Quickly

Sometimes I find the most interesting railway photos happen by accident or at least when I have no time to think about them. Sometimes, you just happen upon something and it's moving fast so you have to capture it without any preparation. I think this newfound desire for spontaneity stems from my boredom over modern railway photos and the relative scarcity of diversity in freight train consists these days. After all, if all we're doing is taking shots of the head-end power of freight trains, which are themselves long lines of containers or grey hopper cars, then things will get stale quickly.

That's how I feel anyway. 

Since June, I have had several chances to capture railway photos in Toronto, Sarnia and Stratford, as well as places in between, as my family made its annual pilgrimages to see family and enjoy the Canadian summer. I want to share a few unplanned shots as a way or promoting spontaneity in rail photography.

The first shot I captured as my family made its way to our hotel in the Toronto suburbs for our short weekend in the city. East of the city, CN has this bridge over Highway 401. I have caught trains on this bridge a few times. This time, I caught a string on container cars trundling over the busy road. The sight of these containers isn't all that interesting on its own, but I like the overall image, with the busy highway very much part of the scene. 

Here's a closer shot, with the highway sign very much a part of the image. The angle of the tracks over the highway becomes more noticeable as you pass under the line. I like this shot as well. It's something different, anyway.

On the same trip, I caught the tail end of an eastbound CN freight train around Ajax, with some borrowed power at the end. I was in the passenger seat, shooting across the highway at the time. It would have been cool to pull off a better shot, but the traffic and highway signs conspired against me. Still, it's a shot of something different.

 

 

I had a few other shots in this sequence, which show more of the power, without the highway sign, but those shots were equally imperfect due to the shrubs near the tracks and the traffic heading eastbound on the highway. I like this one since it shows the BNSF logo and the front of the unit. Again, this is far from an ideal shot but it at least captures movement and something atypical. 

 

I have noticed, from my limited observations this summer, CN is making use of a fair bit of leased power. I have more shots from Sarnia that bear this out, but that will wait for another time. 

 

Closer to home in Ottawa, my daughter took this shot of a passing eastbound Via Rail corridor train making its way past Woodroffe Avenue en route to Ottawa Station. Whenever she is in the car and a train passes, she tries to get a shot for me when I'm either not present or driving. I've taught her well. 

 

 

Yes, it's another shot of a Vanture set in Ottawa, which I have in spades, but I like that it has the traffic in the shot and the crossing guards activated. Again, there is a sense of movement and drama in this shot. Whenever I try to capture images in and around Ottawa, I try to take this approach to Via Rail corridor trains. If I cannot find an element that sets the shot apart, I won't take it. I always try to find a bit of the cityscape in my images. I like this element of the image. 

 

Finally, in my trip to Sarnia in July, I was making my way around Sarnia Bay when I stopped for a moment to take a quick shot of the Cargill elevator, which is in the news in the city these days. You can make out a lone crossbuck in the shot, minus crossing signals. This gives you the idea that the line is not terribly busy. This is the end of the Point Edward Spur, which exists the serve the elevator. It once extended into Point Edward itself, but was cut short decades ago. You can just make out a hopper in the shot. 

 

Cargill has been in the news of late as it is trying to block a city plan to build housing a few hundred metres from this operation. The development is slated to be situated on the site of a former harbourfront restaurant. Cargill claims there are regulations preventing residential developments within a set distance from operations like this elevator. The company says the noise and dust from the elevator will become a source of friction in the future. It wants to avoid any future problems and has appealed to the province to block the development. 

 

Some area municipalities near Sarnia, with substantial agricultural economies, support Cargill, as they do not want to see any disruption to this operation's business, which would have an impact on local farmers.

 

The city, and another local restaurant, which is within that restricted area near the elevator, both feel there is no potential issue. The matter will be settled in the coming months.  

Thanks to everyone for their best wishes on the blog hitting 500 posts. This is post 501. Onward we go.

The path through the downtown: the Point Edward Spur

I have written a few posts about a curious little spur through downtown Sarnia called the Point Edward spur. The line used to go into Point Edward, a small village surrounded by Sarnia, but today is ends at the Cargill grain elevators on Sarnia Bay. The line winds through city parks and parallels Front Street, making its way around office buildings, a band shell, condos and a number of other things in the downtown.

You can read my first post about this spur here. The second post can be here.

I was lucky to receive some photos from my brother Marc who was in downtown Sarnia on April 27th. He happened to have his digital SLR with him when he heard a nearby horn, telling him that the CN local was making its away along the spur, which hugs the St. Clair River in different spots. The train was making its way to the Sarnia Yard.

The first shot above, shows the local returning from the grain elevators, with 7248 on point, being aided by a slug and safety scheme-clad 4136 sitting third.

Here's a closer view. You can just make out a piece of Sarnia's government pier to the left of the lead unit, which is where the grain elevators are located.

 

One final going away shot shows how close the track runs along Front Street in the downtown, with no fencing. The shot also gives you an idea of how the line is at street level for much of its run. You may also notice that the flowers were beginning to bloom in southwestern Ontario way back in April. Up here in Ottawa, we were only beginning to see the first hints of the crocuses (or croci? I've seen both usages) at that time.

 

You will also notice the covered hopper trailing behind the motive power. CN maintains this spur solely to service the Cargill elevator. The facility has two tracks where hoppers are spotted to take on grains, oilseeds (canola for example) and fertilizer, that are dropped off at the elevators by cargo ships. The elevators handle 500,000 tonnes of grain and 100,000 tonnes of dry fertilizer per year. That equals out to 30 freight ships docking at the elevators last year. CN movements to this elevator vary, according to the season and the amount of product to be offloaded. Here's a shot I took of some hoppers being loaded in December 2013.

