Your Guide to Railfanning in Ottawa

Most Canadians need to visit Ottawa once in their life. It really is a beautiful city with lots to offer tourists of all ages. Even railfans. Yes, despite all of the rail missteps in its past, Ottawa still offers great opportunities for the determined railfan. I am often critical of decisions made here in the capital, but this city still has its points of railway interest.

So, I present your pocket guide to shooting railway action in the capital.

CENTRAL STATION

Your best bet, by far, is Via Rail Canada's Central Station on Tremblay Road, just east of Ottawa's downtown core. The station is easily accessible off Highway 417. It lacks the historic significance of Ottawa's old Union Station downtown, but the central station is a spacious and airy building with interesting rail artifacts inside. Its long shelters make for some challenging shadows, but you can still get reasonably close to numerous Via corridor consists, which often include streamliners. There is a great cluster of arrivals and departures to shoot on any weekday:

10:55 a.m. - Arrival from Montreal
11:12 a.m. - Arrival from Toronto
11:27 a.m. - Departure for Montreal
12:30 p.m. - Departure for Toronto
1:58 p.m. - Arrival from Toronto
2:54 a.m. - Arrival from Montreal

If it's frequency you want, this is the busiest stretch of railroading you will encounter in Ottawa during daylight hours. That's six trains you can shoot in four hours. The food at the train station used to be better, so packing a lunch is a good idea. Staff will let you wander the platform closest to the station within reason, provided you follow the rules and make it clear you are taking photographs. I have never once encountered any problems here. You can also shoot over the fence on the other side of the station, if you can find your way into the Train Yards retail development.

You can also get some great shots on the Belfast Road overpass, although I suggest shooting east rather than west (toward the station) because of the hydro wires will foil your best efforts. The shots facing east can be rewarding, as you can see from the top photo in this post. Bear in mind that this overpass is currently undergoing construction and is off limits for photographers.

Above: Via corridor train leaves for Montreal on July 8, 2013. Shooting west from the Belfast Road overpass is tough due to the hydro wires.

The biggest complaint I hear about Ottawa is its lack of freight activity. Since Ottawa no longer finds itself on a national mainline, the freight traffic here is limited. However, you can still catch several local freights in the city, provided you are prepared. Ottawa has two local assignments, Train 589 and Train 584.

LOCAL 584

Let's start with Train 584. This train operates in eastern Ottawa mainly and operates Sunday to Thursday, beginning at around 8 p.m. Your best bet to catch this train would be to shoot it as it leaves Walkley Yard. There is an access road that runs along the yard, right at the end of Albion Road. You can also access it via Conroy Road. Given 584 begins late, this train is not well documented. 584 makes daily runs to Coteau, where it interchanges with the CN mainline. This local picks up and drops off rolling stock at Coteau. On Monday, 584 switches local CN customers.

LOCAL 589

Train 589 is a far better option for those looking for freight action. Like 584, Local 589 operates Sunday to Thursday. It originates in Walkley Yard and usually starts at 7 a.m., although this time can often change depending on a number of factors, including Via traffic on the Smiths Falls Subdivision and Beachburg Subdivision toward the Central Station.

On Monday and Thursday, 589 heads east to Hawkesbury and back via the Alexandria Sub. This means you could technically catch freight trains going through the Central Station tracks, although you would need a scanner to keep tabs on its location.

On Sunday and Thursday, Local 589 heads west on the Smiths Falls Subdivision toward Twin Elm. This train services the Kott Lumber facility on Moodie Drive near the Jock River and the SynAgri Feed Mill at Twin Elm. You can see an example of this train in action in this post. Both the Jock River crossing and the Twin Elm feed mill offer great vantage points and interesting scenery. The train is easy to follow for a stretch of Old Richmond Road and is also easily caught in Richmond, Ont., just south of Bells Corners and Kanata in Ottawa's west end.

This train sometimes waits for a Via corridor train to clear the tracks on Sunday, which means it doesn't make its way past Fallowfield Station or the Moodie Drive crossing until after 9:30 a.m. This could be your best opportunity to catch a freight train in Ottawa with decent lighting. Both the Moodie Drive and McKenna Casey Drive crossings offer great sightlines. If you don't have a scanner, the easiest way to figure out if 589 is coming is to check the Kott lumber spur. If you see a lumber car on the spur, 589 is coming. If the spur is clear, you missed it.

On Wednesday, Local 589 heads west on Beachburg and then on the Renfrew Spur toward Arnprior, where is serves the Nylene Canada plant. This train passes over two bridges in Bells Corners, which offer great photo opportunities. (Check out reader Dave's shots, which he kindly pointed out in his comments below). It also passes through some great rural landscape in Ottawa's west end, including Carp. The best way to catch this train is to listen in on a scanner, unless you have the time to wait for it trackside. It's a once-per-week run, so be prepared.

Above: Local 589 assembles its consist on a Sunday morning in September 2013. This train is your best bet for photos.

Shooting 589 in the spring is a great idea, especially around Moodie Drive, since the bare trees allow you to see the train switch Kott Lumber. You can also get some great shots of Via's morning corridor train to Toronto around this trestle. If you have access to canoe, you could get some shots from the river as well. There is no shortage of possibilities here.

