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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ghost in the Yard, Part II

In the last post, I shared some photos of a Grand Trunk locomotive still sporting its red and blue Grand Trunk scheme in Sarnia Yard. I haven't seen a GT painted unit in person since the 1990s, so I was quite happy to finally see one again in real life.

As I mentioned in that last post, I am not a picky railfan. I will take what I can get, especially considering how little there is to see here in Ottawa. So when I saw two crews switching cars in the Sarnia rail yard back in late July, I was quite happy to stand on the Via Rail station platform and try and get some images. The problem with each consist was that they were quite a way east of the station, so I had either hope they would get close or use my camera's zoom to get something worthwhile. Luckily, both came fairly close, which allowed me to capture a few rare sights (at least for me).

The second yard job I saw was being led by two old warhorse GP9s, one with the strange CN 15 logo that was applied to celebrate the railway's 15th anniversary as a public company. Up until that morning, I had no idea the railway applied this logo to one of these locomotives. Most of the recent photos of this unit show it with the ordinary black long hood with the CN lettering. However, it appears the special scheme was added in the  2010s, judging by this 2013 image taken in Winnipeg. (Update: Steve Boyko at Traingeek.ca caught up with the CN 15 GP9 in Winnipeg and blogged about it. You can see his post here.)

Sadly, given where I was on the station platform and the angle and distance, I couldn't get a clear shot of 7258, which soon pulled away from a string of carbon black hoppers toward the east end of the yard. Here's my attempt at a closer shot.

I don't know what to think of that special paint scheme. It really doesn't do anything for me and I would imagine it would confuse a lot of people who aren't familiar with the corporate history of CN. Imagine if someone was really observant, but ignorant of railway history. They might see the CN 15 logo one day and the CN 100 logo another day. Which one would make more sense? Thankfully, this scheme was not terribly prominent and isn't all that widespread anymore, from what I can tell. 

While I was watching these two crews do their work in the yard, I met another local railfan, who is the man behind Shortt Rail videos on YouTube. I take it that he's a constant presence here. I spoke with him for a bit and he assured me that both the GT unit and the CN 15 unit had been around Sarnia for a while. I believe him, given that he has close to 800 videos on his YouTube channel. He also had a Shortt Rail logo on back window of his car.

Anyway, before the rain began to fall, I tried to see if there was anything else to capture. I always had a fondness for these carbon black hoppers. When I was a boy, these cars, which were loaded at the Cabot plant in the Chemical Valley, were ribbed and had the Cabot Corp. logo in the upper right hand corner of the cars. You can see an example of that ribbed hopper design on the left. Now, all you get is the CABX reporting mark as a clue as to what these cars are for and where they are heading to or coming from. Still, I'd love to have a few of these on my layout at home.

I did manage a meet photo of the two yard jobs in action. Trying to get them both in one frame in a way that did them both justice was difficult. 

For a train-starved Ottawan, even this short time in the rail yard was a lot of fun. Shortly after this photo, it began to rain. There was a father on the station platform with his two sons, who were enjoying the rail yard with some donuts from Tim Hortons. We were all chatting about trains before the heavens opened and we all dashed for our cars. 

In retrospect, my timing couldn't have been any better. Two rare sightings at the same time in the span of less than half an hour. Talk about great train karma.

Takin' it to the basement

The trackside time has pretty much dried up for me, since there is so little happening in Ottawa to begin with, but with the stay-at-home orders, it's even tougher. I've been thinking of things to share in this strange time. I have a model railway in my basement, which doesn't receive a lot of attention in busy times. But it's seen a little bit of love in the last few weeks.

I have been trying to figure out how to take a decent shot of the set, which is far from finished. The walls of my den are also adorned with pictures and framed copies of some of my old newspaper stories from my journalism days. It makes photos pretty tough. There's also a lot of bare wood still showing and a lot of unfinished track work, particularly in my rail yard.

So, I decided I would content myself with a few shots of a few test trains that I have been operating, just to ensure my main line is somewhat operational. So far, my operations have gone quite smoothly, with almost no derailments. That's a real step up from my days of model railroading back in my teens, when persistent operational problems were enough to make me quit the hobby for long spells.

Here's a shot of my test train, led by Chessie System SD40-2 7614. It is passing by a spur that will serve some sort of plastic or petrochemical customer in the near future. I have a storage tank, tankcare unloading platform and a general purpose industrial building.

