again, shows you what these trains looked like from a vantage point that was almost directly overhead In this shot, you can see an F40 consist with four cars leading the second consist, also being pulled by another F40. Those tracks you see at the top of the shot comprise the GO Transit North Bathurst Yard, where GO Trains park during the off-peak hours.

An aerial shot of a few GO Trains parking in North Bathurst Yard following the morning rush. The weather over the days I was in Toronto was quite misty, which made getting sharp images a little tricky. Still, it was fun to see these trains backing into the yard. The outer tracks in this yard were all stubs. It looked as through there were connected to the main line at both ends at some point.

Four trains in one shot. This is a record for me that will likely never be broken. These four GO consists met right next to old Fort York, just west of the Bathurst Street bridge, which is in the bottom of the frame. You can really notice the mist in this shot.

Here's an action shot of a GO Train backing into North Bathurst Yard right after the morning rush. What makes this shot even better is the combined Via Rail consist making its way to Union Station, to the left of the shot. Both trains are passing beneath the Spadina Avenue bridge.

 

And with that, you have a somewhat complete picture of what I saw in Toronto last month. I have loads of other shots I will share on an infrequent basis.

 

* - A Moveable Feast is the title of Ernest Hemingway's unfinished memoirs, which were published following his death. In my opinion, his greatest work will always be For Whom the Bells Tolls, a fictionalized account of an American fighting with the Spanish guerillas during the Spanish Civil War.

GOing to extremes

Toronto Part III - The following post is the third of four I have put together to chronicle the various trains I saw on a recent trip to Toronto with my family in mid-March. You can read the first two parts here and here.

 

It didn't get much better than this. For three days, I was able to watch one of the busiest rail corridors in the country right from my living room window. My family was staying in a condo in downtown Toronto, just steps from Spadina Avenue. This meant that I was able to watch trains, even when I was doing something else. At one point during our brief stay in Hogtown, my wife asked me to walk down the street to see what the line was like at the Ripley's Aquarium (see previous post), which was the main family activity we had planned for our little stay. I jumped at the chance to do this, since it allowed me to walk trackside and get more photos of the railway action. In this post, I am sharing some of the more interesting shots I collected while on this short walk, no to mention a few others I captured from the 37th floor condo. In this next post, I will share the most interesting aerial shots from the condo perch, which are far too numerous for this post.

 

So, here's the first shot I liked. It's a GO Train headed west, having just left Union Station. On point is MP40PH-3C 643. While I watched these GO Trains over my three-day stay, I noticed that most consists have these locomotives pushing or pulling. That means the old F59PHs are largely being phased out. Notice that the first coach in the consist is newly painted in the Metrolinx light green scheme. I didn't see as many of these newly painted cars as I thought I would.

 



I noticed that GO would begin backing up trains early in the morning in the North Bathurst Yard, which was right across from my condo. I shot a lot of aerial shots of these moves, but I did make sure to get a few shots from the Spadina Avenue bridge, including this image. The misty weather tended to obscure many of the details in my shots, but I still like how this one turned out.

I was thrilled with this shot simply because it captured all the elements of a busy rail network in a big city that I wanted to get. In this shot, you can see the pedestrian bridge between Iceboat Terrace and Front Street (yellow), the Bathurst Street bridge, a newly installed signal gantry, two diverging rail pathways, two signal towers and the main attraction, the UP Express, heading east to Union Station. This is one of my favourite shots from Toronto.

A quick peek at a UP Express wrap on a GO Train in North Bathurst Yard. What's that expression? One hand washes the other? In this case, one Metrolinx operation touts the other. This was the only wrap I saw.

Another GO Train makes its way east to Union Station, passing by North Bathurst Yard. The frequency of GO Trains blew me away, particularly an Ottawa resident not accustomed to commuter rail of this magnitude.

This is one of the features of the new GO equipment that I almost missed. I caught this new cab at the end of our stay.

And as I mentioned, the F59PHs are almost phased out, but I did catch a consist with an F59 on each end. In this case, this consist stopped right in front of our building and waited for clearance to proceed. At one point, multiple GO Trains were lined up on a single track, some within a few dozen metres of each other, all waiting for clearance to go. It was like watching planes lined up next to a runway. I have never seen that before. It was a treat to watch. In the image below, you can see the GO crew taking a breather while they await instructions to proceed. Made for an amazing shot.

 

 

Usually, I tend to stay away from railfanning posts, but I couldn't resist. There really is no story or editorial content here, just a few memories of a great few days spent watching trains.