Personal favourites -- newest first.
January 10th, 2017
We went to explore the Cajon Pass for two hours. We were not disappointed!
Cajon Pass, California
The Cajon Pass is where most of southern California's trains have to go through to get in and out of the Los Angeles region through the mountains. It is a busy, interesting place with wildly unpredictable weather, changing from clear skies to driving rain in a matter of seconds without warning.
January 9th, 2017
Disneyland! Because, we're already here... interesting train systems in the park.
Anaheim, California
Anaheim, in the greater Los Angeles area, is the home of California's Disneyland.
January 6th, 2017
We travelled around the Bay to Mountain View and up the other side to Oakland to check out the USS Hornet and Jack London Square.
Oakland, California
Oakland is directly across the bay from San Francisco and is home to a busy stretch of street-running known as Jack London Square.
January 4th, 2017
We arrived in San Francisco for a few days vacation and immediately went to the Golden Gate Bridge.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco truly needs no description.
November 27th, 2016
We went to Merrickville for the 18th annual Canadian Pacific Holiday Train.
Merrickville, Ontario
Merrickville is a lively small town between Highway 416 and Smith's Falls on the CP Winchester subdivision.
August 10th, 2016
On our way from Summerside, PEI to Hopewell rocks in New Brunswick, we stopped at the Hillsboro New Brunswick Railway museum for a quick tour.
Hillsboro, New Brunswick
Hillsboro is the home of the New Brunswick Railway Museum, not far from Hopewell Rocks.
May 25th, 2016
I took Via #1 from Toronto to Winnipeg.
Hornepayne, Ontario
Hornepayne is on the CN north-east of Lake Superior.
Foleyet, Ontario
Foleyet is east of Hornepayne on the CN.
May 24th, 2016
I took Via from Ottawa to Toronto to connect with Via #1 to Winnipeg.
Toronto, Ontario
(map) The capital of Ontario, this city has a number of very busy lines and yards on both the CP and CN networks.
November 10th, 2015
Steve picked me up from a conference in Toronto and insisted that we stop and see the switching operation servicing the Casco plant in Cardinal, Ontario on our way to Ottawa.
Cardinal, Ontario
Cardinal, Ontario is just east of the 416/401 interchange. The CASCO plant is serviced daily by a private operator connecting to CN.
April 29th, 2015
In Guelph for the nomination meeting, I took a few minutes to go shopping in nearby Kitchener and found 432 working in the yard. Returning to Guelph, we found 580 waiting on the Goderich sub to get past a work block.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
May 25th, 2013
We stopped for two in Newtonville on our way through breaking a very long trainspotting drought, and then stumbled across the Toronto Railway Historical Association's Doors Open display when we got downtown, which we were not expecting.
Newtonville, Ontario
(map) This community is about an hour East of Toronto. Through the area the CP Belleville sub from Toronto to Montreal, and the CN Kingston sub on the same routes run parallel.
October 30th, 2010
I went to the east of Montreal to do some preliminary exploring finding a yard job working with 4 GP9s and CN 461 heading west, and worked my way along the CP commuter track west out of Windsor station along de Maisonneuve but did not go when any trains were scheduled. I then explored one edge of CP St-Luc yard before running out of time, which is just as well as the weather was quite uncooperative for the whole day.
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal is the junction point of the CP, AMT, CN.
September 1st, 2010
Sam and I met up in St-Esprit and we took off for a day of seeing what we could see. He showed me the bridges at St-Ursule and St-Leonard and we caught a QGRY train coming into Trois-Rivieres. Another great day with one of the Montreal masters.
St-Leonard-d'Aston
St-Leonard is south of Trois-Rivieres along the Drummondville sub on the south shore.
Aston-Jonction, Quebec
Aston-Jonction is a junction along the Drummondville sub south-east of Trois-Rivieres.
St-Leonard-d'Aston
St-Leonard is south of Trois-Rivieres along the Drummondville sub on the south shore.
Ste-Ursule, Quebec
Ste-Ursule is the site of a provincial park and a huge viaduct west of Trois-Rivieres.
January 30th, 2010
Steve needed to go down to Hamilton to pick something up, so he picked me up and we hit the Steel City's industrial tracks. We shot 3 QNSL SD40s parked in the harbour area, CP 426, CN probably 421, and SOR working at Stelco with three geeps. Not bad for an unplanned outing!
Hamilton, Ontario
(map) Hamilton Ontario is an industrial region on the tip of lake Ontario.
December 30th, 2009
I went to Terrebonne to meet local railfans Sam and J-F. They took me on an excellent adventure along the CN Lac-St-Jean subdivision to chase CN 369 with DPU south back to Shawinigan and catch VIA 601 with ex-GO units. We caught both of those and CN L522 in Shawinigan, finding out only after returning to Terrebonne about a wind turbine train on the QGRY that we silently passed in Trois-Rivières. Excellent, if extremely cold, day over all. The time between shots and videos was mostly taken up warming the camera batteries so they would have enough strength for the next set of shots, not always succeeding as the video camera frequently gave up from the cold -18C + windchill chase.
Hervey Junction, Quebec
(map) Hervey Junction is the connection of the CN Lac St Jean and CN La Tuque subdivisins north-east of Garneau Yard and Shawinigan.
Lac-aux-Sables, Quebec
(map) Lac-aux-Sables is just east of Hervey Junction on the CN Lac St Jean subdivision.
Rivière-à-Pierre, Quebec
(map) Rivière-à-Pierre is north-east of Hervey Junction on the CN Lac St Jean subdivision.
November 29th, 2009
Got a scramble wakeup call at dawn that a Canadian Forces extra was westbound by West Toronto. Went to Puslinch for it, but was fogged in, so shot it (no video) at Galt bridge.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
November 16th, 2009
I was downtown at the right place at the right time for OSR heading southbound with three rockets by the River Run Centre, and then caught GEXR 431 with 2 CN units at last light at the station before going home for the day.
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.
June 19th, 2009
We headed from High Wycombe up to Barnetby, a busy freight location every trainspotter we met told us we had to visit.
Barnetby, England
Barnetby is a very busy freight junction with a less busy passenger station in the middle of it well suited to watching the freight between Doncaster and Grimsby in north-east England.
June 17th, 2009
After a wonderful day and a half in Wellington and on the West Somerset Railway, we headed back to High Wycombe as only a trainspotter could -- via Birmingham and Water Orton station.
Birmingham, England
(map) Birmingham is the site of a large Freightliner intermodal facility south of Derby in central England.
April 25th, 2009
The Guelph Historical Railway Association put on a rare miles tour with the Guelph Junction Express, runnint into the industrial tracks in Guelph and doing two photo runbys. I volunteered on the train and took a few photos and some short video clips while not otherwise occupied using my wife's point-and-shoot camera rather than the bulky SLR I normally use.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
February 22nd, 2009
We heard about an EMD move of Egyptian Class 66s and went to Guelph station for them. We got the GJE leaving southbound and then began the waiting game. After several hours, we received word that the train was stopped in Stratford and went home, and immediately got word it had left. Trevor and I headed up to Breslau to get it and then chased it back to Guelph before calling it a day.
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
February 17th, 2009
We left Brattleboro on the morning of the 16th and went to NMH, where I caught up with some of my old teachers and classmates for most of the day. In the late afternoon, we cut across Mass. to the Hoosac tunnel in Florida, but the Guilford gods did not love us and no trains were forthcoming, although a local railfan reported a Bow coal empty was supposed to be on its way. We slept in Utica that night and on the 17th we started the day there, shooting the Mohawk, Adirondack, and Western and an NYSW unit from afar that came in by surprise. We chased the MHWA to Rome, where we followed the wrong spur and took a while to find it out in the industrial park on the east side of town. From there we chased CSX Q091, the ultra-high priority vegetable train to Lyons, catching it only once at Syracuse yard, and there only barely. From Lyons, where we missed Q091 by about 7 minutes, we headed up to Geneva to see what we could find on the FGLK, and chased the Lyons job back to Lyons before heading out to the Rochester and Genessee Valley Railroad Museum south of Rochester and finally completing our trip by getting back to Guelph a few minutes past 10pm.
Lyons, New York
(map) Lyons is a few miles South of Geneva, New York, linked by an NS track from the town's ex-Conrail CSX main line to the Finger Lakes Railway.
February 7th, 2009
We got an early start, leaving Guelph at 6:30, and chased a plow run from Stratford to Goderich on the GEXR. We then returned to Stratford to shoot some parked Class 66s (in tarps) and some KCS units in the yard, then headed to Zorra where we reported a defective crossing and shot CP 153, 138, T69, and 245. From there we went to Ingersoll and shot VIA 76 and CN X368, an army move that I did not know was coming. We chased that to Creditville and called it a (good) day.
Dublin, Ontario
Dublin is between Stratford and Goderich on the Goderich subdivision.
Sebringville, Ontario
Sebringville is the first town north of Stratford on the GEXR Goderich sub.
December 2nd, 2008
Trevor picked me up and we headed down to Killean ahead of the CP Holiday Train, which crossed the 42.6 detector as we crossed the 401. It came in relatively short order with my camera declaring "ERR 99" as the train entered the frame. From there we headed down to Galt where the show was taking place and parked down by the bridge. We set up for the annual bridge shot, and at the end of the show, the train took off without stopping on the bridge. Can't, apparently, have everything.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
September 7th, 2008
With our by-election in Guelph cancelled by a Prime Minister who can't keep his word on anything one day before voting day in favour of a general election, I took off to London to chase an EMD extra with 17 JT42CWR locomotives bound for France and Germany.
Stratford, Ontario
(map) Stratford lies between Kitchener-Waterloo and London on the GEXR Guelph sub and is the home of Cowie junction, where the GEXR Goderich sub begins.
St. Marys, Ontario
St. Marys is between Stratford and London on the GEXR Guelph sub.
London, Ontario
(map) The home of EMD, the plant responsible for a lot of the large engines we see on the rails today, London hosts the West end of the GEXR Guelph sub at the CN yard where the CN Dundas sub joins the CN Strathroy and CN Talbot subs, CP's yard, and the CP Windsor and Galt subs.
July 5th, 2008
We went to Guelph Junction and mile 30 for a few hours. We saw CP #241 get scannered (hotwheel, axle 47) at 42.6 and it was shortly followed by #159. At mile 30 we got CN #148, #435, and #338 with WSX 302. Back at CP we wrapped up the day with #2245 meeting an eastbound at Puslinch.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
June 29th, 2008
We started our day out in Medina, scoping the Falls Road toward Lockport to chase a winery excursion train back to Medina. From there we caught CSX Q364 at the small town of Corfu and went off to the other side of Rochester to check out the OMID at Sodus. Finding nothing there, we headed up to Lyons until we got rained out and headed to Henrietta for the night. At our hotel, we looked up the address of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum which Laura had found in the Rochester Visitors' Guide earlier in the day. We went off in the evening to see if we could find them, hours after their scheduled closure. We found the museum and started photographing the equipment parked out front. Moments later, LV 211, the museum's RS-3M, came down a hill and the crew were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. Checking that museum out definitely paid off.
Industry, New York
Industry is the home of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum along the LAL.
Middleport, New York
Middleport is between Lockport and Medina on the Falls Road.
June 28th, 2008
We went on an Alco hunting expedition for the Canada Day long weekend, starting with the BSOR, NYLE, and WNYP with a stop at Angola for CSX and NS along the way.
Angola, New York
(map) In the township of Evans, New York are the towns of Angola and Derby where the CSX Chicago line parallels a somewhat quieter NS track between nearby Buffalo, NY and Chicago, IL. A great spot for shooting both of these is at Sturgeon Point Road, with plenty of warning from talking defect detectors, CTC signals and headlights.
