The Budd cars return to Windsor after dark

This is part II of my Windsor history series. You can read the first entry by clicking here.

In August 2022, when I was taking photos of the interesting pieces of rolling stock at the Waterloo Central Railway's St. Jacobs yard, I spotted an RDC unit tucked away in the yard, far enough away from my vantage point on a nearby street that I couldn't get a clean photograph of it. But I got a reasonable shot. I give the volunteers running this operation credit. They painted the unit in the Canadian Pacific maroon and gold scheme, albeit lettered for the Waterloo Central. This maroon scheme predated the ubiquitous CP multimark scheme that was adopted in 1968. It got me to thinking.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was clear that highways had supplanted passenger rail services as the dominant form of short-distance travel in much of Canada. Despite various attempts to modernize their service or innovate after the Second World War, both CP and CN were hemorrhaging money on their passenger services. In CN's case, it was a government owned corporation, which tended to soften the blow, but also force its hand to stick with its passenger services. CP was a different story, as it was not a government owned entity, although it was still subject to the same regulation that mandated passenger service standards at the time. So, in a sense, CP had the worst of all worlds.

That said, CP and CN were going in different directions as the 1970s approached. One was investing and another was actively bailing out.

At this time, my Dad had moved with his family to Windsor, Ont., as my grandfather was transferred from CP's facilities in Chapleau, in Northern Ontario, to the Windsor shops. In my Dad's case, this meant, as a teenager, he found himself with his first job at the CP yards in Windsor alongside my grandfather, who was a rolling stock mechanic.

My grandfather usually worked the RIP track, which is short for the repair-in-place track. He sometimes would work in the shed near the roundtable as well. There were times that he would be dispatched to wrecks around southern Ontario to ensure that the main line would be clear as quickly and safely as possible following an accident. In short, my grandfather did a little bit of everything. By contrast, my Italian grandfather (Nonno in Italian) was also living in Windsor at this time, but he had long since moved on from his work as a general track labourer with CP, which he did in the Crowsnest Pass district of B.C.

My Dad often worked nights at the CP yard alongside my grandpa. At the time, CP was still maintaining a national passenger network. A peak at the CP schedule from 1968 shows that there were two daily trains between Toronto and Windsor in both directions. This image below was taken from Steve Boyko's collection. Steve is the author of the traingeek.ca blog. He graciously allowed me to use this image for this post. 

The timetable gives you clues as to CP's state of mind regarding regional passenger rail at the time. The four trips were all made with Dayliners, which is a fancy term for RDCs. The schedule shows two RDCs made morning runs, one from Toronto heading west at 8:30 a.m. and one from Windsor heading east at 7:15 a.m. The eastbound to Toronto arrived at 11:20 while the westbound to Windsor arrived at 12:40 p.m. That means a four-hour trip. A bit slow, but not bad considering the stops made en route. 

The evening trains followed similar schedules. The evening train out of Toronto heading west left Union Station at 6:30 p.m. and arrived in Windsor at 10:40 p.m. The eastbound out of Windsor left at 5:05 p.m. and arrived in Toronto at 9:15 p.m. 

So what are the clues that CP was not prioritizing the passenger service, other than the fact that the Budds were doing the hauling? Look closely at the left of the image and you see that the schedule advises that there are "Meal Stations" en route where food can be purchased at city prices. In other words, there appears to be no service on the train. It's also worth noting that CP has a bus service to Kitchener from its Galt passenger station, since Galt (part of Cambridge now) is quite a way from Kitchener and Waterloo.

The final clue as to what CP was thinking at the time can be found on the notation at the bottom of the schedule which lists Windsor's passenger terminal as "Tecumseh Road and Crawford Avenue." This is what my Windsor rail friend and blog contributor Kevin O'Neil said of the CP passenger terminal.

"CP’s Budd Cars stopped at Tecumseh W and Crawford. The whole intersection was realigned a few years ago so the two distinct wings of Tecumseh were connected with a sweeping curve, covering part of the Crawford right-of-way. The building that held the CP Express transfer docks is still there, although it hasn’t belonged to CP in the years of my conscious memory. It belonged to a private cartage company for many years, and now it’s a warehouse for a restaurant equipment supplier. I’ve never been able to pinpoint the location of the Budd waiting room."

 

So, in other words, CP had some sort of makeshift waiting room for passengers in a freight facility. Not uncommon in the days where railways were actively trying to discourage passenger travel. Now compare that image in your head to the Canadian Pacific's terminal near the Detroit River, which served from 1880 into the 1930s. I don't know that I have ever seen anything like this.

 

Image and the one that follows beneath are from the Southwestern Ontario Digital Archives at the University of Windsor and are used for informational purposes only, as per the disclaimer stated on the SWODA website. 

 

After this station was demolished, CP moved its passenger operations into the Michigan Central station on Pelletier Street until it improvised a waiting room at the former corner of Tecumseh and Crawford in the 1960s. The MCR station was used by the New York Central's Canadian operations (legally the Canada Southern Railway, a subsidiary of MCR, which was owned by NYC) before its operations were merged into Penn Central and eventually Conrail. At this point, there were no passenger services offered by this successor railway, as Conrail's birth came after the establishment of Amtrak.

 

Sadly, this station is no longer around, as it was a victim of arson some years back. I do recall reading about this, but my thanks to Kevin for reminding me. 

