Perfect!

London, Ontario, Part IV

When I mentioned that August was a record month for me, I wasn't kidding. My visit to London alone yielded more railfanning than I have ever done in a weekend. The highlight of the weekend, at least from a photograph standpoint, came when I caught this container train from the Highbury overpass over the London East Yard.

It started when I was passing over the Highbury overpass and saw the signal lights for eastbound traffic flashing green. I knew that meant that something was on its way. So I turned my car around and headed for a nearby parking lot, which allowed me to scamper up the overpass sidewalk and position myself for some great shots. In a few seconds, a container train with two locomotives rumbled around the curve near the Western Fairgrounds and hit the straightaway. I initially set myself up almost straight on (see above), so I could get a shot of the train and the train yard in the same shot.

But I quickly shifted to my left so I could get a little more of a profile of the train. I was pretty happy with the above shot, since it pretty much confirmed to me that everything came together. Perfect lighting, perfect positioning (no shadow) and great framing. I won't pat myself on the back too much. I know my limitations as a photographer. But when I saw this shot of 5487 and 2635 pulling a long string of containers, I knew I had a special shot.

I did a quick zoom and got a close up of the lead units. You can see the exhaust in this shot. Always a plus for me.

I zoomed out a little and got a shot of the train itself with some of the London skyline in the background. You can see this train snaking around the curve in the top of the photo. I was waiting for traffic on Highbury to lighten up a little so I could cross to the other sidewalk and get a going away shot of the train, especially since the other side had some interesting features for a rail photo.

I really like this shot of the containers heading under the gantry as the train heads east toward Toronto.

One final going away shot, although by this time the sun was washing out the sky to the extent that I couldn't colour correct it in a way that still did the rest of the photo justice, so I left the shot unfiltered.

This was the first CN container train I have shot since I ran across two container trains in Markham in 2013. Yep, it's been that long. I will concede that these trains hardly thrill most railfans and I am no exception. However, when you get an overhead shot and the light and positioning are just perfect...well, it's a satisfying meet for sure.

I have one last item to share from my time in London, which I will save for the next post. Actually, I have two items, but one of them will be saved for a more thematic post later this year or next. I think a six-part series about London might be overkill.

Serving up suds?

London, Ontario Part III

As I continue to sort through my epic weekend in London and all the railfanning I was able to do, I think my CP highlight was being able to watch this local getting its consist together before making its rounds. As I mentioned in my last post, taking photos on the Quebec Street overpass does afford you a great view of the railyard, but the electrical wires are a visual hazard that you either have to work around and put up with in your shots. I was happy I stuck with it because this local featured a couple interesting aspects that were worth the hassle with the wires.

This first shot was taken in between the wires. You can see that two geeps are pulling some pretty sizeable boxcars, a few lumber cars, a string of covered hoppers and two more lumber cars. Given the back and forth that was being done, I believe there was some shuffling of the order of this train being done, although I didn't stick around for the full show. You can see the conductor in this shot.

As the train came closer, being led by CP 4426, the wires became a visual hazard that I could not overcome, but I couldn't resist sharing this shot of the two geeps kicking up a little smoke. You will recall that I got quite a smoke show from a couple of old CN GP9s in Sarnia in this post. As I mentioned then, you don't see many of these type of action shots. I'm not sure why. I love shots with lots of smoke.

Thankfully, the other side of the overpass was distraction free, so I was able to get some shots of the local (and CP 3043 with the golden rodent logo) heading out of the yard. The industrial backdrop was a bonus, although it didn't seem as though any of those businesses were rail served.

Since the train was moving slowly, I was able to get some shots of the rolling stock, including this old boxcar, which still has the old CP Rail script, although without the old logo. I was intrigued by the old script, which looked like it was somehow modified or corrected at one point, although the paint appears to be chipping away.

Here's a long shot of much of the consist. I like this shot because it illustrates something I don't often see. There were four tracks leading out of this railyard. Most railyards I have seen usually narrow to a single or double track at the end of the yard limits. This four-track expanse looks like a throwback to me. It's not necessarily the NYC Big Four mind you, but you get the idea.

You may wonder about the title of this post. Well, when I saw this line of crisp new Canada Malting Co. hoppers, it made me think of the Labatt Brewery in London. I checked out the brewery on Google and it doesn't seem as though there are any tracks serving this plant, although there is a nearby railyard. It made me wonder if any of the products for Labatt are brought by rail. Not being an expert on this city or its rail operations, I will leave it to a more informed reader to let me know.

Here's a closer shot of the company logo on another hopper, although this one is already showing the first signs of being tagged. I should mention that this was the first time I have seen this company's cars. As I have mentioned this year, it always pays to take a quick shot of the rolling stock on a train.

One last overhead shot.

I hope you're not getting too tired of the shots from Southern Ontario, because I have two more posts from London before I turn my attention back to other locales, including Ottawa. I am going back to Southern Ontario to visit family for the Thanksgiving weekend, so I might have more to share from this region in the weeks to come.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Found in the rail yard (Part II)

London, Ontario, Part II

My wanderings in London continued as I found my way to the Canadian Pacific's Quebec Street rail yard. Compared to the CN yard, which is in the middle of a very busy section of the city, the CP yard is in a much quieter spot, largely hidden away from its surrounding neighbourhood. However, the Quebec Street overpass does over off some great views of this rail yard, even though electrical wires make it extremely challenging to get unobstructed views. The mix of rolling stock in this yard is very similar to what I found in the CN yard. Both yards had their share of covered hoppers, tank cars, gondolas, some boxcars and autoracks. This is what I saw at the CP yard.

I was surprised by the mix of motive power in the yard when I arrived. Two units, which were clearly geeps (GP 38-2 3113 and 3130) were parked on a stub-end track with an ES44AC. Not your typical engine in a rail yard. I was actually really impressed with how new and clean the CP facilities looked, compared to the CN yard across town.

As I mentioned, it was incredibly difficult to get decent shots without capturing some of the electrical wires in the shot. The image above is the CP local I caught, which was just putting itself together. You can just make out the wire in the bottom left of the photo. This local was a real treat to watch, since it included some rolling stock I had never seen before as well as some older CP Rail boxcars. It also had a unit with the golden rodent on the side. This was the first time I had photographed one of these units. Stay tuned for more about this train in a future post.

After sticking around to shoot the local, I took off as there were no through freights on their way, by the looks of things. I did go back to the yard the next day and found very little happening, although two units were idling near the CP yard office, including another unit with the golden logo. I was happy to catch a glimpse of this once again. The two units were not crewed, so I didn't stick around.

However, I did manage to get a great overhead shot of CP GP38-2 4426 from the overpass, which allowed me to catch some details on the engine that I would not otherwise be able to appreciate trackside.

I made sure to get an overall image of the yard from the overpass. You can see the local train in this shot. For the most part, it was pretty quiet in the yard when I visited, but it was still worthwhile to get a view of CP's operations in this busy railway city.