Right now, I have some intermodal cars parked there for no reason at all. Possibly my railway is relying on car storage fees before its official start-up. Those container wells were actually given to me. They don't really fit in with what I'm doing, but they look okay parked.

The covered hopper I picked up used a few months ago. Someone tried to apply their own West Virginian livery on the car alongside the Chessie cat, but I was able to get rid of the hand-drawn logo for the most part. What's left looks like old graffiti, which is okay by me. I used to see these hoppers an awful lot on the Sarnia Sub when I was a kid.

I should mention that the SD40 was an engine which did not prowl the Sarnia Subdivision, but I like to use it anyway, as it was a Christmas gift from my parents many years ago. I am not one to strictly follow prototype rules. I'm not sure what part of the old CSX Canadian operations I am modelling, but I am trying to blend a few of its operations in and around Southwestern Ontario.

My diesel roster also features a B&O GP35-2 and a Seaboard GP38-2. There was sometimes a blend of pre-CSX power on the Sarnia Sub before the CSX units began to take over. The Seaboard units were exceptionally rare, but they were not unseen, in my experience.

I also recently finished a secondary spur that ends at my station. The spur now houses an old Canadian Pacific baggage car, a wood box car, a flat car and a gondola, which will act as a MoW consist, if I ever feel the urge to operate one of these trains.

It reminds me of this MoW consist I once captured in Sarnia. In fact, this photo below was my inspiration.

I would be happy to share some thoughts about my model railway endeavors, but rest assured that I intend to continue my focus on real world railways when the world opens back up.

Take care. Stay healthy.

Postcard from Twin Elm

This is the third post in an occasional series that explores the stories behind standalone photos that would otherwise end up in the land of the misfit photographs. You can read the first in this series here, and the second in the series here.

Everything about this shot speaks of a time when railways were an altogether different animal. I took this photograph June 21, 2014 when I came up empty trying to capture CN's Sunday morning local on the Smiths Falls Subdivision. This car was spotted at the SynAgri feed mill in the rural four corners called Twin Elm.

The mill is located at the end of a dead-end road. It's typical of the trackside industries that are still common trackside, although many seem to be fading away. The building was not built for anything other to perform a function. The sun-bleached plywood annex behind this covered hopper speaks to the building's utility.

The hopper itself also speaks to another time. The car still bears its Soo Line logo and its markings, although the car is in danger of losing what's left of its identity thanks to taggers. In a way, this shot could have been taken twenty or even thirty years ago and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but for the graffiti.

The Twin Elm area is a small speck on the map, with an old school house, a paving company and a few farm houses. You can find this hamlet while travelling Old Richmond Road on the way to Richmond. You can see from the map below where the photo was taken.

CN still serves this mill, although I have yet to see CN 589 service this mill in the times I have caught CN 589. But on a sunny summer day, it's a good spot to snap a shot of something that is quickly fading from the railway landscape.

East meets West at Twin Elm

Ottawa's rail watchers have so little to get excited about, so I'm asking your indulgence as I present to you a rare visitor to the Via Rail/CN Smiths Falls Subdivision. I was driving around Twin Elm with my daughters in tow when I saw some odd looking hopper cars at the SynAgri feed mill. Of course, I had no camera with me when I realized that CN had delivered a few Potash Corp. three-bay hopper cars to the mill's spur, including this one below, which was pushed all the way to the end.

While these cars are, of course, common in Western Canada and are seen on trains in the east, I have never seen them up here in Ottawa. Needless to say, I made a return trip the following day (Oct 3) to document these hoppers, western stalwarts making a guest appearance in this eastern rail outpost.

Above: The interesting thing I noticed when I arrived at this mill was that one Potash car was spotted on the spur by itself, apart from three other cars.

My return trip also allowed me a chance to take some shots of the feed mill, which I have mentioned and shot in previous posts. It also gave me a chance to think about what they were doing at the mill. Looking at the SynAgri website, it's clear that they provide fertilizer to their clients (farmers), which would explain a delivery in Potash cars. Whether these cars are filled with a Potash Corp product or not, I cannot say, but I would say it's a pretty good guess. I've been to this place a few times and have shot a few different hopper cars on the spur, including one in this post that generated an interesting discussion among the readers.

This is a shot from Cambrian Road, above. Given that Ottawa is such a backwater when it comes to freight trains, seeing anything out of the ordinary is always a welcome diversion for me. This shot shows you that it's a busy time of year for the mill. I noticed quite a number of loading devices and other pieces of equipment strewn around the property, as you can see from this shot.