May 11th, 2008
GEXR has received 3 6-axle units which means some of its 4-axle power is going to be distributed to other RailAmerica lines. I went to Stratford to find what I could of them, chasing GEXR #431 to London. There it lifted 10 EuroCargo Rail Class 66s and returned as GEXR #432, which I dutifully chased home.
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
March 16th, 2008
Laura and I went on a short flight Guelph-Guelph Junction-Galt-Guelph Junction-Guelph to stay current. Laura shot while I flew as we chased a light power #722 on the Galt and got VIA #85 leaving Guelph station almost an hour late.
Aerial Photography
These pictures and videos are taken by plane in no specific places.
February 3rd, 2008
I got X432 with several G26MC-2 export units for PJKA (Indonesia - Perusahaan Jawatan Kereta Api) and a handful of JT42CWR Class 66s for EuroCargo Rail at Brampton diamond on my way home from a meeting.
Brampton, Ontario
(map) Brampton is mile 15 of the CN Halton sub and mile 8 of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) shortline.
December 24th, 2007
We left my cousin's house in Rutland after a lazy breakfast toward Brattleboro, our destination. We heard GMRC 263 and locomotive 801 that sounded like different trains. We weren't sure until we found 263 with 801 leading fairly far east in Chester, where we waited for them on finding rusty rails. A large cloud bank was rolling in rather suspensefully on this first day of sunlight on our trip. The train took a while to arrive in Chester - we overestimated how far ahead of it we were - and when it did come, it stopped just short of the shot I wanted for the crew to buy lunch in town. After a few minutes delay and some mercy from the clouds, we got our shot and then b-lined it to Brattleboro for our own lunch and seasonal family reunion.
Chester, Vermont
Chester is on the Green Mountain Railway line between Rutland and Bellows Falls.
December 21st, 2007
We started out in Oneida and headed straight for Reber Rd outside Rome in the community of Stanwix, New York to watch CSX trains while waiting for the daily run of the Mohawk, Adirondack, and Northern. It came after a couple of hours and we spent a few minutes chasing it in Rome after spending a lot more minutes trying to find it again. After that we returned briefly to Reber Rd., found the tracks dead, and proceeded to Utica. We went to see the NYSW dead line but found it completely obstructed by a long cut of high gons. We went back to the Amtrak station and shot a considerable rush, punctuated by the return of the MWHA with its lone C424 and 5 cars.
Rome, New York
Rome is between Oneida and Utica on the CSX. Its industrial tracks are serviced by the Mohawk, Adirondack, and Northern.
December 5th, 2007
I went to Guelph Junction to get CP's Holiday Train, only to find that it was not posing anywhere publically shootable but hiding out on the inaccessible west leg of the wye. After shooting it leaving, I got gas and meandered over to Galt to shoot it posed on the bridge after its show at the station. I had a grand plan: I would take a video of it entering the bridge, swap cameras on the tripod, take long exposures, swap cameras, take a video of it exiting the bridge. Only one flaw in my plan: it did not stop for the antiicipated 5 minutes, but only for around 20 seconds -- just long enough for me to swap tripod mount screws. My desperate, unfocused, failed shots of the tail end of the train as it disappeared have been left to allow you to share in my frustration at that moment.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
November 25th, 2007
EMD move! Algerian and French EMD units came through after meeting 85 in Kitchener.
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
November 23rd, 2007
Sunlight! And a few minutes to escape! At the same time! Unheard of lately. I ran off to East Switch Puslinch for an hour catching 2 eastbounds and a westbound, with a good assortment of rental power, on CP.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
November 10th, 2007
We headed down to Galt for CP #722 with a pair of GP9s ahead of bigger power and racks.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
October 21st, 2007
EMD export special! We went to Breslau bridge for GEXR X432 with a set of Europe-bound Class 66s, beating him to Guelph station account of a meet with Via #85.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
August 31st, 2007
We woke up in West Haven, Connecticut and after a brief exploration of New Haven decided it was a bit too urban for our schedule or taste, so we proceeded east along the electric line out, stopping at Bradford to go into the station there. As we parked an Amtrak electric (other than Acela) passed. We waited on the platform about 15 minutes and an Acela train passed. We continued eastward toward New London where we wanted to find the NECR/PWRR interchange, but got distracted by switching sounds in Old Saybrook where we got off the I-95 and found not one but two Providence and Worcester trains switching, as well as our second Acela for the day. We checked the Amtrak schedule and found no trains coming for about 20 minutes, so we took advantage to go east to New London with a train coming to shoot there. We crossed directly into Groton on the far side of the river through town and quickly found a wide open public parking lot facing a railway drawbridge where we waited for the Amtrak train we knew we were ahead of. We heard it coming around the corner on the other side of the river and watched it stop at Union Station and then one of the PWRR trains we had seen switching Old Saybrook crossed the bridge ahead of the Amtrak. After that we were out of time and headed north to Worcester to meet a friend before continuing on to Brattleboro, Vermont.
Groton, Connecticut
New London is on the west side of a channel and Groton is on the east along the south coast of Connecticut. It is the site of an easily accessible railway draw bridge along the Providence and Worcester as well of a small wye. New London also hosts the New England Central's southern limits and their interchange with the Providence and Worcester.
Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Old Saybrook is the site of a wye and small yard at an Amtrak station most of the way to New London from New Haven.
August 30th, 2007
We stayed in Easton, Maryland after a late-night drive to the Maryland-Delaware penninsula, and headed directly for Federalsburg, Maryland for the Maryland and Delaware. We found the company's shops and office in short order, and a pleasant company employee when asked told us that the train was on its way to Cambridge, Maryland, and would be going across the entire network to the interchange with NS at Seaford, Delaware, before returning to Hurlock Junction. Acting on this information, we went directly to Cambridge where we found that the railway's self-touted tracks to the harbour in the city were abandoned and removed. Slightly frustrated, we started heading out of town, and went up a road toward a large grade crossing. As we approached, the crossing activated and we set ourselves up waiting for the Maryland and Delaware train with its small set of cars and rare CF7 locomotive to finish its work and head back east. After a long wait, it came back out and we chased it briefly, finding it too slow to chase and still get anywhere else in one day. From there we headed into Delaware to the interchange at Seaford hoping to find something - anything - there, but quickly decided heading north to the Norfolk Southern yard at Harrington would be a better bet. Sure enough, as we pulled into town we found ourselves pacing a covered hopper unit train of some description. Hoping to get ahead of it, we pulled off at a road where we found two locomotives sitting on the main. We looked around for a way to shoot the train but weren't able to find an angle. Hoping the train would proceed northward, we headed north a few miles until we found a good shot and began to wait. It quickly became obvious that the train wouldn't be coming so we returned to Harrington and found the train, complete with the two units that had been sitting on the main, sitting there talking to the Diesel Doc. We went into town, shot the yard power, returned to the head end of the train and shot what we could of it, then headed north for New Jersey. We crossed just south of Wilmington and quickly found a yard in Penns Grove with two NS trains in it. We shot them as best we could then took off northbound hoping to make it to Connecticut before it got too late.
Linkwood, Maryland
Linkwood is a small town between the small towns of Cambridgee and Hurlock, Maryland along the Maryland and Delaware shortline.
Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge is on the west coast of the Maryland-Delaware penninsula and is the end of the Maryland and Delaware shortline's operations.
July 24th, 2007
CP 198-19 had 4 UP Green Goats and a beat up old UP SD40 lettered for Railpower. I shot London Pickup, 424, 198, and 158 at Galt bridge.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
July 23rd, 2007
I missed the train of the month on the Galt sub as it was through the Junction before 7 in the morning, with 2 CN and 6 BNSF units with no CP power on CP 242-21. In the evening the two CNs returned on 241-23 and I went down to Galt bridge for them.
July 20th, 2007
I ran down to Galt bridge for a few minutes to catch CP 242 with 4 CN units, 198, and the ballast train on the bridge. The clouds got me for the first two, though. In the evening, I ran back down to Galt bridge for CP 240 with 2 more CN units, catching another eastbound on my way home.
July 19th, 2007
I was warned of a nice lashup on 241-19 and went to the field at Gore Rd and 35 for it and Ham Turn. 241 had 524 axles, Ham Turn was light power.
Killean, Ontario
(map) This is CP's name for the passing track at Cambridge on the CP Galt sub.
July 17th, 2007
CN leader on CP 147. Say no more.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
July 15th, 2007
Mike warned of 5 UPY gensets on 2-241 by West Toronto diamond at 16:07. We headed down to Galt bridge for them, shooting them in overcast conditions.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
June 18th, 2007
We took a couple of hours to do some trainspotting while at a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Stopping first at Waverly station and then travelling east to Musselburgh station on a tip from trainspots.co.uk, we caught 24 trains ranging from two car Electric Multiple Units to 60-car unit coal trains in short order before returning to the venue.
Musselburgh, Scotland
(map) Just a few minutes to the east of Edinburgh, Musselburgh hosts the regional freight yard called Millerhill and is beyond the Edinburgh freight bypass. The passenger station is very accessible with the freight yard available to trainspot at just a few minute walk away down a bicycle path, under the A-1 highway, and up onto a road bridge.
June 14th, 2007
CP #243 had UPY 2691 middle unit -- finally one travelling with the power. I couldn't pass it up and ducked down to mile 51 Galt sub, the closest point to home, for #138, #243, and #159.
Killean, Ontario
(map) This is CP's name for the passing track at Cambridge on the CP Galt sub.
June 9th, 2007
We went to Puslinch for CPs 147, 240, 142, 198, across to mile 30 for CN 435 and 384, up to Georgetown for lunch and CN 422, GEXR 432, CN 392 and 393, back to Guelph Junction for CP 424, another 198, 141, and 243 with two UPY GenSets and across to Ayr for 243 setting off those same UPY GenSets for a reason that remains a mystery to me and London Pickup, catching CP 241 at mileboard Killean on the way home.
Ayr, Ontario
(map) Ayr is between Wolverton and Cambridge on the CP Galt sub and houses a small backtrack yard and the Ayr Pit Spur.
June 3rd, 2007
On our way home, we stopped at Coteau for CN #327 with all foreign power and VIA #61, before heading to the town of Rivière-Beaudette for CN #149, Lancaster across the border in Ontario for CN #362, and back on the 401 to make at least some progress toward home. We got off at Belleville just missing CN #321, so got back on and went to Cobourg for VIA #66, CN #321, CN #368, a very silent CP eastbound, CN #149 with more cars than it had when we saw it a few hours earlier, CN #305 with a D6R and another Via.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
May 28th, 2007
I went to Jones Baseline for VIA #84 with the unit nicknamed 'the turd', down to Guelph Junction mileboard for CP #426 with 5911 big bulti, across to Milton for CN #148, off to Ayr for CP #159, #243, #424, London Pickup, and Paris for CN #331, #393, #76, #396, #382, #75.
Ayr, Ontario
(map) Ayr is between Wolverton and Cambridge on the CP Galt sub and houses a small backtrack yard and the Ayr Pit Spur.
May 27th, 2007
We went to Palgrave for CP 222-25 with the MPEX 601 (new GO MP40), working our way north to Alliston waiting to hear it come. It did come, after many hours, in a rain storm. We got it at Ypres and again at Spence (Alliston Honda storage yard), but were not able to get it again further south as he was a straight shot to Toronto yard. We also got the SSR at the start of the day and GEXR #431 when we got back to Guelph.
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.