 

So back to my Dad. I do recall him telling me about his two most vivid memories of working in CP's yard during his early years. He told me he recalled walking alongside freight trains that had just arrived and filling the journal boxes with oil. This was, of course, at a time when there was still rolling stock around that used journals instead of roller bearings. Essentially, the axles were kept in running condition by fabric that was coated in oil. When these boxes containing this fabric and oil leaked and the oil spilled out, the axles would get hot. This is the origin of the term "hot box" I am told. 

 

My Dad's other memory? He told me one of his jobs was to clean out the Budd cars that had arrived from Toronto. This is where his job got interesting. He often found that the cars were quite a mess when they arrived in the yard for servicing. He said it was quite common to find beer and liquor bottles on the cars, as well as a surprising amount of money. His suggestion was that there was usually an unsavoury element that rode these trains into Windsor at night. 

 

Luckily for my Dad, Ontario Hydro offered him a better job with benefits and hours at the J. Clark Keith thermal generating station in Windsor (long since closed). His life on the railway and cleaning out the Budd cars was mercifully short.

Updated: New life for Windsor terminal?

This year, I'm trying to focus the blog on a little bit more rail history, and I wanted to research a few posts on the crossroads of Eastern Canada, Windsor, Ontario. Windsor is a town not unlike Winnipeg and Chicago. It has a long history of being a major junction for all kinds of railroads, much like Winnipeg and Chicago continue to be. 

It might surprise some people to know that the following railways once called on Windsor: Great Western, Wabash (through trackage rights), Norfolk and Western, Norfolk Southern, Pere Marquette, Chesapeake and Ohio, Chessie System, CSX, Canada Southern, Michigan Central, New York Central, Penn Central and Conrail. Some of these railways are, of course, one in the same (CASO, MCRR, NYC) and some are successor roads (Wabash, N&W, NS as well as NYC, PC and Conrail). Still, that's a lot of rail activity for a city with an urban population of 300,000, including suburbs. 

Today, the Canadian Pacific (CPKC for the less sentimental), Canadian National and Via Rail still serve the city, alongside one of Canada's oldest short lines, the Essex Terminal Railway. 

There are many reasons for Windsor's heavy rail presence throughout its history, not the least of which is Windsor's longstanding status as a major automaker. 

Car ferry on the Detroit River in the 1950s. Photo from Library and Archives Canada

 

But when you think of Windsor's rail history, you might be missing an important piece of the puzzle, which is Hiram Walker, the man who founded a distillery in what was then the independent town of Walkerville. The historic community, which was annexed amalgamated into Windsor in 1935, is in the northern* part of the city, the oldest area of which contains the Hiram Walker distillery, which dates back to Hiram Walker himself, who founded the business in 1858. The Canadian Club brand lives on, although it is owned by Suntory Global Spirits now.

 

(* - On a map, the tip of Walkerville is indeed in the northern part of the city next to the Detroit River, but as my friend from Windsor points out, locals do not use the term North Windsor, rather they describe the city more on an east-west axis. Walkerville, it should be noted, also extends quite far from the city's northern boundary with the Detroit River.)

 

Long story short, the distillery created a town, which eventually began to attract the automotive industry, and the railways were there to serve all industry, of course.

 

Photo from the Southwestern Ontario Digital Archives at the University of Windsor. Photo is meant for research purposes only and should not be copied or used in any other way.

Walkerville should be a familiar name to rail passengers, as the city's station was commonly known in Windsor as Walkerville. To the unwary traveller unfamiliar with Windsor, the dual names might have been confusing, much like Fallowfield in Ottawa might be today.

The first railway to have a major passenger station in Walkerville was the Pere Marquette, a Michigan road that was eventually folded into the Chesapeake and Ohio. Its station in Walkerville, like the city's other stations, was impressive.

Photo from the Southwestern Ontario Digital Archives at the University of Windsor

 

This shot above shows what the station looked like in 1957 before it was torn down. By this time, passenger service had long since vanished. C&O's predecessor Pere Marquette stopped most of its passenger service in Canada in the 1930s, including its operations from Sarnia to Chatham and its operations in Windsor.

 

I won't get into all the permutations that followed among Windsor's many railways, as that can be shared in subsequent posts. For our purposes, Walkerville once again hosted passenger service a little way down the line from this C&O station when CN ran its passenger operations out of its station, beginning in 1961. That station served CN and its successor, Via Rail for many years, until the city's new station was built in 2012.

 

This shot above, courtesy of blog reader Kevin O'Neil, shows what the old passenger station looked like in the early 1980s. Kevin helped me sort through the many bits of Windsor rail history, which was helpful in putting this first Windsor post together.

The new station for Via Rail was completed in 1012, at a cost of $5.3 million. It acts as the western terminus of Via Rail's operations in the Quebec City-Windsor eastern corridor. Here's a shot I took when I visited the station last November, as an eastbound Venture set was ready to begin its trip to Toronto. This shot is from the west end of the station.

In what might be a full-circle moment, the Via Rail Windsor station might once again host through trains, as Via Rail and Amtrak have discussed resuming cross-border passenger service between Chicago and Toronto. The initial plans called for a 2027 startup of service, pending the appropriate customs procedures are in place and track upgrades between the Michigan Central rail tunnel beneath the Detroit River and Walkerville Station. At one point, Via and Amtrak enjoyed popular demand for their service between Chicago and Toronto. I rode the Amtrak from Sarnia to Kitchener once, when I went to visit my sister at university. It was the only time I rode a Superliner.