 

 

Those who checked out my previous posts about this line will notice that the motive power on this line has changed over the years. In the 1990s, this line was served almost exclusively by SW1200 switchers, but that has changed as these old engines have disappeared from Sarnia. Another big change is that the line no longer hosts a small rail yard for ferry consists, since the ferry was retired when the new St. Clair Tunnel was opened in 1994. You can see the remnants of that old rail yard behind a downtown park (see map below). Nothing has been done with this land, although many different proposals have been floated about for its future use.

 

Here's a quick map I sketched out with the help of Google. See the legend below for an explanation of the arrows.

 

 

Red arrow - This is where the spur branches out of Sarnia Yard. Click here for photos I took of a train on this part of the spur last summer.

 

Green arrow - This is the site of the old CN ferry, which operated until the new St. Clair Tunnel was operational in 1994. Click here to see a post with shots of this old yard in its prime.

 

Teal arrow - This is where the spur crosses over Front Street at an angle.

 

Orange arrow - This is where the spur crosses back over Front Street and enters Centennial Park on its way to the grain elevator. This was also the point where the Point Edward Spur used to proceed on into Point Edward. There was once trackage here that was used for car storage.

 

Yellow arrow - End of the line. Cargill Grain Elevators.

 

I'm hoping I can do some shooting alongside this spur when I plan my next visit to the area later this year. 

 

 

CN's Point Edward Spur today

CN's Point Edward spur is a fascinating little run of trackage for a number of reasons, as I pointed out in a previous post. Last year, when visiting family in the Sarnia area, I made sure to make time to take shots of the busy railway activities in Sarnia. One of the lines I love to shoot is the Point Edward spur, because it's such an anomaly, unguarded as it is in the middle of a downtown, running through parkland and along the St. Clair River's shoreline. I noticed recently that I had amassed a few shots of the spur at different points, which offered an interesting snapshot of this legacy line.

The spur begins at the westernmost end of the CN Sarnia Yard, across from a wye junction at the Lambton Diesel Services Roundhouse and a nearby CN Police and maintenance building. This is the point where all the trackage in the yard contracts back into one main line heading for the Paul Tellier tunnel. (If you are shooting near the roundhouse, be careful and stay on public property! I did.). The shot below was taken Oct. 13, 2013 of two GP9RMs, which were parked on the beginning of the St. Clair River Industrial spur. I have seen numerous shots of this pair on the Point Edward spur, so I'm guessing they were serving both spurs. In my previous post (see link above), I pointed out that the Point Edward line was served almost exclusively by SW1200s.

From its starting point, the Point Edward spur heads due west, paralleling the main line to the Paul Tellier Tunnel beneath the St. Clair River, albeit at a higher elevation.

But, as you can just make out in this 1993 shot, the spur, which is upper left, winds away from the tunnel trackage beneath the Donohue Bridge and makes its way through the edge of Sarnia, where south-end homes meet the edge of the Chemical Valley refineries. The line passes through the edge of the Imperial Oil refinery, where a few smaller spurs serve the refinery and connect to the CSX Sarnia Subdivision along the river. The Point Edward line then heads north along the river shoreline, past where the old St. Clair rail ferry yard used to be, toward Sarnia's riverfront parks and Point Edward. At one point, the line passes in front of a lawyer's office and through Alexander Mackenzie Park. The level crossings in the downtown, amazingly, are only marked with crossbucks, due to the scarce traffic on the line.

The Point Edward line parallels Sarnia's Front Street, crossing it twice at angle crossings, before it passes through Centennial Park. Along the way, the line makes its way past Canadian National U-1-f 4-8-2 Mountain-type steam locomotive 6069, known as Bullet Nose Betty. This locomotive is now undergoing a much-needed restoration after spending decades in the elements. The spur can be seen bottom left. At a point just before this one, the line branched off along Front Street and headed to the village of Point Edward. From there, it served the former Holmes Foundry and made its way to an old rail yard near the Bluewater Bridge. That old yard and freight shed is now home to a casino. The old line was used for car storage as recently as the 1990s but that section was scrapped.

So, even though it comes close to its namesake village, the Point Edward spur ends here, at the Cargill Grain Elevators on Sarnia Bay. The elevators take in grain and oilseed from Great Lakes freighters and load them onto rail cars. You can just make out the hoppers in the shot below, which was taken from Harbour Road. This shot gives you an idea of the size of this facility.

A closer view through the links in the fence shows more clearly that the elevators are a busy place year round. These shots were taken Dec. 23, 2013.

The grain elevator is in an interesting part of Sarnia Bay, near the government docks where Great Lakes freighters seek refuge in the winter for repairs. This shot below was taken several years ago, from the parking lot of a nearby restaurant. It's quite the site to get out of your car and pull up next to one of these behemoths. They are part of the old Algoma Central empire, which once included the railway of the same name, now CN property.

 

So this is the status of this spur today: the ferry is gone, its adjoining riverfront rail yard history, the extension into Point Edward a distant memory and the Holmes Foundry that the spur served a vacant lot. Yet this spur continues to operate, with the Cargill elevator still making use of rail service regularly. When you are lucky enough to catch trains on the line, the spur makes for some spectacular photography.