May 26th, 2007
We went to Guelph Junction for #255, #141, and #243 and mile 30 for CN #392. CP #243 had a UP Genset and a Utah-bound Bombardier bi-level coach.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
May 21st, 2007
We went to the berms at Aldershot for Schnabel move CN #388, getting VIA #70 while we waited, then headed to chase it passing CN #399 with a DMIR unit in fourth, so we turned around and went back to Bayview for that. After #399 we headed up toward Georgetown to get ahead of #388 again, getting him at 3rd line, 5th line where he met CN 435, 6th line, and Maple Ave where he met VIA #85. From there we hit the road again and went up to Palgrave on the Mactier sub for CP #434 with two RLK HR412, catching CP #106 pulling into Bolton on the way back. Not bad for a few hours out.
Georgetown, Ontario
(map) Georgetown's CN Silver is the site of the junction between CN's Halton sub and the CN-owned, GEXR-rented Guelph sub. It is between Guelph and Brampton on highway 7.
Speyside, Ontario
(map) Speyside is a small community with a siding on the CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown, just North (East, in track terms) of Scotch Block.
Aldershot, Ontario
(map) This is the region between the (abandonned) Burlington West train station and Bayview Junction.
May 6th, 2007
CP #242 had 2 rebuilt Cartier units. I got them at Puslinch and again at Trafalgar, and returned home before 09:00. Later, I went down to Killean for CP #152, and in the afternoon I went down to mile 30 for CN #338, #148, #392, #393, and #398. On my way home I heard about a CN #396 with UP-UP-NS-BNSF power coming but it was too late for me to catch it or the CN #435 with a BC Rail unit trailing that took the Oakville sub.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
May 1st, 2007
CP #424 had CP-CSX-CSX-CP power and #198 was on his block. I headed down to Puslinch for the pair in spite of the weather. I shot GEXR #431 in the evening.
April 22nd, 2007
We started our day dropping off family at Pearson airport where I got a call that there was a WC unit on 396 going over the Credit. Off we went to Bramalea GO via the 427 just barely tieing the train to the station and shooting it into the sun. From there we went to Georgetown for lunch and got another call, this time about a UP unit on CP #424 through Woodstock so we left without even stopping at the station catching CN #422 at the 10 Sideroad crossing at mile 30 by chance on the way through. We caught #424 at Puslinch, went down to Bayview where we caught CN #431 wyeing, up to Brantford where #580 was working and another phone call, this time about CP #240 through Woodstock with a SOO leader and 2 BNSFs. We rushed up to Cambridge, barely beating it to the bridge. He worked Cambridge for a while, lifting a unit, and then went off to make a brief set off at Guelph Junction. After getting #240 at Guelph Junction we went to mile 30 for CN #148 with a ratty war bonnet trailing and then came home.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
April 14th, 2007
CN #305 came to Toronto on the 13th with 7 ex-QNSL SD40-2CLC units on their way to Chicago. They came out of Mac on CN #399 for which we went to Bayview, where we found him lifting the NS traffic at Aldershot. Back in Guelph we found CN 911 HazMat disaster training car parked behind GEXR 3835 between Alma and Edinburgh roads surrounded by firefighters and police.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
March 29th, 2007
I heard CEFX 101 north give a track release through my peaceful early morning slumber and bounded out of bed to get to Guelph Junction for CP #255 with CEFX 101-110 and 252 axles. CP #2254 met him at Guelph Junction and had two rent-a-wrecks for a bonus. No videos today, my video camera can only do one thing at the moment, and that is insist that I eject the tape! Also got Via #85 with the rolling turd (VIA 6414 in Lotto-Quebec scheme) at lunch hour.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
March 27th, 2007
GEXR #432 had the last of the EF Carajas SD70Ms, EFC 755. I went for it at Edinburgh Rd in Guelph. #432 stopped to lift traffic directly from GEXR #580, the local road switcher.
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.
March 25th, 2007
Greg warned of CN #399 with a war bonnet leading, so we went west for him, getting distracted by CP trains along the way. We caught CP #241 at Killean and again at Woodstock where it and #159 met #240, stopping at Zorra for CP #158 and finally heading down to Ingersoll for CN #385, CN #399, and VIA #73.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
March 9th, 2007
CN #150 and CN #350, two extra trains, were block on block out of Chicago and arrived in this area still block on block. #150 was an extra BNSF intermodal train with BNSF-FXE power and CN #350 was a Canadian Military extra with two UP units. Tally for the day: VIA #70, CN #384, CN #385, CN #150, VIA #73, and CN #350.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
March 6th, 2007
D&H 7304 led CP #255. I chased it from Waterdown to Guelph Junction, and chased OSR from Guelph Junction back to Guelph on the way home.
Corwhin, Ontario
(map) Corwhin is between Moffat and Arkell on the ex-Goderich sub (Guelph Junction Railway) now serviced by the Ontario Southland Railway.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
February 24th, 2007
We went to Mount Pleasant GO for CN #454 with CN-CP power and CN #397 with CN-UP-CN-CEFX(BN), Georgetown for Via #84, Mansewood to see a parked CN #392 with BNSF-EMDX(UP) power, returning home for lunch and other events.
Georgetown, Ontario
(map) Georgetown's CN Silver is the site of the junction between CN's Halton sub and the CN-owned, GEXR-rented Guelph sub. It is between Guelph and Brampton on highway 7.
Mount Pleasant, Ontario
(map) Mount Pleasant is a GO station between Georgetown and Brampton on the CN Halton sub.
February 3rd, 2007
Steve picked me up and we went to Georgetown for CN #271 and CN #390, both with all-BNSF power, VIA #85 with 6429/Telus, Brampton to meet Dan and see CN #435 with CN 2204 on point and #338, Mount Pleasant GO station for GEXR #432 and CN #393 with a UP GEVO trailing, and back to Georgetown for CN #148 with two consecutively numbered ex-Alstom WCs.
Georgetown, Ontario
(map) Georgetown's CN Silver is the site of the junction between CN's Halton sub and the CN-owned, GEXR-rented Guelph sub. It is between Guelph and Brampton on highway 7.
January 28th, 2007
CN #351 dimensional extra was heard at Paris so I headed down to Hamilton West to see it, catching the tail end of CN #435 on arrival there. #351 was effectively identical to the CN #351 I shot on December 26th.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
January 21st, 2007
Saturday we missed an EMD extra through Guelph. Not wanting to miss it again, we went off to Newtonville in the hope that it would be heading east Sunday. It did, eventually, as CN #436, but by the time it came it was somewhat dark. We saw around 20 other trains through the day as well. Tally for the day: CP westbound, VIA #43, CP westbound, VIA #60, VIA #44, CN 371, CN #149, VIA #57, CP #310, CP #153, VIA, CP #122, CN #874, VIA #46, CP #198, CN #305, missed CN #369 with a DPU, CP #121, CN #363, VIA #66, CN #148, CP #116, CN #376, and CN #436 with 8 class 66s in tow. CN #308, #309, #363, and several others passed or parked while we were at Belleville, but we concentrated on CN #436.
Belleville, Ontario
(map) CN and CP are roughly parallel through Belleville. The CN Kingston sub and the CP Belleville sub head through the city, crossing just East of the city where the Belleville sub swings North to Smiths Falls.
January 6th, 2007
Derailment! CP London Pickup picked the north wye switch at Galt yard and put both units on the ground at around 20:30. We went down to see what we could see, catching CP #244 at Killean siding on the way in. Earlier in the day, CN #271 had a UP leader with an unpatched SP SD40 elephant style, but I was unable to see it, and in the afternoon, I tied CP #158 to the nearest crossing to my house on the Galt sub with 2 GEVOs in atrocious lighting and rain.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
December 30th, 2006
We headed for Horseshoe Curve to start the day catching two there, moved to Cresson for the Amtrak and a few trains, and migrated toward South Fork in hopes of finding the SD80MACs. We didn't immediately, but did meet an SD80 nut named Dan who we chased while he chased a coal train the short hop up to Summerville, and then headed up to Creslo Station to shoot coal train C90 coming from the mines -- with 5 SD80MACs for power (3 at the head end, 2 pushing). After spending an unholy amount of time chasing and watching the SD80s, we returned to Altoona to see the museum, which closed the week before for the season, and then spent some time exploring the area around the museum and Amtrak station.
South Fork, Pennsylvania
(map) Home of the SD80MACs, this junction on the NS serves as the service line for coal mines in the area, which are serviced by NS' few SD80MACs. It is about thirteen miles west of Cresson.
Summerhill, Pennsylvania
(map) Summerhill is a small town between South Fork and Cresson on the route 53 railfan point list.
December 26th, 2006
I heard a CN #351 with a D6R at Paris Junction. It sounded like he was going east, in spite of the westbound number, so once I figured that out for sure I headed down to Mansewood and chased it up toward Georgetown. It had one engine, a handful of cylindrical hoppers serving as dimensional spacers, and a weird cylindrical thingy in white plastic coverings.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
Mansewood, Ontario
(map) Mansewood is a nice open spot with nowhere really good to park near the tracks. It is immediately North of Milton and South of Scotch Block on the CN Halton sub.
December 16th, 2006
Steve took us down to Hamilton for NS #328 and whatever else we could find. We got to the Grimsby sub at around 08:15, in line with when NS #328 would arrive from his 07:15 sighting at Ingersoll, but CN NI dispatcher had other ideas and #328 was stabbed for the Amtrak, VIA #97. With 45 minutes to kill we went over to Kinnear yard and caught CP #135 parked and CP #254 coming in with three new GEVOs as only power before returning to shoot #97 and #328. After that we returned to Kinnear and shot #725 also with a new GEVO meeting CP #254 in quite poor lighting, caught Rail Link working at Hamilton harbour, and watched CN #148 go by from Ham West before going home, as Steve was out of time. CN #385 had a CN leader with KCS 4019 and a WC, and CN #435 had two CN GEVOs and CN 398000, one of two custom built articulated covered hoppers, but we were not able to get either, though we did manage to get a relatively bland GEXR #432 in Guelph.
Hamilton, Ontario
(map) Hamilton Ontario is an industrial region on the tip of lake Ontario.
November 24th, 2006
I picked up Chris at 08:10 and we headed for Bayview... we were quickly distracted by a northbound clearance on the Hamilton sub for CP #255, 8809 North, which we got at Guelph Junction with CP #159 passing behind it. Then we went to Bayview, where we caught a backhoe doing comical manouevers, CN #392, #421, VIA #73 with 6414, the Lotto Quebec engine, CN #271 with a UP trailing, VIA #72, CN #385, grabbed lunch, migrated to Paris and caught CN #385 again. CN #330 came next with CN 8004 on point, followed shortly by CN #331 and CN #398. CN #332 pulled up to the crossing for a crew change, VIA #76 passed, and CN #390 with a real WC leader pulled up to the signals at Paris Junction to wait for CN #435 and VIA #75. We caught London Pickup at Ayr on the way home. Not a bad day, all told!
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
November 22nd, 2006
QNSL AC4400CWs were sighted on CN #422. This I couldn't pass up.
Mansewood, Ontario
(map) Mansewood is a nice open spot with nowhere really good to park near the tracks. It is immediately North of Milton and South of Scotch Block on the CN Halton sub.