O-TRAIN AT BAYVIEW, CARLETON

If you find yourself near the Bayview Station transit stop, just west of Ottawa's downtown, you can easily capture shots of Ottawa's O-Train. The commuter service has been wildly popular in the city and the train frequency is about 12 minutes. The line currently hosts Bombardier diesel light rail trainsets, but new Alstom Coradia LINT trainsets will begin operating on this former CP Ellwood Sub very soon. This line is a scenic one, as it passes through Little Italy and Chinatown before it heads beneath Dow's Lake in a refurbished rail tunnel. This line has recently been upgraded, complete with passing sidings and new signals.

I recommend getting off at Carleton Station, on the Carleton University campus. Just steps from this stop is a scenic spot on the Rideau River where you can capture shots of the O-Train passing over on a beautiful trestle. Catch the trains here in the spring and you will get the added bonus of capturing the roaring Rideau rapids during the spring thaw. Check out this spot in this post.

Above: Ottawa's O-Train in July 2014. The commuter line will be the scene of increased activity in the coming months as the commuter services ramps up service and introduces new trainsets.

FALLOWFIELD STATION

Not many cities can boast two train stations, but Ottawa can. The city has a gem of a station in Barrhaven. Fallowfield Station offers great vantage points, since it has a long platform. As mentioned above, you can catch CN Local 589 on Sundays or Tuesdays or you can catch any number of Via corridor trains along the platform. Due to recent safety concerns regarding malfunctioning signals at grade crossings in this area, security is a little tighter here than at the Central Station. However, if you follow the rules, you won't have any problems here. It's always a good idea to let station staff know what you are doing, if you are unsure. Just stay behind the yellow paint, be respectful and you will be fine.

Above: The platform at Fallowfield Station allows you to get up close and personal with Via corridor trains or the occasional CN freight train.

 

I should mention that it's never a bad idea to visit Walkley Yard. There isn't much activity there these days, but you might get lucky and catch some interesting rolling stock there. You can also shoot CN's two locally assigned cabooses or an old RDC unit. Check it out here.

 

So those are your options if you decide to come to Ottawa. For local readers, I hope some of this information gives you a better idea of what you can do around the city. I should mention that CP's Winchester Subdivision is just outside Ottawa's southern city limits and it offers your best bet for big-time freight trains. To read more about Bedell, Ontario, check out my first and second post about this area.

 

Special thanks to two Beachburg Sub readers who offered me the information about local CN assignments. I'm hoping this post will motivate local train watchers to share their observations or tips. This information is based on my own experience trackside in the last year or so. If you have anything to add, I'd encourage you to comment. I would specifically like to see if anyone out there has better information as to when Local 589 passes through Bells Corners on Wednesday mornings. I still have not caught that train, which is a shame, since it passes so close to my house.

No such thing as too much of a good thing

Most people in Ontario dread having to travel Highway 401. I look forward to it. I have created a game for myself where I try and get decent shots of trains at places along the highway where tracks parallel the freeway. I do this almost out of necessity since there are so few opportunities to shoot railway action in Ottawa, outside of Via Rail.

I first tried this game when my family was coming home from our Christmas visit to family in southwestern Ontario earlier this year. You will recall from this post that the results were less than stellar. But this time around, there was no shortage of trains to shoot. It was an embarrassment of riches.

On Aug. 15th, my family headed southwest from Ottawa en route to Petrolia, Ont. to visit family in the Sarnia area. I was determined to be prepared, so I asked my wife to drive the first leg of the trip from Ottawa past Kingston. I knew Kingston had a couple of spots along the 401 where the tracks parallel the highway. As luck would have it, A CN manifest freight was making its way west, so the hunt was on. I took this first shot below and was quite happy with it, thanks to the complexion of the sky and the variety of rolling stock. I noticed that we were closing in on the front of the train, so I readied my camera to try and get a shot of the lead units

What a surprise. The train was being led by two CN units and an oddly painted former BC Rail unit, in dark blue and yellow. I didn't know what I had captured until I uploaded the shots to my hard drive and took a closer look at the unit. I thought I had captured a former Illinois Central unit, but I ended up capturing BC Rail 4546. I looked around for more on this unit, but didn't come up with anything (Update: fellow blogger Steve Boyko pointed me to this shot of  a similar BC Rail unit in dark blue). The highway barrier snuck into the shot, which is a hazard of shooting along the highway, but I was happy I just barely caught this locomotive. You can see some glare from my passenger side window. Another hazard.

This was another shot of the train as it crossed under the highway. I like the pastoral view. Sure, it's just a string of tank cars and part of the highway barrier is in the bottom corner of the image, but it still works for me. You will notice that summer in Eastern Ontario has been good for all things green. This train proved to be a lot of fun to watch and shoot while our car made its way down the 401. I should mention that a Via Rail corridor train was also passing by at this time, but I couldn't snag a shot of it.