It will be interesting to see if international passenger service could resume, as this service once enjoyed great success. Windsor Station still boats steady business. It is one of Via's busiest stations, given its multiple trains going to and from Toronto each day.

In a way, it would be a full circle moment for rail activity in the Walkerville neighbourhood. It's not as if things are necessarily quiet, but they are certainly not what they once were. Maybe some international rail service could spur additional rail investment in this historic part of Canada's rail network.

Five reasons to be grateful in 2024

As the year winds down to its precious last few weeks, I find myself somewhat glad to be rid of 2024, although not for the reasons you might think. Yes, as many of you know, my family went through a terrible ordeal, having to move from our home due to the very serious threat posed by a former neighbour. Happily, that is behind us and we are safe. But I don't want to be rid of 2024 to be rid of this experience. In essence, a new year is simply a new number. I am happy to be heading into 2025 because I want to use my experiences from this year as a way of moving forward as a better, more grateful person.

I hope this is reflected in the tone of the posts I include on this blog. Just yesterday, someone sent me an email with an inspirational quote/graphic. I usually discard these emails out of hand, as they are a throwback to the days when people used the internet to perpetuate tired old jokes. But I read this message for some reason and I'm glad I did. It basically said, I have a roof over my head, my home is heated, and I have food on the table. I am grateful. Something like that. 

And I am. Grateful, that is. For all the discontent in the world and all the endless bickering, political grandstanding, political manipulation, tribalism, shaming, irrational hatred, old world grudges and general lack of courtesy, we are lucky. There is no other place I'd rather live than Ottawa, Canada. I have gone out of my way since we've moved into our new house to thank people more often, praise people for doing good work and letting people know they matter. I cannot believe what a difference it makes when you actively show gratitude and share it. I have been like this increasingly in the last few years of my life, but I have made sure to more actively show gratitude with others lately.

With that in mind, here are some reasons for me to be thankful.

1. I am grateful that I was able to share my writing with the Western Ontario Division of the National Model Railroaders Association's online magazine, Model Railroad Inspirations. For the sake of their intellectual property, I'm merely offering a screenshot of part of my article.

If you wanted to read about the Point Edward Spur, you can read my original post here. My thanks to Paul Hurly, editor of Model Railroad Inspirations, for reaching out. This is good lesson for bloggers out there. It pays to check out the comments on old posts. You never know.

2. I am grateful to be inspired by other writers. They should know that their writing matters and sometimes, their writings move people to action. 

Recently, I read this post on the Prince Street Terminal blog. I have to admit, when I read it, it felt like Chris, the blog's author, was reading my mind. He explored the beauty of an imperfect image and went on to muse on the people who operate trains, how they are masters of a very rare skill. They know how to balance the immense power of their diesel engine and the sometimes intimidating crush of the weight behind the engines. This dance between push and pull, slack, resistance, strain and raw physics is indeed an incredible skill. We should be thankful for these people, who help bring us the goods that make our lives more comfortable.

Chris is one of a number of great writers in the train blogosphere that inspire me to think harder, research more, write more clearly, and remember what my strengths are. 

I must admit, I have often thought about writing a blog post about the human element of each train. When Chris shared his thoughts in the blog post I linked to above, he managed to express some of the thoughts that have been rattling ahead in my head for years. He read my mind. And he managed to express those thoughts in a way I never could.

His post reminded me of this photo below, which is another reason I am grateful.

3. I am grateful for surprises. As someone who often relies on road trips to get the train photos that feed this blog, it's the surprises in my travels that make this blog sing.

This photo above was taken in late November as I was driving on the Rokeby Line back to my brother's house after visiting with my sister's family. This was a CN local picking up cars and doing its switching duties on the St. Clair River Industrial Spur, a long stretch of track that serves a number of industrial customers south of Sarnia's Chemical Valley.

And just like Chris mused in the Prince Street Terminal blog post above about imperfect shots, I'd like to take a moment to share how much I love this shot above, even thought it's far from perfect. I had to scramble to get anything as I was in my car and there was almost no light, save for the light of the engine's headlight. The signals, as well, did me no favours, as the red lights often washed through the images I was taking.

But this shot, which was the last one I took, worked out pretty well. It reminded me of that human aspect of railroading that we often forget, when we get caught up in talking about heritage paint schemes, locomotive numbers, axle counts and other technical aspects.

To me, there is a human story to be told here. Who was working this train late on a Sunday night, when he/she would rather be home with their family? What was the train picking up or dropping off? Why was it important that it be done at that time? How many other people relied on that engineer and conductor in the cab of that GP38 so their company could continue operations? Do the people who need these trains to operate even realize the work railway employees put in around the clock to keep their companies operating? These people are our unsung heroes in these blogs. They keep the wheels in motion (literally and figuratively) so that we can enjoy the lives we live.

Catching that train late on a cold November evening after spending time with family was a wonderful surprise.

4. I am grateful for the chance to learn from others. Since I relaunched my blog in 2022, I have been fortunate enough to pick up some new readers and reconnect with people who have been reading this blog since I launched it in 2013. To everyone who stops by the read my ramblings, I thank you. I have never considered myself anywhere near the calibre of other bloggers and I don't try to pretend I know more about railways than I do. That is why you will often find me making educated guesses and opening myself up to being corrected. It's the only way to go, if you want to survive online and learn.