October 14th, 2006
CN #394 had BN green whiteface SD60 class unit BNSF 9200 on the lead, which I didn't particularly want to pass up.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
October 8th, 2006
We headed down to Bayview for part of the day, catching VIA #70, CN #385, and CN #148 there, CN #385 again at Paris, CN #390 at Paris and again back at Bayview, my first bi-directional chase. #385 had a BNSF GEVO trailing, #148 had CN 2237 leading, and #390 had WC 6497 leading, an exceedingly rare catch. Later on, I heard a westbound on the Galt, and, hoping for some fall colours shots finally, failed miserably and shot 2 GEs on an intermodal at Galt station. We then heard a northbound get a clearance on the Hamilton sub, catching it on the bridge at Carlisle after sunset, and beat it back up to Campbellville.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
September 9th, 2006
On our way out of Vermont, the muffler on the car decided it wanted to go straight home. We ended up stopping in the small town of Sidney, New York for a night in a hotel and emergency repairs to the car, which were amazingly completed by 9:15am at a local shop called B&M for less than we'd have paid at home. After leaving, we heard a train on the D&H tracks and pulled off the interstate to shoot NS #168 with 2 NS SD70M-2s for power, then headed up to Binghamton to see what we could find there, and then on to Scranton for Steamtown, which occupied us until a thunderstorm came in. We rushed back to New York, caught a great D&H lashup in Binghamton, and headed for Rochester for the night, catching a few trains of interest along the way.
Binghamton, New York
(map) Binghamton is the site of the interchange of the NYSW, D&H, and NS near the New York-Pennsylvania border. While there are several yards in the city and a number of tracks, most are largely inaccessible.
September 8th, 2006
Seeking a few parting shots of NECR before we took off in the evening, I headed down to the causeway to watch NECR #611 work, where I was greeted with comments about the return of "that Canadian", so: hi Mr. Conductor!
Brattleboro, Vermont
(map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders.
September 2nd, 2006
I heard a train in Brattleboro and went down to the tracks to see what was up. I found NECR #611 working the yard. The crew mentionned to eachother that they'd need to switch the wye and this was all the encouragement I needed to stay, eventually getting the train entering the unhealthy looking Brattleboro wye, resulting in me being a shade late getting back for lunch, and a bit of a comical conversation by the crew about what, exactly, the caption for my video of the event should be.
June 30th, 2006
As a result of severe flooding in New York, Pennsylvania, and parts of New England, many detour trains are running on the CN and CP in Canada. We caught CSX #Q380 at the Galt bridge in strong storm lighting.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
June 17th, 2006
We went to Killean for CP #198, Guelph Junction for #141 and #243, and then home for the overheated 33-degree afternoon. We went back in the evening for CP #241 with 4 SOO units.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
May 28th, 2006
Clear skies, but visibility about 3 miles due to smog. Ugh. We caught CN #394 at Hamilton West after hearing it at Ingersoll. BNSF-BNSF-IC for power.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 27th, 2006
We went to Kitchener to see GEXR #432 at the station there, a place I hadn't been in a while. We caught VIA #85, GEXR #433's power parked, saw GEXR #580 head North on the Elmira spur, and #432, then went to mile 30 for CN #392 with two NS units, Guelph Junction for two GEVO leaders and back to Guelph for VIA #681, the once-a-year Stratford Extra.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
May 20th, 2006
I wasn't planning to railfan today, so I only spent 10 hours trackside... today's haul: Via #70, CN #390 (with CEFX-CSX for power), and NS #327 (2 BNSF executive units) at Copetown, NS #327 again and CN #148 at Ingersoll, CP #159, CP #424, CP London Pickup, and CN #399 at London, and CN #393, CN #422, CN #398 (with a TTX caboose!), CN #421, CN #396, CN #435, and CN #275 at mile 30.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
Copetown, Ontario
(map) Copetown is the top of Dundas hill. Trains line up at the top as people would at a waterslide, and other trains slowly grind their way up the hill. It's just to the East of Brantford.
May 19th, 2006
CN #394 was reported to have a DMIR unit in the lashup. I got to mile 30 just on time for CN #392 with a BNSF GEVO leading followed 15 minutes later by CN #394 with its DMIR unit. I then proceeded to Guelph Junction to see if I could catch CP #424, which arrived only moments after I did.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
May 14th, 2006
We went down to Paris for the NS trains, but found it blocked with equipment and moved to Brantford, where we caught 8 trains in about three hours before coming home to get other stuff done.
Brantford, Ontario
(map) This is the home of the Southern Ontario Railway, part of the large-and-growing family of Rail America, and also houses the CN Dundas sub. It is between Paris and Hamilton.
May 13th, 2006
We got out for CN #435 with ONT 2102 leading, catching CN #393 and #396 at mile 30 followed by CN #435, #392, GEXR #432, and CN #148 at Georgetown.
Georgetown, Ontario
(map) Georgetown's CN Silver is the site of the junction between CN's Halton sub and the CN-owned, GEXR-rented Guelph sub. It is between Guelph and Brampton on highway 7.
May 7th, 2006
We stopped at Coteau Jct. for a few hours of shooting with a Discovery Channel crew for the show "What's That About", finally catching the OCRR.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
April 30th, 2006
We went to North Bay to see what we could find there and caught CN #450 passing ONR North Bay station, the passenger trains, 697 and 698, and then headed South, catching #698 at Washago along with CN #301 and #300, followed by CP #105 at Alliston.
North Bay, Ontario
(map) North Bay is the home base of both the Ottawa Valley Railway and Ontario Northland, about an hour and a quarter East of Sudbury. It is not a busy railway town and not worth an independent trip to railfan, but has interesting equipment and trains to shoot if you're in the area.
April 29th, 2006
We went to Sudbury to explore. We caught everything. (Warning: over 600 thumbnails!)
Sudbury, Ontario
(map) Sudbury is a large railway town of around 160,000 people about 4 hours North of Toronto, sporting CP, CN, Huron Central, Inco Railway, and OVR. It is difficult to spit in Sudbury without hitting a train.
St. Cloud, Ontario
(map) St. Cloud (including Wanup, and Waterfall station name signs) are just outside of Sudbury to the South and is the site of the diamond and directional-running interconnection between CN and CP.
April 15th, 2006
We went down to Copetown to start the day and ended up moving around over the next 11 hours or so, catching 15 trains. Not bad for a holiday weekend!
Ayr, Ontario
(map) Ayr is between Wolverton and Cambridge on the CP Galt sub and houses a small backtrack yard and the Ayr Pit Spur.
April 8th, 2006
We went down to Paris for the day. It was relatively quiet, with long lulls and little interesting power. On the way home, we caught CP #243 at Ayr and after dinner I caught VIA #87 with 6411 leading in Guelph.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
April 2nd, 2006
Steve picked us up and we went off to shoot OSR working Guelph on a nice Sunday afternoon. They went South and we gave chase. As we got to Guelph Junction, Shane called about a CN GEVO on CN #435. Naturally we couldn't pass that up! I now have BNSF, UP, CSX, NS, CP, and finally CN GEVOs!
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
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.
March 18th, 2006
We headed down to Paris for the day to see what was in store. The tracks weren't exactly busy, but the trains that did come through on CN had plenty to offer. We shot CP #147 at Ayr on the way with a GEVO and 45 autoracks, then saw CN #410, NS #327, CN #394, VIA #72 and #73, VIA #148 with 7 units, #399, #271 and #393 together, #385, VIA #76, and CN #330.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
March 16th, 2006
Jay called about CN #390 with two dimensional loads. We went down to Hamilton West for it and CN #393, shooting CP #424 on the way there, #525 on the way back, and GEXR #431 later in the evening back in Guelph.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
March 3rd, 2006
We ran down to Galt station to catch CP #138 and #147 and then heard 42 axles with a hotbox at mile 42.6 Galt sub with no clearance. Putting two and two together quickly we found a Loram grinder hard at work. Shot the heck out of it!
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
March 2nd, 2006
CN #392 had a CN SD40-2Ws, a CN SD40-2, and a CP SD40-2 and there wasn't any way I was going to miss that. I got to mile 30 a few seconds ahead of it and loosed off a few shots.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
February 11th, 2006
After a week long safari in the Kenyan outback which cost the life of my video-capable PowerShot S70, Laura and I flew back to Nairobi from the Maasai Mara and then headed off to Naivasha to find a monthly steam excursion train run by the museum in Nairobi. We stopped at the museum to ask if the train was on schedule and if there was anything else happening. Sure enough, the staff there confirmed the train had left on time at 7 in the morning and that there was a freight train on its heels. We caught both, as well as one of the hundreds of huge dust devils that show up every day in the Rift Valley, and the semaphore control shed at Naivasha station.
Naivasha, Kenya
(map) Naivasha is a town about 100 km West of Nairobi on the Kenya Railway line.
January 30th, 2006
We went to the railway museum in downtown Nairobi to see what was there. Among other things was a motorised bicycle on railway wheels, a set of 4-8-2+2-8-4 steam locos and a variety of other interesting equipment. We then checked out the adjacent yard from a busy pedestrian overpass and saw 2 yard switchers working too far away to shoot.
Nairobi, Kenya
(map) Nairobi is the capital city of the East African republic of Kenya. It was built as a railway town and has a large railway museum and a number of active meter guage freight lines leaving the city.
January 21st, 2006
We heard CN 8014 leading GEXR #432 approaching Kitchener and were... rather surprised. The alarm was sounded and every railfan in the area descended on the Guelph sub to shoot it. After, we got word of CP 8745 leading 7 units on CP #424 and booted it down to the Galt sub to catch that. Not bad for a day that I wasn't railfanning...
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.
January 15th, 2006
Steve called, suggesting we go to Goderich to see GEXR #581 working around the salt mine. We headed up to Stratford, and found them getting ready to leave. They called themselves GEXR #431 for some reason, but no matter. We chased it as far as Seaforth before it got too dark to continue. Chasing on the GEXR Goderich sub is relatively easy as the train only goes between 5 and 15 miles per hour for the most part.
Seaforth, Ontario
(map) Seaforth is the last town before Clinton and Clinton Junction on the GEXR Goderich sub.
January 12th, 2006
I shot GEXR #432 at Jones Baseline outside Guelph on highway 7 to the East, then OSR at PDI, and then went to the Junction to see what was brewing there.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
January 7th, 2006
Laura and I drove down to St. Catherines to meet up with Brian and explore the CSX and NS mains South/West of Buffalo. We caught 23 trains of various descriptions and went home happy as clams with 511 pictures and 21 videos.
Lackawanna, New York
(map) Lackawanna is immediately south of Buffalo and hosts Buffalo and Pittsburgh, Buffalo Southern, NS, and CSX tracks.
Angola, New York
(map) In the township of Evans, New York are the towns of Angola and Derby where the CSX Chicago line parallels a somewhat quieter NS track between nearby Buffalo, NY and Chicago, IL. A great spot for shooting both of these is at Sturgeon Point Road, with plenty of warning from talking defect detectors, CTC signals and headlights.
January 6th, 2006
Happy new year to all! I ended 2005 by shooting London Pickup, and, unintentionally, started 2006 by shooting none other than London Pickup on the first nice day of the year. I heard some traffic going by on the Galt and Jay reported 9116 was the last unit on 424. We shot London pickup, CP #424 with the SD90, CP #153, CP #525 ham turn, and London pickup going the other way for good measure.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
December 31st, 2005
Acting on a tip from further up the line, we mobilised for an interesting leader on London Pickup, making for a very nice conclusion to 2005...
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Ayr, Ontario
(map) Ayr is between Wolverton and Cambridge on the CP Galt sub and houses a small backtrack yard and the Ayr Pit Spur.
