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Images: These pictures are not censored for quality. What one person considers a bad or useless picture may be exactly what someone else is looking for. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Videos: These videos are very big, which is why railfanning videos are so rare on line. As long as Windows Media Player says "Connecting" it is working, even it if appears to be taking a very long time. It says "Connecting" until it has finished downloading the video. Please be patient. If you are unable to play these videos with Windows Media player, a problem which exists with some versions of Media Player and (sometimes) with Internet Explorer versions lower than 6, I strongly recommend the use of Quicktime if it is available. If you are using Linux, mplayer needs to be told that the videos have a bit depth of 16 (-bpp 16) to work.
Filenames refer to location, date (dd.mm.yy), and camera-assigned four digit id number.
Top photos from September, 2005
| September 7th, 2005 | We headed from my parents' place in Quebec to Laura's parents' place in Brattleboro, Vermont via the scenic route. While Laura had a meeting in Montreal, I spent an hour on the pedestrian bridge in Beaconsfield where I caught 6 trains from 4 companies (CP, CN, AMT, Via), with one foreign unit for good measure. We went to eat on the border between the burroughs of St-Henri and Verdun in Montreal and caught a CN TankTrain unit train heading through town on our way to find food. After that, Laura and I headed to Farnham in the townships to see what Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic had to offer. We found a pair of MMA-lettered GEs switching the yard there but not too much else. From there we went across the border to St. Albans where we caught NECR train 324 leaving town. We heard it get a clearance to Milton to meet a northbound. We did beat it to Milton, but then didn't find the tracks. By the time we found the tracks, we watched the train go by from five or six cars back at the grade crossing line up and didn't try to photograph it. We then found the train it was meeting, which turned out to be a unit train of 6-bay hoppers, but we found no roads to the head end of the train. | |
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| Beaconsfield, Quebec | (map) My uncle used to live in Beaconsfield near the tracks. When I visited him when I was a kid I could watch the CN and CP trains go by quite often, and I learned about a pedestrian overpass there at the time. It is a great spot with a lot of traffic and CN and CP are closer in a way that is visible than anywhere else I know. | |
| 131 images | 6 videos | Marks: ACFX AMT BCOL CGTX CN CNA CNIS CNLX CNWX CP CRDX CSXT DCTX DTTX GATX GPLX GTW HPIX IC ICG NADX NOKL PROX RBOX SLGG STLH TBOX UTLX VIA WC XPWX |
| Farnham, Quebec | (map) Just East of St-Jean and a little under an hour from Montreal, Farnham hosts the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic. MMA tracks leave Farnham in five directions, but no other rail companies have tracks to the town. | |
| 56 images | 1 videos | Marks: ACFX CCLX CEFX CP EQUX MMA NLSX |
| Milton, Vermont | (map) Milton is a small town between St. Albans and Burlington, Vermont and hosts an NECR passing siding. | |
| 5 images | No videos | Marks: MCNX |
| St. Albans, Vermont | (map) CN and NECR (New England Central Railway) meet at St. Albans. Amtrak's Vermonter originates here at 06:35 and returns at 20:45. There is a large yard in the town and the station is sufficiently well lit for readable night shots without a tripod or flash in the winter. | |
| 63 images | 2 videos | Marks: CN CNA GATX GMRC GSCX GSWR IC NAR NECR PROX RMPX SLR UP UTLX WC WLO YKR |
| Verdun, Quebec | (map) Verdun is just to the South-West of downtown Montreal on the island. It hosts a number of CN tracks and the Via Montreal Maintenance Centre. | |
| 39 images | No videos | Marks: CGTX CN GATX |
| September 8th, 2005 | We got up early and checked the NECR yard in Brattleboro. NECR #324, which we saw on the 7th, in both St. Albans and Milton was parked on the track nearest the road with no crew. It remained there for the rest of the day, not starting up until around 20:00. Meanwhile, we heard an NECR train head north through town but did not get to it on time, and missed both the north and south-bound Amtrak, but later in the day heard WJED - the Guilford train from White River Junction to East Deerfield yard and we caught it both in Brattleboro and again, after running some errands (GRS tracks in the area are limited to 5-10 mph) in Bernardston. | |