But I am thankful for some of the new people I have met along the way since I relaunched, because it has allowed me to explore new territory. For example, I have been trading messages with a reader from Windsor, who has fed me all sorts of railway information from the city. I am slowly working on a few blog posts about Windsor, with his help. Thanks, Kevin!

Here's a shot from my brief time in Windsor in November, when I was lucky enough to catch a Venture set about to depart the city's Via terminal in the Walkerville part of the city. More on Windsor to come.

5. I am grateful to be published. I saved the best one for last. I don't want to go into great detail, as the details are yet to be finalized, but I can share with you that one of my photos will likely be published in a forthcoming book from a writer who is a well-known name in Trains and Classic Trains Magazine. 

A tip of the hat to Steve Boyko of Traingeek.ca for putting me in touch with this well-known writer. Not surprisingly, this writer reached out to Steve, who was able to relay the message to me. As I said higher up in this post, I don't consider myself anything other than what I am. I am an okay photographer and I know a bit about railways. But I am no expert. Everything I know I learned by reading or listening to people, especially those in my family who worked on the railways. I don't want to share the photo that will be published in the book on this particular post, but I can assure you that you can find it on one of the 400 plus posts I have already published on this blog. 

Instead, I will share this shot from 2015 of CN 589 making its ways to Arnprior, led by a GP38 in the CN North America scheme. The shot was taken along the Trans-Canada Trail crossing near Corkstown Road. No, the author was not looking for photographs of the Arnprior Turn. He was interested in another shot I have of a CN diesel in the short-lived North America scheme.

I hope to share more details about this new book of his soon. 

To conclude...

Would I do it again if I could redo my family's troubled time between September 2023 and 2024? I might have done a few small things differently at the outset, but even when things were at their worst earlier this year, I took time each day to remind myself to be grateful, even for the smallest things. Being a person of faith, I constantly remind myself that there is no guarantee in any sacred scripture from any faith that says a Higher Power promises us an easy life. Even if you're not a believer, I think we can all agree on the old adage, what doesn't kill us...

Let me expand on that for a moment. Whatever doesn't kill me will make me more thoughtful, more grateful, more sympathetic, more alert, more understanding, more aware of my mental health and more patient. All those things make me stronger.

So I wouldn't trade in the last year at all. Because if I did, I wouldn't be a better version of myself today. Even in hardship, I am grateful. 

This will likely be my last post before Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone who has dropped by this year. I will see you all after Christmas.

Michael

hammond.michael77 AT gmail dot com

A Remembrance Day story of bravery, second chances, gratitude and trains

I have often shared stories of my father's side of the family, since my grandfather and all my uncles worked for the Canadian Pacific or Via Rail at one point in their lives. One story I have not told is the story of my mother. And yes, railways play a large part in her story as well. I am sharing this story now, as it is close to Remembrance Day in Canada and this part of my family's story is quite compelling.

My grandfather on my Italian side (we called him Nonno) came to Canada following the end of the Second World War. He had been forced to serve in the Italian army under Mussolini and then had to retreat back to Italy while avoiding the Germans, when Mussolini was assassinated and the Italians left the Axis powers. 

The story about my grandfather goes that he and his friends found themselves disbanded as part of an occupying force in the former Yugoslavia. When the army disbanded, they had to ditch their uniforms and sneak across the entire country under the cover of night, to avoid Germans, who were hunting down Italians as traitors. My Nonno relayed to my uncle that they had to rely on the kindness of the people whose country they were occupying, to provide them food, clothes and places to sleep. What made things worse for his group was that one of their comrades was injured and could not walk. 

He told my Nonno and the other troops to leave him there, but they made the decision that he was not going to be left behind. Instead, they fashioned a sled and used their belts to drag him across the country until they safely returned to Northern Italy. The did it because they all agreed they couldn't face his family if they left him in Yugoslavia. It's an amazing story and it's the only war story that I know of in my family. It's hard to imagine someone I know being forced to survive like that. 

My Nonno came to Canada on his own and took a job as a track labourer for the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Crowsnest Pass area in British Columbia. There he worked until he could earn enough money to secure passage for his family to come to Canada (Both of my grandfathers worked for the CPR). My Nonno never forgot what Canada had given him: A second chance. He lived in the Italian community in Windsor and was one of the people who built the Fogolar Furlan Italian community centre. To the day he died, he always had an Italian flag and a Canadian flag where he lived. This shot below is a rare image of him and my Nonna in Windsor in the 1950s. That little guy wandering around is my Uncle John (Giovani).

My mother came to Canada when she was seven years old. She didn't remember much of the ship that took her from her home in Northern Italy to Halifax. But she told me that her first memory of that time landing in Halifax at Pier 21 was how cold it felt, which shocked her. She told me as well that she remembered sitting on long wooden benches at the Pier 21 processing facility, as her family was brought into Canada. I had a chance to visit this historic site and it was a powerful experience for me, a first generation Canadian on my mother's side. Her entry in Halifax would have been around 1956. It's quite possible that she was brought to Windsor by a steam engine. Possibly. This would have been right around the full transition to diesel F units.