December 30th, 2005
We slept in Schenectady, New York on our way home, hoping to wake up to find some Deleware and Hudson (CP) trains in the area. We did find one, parked inaccessibly in the distance. We found the overpass of the CSX and the D&H trackage at South Schenectady, shooting one manifest freight at a nearby grade crossing on the CSX. We then proceeded along our main goal of getting home, stopping at Utica to see (kind of) the NYSW and at Geneva to see the Finger Lakes Railway before stopping at Lyons to see some CSX trains before hitting the road as bad weather rolled in. On our way to Geneva, we passed a Finger Lakes train going the other way through Woodstock, New York, and pursued it West to nearby Seneca Falls. Its EOT sounds different from most and broadcasts on 160.205, so we didn't recognise it until we saw the train pass. CSX, for its part, mostly gave us intermodal trains with big GEs for power, reminding me somewhat eerily of CP! This concluded are 2 week travelling adventure ostensibly to see family for the holidays.
Lyons, New York
(map) Lyons is a few miles South of Geneva, New York, linked by an NS track from the town's ex-Conrail CSX main line to the Finger Lakes Railway.
Seneca Falls, New York
(map) Seneca Falls is between Geneva and Syracuse, New York on the Finger Lakes Railway.
Utica, New York
(map) Utica is the home of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railway shops, a scenic railway, the CSX, and at least one more shortline operator, situated about an hour West of Albany.
Schenectady, New York
(map) Schenectady is adjacent to New York State capital Albany and is crawling with train tracks owned by the D&H (CP), CSX, and Springfield Terminal (Guilford) -- and people.
December 29th, 2005
Leaving Brattleboro for home in a nasty rain storm, we caught one last NECR train heading through town with 4 NECR units.
Brattleboro, Vermont
(map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders.
December 28th, 2005
I went after NECR's Southbound, hoping to shoot it at the bridge in Miller's Falls I accomplished this, but somehow accidentally put my camera into Manual mode instead of Aperture Priority, and didn't notice... causing a number of washed out pictures (originals here). I ran them through a histogram equalisation and they look less (or at least differently) awful, and will figure out what to do with them and the originals when I get home. I then went to Greenfield, hoping to catch EDWJ, which ran unusually early, and rushed back to Brattleboro to catch it there (where it ended up sitting for 2 hours waiting for permission to proceed. I guess it doesn't pay to be early!)
December 27th, 2005
Someone on the NECR list indicated that the Vermonter would have a cab car instead of a second unit, so I made an extra effort to make sure I caught it, after having missed the morning freight thanks to family obligations.
Vernon, Vermont
(map) Vernon is directly on the border with Northfield, Mass and has the NECR Palmer sub and its detector at mile 116.
Brattleboro, Vermont
(map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders.
December 26th, 2005
In spite of being a lousy day out, I wanted to get out of the house. At 05:15 I heard the detector at mile 116 go off and just had to investigate. I watched 2 units run light through town and then went back to bed. NECR #324, normally through Brattleboro in the middle of the night, passed through at around 11:30, Amtrak #56 at 12:30 and Guilford's EDWJ (East Deerfield-White River Junction) went through at about 15:30.
December 23rd, 2005
We spent the night with a friend in rural New Hampshire and got going late in the morning, working our way West toward Vermont. On the way, we stumbled upon a tourist railway, though not operating at the moment, in Meredith. We proceeded on to White River Junction and headed South along the NECR Palmer sub, stopping to check on the Concord and Claremont, to Bellows Falls where we watched an HLCX-painted Vermont Rail locomotive switch a handful of cars from VTR trackage onto NECR trackage.
Bellows Falls, Vermont
(map) Vermont Rail System member Green Mountain Railway meets the NECR at Bellows Falls. There is purported to be a GMRS Alco RS-1 here, as well. It is directly across the river from North Walpole, New Hampshire.
December 22nd, 2005
We slept in Lewiston, Maine with the intention of catching St. Lawrence and Atlantic's only daytime train we could be sure existed the next morning. We caught it and an MEC train at Danville Junction, and pondered how to shoot at the Lewiston Junction locomotive facility. Once we caught the SLR train we headed to eastern New Hampshire to see if we could catch the New Hampshire North Coast's gravel train, which we did - at Sanbornville.
Sanbornville, New Hampshire
(map) Sanbornville is the first town South of the New Hampshire Northcoast's gravel pit, 38 miles North of Rollinsford, New Hampshire, where the NHN connects to Guilford.
Danville, Maine
(map) Danville Junction and Lewiston Junction are near the Maine city of Lewiston. Danville Junction is the Junction of the Maine Central (Guilford) and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic (SLR). Lewiston Junction is the site of SLR's main locomotive shops.
December 21st, 2005
We got up in Bangor a little later than we'd have liked and headed up to Brownville Junction to see what we could find. We just missed MMA 8569, a freshly painted MMA unit, heading into the shops at Derby, but caught 2 MMA F40s and a variety of other interesting trains including NBSR over the course of the day in the area. We also met two area railfans who guided us through the day, and without whom we would not have caught much of what we saw, so thanks Kevin and Matt!
Hermon, Maine
(map) Hermon is just South-West of Bangor and hosts the MMA Northern Maine Junction with the Guilford as well as MMA's RTC and offices.
Brownville, Maine
(map) Brownville has a frequently used wye for the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic between their Derby shops and Brownville Junction.
Milo, Maine
(map) Milo and Derby are sister towns on either side of a river on the MMA line, hosting the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Derby shops near Brownville Junction and about 40 minutesNorth of Bangor.
Brownville, Maine
(map) Brownville has a frequently used wye for the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic between their Derby shops and Brownville Junction.
Brownville Junction, Maine
(map) Brownville Junction is its own town near Brownville, hosting an MMA yard and tracks heading out every which way. New Brunswick Southern, officially called Eeastern Maine Railway in that area, interchanges with MMA at this yard.
West Seboeis, Maine
(map) West Seboeis is between Millinocket and Brownville Junction on the MMA Millinocket sub.
Millinocket, Maine
(map) Millinocket is about 30 miles North of Brownville Junction, just West of Interstate 95 and an hour North of Bangor.
Brownville Junction, Maine
(map) Brownville Junction is its own town near Brownville, hosting an MMA yard and tracks heading out every which way. New Brunswick Southern, officially called Eeastern Maine Railway in that area, interchanges with MMA at this yard.
December 20th, 2005
On our way South, we stopped to shoot QGRY's Job 27 on the Lachute sub. We caught it with 2 units and 5 cars.
Ste-Thérèse, Quebec
(map) This was the site of a GM car factory that manufactured the Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird until the end of 2003. It has since been torn down, though there is still a large CP yard there that interchanges between them and the QGRY. It also houses several Montreal transit commuter trains.
December 17th, 2005
On our way to visit my family, we stopped at Coteau for a few hours, venturing twice up to De Beaujeu's diamond for CP trains. We saw an eastbound with CN 2205, CN #327 with 2 CSX units, #149 with a BNSF, a westbound with ONT 2105, CP #107 with a DPU, and CN #538 switching with the slug leading. After that, we went for lunch and subsequently saw the CN TankTrain heading West and a Loram rail grinder heading East through Montreal, but got no pictures of either.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
December 15th, 2005
NS #328 was reported to have 2 NS GEVOs still in primer as only power. This I could not pass up. I got my 18th and 19th GEVOs at Paris Junction on this snowy morning. In the afternoon we shot GEXR #432 at Rockwood in a pretty good snow storm.
Rockwood, Ontario
(map) The town of Rockwood is between Guelph and Georgetown on the GEXR Guelph sub.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
December 10th, 2005
Laura and I got up rather early to go see the morning 'rush' on the CP Mactier sub outside Vaughan Intermodal Terminal, encouraged along by a mailing list message suggesting CP #106 would have an ES44AC GEVO leading. We also knew CP #230 had CP 5863, the last large multimark I needed from CP's active fleet. As we were getting ready to go, we heard CP #230 get its clearance to Hamilton and so we went to Guelph Junction to see it before it left. We saw it there but it was still too dark to shoot it, so we went to Hamilton West and waited for it there, where we saw NS #327 and CN #392. We then worked our way toward Vaughan, catching CN #399 and #385 around Milton. We finally got to VIT but never did see CP #106 -- it was still not in the area by the time we left. We did, however, see CP #103 and #105 both with SD90s and the former with a different ES44AC GEVO leading than we headed out expecting. To finish it off, we shot OBRY doing excursions at Inglewood on the way home.
Inglewood, Ontario
(map) Inglewood is a town in the middle of the OBRY's trackage between Orangeville and Brampton, and is a key location for most OBRY excursions.
Vaughan, Ontario
(map) Vaughan is just South of Bolton on the CP Mactier sub and is host to CP's Vaughan Intermodal Terminal.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
December 9th, 2005
I heard CN #411 with BNSF 9808 (Executive scheme) leading coming up to the Humber and took advantage of the opportunity, catching it at the siding at Speyside in failing light.
Speyside, Ontario
(map) Speyside is a small community with a siding on the CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown, just North (East, in track terms) of Scotch Block.
December 8th, 2005
CN #394 had a BNSF GEVO leading, CP #159 had CP 5911 leading, CN #271 had an ex-SP tunnel motor trailing, and OSR had ex-BCR 646 leading on the GJR. I could only see one of them and had to choose. CN #394 won.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
December 5th, 2005
I couldn't resist another shot at the CP Holiday Train. I shot it at 48.04 Galt sub going about 50 miles per hour.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
December 4th, 2005
CN #784 was seen still sitting at Paris last night, so I went there to see if I could possibly get shots of it meeting the morning NS trains. When I got there, I found it was gone, but it had been replaced by a CN #785 on the other side of Paris Junction pointed westward. That train left a couple of hours later and, together with more foreign power (the norm now on CN around here) and a dimensional on CN #331 made for a good, if quiet, day. Oh, and I saw the CP Holiday Train!
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
December 3rd, 2005
Jay saw CP #424 go by Woodstock with an SD90/43MAC on it, so I took the opportunity to go down to Galt station and experiment with the various manual modes on my new camera.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
December 2nd, 2005
CN had a curious development over night. Two NS run-through trains, both designated CN #784, were seen on the Dundas sub. The first one went down the Hagersville sub to Nanticoke late the night of December 1st. The second parked at about 10:30 am at Paris Junction and was still there as of this writing. I went to Paris to see it, and also saw CN #271, #148, #330, VIA #72 and #73, and CN #435. VIA #85 had 916 tonight, and I caught it at 23:45, completing my VIA P42dc roster!
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.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
December 1st, 2005
I went to see what was on CP #424 at Guelph Junction, then caught #394 with BNSF leaders and some other less interesting trains at Scotch Block in the afternoon.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
November 27th, 2005
Laura and I got down to Paris for 07:30 hoping to catch NS and whatever else came. It sure came. We saw NS #328, #327, CN #399, VIA #670, #671, CN #385, #148, #587, #398, VIA #72, CN #330, #435, #392, VIA #73, CN #331, #392, #393, and then caught CP #153 at Killean on our way home, giving us CP, CN, NS, CSX, UP, BNSF, SOO, and GSCX power across 18 trains.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
November 24th, 2005
Mike and Shane both called to warn about Via #85 with the Budweiser painted F40 not coincidentially numbered 6424. Tom and I went to shoot it in downtown Guelph. Laura and I then caught CP #424, #139, #257, and a Sperry Rail car between Guelph Junction and Killean.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
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.
November 23rd, 2005
Brendan reported that CP #167 had 2 more GEVOs on it. I used the opportunity to try out my brand new camera, shooting first OSR and VIA in Guelph, then #167 around the Junction... beware big pictures!
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
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.
November 20th, 2005
Jay warned of a big CP #434 with a lot of power and so Laura and I went to see. We caught it with 2 KCS primer ACes behind a plethora of varied CP units, then watched CP #159, #230, and a light engine eastbound. Later on, Shaun advised of a UP GEVO leading a train through Sarnia and Jay saw it at London. We caught it at Ingersoll, giving chase and catching it again at Princeton and at Brantford, where it had a 9 car lift.