This shot above shows you what the mill complex looks like. You can see the other three hoppers, including two more Potash cars and one patched for a leasing company. You can see a loading device and a small Caterpillar machine next to the cars. I was happy that I caught these cars on a Saturday, since CN 589 serves this mill on Sundays, which means these cars were likely gone soon after I took these shots. I had to colour correct this shot and use the saturation tool to clean up the lighting a bit.

Now, here's the same shot with the black and white treatment, below. There's a timelessness to this scene, which I think lends itself to black and white. I really love shooting at this mill. I wish I could catch the switching operation here some day.

Oh, and that field next to the mill is a corn field. Luckily, a wide swath had been harvested and cleared recently, which allowed me to get these shots.

Here's a closer look at the cars, two of which appear to be newer three-bay 4300 cubic foot capacity Potash Corp. cars. The one in the middle looks new.

 

Here's a final shot of the spur, which comes much closer to Twin Elm Road than I thought. I have made my rounds here a few times and never knew the spur came out this far, since much of it is buried in weeds and grass during the summer. You can just make out the shark teeth at the end of the spur through the weeds.

 

So, for those of you who likely see far more trains than I do, thanks for your indulgence on this post. I know these cars might not be all that interesting to those of you who see them all the time, but to me, they are a rare treat, especially since they are graffiti free. And, as my fellow blogger Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure mentioned, this is the year of the mundane, so I'm hoping this is a good addition to that theme.

 

As I have learned from taking mundane shots when I was young, what seems mundane one day may been invaluable down the road. 

Catching up with Grand Trunk, 1992

Here is another example of my exploits in the summer of 1992. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was a good time to shoot railway action. There were a number of things to see in the busy Sarnia Yard for a variety of reasons. But my encounter with a parked Grand Trunk ballast train was one of the better catches.

This train was parked at the east end of the yard, likely waiting clearance to proceed through the old St. Clair Tunnel, which was in its last months as a link below the St. Clair River to Michigan. In the 1990s, the Grand Trunk operated as its own operation across the river, although it was owned by CN. GT was one of the major rail carriers in Michigan, from Port Huron all the way down the Detroit and to points west. Today, the GT colours have largely disappeared, replaced by CN colours.

In the 1990s, it was rare for me to see GT motive power in Sarnia Yard, so these shots were a real coup for me. This train, pulled by SD40-2s 5936 and 6416, was silent. The two new units had not been started. The first unit was obviously recently repainted while its mate was recently cleaned. Compare the shot of 5936 below to a more recent shot. It's held up pretty well over the years.

As was my custom in the 1990s, I liked to get shots of the front of parked trains. I have to mention that this was an incredibly stupid idea, not to mention trespassing. I strongly advise that you not do this ever. All I can say in my defence was I was young and stupid. You can tell how much things have changed since the 1990s. This train had no crew in site and yet, the lead cab was left with doors open. Notice the string of hoppers to the right, with some of the old blue GT ribbed hoppers in the mix. Also, you will notice the absence of ditch lights.

And here's a shot of trailing unit 641. Check out a shot of 6416 from 1986, when it was clad in Detroit, Toledo and Ironton colours. The DT&I has an interesting history, including being part of the spectacular Penn Central collapse. The road was purchased by the GT in 1980, although the road's orange and black colours outlasted the DT&I for years. Here's a shot of 6416 in a transitional scheme before it took on full blue and red GT colours. Not long after I took my shot, the unit took on CN colours. It definitely had a colourful run in the 1980s and 1990s.

Here's a final shot of the train, complete with a long string of orange ballast cars in tow. I should mention one final story about my wanderings in Sarnia Yard around this time.

My run-in with CN personnel occurred right around this time. It may have happened on the day I caught up with this train. But I remember being in between tracks, taking photos when an engineer called out to me. He told me to walk to a switch and throw it for him, since he didn't want to get out of the cab. I remember doing what he said and being thanked for my effort. At the time, my brother was in a car, off to the side of the yard, waiting for me. He said he was pretty sure that I was getting in trouble for trespassing. It wasn't until that moment that I started to realize that what I was doing was not only wrong, but dangerous. I am lucky that the engineer that day was obviously being kind to a misguided railfan.

I can say that I no longer venture onto private property. I am happy that I wasn't arrested or hurt. It was a lesson learned without the consequences.