I wonder about her route. I doubt it took her through Ottawa. If it had, she would not have gone through the Tremblay Road station, as the downtown Union Station was still operational, next to the Rideau Canal in the 1950s. But if she was on a train with diesel power on CP, it would have looked something like this below, I think. This is the eastbound Dominion with an E unit in 1967. It would definitely have been on cars that were maroon and grey,

Could she have ridden on an old heavyweight maroon coach like these on the CPR Christmas Train in Finch Ont.? I wonder.

From Halifax, my mom only told me how utterly long and exhausting the train ride was that brought her all the way to her new home in Windsor, Ont. I can't imagine how much of a shock it would have been to immigrants to truly experience the immensity of this country for the first time, which is unlike anything in Europe. I don't know what railway she would have taken, but I assume it might have been a little of both the CNR and CPR, given where her trip started and where it ended. I can also imagine there were likely connections to be made in Montreal at the old Windsor Station (Windsor Station in Montreal, explain that to an immigrant heading to Windsor!) and in Toronto at the Union Station.

My mom ended up growing up in Windsor, where she graduated from an all-girls school, St. Mary's Academy, before embarking on a career in teaching. She told me growing up in Windsor was tough in the 1950s and 1960s, as Italians were subject to fierce discrimination, which is understandable given their role in the Axis powers under their dictator. 

But it was a happy ending for my mom, as she found a peaceful life in Canada, free of the uncertainty and poverty in post-war Northern Italy. She didn't tell me all that much about her entry into Canada, except to say that it was an eye-opening experience on the train. 

My Uncle John, My Nonno and me at Heritage Park in Calgary in the early 1990s.

I wonder how many other families have similar stories about this country involving a train bringing them to their new home. Every Remembrance Day, I have mixed feelings, given my family history. I am thankful for those who served for my benefit. I have only ever considered myself a Canadian. I am lucky that my grandfather on my father's side was exempted from military service, since he was missing a finger on his trigger hand. 

Despite my Italian family's history, which began on the wrong side of the Second World War, this country gave them a second chance, and much of that was due to the sacrifices of the brave Canadians who served for my family's freedom. For that, I am thankful and I remember.

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.

Lament for the boxcar

I'm not one to endlessly talk about how things were better when I was young. After all, I grew up without cellphones, the Internet, digital cameras, millions of TV channels and many of the other modern conveniences that we now take for granted.

But I will say this. When it comes to railways, I miss boxcars. They used to be one of the more common types of rolling stock on any freight train. When I was younger, I recall seeing an endless assortment of boxcars pass through my hometown on the CSX freight trains. It wouldn't be uncommon to see CP Rail, CN, Central Vermont, Grand Trunk, Port Huron & Detroit, Chessie System, Louisville & Nashville, Seaboard Coast Line or Conrail boxcars on a train. Many of the cars were your standard boxcars (think of the once ubiquitous CN brown boxcars). But some would have ribbed exteriors and some would be impossibly huge, like this one below in the CN Sarnia Yard, used for auto parts. They almost always had interesting railways graphics and were very much the standard bearer for railways alongside the locomotives. Think of all the slogans Southern Railways used on its boxcars, as an example.

I think the best thing about boxcars is how they add such a graphic element to railfanning. They still fly the flags of railways, both past and present, in a way that is somewhat lost today with the proliferation of containers and homogenous leasing company rolling stock. Here's a great example of what we have lost from an aesthetic point of view.

This is an old St. Lawrence Railroad boxcar, in CP Rail's Windsor Yard in 1991. You can also see a Bangor & Aroostook boxcar in the background. Behind that boxcar is Detroit's Renaissance Center, home to General Motors' headquarters.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy watching today's long container trains. I think, when taken as a whole, they are quite interesting to shoot, given their symmetrical dimensions and their mix of colours. This shot from the London CN Yard is a good example of the interesting visuals containers sometimes offer.

But what I think we've lost as railfans is the ability to pick out individual cars in a freight train to shoot. There's always a cool boxcar worth grabbing in a photo, in my opinion. I have more boxcar photos than any other type of rolling stock. I don't have many individual wellcar photos, by comparison.

There isn't much to cheer about if you're a railfan in Ottawa, but I will at least say that at least we do have a fair amount of boxcars still plying the rails here. I have snapped a few interesting ones over the years. This one I spotted in Walkley Yard, which made me think of the trains I watched as kid in Corunna. I like that there's a little stencil next to the door that says "A CSX Quality Car."

Here's another cool shot of a string of boxcars early one morning at Walkley Yard. It's an image that could have been taking 20 or even 30 years ago. But, it's actually 2013.

I'm always thankful when I catch an old boxcar on a passing freight. It's like watching a bit of history pass by. This one looked like it was hand painted.

Have you noticed that most museums or tourist railways have lots of boxcars, like this one on the Waterloo Central?

Railways today are great at what they do. But they are not nearly as colourful as they once were. Even though I know why boxcars are on the wane, part of me wishes they weren't.

This is why I bleed action red

Let's forget about Hunter Harrison, Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management, operating ratios, profit per share and the rest of the soap opera that has typified the Canadian Pacific Railway's recent history. Let's forget about blind trusts, Norfolk Southern, hostile takeovers and everything else. Let's forget for a moment the argument that rail systems need to span the entire continent. All of these items are worthy of discussion, but there's something more important about the CPR that is worth considering.