Brantford, Ontario
(map) This is the home of the Southern Ontario Railway, part of the large-and-growing family of Rail America, and also houses the CN Dundas sub. It is between Paris and Hamilton.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
November 19th, 2005
Steve and I headed down to Guelph Junction to catch a short Hamilton sub rush there, then proceed to Paris Junction where we caught NS #327 with a BNSF war bonnet leading and around 55 cars and a variety of other interesting trains, then caught CP #424 at East switch Wolverton (Ayr) and CP #423 near West switch Puslinch with two GP9s leading a mixed train.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
Paris, Ontario
(map) Paris is just West of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and was once the site of the junction between the Dundas sub and the completely defunct Drumbo sub that connected Paris and Stratford. There's also a large trestle in Paris.
November 14th, 2005
CN #394 had two BNSF units as only power yet again, but this time in the middle of the morning with nice lighting. I couldn't resist. Meanwhile, CP #419 was sighted at Welland with 2 ES44AC GEVOs and, by luck, it took the hill to Guelph Junction where I caught CP #424, #419, #525, and #246 in short order.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
November 13th, 2005
Brian reported that CP #167 had 2 GEVOs working the yard at Welland. Laura and I headed down to Kinnear yard to catch them at the yard office. We arrived about 90 seconds before the train did. The new crew found a marshalling violation on the train and it got tied up at the yard for another 3 hours while we darted aimlessly around Bayview Junction and Hamilton West on a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon. Eventually #167 got moving and we chased it up to the Junction, missing it there by a few seconds and going around by 1st Line-10th sideroad-Guelph Line to catch it in Campbellville.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
Hamilton, Ontario
(map) Hamilton Ontario is an industrial region on the tip of lake Ontario.
November 12th, 2005
Rob woke me with an SMS about CN #492 with a straight SD40 and a Herzog GPS-controlled ballast train heading East by Aldershot. I got moving fairly quickly and caught #492, #338, #154, CP #424, and GEXR #432 before lunch. In the evening we caught CP #141 with CP 4652, a GP40 in Guilford colours and CP markings known to locals as one of the 'ugly brothers'.
Killean, Ontario
(map) This is CP's name for the passing track at Cambridge on the CP Galt sub.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
November 11th, 2005
Two ATSF-painted blue and yellow BNSF units were leading CN #394 and I caught it at mile 30. I caught CP #420 on the way home at 46.76 Galt sub.
November 8th, 2005
CN #382 had a BNSF unit leading through Woodstock in the early afternoon. Walter called that he'd heard but not seen it. I caught it at mile 30 and found that it had 2 BNSF units and no other power. I shot video with a PowerShot A510 I borrowed from a friend with the untimely death of my PowerShot S45.
November 4th, 2005
A not particularly long CP #167 had ex-KCS CP 5420 on it. While now painted in CP colours, it's still an interesting unit to go see.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
November 3rd, 2005
More GEVOs on CP #419 -- but this time in daylight. I caught them at Hamilton West, where they were held up by CN #331, and again at Bayview Junction 9 minutes later where they were held up by CN #393.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
November 2nd, 2005
In 90 minutes at the tracks I found 6 trains at Bayview, leaving with 3 more coming. In the afternoon, I caught London pickup and #243 East of Killean at mile 51.90 Galt sub. At night, we picked up CP #2419, the second 419 at Guelph Junction with 6 brand new ES44AC GE tier 2 environmental units (GEVOs).
November 1st, 2005
I wasn't going to miss the CBC engine again, in spite of the bad light. I caught GEXR #580 working at the Fergus sub yard while I waited a few minutes for VIA #85 and the CBC unit to show, and then caught GEXR #432 at the now-closed Cityview crossing between Victoria and Watson.
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.
October 29th, 2005
Laura and I went up to Parry Sound to see what we could find in the land of Canadian domestic trains where CP and CN are close to eachother. I was a little disappointed by the three locations I found where CN and CP were so close together that travelling between them was not necessary, but found a number of locations where one or the other track looked nice. The sun skunked us on virtually every train, becoming obscured just long enough for the engines to pass, but giving me wonderful lighting for countless intermodal containers... Among the interesting stuff we saw was both NS and CSX foreign power, a string of CP boarding cars, and an apparently brand new GO transit bi-level coach.
Parry Sound, Ontario
(map) Parry Sound is about 220 km North of Toronto on highway 400, which is itself still under construction. CP and CN's tracks are very close on both sides of town and in a few places nearby and a thousand-foot bridge through town on the CP adds to the general railfan appeal of the location.
October 27th, 2005
Steve caught GEXR #432 in Kitchener with a tarped EMD unit on it so I caught it at the station in Guelph about an hour later.
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.
October 23rd, 2005
I caught VIA #85 on Kent street and then went a little East for GEXR #432 on a rather dark and stormy day. Late Sunday night, we heard NS #O99 on the Grimsby sub and decided to see it at Ingersoll. We caught it, and 4 CP trains at Ayr, in the pitch blackness of an autumn night.
October 19th, 2005
CP's TEC train ran on the Galt and Windsor subs, inspecting and handing out general bulletin orders. I caught it at Ayr after it got held in the hole at Orr's Lake to allow CP #243 by it.
Ayr, Ontario
(map) Ayr is between Wolverton and Cambridge on the CP Galt sub and houses a small backtrack yard and the Ayr Pit Spur.
October 17th, 2005
We caught CN #382 at HamWest on the way back from an appointment in Hamilton.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
October 16th, 2005
We got up at a somewhat ungodly hour and got to Hamilton West at about 06:50 am. Even at that hour we *still* managed to miss NS #327 and its two UP units by about 20 minutes. We caught a variety of trains around the area, the highlights being an NS horsehead unit leading NS #328, a cabless BNSF GP60B on CN #148, and an ex-SOO 700-series SD40-2 on CP #167 at both Hamilton West and Guelph Junction.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
October 15th, 2005
We did a little exploring and caught six fairly normal trains everywhere from Drumbo to Georgetown.
Drumbo, Ontario
(map) North-West of Brantford, Drumbo is the site of the long-abandonned Drumbo sub, but the CP Galt sub passes near town and it has a couple of good spots to shoot from.
October 10th, 2005
In spite of bad weather, we decided to see what was running on this Thanksgiving day. We saw a few trains but, interestingly, caught NS #328 at Hamilton West at 17:30, much later than its usual 08:00 passage, with 2 UP units light power.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
October 6th, 2005
Reading 2100 whet my appetite for trainspotting and I took a few hours to see what I could catch. I caught about 8 trains between Scotch Block and Guelph Junction, with a white ex-CP rental unit on CN #411 being the most interesting train of the day.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
October 5th, 2005
On the 4th, Reading 2100 was moved to the interchange track in St. Thomas. On the 5th, we received word that it was no longer in St. Thomas late in the afternoon, that it had arrived at Woodstock on CP at 5 in the morning. Frustrated at having missed it without hearing anything, I decided that I should at least try going to the Galt sub. While I had little chance of seeing this large steamer at the tracks, I certainly had less if I stayed at home. As it turned out, we only had to wait about 10 minutes, and CP #242 passed -- with Reading 2100! I couldn't believe my eyes, and, instead of waiting for the other two trains that were coming, we decided to head toward Guelph Junction and catch the next eastbound there, deciding whether it would be worth a chase along the way. Shortly after we left, the RTC told #242 that it had to lift 2 units at Hornby, and that was all the encouragement we needed. We caught the train at 9th line as it left the Expressway terminal in fading sunlight.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
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.
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.
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.
Blenheim, Ontario
(map) Blenheim is South-East of Chatham and just South of the Canada Southern (CASO) sub with only two remaining industries.
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.
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.
Brattleboro, Vermont
(map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders.
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.
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.
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.
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.
August 6th, 2005
Kevin picked me and Chris up at quarter to 7 and we headed down to Hamilton West to catch 327 and 328. Even at that hour, we were too late for 327, though, but we caught plenty of other trains, then checked out Hamilton yard and caught VIA #85 back in Guelph before calling it a day.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
July 24th, 2005
After the completion of this year's Ottawa Linux Symposium, Laura and I took 2 hours to see what trains we could find. We didn't have enough time to track down either QGRY or the Ottawa Central, but did catch the Hull, Chelsea, and Wakefield steam excursion returning just before 3pm and Ottawa's O-train crossing the Rideau River at Carleton University.
Ottawa, Ontario
(map) Ottawa is the capital of Canada and is home to the O-trains, a busy Via station, and the Ottawa Central.
Gatineau, Quebec
(map) Immediately across the border from Ottawa, Gatineau contains the formerly independent city of Hull and houses the Quebec-Gatineau Railway (QGRY) and Hull, Chelsea, and Wakefield (HCW) scenic steam railway.
July 16th, 2005
Laura and I went up to Sarnia to meet Steve, Brian, Christopher, and Shaun for a day of chasing CSX #725, the CP run-through on the Sarnia sub. We chased it to Chatham and then went on to Blenheim to see it and then caught CN #435 going through the wig-wag at Tilbury, where we met Ian. In the midst of it we caught a CP meet at Kent Bridge and CN #396 and VIA #78 at Creditville on the way home. The only disappointment of the day was not actually seeing any CSX power working, as #725 is a CP-powered train. It rained the entire day, but stopped just on time for just long enough to shoot every time we wanted to. Thanks, weather.
Sombra, Ontario
(map) Sombra is South of Courtright and North of Port Lambton and Wallaceburg on the CSX Sarnia sub.
July 3rd, 2005
I got wind of a D8 dimensional load coming up the Halton sub. Being unsure what it was, I went to check it out. I caught up with the 2 GP9s and 2 metal stampers at Milbase switch behind Harvey's and shot it starting down the hill. It stopped for a few minutes and I used the opportunity to head over to the industrial track further down the road where I guessed it was going. When I got there, I greeted a CN employee whose reaction was to order me to stand ridiculously far away and write down my license plate numbers when I disregarded his unjustified instructions. (See in the pictures how far back I was already, on public property!) After this move, I went back up to Scotch Block to catch #383 and #394 which were meeting at Mansewood.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
July 2nd, 2005
St. Thomas Central Railway ran a steam excursion with ETR #9 from St. Thomas to Ridgetown and back. Laura, Rob, and I went to see it out of Guelph and saw whatever else we could along the way. We caught it just outside of St. Thomas but after only a few minutes there was no more evidence of coal smoke. I'm not sure if it broke down and whether or not it eventually got fixed if it did. On the way back we caught CN #331 at Ingersoll, a CN eastbound at Woodstock, CP #153 at Ayr, what looked like London pickup with a yellow unit at Galt yard and Galt yard job also there. After landing we caught GEXR #432 light power at Jones Baseline in Guelph but I blew the pictures when I left the zoom on. In the evening we caught CP #246 coming out of Guelph Junction at Guelph Line road.
Aerial Photography
These pictures and videos are taken by plane in no specific places.
June 30th, 2005
NS #327 was sighted on the 29th with an unpatched CNW dash 9 leading, and today's #328 was the railfan event of the week with everyone coming out all up and down the line to see it. Luckily, the unit was wyed at St. Thomas and led on the way back.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
June 25th, 2005
Via #84 left Kitchener with VIA 6420 leading. I headed downtown to catch it at Alma road and again at the station. 6420 recently had a third headlight added to its nose whose purpose I can't quite figure, but it was on.
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.
June 19th, 2005
Laura and I woke up at dawn in Colbourg and worked our way home, stopping at Newtonville and CP's Toronto (Agincourt) yard on the way.