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| Bernardston, Massachusetts | (map) The Guilford Maine Central (MEC) line heads through Bernardston on what would normally be a short treck from Deerfield to Brattleboro. Except the line is 5 to 10 mph so chasing a train is kind of like chasing a turkey, or would be if there were more grade crossings. | |
| 22 images | 1 videos | Marks: ADMX AMOX CN CNA CRLE CSXT MEC MSRC PROX SHPX SLR ST UTLX WCCL |
| Brattleboro, Vermont | (map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders. | |
| 73 images | 1 videos | Marks: ACFX BCOL CN CNA CR CSXT CVC FURX GSCX IC MEC NAR NECR NS NW NYC RMPX SHPX SOU ST UP WC |
| September 10th, 2005 | I heard someone say they would be in Brattleboro in 10 minutes, so, wasting no time, I got to the yard and caught NECR #323 arriving with 107 cars and 3 units. The train switched for a while and then had to clear the main into a siding 1700 feet shorter than the train to meet the southbound Amtrak Vermonter. GRS' EDWJ went by after I left the tracks but I needed to get back and did not get to see it heading North. Later in the day, we heard an MEC train heading South and caught WJED (EDWJ's counterpart) heading back through Brattleboro, and chased it to Vernon. | |
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| Brattleboro, Vermont | (map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders. | |
| 161 images | 4 videos | Marks: AMTK AOK ATGX BAR BCIT BCOL CCBX CEFX CN CNA CNIS CORP CSXT CV CVC DBUX GATX GNWR GSCX HPJX IC ICG IREX LW MEC MMA MP MRL NAHX NATX NECR NIHX NOKL NS NW NYC PROX QGRY RGCX RMPX RUSX SLGG SLR ST TILX TTPX TTZX UP UTLX WC WCRC |
| Vernon, Vermont | (map) Vernon is directly on the border with Northfield, Mass and has the NECR Palmer sub and its detector at mile 116. | |
| 17 images | 1 videos | Marks: ATGX CN CSXT GNWR MEC MP NAHX ST |
| September 11th, 2005 | We drove back from Brattleboro to Guelph, and took the opportunity to see what Depew looks like in daylight. We caught a few trains, but the sun was directly down the tracks and I blew the pictures of the only westbound that came along. | |
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| Depew, New York | (map) This is at or near the Buffalo-Depew Amtrak train station in upstate New York, near the Canadian border. | |
| 85 images | 3 videos | Marks: AMTK AOK APHX ATW BJOX BN BNSF BTTX CCBX CEFX CSXT DTTX FBOX GATX GMRC HLCX INTX KCS MB MEC NOKL NS PRGX RBOX SMIX SOEX TTZX UTLX YKR |
| September 17th, 2005 | CSX ran a Blenheim extra out of Chatham and Steve gave me enough warning to get to it. Not entirely sure what to expect, Laura and I headed to Chatham and chased the Blenheim extra to Blenheim. We watched it switch for a while before running out of time and heading for home. | |
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| Blenheim, Ontario | (map) Blenheim is South-East of Chatham and just South of the Canada Southern (CASO) sub with only two remaining industries. | |
| 131 images | 4 videos | Marks: AEX CN CO CPAA CPWX CSXT DONX ERCX FURX PLWX PTLX RFMX SOO UMPX WCFX |
| Chatham, Ontario | (map) Chatham hosts the CSX Sarnia sub's diamonds with the CP Windsor sub and the CN/VIA Chatham sub, and the CSX Sarnia sub's interchange with CP. | |
| 26 images | 1 videos | Marks: AEX CN CSXT DONX ERCX FURX RFMX UMPX |
| Fargo, Ontario | (map) CN Fargo is the junction between the CSX Sarnia sub and the CN CaSo sub between Blenheim and Chatham. | |
| 37 images | 2 videos | Marks: AEX CN CSXT DONX ERCX FURX PTLX RFMX UMPX WCFX |
| September 24th, 2005 | GEXR #431 crossed 37.2 and gave Laura and I just enough notice to catch it at Kent street. | |
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| Guelph, Ontario | (map) The city of Guelph is my home town and is just East of Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph sub, and the Ontario Southland Railway/Guelph Junction Railway track, the other end of which is at Guelph Junction. | |
| 48 images | 1 videos | Marks: AGPX CC CN CNA CNLX CNWX EQUX FPAX FURX GEXR GPLX GTW IC NMIX NOKL PROX PTLX QCCX RLK UTCX VSRR WLO |
| September 30th, 2005 | I caught OSR crossing Stone Rd southbound by chance. On the train, an ALPX cylindrical hopper had a rather large branch stuck in its catwalk. Later, GEXR #431 came through town with three units and a decent length train. | |
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| Guelph, Ontario | (map) The city of Guelph is my home town and is just East of Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph sub, and the Ontario Southland Railway/Guelph Junction Railway track, the other end of which is at Guelph Junction. | |
| 55 images | 1 videos | Marks: ALPX BCOL CN CNIS CNLX CPWX CRDX EEC FCTX GEXR IC ITLX MRL NOKL OSRX QTTX RLK SLGG SOO SRAX VSRR XTTX |