Canadian Pacific's Rideau at Ottawa's Central Station in 1967. I had this postcard for years before losing it. I had it so long I didn't even know who gave it to me. I was lucky that I got another copy from Trackside Treasure blogger Eric Gagnon. Thanks Eric!

The Canadian Pacific Railway is quite far removed from that iconic entity that brought Canada together from sea to sea in the late 1800s. I'm not naïve enough to think that this railway is anything other than a for-profit company that is beholden to its bottom line and shareholders. We live in a capitalist country and I don't have a problem with a company doing all it can to earn as much as it can. That's how it works.

But I'm disappointed with this railway because it means so much more to me. The Canadian Pacific's history runs deep in my family. At one time or another, just about all my uncles, my father and both my grandfathers worked for this company. I'm immensely proud of that fact because the CPR is more than just a company in Canada's history.

So, why am I disappointed with all the shenanigans that have typified the railway's recent history? Well, from a personal point of view, I think the company can do more to honour its rich history. I think it's better than this.

But to truly explain just how deep this company runs in my family, I'd like to share a few stories.

Let's start with my grandfather, Egidio. My grandfather (I called him Nonno) was born in northern Italy and came to Canada after World War II to build a new life for his family. My Nonno was pressed into enlisting for Mussolini's army and was forced to fend for himself in what was then Yugoslavia after the Italian army disbanded when Il Duce was overthrown.

My Nonno, Uncle John and me at Heritage Park in Calgary in the summer of 1992. You can see a piece of the park's passenger train in the background.

I'd imagine that he likely had seen enough by war's end and welcomed the opportunity to come to Canada. When he did, he found work as a general labourer for the Canadian Pacific in the Crowsnest Pass area. I only know this from my Uncle John. My Nonno spoke very little English, even though he lived in Canada for fifty years. He knew I liked trains and once gave me a book Canadian Railway Scenes Vol. I by Adolph Hungry Wolf. He would sometimes mimic the motions of a steam engine to me to try and explain what he did. As I grew older and learned more about railways, I knew that what he did wasn't glamorous. He fixed tracks, tamped down ballast and did a lot of the grunt work that often goes unnoticed. It was hard work. For my Nonno, it helped build a future for his family, including my Mom.

My other grandfather, Paul-Émile, worked for the Canadian Pacific in Chapleau, a town in Northern Ontario that owes its existence to the CPR, since it served as a servicing point along the transcontinental main line. My grandfather worked as a rolling stock mechanic in Chapleau and then Windsor. Again, since he didn't speak a great deal of English, I mainly know about his work through stories he told my Dad and uncles.

My grandfather and me in Mirabel, Quebec, 2005

And the stories are amazing. My Dad told me this summer about some of the more colourful duties that fell to my grandpa. Whenever there was a wreck, my grandpa was dispatched to the crash site to help repair the cars and get them back on the rails so they could be towed back to Chapleau to be fixed properly. My grandpa also was dispatched to crashes when he was transferred to Windsor. You can see a photo of one of these wrecks in this post.

My Dad told me that my grandpa was often away from home for weeks, which makes sense considering how much territory there is west of Chapleau where the railway crosses nothing but wilderness. One of the fringe benefits of going to these crash sites would be that the crews were able to take home the damaged merchandise that fell out of the boxcars. My Dad said my grandpa would often return home loaded with all sorts of things that had fallen out of the boxcars and couldn't be salvaged otherwise.

My grandfather worked for the railways for decades and brought me aboard my first locomotive in Windsor when I was very, very young. I still remember him sitting me in the engineer's seat and showing me how the engine worked. Years later, when I was a teen, he brought me back to the Windsor yard, where I was able to take photos from a vantage point I wouldn't otherwise have access to. His former co-workers greeted him warmly when he showed up and told him how much they could use his expertise at the yard.

Canadian Pacific yard in Windsor in 1991

This summer, my Dad told me about another chapter in our family's railway history. When my Dad was in grade nine or ten, he landed a job with the Canadian Pacific in Chapleau. On Sunday nights, he would board a train westbound toward Manitoba. He would ride a caboose in the back of a freight train. He carried a box of food for himself for a week. At a given point, the train would stop and let off my Dad and a few others. Over the course of a week, my Dad would bunk in a trackside bunkhouse and spend his days repairing tracks "in the middle of the bush" (his words). He said that his supervisor would keep in touch with dispatchers via a trackside phone so the crew would know when to keep clear of the tracks when a train was coming through. This work would continue through the week until my Dad boarded an eastbound freight and returned to Chapleau.

My Dad said he spent a summer doing this work. His older brother, my Uncle Claude, did the same thing, although my Dad said my uncle worked further west on the line. Both my uncle and my Dad told me it was incredibly hard work. They also spoke of working with local First Nations youth on these track gangs. The First Nations part of the crew would work half days, since they were expected to spend their afternoons hunting and fishing.

Later, when my Dad's family moved to Windsor, he worked with my Grandpa in the Windsor yard, doing things like trackside inspections and greasing the bearings on the old freight cars. Again, he said the work was incredibly hard, which made his decision to work for Ontario Hydro much easier. At one point, the railway offered my Dad a job, but the railway dynasty wasn't to be.

My Dad's little brother, my Uncle Michel, did work for the railways for a while, working for Via Rail at Toronto's Union Station, but that was it. My cousin worked for CP for several years in dispatch before he moved on to another career in the railway industry.