Toronto, Ontario
(map) The capital of Ontario, this city has a number of very busy lines and yards on both the CP and CN networks.
June 12th, 2005
Travelling from my parents' place back home, we stopped at Ste-Thérèse, Coteau, Belleville, and, for the first time, Cobourg. We caught CN #106 and 3 Via trains at Coteau, CN #377 and #148 at Belleville. We found Cobourg station and heard the detector at Kingston sub 262.9 go off at 91 miles per hour. We weren't sure of our milepost, but that was answered when Via #667 flew by while we were still looking at the trackside guide and found ourselves at mile 264. CN #320 went by almost immediately after, and after we left, we heard 3 more trains come through.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
June 2nd, 2005
The OBRY runs 2 days a week across the Brampton diamond. We caught them going toward Streetsville, as well as catching NS #327/328 in the morning and some other interesting trains in the evening.
Newtonville, Ontario
(map) This community is about an hour East of Toronto. Through the area the CP Belleville sub from Toronto to Montreal, and the CN Kingston sub on the same routes run parallel.
Mississauga, Ontario
(map) This is a large city to the West of Toronto, rather saturated with tracks.
Brampton, Ontario
(map) Brampton is mile 15 of the CN Halton sub and mile 8 of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) shortline.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 26th, 2005
We got up before 6 in the morning to catch NS #327 and #328 at Hamilton West. We caught both, however 327 only showed its nose off in the distance, and then went backward to Hamilton yard to resolve issues with a broken drawbar. We had to go before it came back and I only took pictures of 328 and the other trains through in the interim.
May 25th, 2005
CP set out some CWR on the Galt sub around Galt/Cambridge.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Killean, Ontario
(map) This is CP's name for the passing track at Cambridge on the CP Galt sub.
May 23rd, 2005
We were out of the house before 06:30 to catch NS #327/328 at Hamilton West, the West leg of the Bayview Junction wye. We caught NS #327-CN #382-CP #388-NS #328-VIA #671-CN #435-VIA #70-CN #385-CN #422-CP #167-CN #148 in short order. On the way North we heard CP #159 leaving the Junction to meet CP #424 at Killean, but missed #159 by a hair and didn't wait around for #424 to come.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 22nd, 2005
I headed down to Ingersoll with Laura to get some scenic photos to help a modeller, and caught some interesting trains in the process. CN #271 had a hotbox going over the detector at mile 53 (Ingersoll is mile 59) on the North track. Unfortunately there are no switches oriented the right way in the area to set off the car with a melted journal and the train tied up the North track for nearly 3 hours while it waited for CN #581 to finish up at Cami and come out, cross over at Blain, 8 miles to the East, and put the car in an industrial track near Beachville.
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.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
May 21st, 2005
After a few hours of turbulence over Fergus, Steve called and reported an ex-MILW unit in MILW paint was going in the hole at Orr's Lake. We left Guelph airfield (CNC4) and got to Guelph Junction with a couple of minutes to spare.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
May 18th, 2005
GEXR got its CN unit back on the night of the 17th, so I went down CN Guelph Junction to see if I could catch it.
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.
May 15th, 2005
Steve woke me up to hit the tracks as soon as he was up and from there we went to the cowpath at Bayview Junction, caught an absurd number of trains in an hour, and moved on to explore Hamilton before coming back for a few more trains at Bayview and going back to Guelph, where we caught 431 - sans CN unit.
Hamilton, Ontario
(map) Hamilton Ontario is an industrial region on the tip of lake Ontario.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 14th, 2005
432 met 85 at Guelph station, following which we went to Guelph Junction and started with 141 meeting 152. After that it was 159, 246, 242, 424, and 525. 525 - Ham turn - had a W03 dimensional, said RTC, and issued GBOs as appropriate. It turned out to be a 4-axle regular empty flatcar, so I really don't know why they classified it as dimensional. I saw GEXR #431 come back later but did not have a camera handy. For anyone in the area, do note that it had CN 399000 articulated potash hopper, so it will be in the area for the next little bit.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
May 6th, 2005
After extensive bad weather, this day finally yielded something track-worthy. CN #411 had a BNSF AC4400CW in second place, and GEXR #431 came back with a CN GP40-2W leading.
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.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
April 18th, 2005
Travelling to and from LinuxWorld Conference and Expo aboard trains 86 and 87, I managed to see a few interesting things. The way freight working at the junction of the Weston and Halton subs had an un-boarded CN caboose on it, the first I've seen.
Brampton, Ontario
(map) Brampton is mile 15 of the CN Halton sub and mile 8 of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) shortline.
April 9th, 2005
Laura and I went from Guelph to Keene, NH and then to Worcester, Mass to visit Laura's parents and attend a friend's wedding respectively. Rob and I sat up front and flew and Laura took these pictures out the rear seat window over the 8th and 9th. These pictures are from the short flight from Keene, NH to Worcester, Mass. via Brattleboro, Vermont and Northfield, Mass.
Aerial Photography
These pictures and videos are taken by plane in no specific places.
April 8th, 2005
Laura and I went from Guelph to Keene, NH and then to Worcester, Mass to visit Laura's parents and attend a friend's wedding respectively. Rob and I sat up front and flew and Laura took these pictures out the rear seat window over the 8th and 9th. These pictures are between Guelph and Keene, New Hampshire.
April 5th, 2005
On leaving the airport after spending an hour practicing emergency procedures in the circuit, I heard horns. I got to the Stone Road crossing with about 15 seconds to spare before OSR showed up on its way in from Guelph Junction.
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.
April 4th, 2005
CN #434 lifted an SW1200 that had briefly shown up in Ingersoll, and that was all the motivation I needed to get trackside as fast as possible, as I found out two hours after the fact.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
April 1st, 2005
Today's catch from CP trains 243, 230, 159, CN trains 148, 394, CP trains 141, 424, and OSR includes 2 BNSF units, an ex-UP SD45 rebuilt to some variant SD40, and ex-Hydro unit CP 5390.
March 30th, 2005
Ontario Northland 2200 and 2202 were seen going through Ingersoll at 14:28. I figured from that they would be at Bayview Junction at 16:15 and Scotch Block at 17:00. At 16:56 CN #396 rolled by with the engines.
March 29th, 2005
I took a few minutes in the evening to see if anything interesting was going by on CN. And it was -- it had just all gone by, by the time I arrived.
March 26th, 2005
On my way back from CNC4, I caught 431 with regular power passing behind the shopping centre at Victoria Road.
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.
March 23rd, 2005
GEXR #580 with GEXR 3843 leading switched the CN Guelph Junction yard over lunch.
March 11th, 2005
OSR picked up KRL 300302 at ABB and brought it to the interchange. GEXR 580 and 432 came from Kitchener minutes apart some time later, and 580 went North to pick up the dimensional at the interchange and deliver it back to 432, which took it directly to Mac yard.
March 8th, 2005
CN 148, 391, 422, 392, CP 424, and 127 kept my trains-per-hour ratio up on the first nice day in ages.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
March 6th, 2005
After weeks of concentrating on flying school where there was good weather, I headed down to Guelph Junction on a windy, overcast Sunday afternoon and caught 5 trains, the last westbound having both the triple-flag CP unit and a caboose trailing.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
February 23rd, 2005
CN trains 148, 145, and 398 had little of interest aside from an empty 12-axle QTTX depressed centre flat on the latter, and CP trains 153 and 424 provided the usual mix of intermodal and freight for that line.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
February 13th, 2005
Feeling cabin fever, Chris and I joined Steve at Scotch Block, where we saw the tail end of #391 disappearing as we arrived, and CN #398 and #434 over the next several hours. CP was just as quiet...
February 6th, 2005
GEXR #433, usually a dedicated train from Kitchener to London for autoframes followed #432 to Guelph and did what would normally be #580's work, except #580 doesn't run on Sundays. After watching that, we headed to Guelph Junction to catch CP's new power-transfer train, #138, with 8 units.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
February 3rd, 2005
8 trains in 2.5 hours at the tracks: CN 382, 271, 396, 154, 148, ?, 421, and 391, including 4 foreign units from 3 different lines and a scale test car.. not bad for an unplanned trip.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
January 29th, 2005
CN train 391 dropped 17 cars in a neat little pile in the middle of the passing track at Kerwood, between Strathroy and Sarnia. So what better opportunity than this to.. er.. go flying.
Aerial Photography
These pictures and videos are taken by plane in no specific places.
January 27th, 2005
Guelph Junction-Scotch Block-Boyne-Scotch Block-Guelph Junction, 5 BNSF units, tons of trains, perfect lighting. Couldn't ask for more.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
January 26th, 2005
It was a beautiful day out, warm, clear skies, and mid winter with fresh snow, so I took a couple of hours out in the afternoon to see what I could find.
January 24th, 2005
After a weekend of snow, we wanted to catch OSR heading to Guelph breaking through snow banks, but were disappointed to find the snowbanks not really breakable and the foreman going ahead of the train, so we tried our luck at the Junction instead since we were already up and on the move.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
January 20th, 2005
CN seemed like a good place to go, so I spent a few hours at the Ingersoll Via station. On my way home, I saw an approach signal under the 401 and went up to the first crossing South of the highway to catch Ham turn and its whopping 22 axles.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
January 19th, 2005
In 2 hours and 20 minutes, we saw 7 trains at the Junction, punctuated by a UP tunnel motor that Jay had dispatched us to and an ex-BN CEFX loco still in green paint.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
January 15th, 2005
Jay, Chris, Steve, and myself met up with Walter in Ingersoll. For the first time, I attempted to take pictures of the same trains with two cameras at the same time, one angled for approach, the other for going-away shots. The photos were then renumbered against the time-stamps to try to put them in order, until I discovered that the two cameras' clocks were out of synch. I figured the two cameras were 26 seconds apart, and that is what this sequence is based on.
St. Thomas, Ontario
(map) St. Thomas is just South of London and is the end of the line for the CP St. Thomas, CN Talbot, and CN Payne subs. It is also serviced by Trillium Railway, sees NS trains 327/328 and once had the CASO sub passing through it with US through-traffic.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
January 9th, 2005
In a remarkable repetition of events I discovered that I had, again, lost one of my camera batteries the day before (update: battery found 2005-01-22 -- in a couch). I went back to the only place it could be and did not find it there, but on the way, heard GEXR #432 coming with CEFX 6537 leading and decided that'd be a worthwhile detour, catching it from the North side of the tracks at the Alma road grade crossing.
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.
January 3rd, 2005
CEFX 1054 was heard leaving Nissouri which gave me ample warning to catch it at Guelph Junction. We ended up catching 5 trains at the Junction in a little under 2 hours including CEFX 1054, a Hamilton sub train with 3 red SOO SD60s, and CP 5911 - a large multimark unit, one of only three remaining.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
January 1st, 2005
We went to catch Via 85 at CN Guelph Junction and then 432 at the viaduct at lunch time. In the afternoon, Walter advised that a BNSF was in second place on 398 and a third unidentified engine was following it. We went to Scotch Block to catch it. The BNSF unit ran out of gas less than a mile from us and the train went by us at what the crew reported to the RTC was 13 miles per hour. The third unit turned out to be an ICE engine.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
December 31st, 2004
GEXR discussed the presence of a D-6 dimensional on #580 leaving Kitchener and that was all the motivation I needed to head out into the haze and see.
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.