On the way home on Aug 23rd, we decided to take the 407 across Toronto, to avoid the endless construction and traffic on the 401. I didn't know what to expect, since we rarely take this toll highway. But as we crossed through Vaughan near CN's MacMillan Yard, there was some action to shoot, including this intermodal train led by CN 2288 and two BNSF units, 6649 and 4821. This shot is my first image of BNSF units, so I considered it the highlight of my highway adventures. This scene is far from perfect, as hydro poles and some transmission towers got in the way, but this is part of the challenge of this game.

A little further east, another intermodal was making its way toward MacMillan yard (below).

We made our way back to the 401 as we continued our way east. Of course, a patch of construction and an accident brought our car to a stop. It worked out for me, though, since a GO Train was making its way west toward downtown Toronto with MP40PH-3C 611 doing the shoving. Again, it's not a great shot, but I considered it to be a decent shot from our vantage point. I looked through my images and realized this is the first shot of a GO Train I have in my collection.

During our vacation, I managed to get all kinds of shots at the CN Sarnia Yard as well as a few shots of CSX action in the same area. Our family also made its way up to Goderich, where I was able to get some shots of the Goderich Exeter Railway and a few of the local railway artifacts in the town. The trip will no doubt feed this blog for months, so stay tuned for all kinds of railroadiana.

As mentioned a little while ago, my main laptop has been sent back to its manufacturer for a repair, which has prevented me from sharing photos that will form the third part of my series about Bedell Ontario. Stay tuned for that in the next little while.

Caboose survivors

It's an increasingly rare sight to see cabooses in regular service on today's freight railways. I've been lucky since starting this blog to see a few in service here in Ottawa. You might remember my earlier posts, which featured images of CN's former Devco caboose. Then there is the ever popular so-ugly-it's-interesting Millennium caboose. Both of these can be found in Walkley Yard most mornings, before the CN local leaves for the day.

Last fall, I caught up with two CSX bay-window cabooses on the end of the CSX Sarnia Subdivision and mentioned them fleetingly in a post. Going through my work from last year, I realized that I hadn't really delved into the story of these two bay window survivors much.

 

This was the site Oct. 13 of last year when I was taking photos at the end of the Sarnia Subdivision. At the end of a string of tank cars and covered hoppers, two CSX bay window cabooses were hitched together. One of them, CSXT 900027, I had never seen. It was painted in a safety scheme. The other caboose, which still wears its Chessie colours, was a little more interesting, since its side windows were still largely visible, even though they had been welded shut. Here's a closer look at the Chessie caboose. These crew cars have been a fixture on this subdivision for decades.

 



It was hard to make out the car's numbers, since the numbering had faded and I didn't want to venture off the access road. Both of these units are obviously used for shoving moves when the caboose leads the train. This requires a crew member to be posted on the caboose platform to keep an eye on the route ahead. You will notice in the above photos how the doors to each caboose are blocked, with No Trespassing signs posted. I've seen some railfan photos from this yard with people inside these old cabooses, posing for photos out the windows. That would explain the windows now being welded shut, although it's hard to tell from this image of the Chessie caboose whether the bay window is indeed boarded up, welded, or simply dirty.

Here's a shot, below, of a bay window in its prime, travelling through Corunna in 1991. It is hitched to an ex-Louisville & Nashville high-cube boxcar.

The CSX caboose in the yard was no doubt a former Chessie caboose, but finding earlier photos of it were tough. Here's a shot of another CSX caboose with the same livery, in regular revenue service. I searched through a few sites, but found only a few shots of this particular caboose. This shot shows this unit in service as the last CSX train out of Wallaceburg makes its way north toward Sombra.

The CSX Sarnia Subdivision has hosted both cupola-style and bay window cabooses over the years. They were used in revenue service into the early 1990s, well after CN stopped using its cabooses in the area. Up to the end of the caboose era, the Sarnia Sub featured Chessie System-painted cabooses, which makes the appearance of a CSX-caboose on the line a bit of a rarity. For more on these cars, check out my post, Cabooses on the CSX Sarnia Sub.

Just for fun, I thought I'd add in a shot of two CSX GP38-2s making their way into the yard, with a crew man watching from the end of the long hood. I caught these two at the end of my short visit to this yard in October. These two units came hustling into the yard at quite a clip before screeching to a stop amid a collection of other geeps.

The Bedell Saga: As I mentioned last week, I am delaying the final post in my Bedell, Ontario series, due to computer issues, which are being resolved as we speak. I have all the photos from my Bedell adventure on my ailing computer. Unfortunately, I was unable to transfer copies the images to my back-up drive in time. I am told that it's a video card issue, and have been told my files should be safe.

Attention Ottawa train watchers: I have noticed that several Ottawa train watchers have been curious about when they could possibly catch elusive CN freight action in and around Ottawa. There's particular interest in the Arnpior local, which passes through Bells Corners. Thanks to some observant readers and other contacts, I have pieced together a schedule of CN freight assignments around Ottawa, which I will share in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.

Passing siding: I will be parking this blog on a passing siding next week, as I will be visiting family in southern Ontario. I hope to return to Ottawa with lots of new photos to share in the coming months. I plan on shooting CN, CSX and Goderich-Exeter action.