Me on board an old Canadian Pacific switcher at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario in Smiths Falls, Summer 2015

And then there's me. My connection with this railway has been peripheral at times, but it seems as though the CPR has always been there.

Going to Windsor to visit my grandparents as a kid was always a highlight, since it pretty much was a guarantee that I would see a CP train. There was one crossing at Howard Avenue that was the best bet, since it wasn't far from the CP Yard and the old Michigan Central Railway tunnel. I remember how excited I was when a long freight train would slowly pass by, as motorists on the busy thoroughfare would patiently wait. That crossing was replaced by a flyover a while ago.

When we visited my Nonno's house, also in Windsor, I used to stand at the end of his driveway, since his street, Wellesley, provided a direct view to the CP tracks. For a young railfan, it didn't get any better than this. Seeing the old multimark go by was a thrill for me, since I mainly saw Chessie System trains in my hometown of Corunna.

Then there was the summer of 1992 when I went to Alberta by myself to visit family, including my Nonno and Uncle John. That trip included a few days in Banff where I visited my sister, who was working there for the summer. One of my best memories of that trip was railfanning at Banff station where I saw this unit grain train. (You can read about my railfanning in Alberta in this post and this post.)

When I worked for the newspaper in Peterborough, I remember watching the Kawartha Lakes Railway trains rush by our newspaper offices at night, en route to the Nephton mines. There were a few times when I would have to stop my evening jogs after work when a train was passing through town. It was always nice to feel that draft of wind when the train passed by.

I often travelled the Highway 7 between Peterborough and Ottawa during that time of my life. The highlight of the drive was very often going through Havelock, where the Kawartha Lakes Railway still maintains a small rail yard that parallels the highway before the line branches off to the Nephton mines. I often considered pulling over on my trips to and from Ottawa to take pictures, but I never did since I wasn't in the habit of taking rail photos then like I am now.

More recently, since I began this blog, I have had a few occasions to see some CP action in Bedell (You can read about my most recent time there in this post).

Empty CP ethanol train westbound at Bedell, Summer 2016

The whole point of these stories is that this railway has always been a part of my family's story and a part of my story as a railfan.

That is why all this drama surrounding the railway makes me sad. I won't argue the economics of mergers or the improved performance that the railway has shown under its current management. Like I said, it's a public company and it is doing a good job of making money for its shareholders.

But I also know from a number of sources that the morale in the company is low. I know that its CEO is not terribly respected by the rank and file, although it's no mystery why he is loved by investors. I won't get into the particulars because it's not my place.

I will only say this. I think this company can do better to live up to its legacy. There are no doubt many other families with similar stories to that of my family. And there are many other stories of how this railway has helped shaped Canada.

I don't begrudge the company for wanting to do the best it can.

But I think the Canadian Pacific is better than what we've seen in the last few years. Be profitable, sure. But never forget your roots because there are countless Canadians that contributed so that company could endure.

I'm not sure today's CP truly appreciates that.

Reflections on two years

Today marks the second anniversary of this blog. I was debating whether to mark the occasion, since it's not terribly important in the grand scheme of things. However, it's an accomplishment nonetheless. I think about how much I have learned through my interaction with this blog's readers and it makes me proud to know how much I have learned. I'm also proud that I stuck with it and have produced something that people seem to enjoy.

When I started this blog two years ago, I had a handful of old photos from the 1990s and little else, except a notion that I wanted to write about my love of railroading. I didn't know what type of stories these old photos told. Like this one below. At first glance, I didn't see a whole lot. But, as I continued writing, I discovered there is no shortage of topics to discuss. The beauty of a blog is that you can talk about whatever you want, no matter how trivial, and you'll still likely find a crowd that appreciates the same things.

GP9 1621 in Windsor, Ont. in 1991. A caboose is visible behind the old geep.

Since beginning with this first post, a number of things have changed. I now have a collection of photos, taken by me and a few contributors, that numbers close to 2000 images. I began this blog quietly, not really sharing it with many people, including my family. I was content just to write and let people find it for themselves. Since those first few weeks, I have been able to connect with a number of bloggers (see the side bar for great train blogs) and I have even been able to share my passion with my family. I am now able to share shots taken by my brother, my sister and even my wife. The passion is definitely spreading. Well, maybe not my wife.

Here's a great shot my brother took in Sarnia in March of a BC Rail locomotive

Here's a shot my wife took from the passenger seat of our car on Highway 401 on Dec. 20, 2014. She caught the head end of an eastbound container train near Kingston. I was driving at the time.

Also, I now bring my daughter along with me each Sunday morning on visits to the Smiths Falls Subdivision, where we watch a morning Via Rail train go by and hope to catch a glimpse of CN 589. Just last week, my family welcomed our second daughter. I hope she likes trains as much as my first daughter seems to at the moment. My two-year-old's only complaint when I took her trackside this past Sunday was that there was only one train to see!

Via corridor train approaches the Moodie Drive crossing on April 26, 2015. This is one of the best shots I have ever taken in this location. Great cloud cover, good framing and great colours shining through, thanks to the conditions.

I am grateful to my fellow bloggers and my growing list of contributors that have really made this blog into what it is today. There have been times over the two years where I wondered whether I told all the stories I wanted to tell and have exhausted the goodwill of my readers. But my readers and blogging friends have reassured me that, together, we've created something good with this blog. Make no mistake, every time you read this, comment on a topic or reach out to me via email, you are contributing to this blog's success.

The rail removal machines at Torbolton Ridge Road in November 2014.

So, thanks to all, from blogging friends to commenters to contributors. You have ensured that a railway blog can survive in Ottawa. I will continue to blog about railroading's past and future like I have for two years. The Beachburg Subdivision may physically be gone (mostly), but it's not gone. Not here. Not really.

Trackside Treasure's Railfan Five Challenge

Eric Gagnon of the Trackside Treasure rail blog has been a great influence on the Beachburg Sub. His blog, as most of you know, is one of the most interesting railway forums you will find online. Many of my own readers have drifted over from Trackside Treasure, which really helped establish this blog early on. Eric recently issued a Railfan Five challenge that asked his readers (of which I am a regular) to post five photos they feel tell their story as a railfan. You can read his own Railfan Five post here. Another blogger, Steve Boyko of the equally excellent blog, Confessions of a Train Geek, posted his Railfan Five. Steve asked me to take up the challenge, so here are my five.

I should mention that there are a few prints of early train photos that I do not have at the moment, which would tell my railfan story more a little more clearly, but those prints are my sister's house. Until I find those prints and scan them, my story will remain partly incomplete for now.

Photo One

This photo is (to my knowledge) the earliest family train photo that features me in it, likely taken about 1981. I am about 4 years old in this photo, I think. I am the little guy bottom left. The guy beside me is my brother Marc. My big sister Jennifer is behind Marc. The girl behind me is a friend of the family, also named Jen. This photo was taken in Windsor, Ontario in front of Canadian National steam locomotive, the Spirit of Windsor. My journey as a railfan began in Windsor, since my grandfather Paul-Émile worked there as a rolling stock mechanic for the Canadian Pacific. He worked for years at the Chapleau, Ont. servicing yard before transferring to Windsor in the 1960s. He took me aboard my first locomotive and often saved his back issues of CP Rail News. He was a big influence on my love of trains. As I mentioned previously, all my uncles worked on the railway at one point, as did my dad. I grew up with a fascination with trains, which was further fuelled by a gift of an old HO scale train set, given to me by my uncle. I still have many of the pieces of that set.

Photo 2

This next photo, which I have shown on this blog before, was taken in the spring of 1991 at the St. Clair Boulevard crossing in Corunna. I was 14 years old when I decided that I would start taking photos of trains. I had this pocket-sized instant camera with no flash that I used to take with me on my bike as I rode around Corunna, Ontario, my hometown. I was lucky that my house was located a short two-minute bike ride from the tracks. Many of my photos didn't turn out, due to the limitations of that camera, but I still sometimes ended up with some decent shots, although the camera almost always washed out the sky! Through my early teen years, I quietly pursued this hobby until I abandoned it, due to the other teenage concerns, like fitting in. This has been a common thread in my life. I've always been fascinated by trains but I haven't always pursued the hobby.

Photo 3

After stints living in Peterborough, Ont. and Kitchener, Ont., I returned to Ottawa in 2009 and married the love of my life. We moved into our first home and began our life together. It was at this time that I took out my old HO scale trains and began thinking about railways again. I scanned my old railway photo prints from the early 1990s. I purchased the odd issue of Trains Magazine and found myself reading blogs like Trackside Treasure and Confessions of  Train Geek. In 2012,  I began taking my digital camera to Via Rail's Fallowfield Station to take photos of trains for the first time in years. This is how I reignited my passions for trains. This shot above was taken in April 2012 and it's Toronto-bound Train 55 pulling in to pick up passengers. There's nothing really special about this shot, but it's symbolic of my entry back into the fray, so to speak.

Photo 4

This shot was taken earlier this year, in the spring. It's Train 589, switching Kott Lumber near the Jock River on the Via Rail Smiths Falls Subdivision. This shot is special because it marks the first time I caught this train. I also think it marks a transition in my photographs. I have become more serious about capturing compelling images of local railways, which has brought me to new places trackside. Despite the dearth of railway activity in Ottawa, I have found more than enough to keep me interested and keep me writing about trains. I have been really lucky to have learned from other bloggers and benefited from a supportive railfan community out there. In the last few months, I have discovered an entire community of local railfans, which has only strengthened my resolve to keep blogging. This blog has exceeded all my expectations.

Photo 5

At the end of the day, I'm just a railfan. I'm sure some would call me a foamer, which is fine with me. No longer worried about what people think of my hobby, I have allowed myself to pursue the hobby trackside whenever I find time. Railways have a long history in my family and it's truly in my blood. This shot is me at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa on the back of an old CN wooden caboose. This brings me to my final point. To be a train geek, you need a supportive family. My wife humoured me and took this shot. She continues to humour me and allow me to indulge in my hobby. And it's paying huge dividends. My little girl, not three years old yet, recently asked to see my "choo-choo" pictures on my computer. She then informed me that "I love choo-choos." And so, the tradition continues.

I now open up this railfan five challenge to my readers. I encourage you to read Eric Gagnon's original Railfan Five post (see link above). If you want to share your story in five photos, feel free to contact me and I will be glad to post your story and photos or link to your Flikr site. I will also be donating to the Bytown Railway Society, as part of my participation in this initiative. Thanks to Eric for coming up with this idea and thanks to Steve for issuing the challenge.

For those looking for my regular post, please scroll below this post on the main page, or click here.