December 29th, 2004
On the final leg of our trip from home to Quebec to Vermont and back, we saw a CN train with 3 CN units and 2 CSX units heading East on the Kingston sub just West of Montreal. Frustrated, we went to the tracks at Coteau Junction. There we caught wheel service work, and a CN freight with a BC Rail dash 9 in second place, pretty well making up for missing the CSX engines.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
December 24th, 2004
Having a few minutes to get away a couple of points during the day, I checked the Brattleboro yard, finding it again having shifted its cars around. Brattleboro seems to host a lot of what appear to be coal cars, though I can't figure their purpose there. The yard seems to be switched only at night, which makes finding trains there tough. I also tried to get better shots of the Deerfield Guilford yard. While my shots were better, I really should try again another day (not this trip, unfortunately) to see if I can do it right.
Deerfield, Massachusetts
(map) Home of the Guilford lines, Deerfield has a large yard and junction. Guilford has a reputation for arresting (not fining) trespassers on its property, according to locals, and the yard is not very accessible without trespassing. It is limited to a bridge on a dead-end road that leads to the yard.
December 22nd, 2004
We went looking at Deerfield yards, and while we did find them, I blew all my pictures of them. :( So it goes. In the afternoon I found a Guilford train heading to the NECR from the yard in Deerfield and chased it at its whopping 5 miles an hour from Bernardston to Northfield before running out of light.
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.
December 21st, 2004
We got up in White River Junction and headed for the tracks just in time to see the Southbound Vermonter. After that we toured the museum next to the station and proceeded along the tracks to Bellows Falls before concluding our travelling in Brattleboro.
North Walpole, New Hampshire
(map) The Vermont Rail Systems Green Mountain Railway terminates here. The NECR and the GMRC both cross the Connecticut River at North Walpole from Bellows Falls, Vermont.
December 20th, 2004
We woke up at 6am in St. Albans hoping to catch the 6:35am Vermonter outbound. We missed it by a hair, and after learning from NECR's friendly AGM that there would be no more trains scheduled until about 13:00, we headed South to Burlington, eventually working our way down the VRS line to Rutland. We then headed to White River Junction to spend the night, finding NECR 324 switching in town shortly after we arrived. They continued switching until well after we went to sleep.
Rutland, Vermont
(map) Called Vermont's rail hub by the Vermont Rail System, this city on the New York border is not a fantastic railfanning spot, though not for a lack of good trains. The main drag through town offers few good locations and the yard, found at the East end of a stretch of track common to 4 VRS lines is not very accessible. Outside of the city there are many nice locations but with only a couple of trains per day, understanding the cryptic clearances is critical. Rutland is not really near anything in Vermont, but is along the Western boarder of the state about an hour North of Massachusetts.
Ferrisburg, Vermont
(map) The VRS's line between Rutland and Burlington, Vermont passes through a number of small communities including the town of Ferrisburg, a little bit North of Vergennes.
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.
December 19th, 2004
Travelling from Ste-Agathe, QC (the site of the Ste-Agathe sub, abandonned in the late 1980s) where I grew up to the US, we stopped at Ste-Thérèse yard, near a recently abandonned and torn down GM car factory and the site of a CP-QGRY interchange, then on to Beaconsfield and across the border to the origin of Amtrak's Vermonter at St. Albans.
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.
December 5th, 2004
GEXR laid CWR on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday they worked for more than 14 hours straight in intense rain, but Sunday was a beautiful day and they were able to wrap up their work within only about 6 more hours. By the time I found them they only had 2 pairs of strands left to lay, and only one of them was near enough to a public road for me to see.
In the evening, CP's 2004 US-bound holiday train (there is a second holiday train which heads North and ends up in British Columbia) stopped in at the Galt station. Though I heard its clearance from Guelph Junction to Orr's Lake on the scanner, we didn't leave till later on and only caught it moments before it left.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
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.
December 3rd, 2004
CWR train in Guelph heading to Kitchener, meeting 580 at Mosborough. Yesterday, 518 - the CWR train, and previous to that a GM extra that we all missed - met 432 at Rockcut siding. Like Mosborough, it is very much unused. To make matters more interesting, the CWR train, led by the 2 2210s, set off an original-paint and reporting marks D&RGW hopper at CN Guelph Junction. The CWR train is fully loaded, and CWR only stretches from Silver (Georgetown) to Guelph.
November 27th, 2004
I set out on a search for the battery I lost on the 26th. On the way to Scotch Block, where I thought it might be, we heard the detector at 25.0 Galt sub with 524 axles, so we went to the Halton/Galt overpass in Milton, and then up to mile 30 Scotch Block where we saw 5 trains including 391 with a series of dimensional and unusual loads on it. On the way back to Guelph we heard OSR working and found them with all three odd-ball paint schemes working: ex-BCR 646, ex-CP 506, and ex-QGRY/exx-CP 182. 182 arrived the day before at the Junction on London pickup but was not on when we found it in Guelph.
My missing camera battery was sitting on the ground at Scotch Block and even seems to work, still. Phew.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
November 26th, 2004
Guelph Junction turn lifted OSRX 505 at the Junction and took it on the start of a long journey to Montreal for a new generator. In the evening, London Pickup delivered OSRX 182, OSR's newest RS-18u. It was formerly QGRY and before that a CP engine. The day was punctuated by a 3-hour lull on both CN and CP followed by the loss of one of my proprietary Canon 2B-NL camera batteries. If you happen to run across it, please let me know.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Corwhin, Ontario
(map) Corwhin is between Moffat and Arkell on the ex-Goderich sub (Guelph Junction Railway) now serviced by the Ontario Southland Railway.
November 25th, 2004
I heard CEFX 1037 and CP 6607 West approaching the Junction. By the time I got to the tracks, I saw the tail end of the second train, and decided to head West. I got a couple of minutes ahead of both trains at Zorra siding, some 56 miles West of where I'd seen the tail end. CP 6607 was leading 2 other SD40s and had 532 axles.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
November 22nd, 2004
What do you call the day after two days of rain? Monday! CP pulled an exception and ran some trains in the day, making for a very fruitful couple of hours at the tracks.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
November 20th, 2004
We went to Brampton to see the OBRY/CN diamond, in spite of very bad weather.
Brampton, Ontario
(map) Brampton is mile 15 of the CN Halton sub and mile 8 of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) shortline.
November 13th, 2004
I took my father to the Junction to show him this crazy hobby I have. 3 of the 4 engines we saw on 2 trains that passed were CEFX rentals.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
November 6th, 2004
We went to get Jay at Woodstock and spent the rest of the day mostly in Ingersoll watching what there was to see. CN 271 had a UP in second, and 399 had a UP and a CSX engine. Not a bad day on the foreign power front.
Zorra, Ontario
(map) Just outside of Ingersoll is Zorra Station. It contains a large Lafarge plant and the CP Galt sub.
November 5th, 2004
580 went on the ground at CN Guelph Junction. 12-axle depressed centre heavy duty car KRL 300302 with a ~300 ton load spread the rails and took a hopper down with it. KRL 300302 derailed in Guelph a year ago, too.
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.
November 1st, 2004
It was nice out, so I hit the tracks for a little while. A whopping 2 trains went by on CN, but I caught OSR coming back from Guelph at Moffat.
Moffat, Ontario
(map) Moffat is between Guelph and Guelph Junction on the ex-Goderich sub now serviced by the Ontario Southland Railway. Arkell is between Moffat and Guelph.
October 30th, 2004
After a morning of intense rain and lousy weather, the sun came out and we went trackside. And boy was it worth it! EMD SD70ACe demonstrator unit GM 70 and two brand new CEFX AC4400s punctuated a short, productive trip.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
October 28th, 2004
CN RTC said there would be a parade on the Halton sub from about 1pm to about 5pm because of border crossing issues in Buffalo and Sarnia.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
October 27th, 2004
An ex-Rio-Grande tunnel motor was spotted heading East. Needless to say I couldn't pass that up...
October 14th, 2004
The CP TEC train, 8218 leading, ran the Guelph sub -- my first opportunity to catch a CP engine on the GEXR. 8218 met Via #84 at Guelph, holding up the passenger train for about 15 minutes. 8218, it appears, got back on the CP at London either through Kellog or GM's spur track, and returned through Guelph Junction about 4pm.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
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.
October 10th, 2004
Having received word of foreign power coming out of the Sarnia tunnel I moseyed over to Scotch Block and waited. Unfortunately a truck stalled on the tracks in London tying up traffic for hours. 8 hours after the train went through the tunnel the light began to fail and I was getting hungry, so home I went, picking up two more trains on the way, without ever seeing the train I went to see.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
October 9th, 2004
I went to CN Guelph Junction hoping to catch GEXR 432 with CSX engines, but instead got regular power... in a way I guess I kind of missed the regular power anyway, so that's not so bad. Later in the day I went looking for OSR. They were working late and I caught them heading from the interchange back to PDI after 18:00.
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.
October 2nd, 2004
OSR was ordered at 0430. They departed Guelph Junction at 0500 and pulled Schnabel car HEPX 200 out of ABB along with 2 smaller transformer loads, delivering it to the GEXR interchange a little bit before 0700. At 1000 GEXR finally pulled out of CN Guelph Junction with the loads, expected to arrive in Sarnia by evening where they will be interchanged with CSX and taken to Courtright, Ontario.
October 1st, 2004
OSR pulled out a 12-axle transformer, put in an 8-axle, and switched around a pair of regular flats with transformers inside ABB. The 12-axle went to the interchange. 580 brought it to CN Guelph Junction almost immediately. 432 and 580 arrived at CN Guelph Junction at the same time. 432 took the 12-axle depressed flat with the transformer to Toronto. Total time from ABB to Mac yard: 3 hours. Total trains it went on: 3. Now *that* is fast service.
Now, OSR has 646-506-180 as its power, though only 180 was on line. 646 was, however, leading, with all 4 ditch lights. GEXR 580 has RLK 4096-2210, the matched pair in RailAmerica colours. GEXR 432 has CSXT 4845-4846. 432 left with 6100 feet, 3 GM flats (2 with loco trucks, 1 with tanks), and a lot of cars.
September 29th, 2004
432 had CSX engines, 580 had back-to-back RailAmerica-painted engines, 85 had a whole 2 cars.. another busy day in Guelph.
September 28th, 2004
GEXR gave an empty Schnabel to OSR to give to ABB. I missed the move by seconds... but it has to come out soon, I'll try to get that move.
September 26, 2004
Sundays on CP are about as dead as it gets, but this Sunday saw 4 trains in a few hours and so I went home satisfied.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
September 22nd, 2004
It has been said that the CP is the SleePR. This day saw some interesting trains with a lot of long, hot waits.
September 19th, 2004
CP had 3 trains coming up the Hamilton sub, so I went to see if I could catch them. I ended up spending 8 hours at the Junction and seeing only about 5 trains in burning cloudless conditions, and missed the first Hamilton sub train which was the Automax!
September 18th, 2004
CP 5431, a CP engine in UP colours, got a clearance from Kinnear to the Junction. That was all the motivation I needed to go spend a couple of hours at CP territory. In that time I saw 7 GP9s and 9 other engines, a bit off-balance from normal.
September 12th, 2004
Sundays don't normally have too many trains, but railfans are in abundant supply. This Sunday, though, there was no shortage of either, with CN even yielding a little foreign power...
Speyside, Ontario
(map) Speyside is a small community with a siding on the CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown, just North (East, in track terms) of Scotch Block.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
September 9th, 2004
Ingersoll was busy and the only place in the region that was not being rained out.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
September 2nd, 2004
OSR was running with ex-BCR unit OSRX 646 in third position. A scramble call later I was at the tracks.
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.
August 30th, 2004
OSR had 2 trains, GEXR 580 broke down at the Junction, 432 had CSX engines leading... just another day in Guelph. At CP we found a crane working. 159 went through, tripping the hotbox detector at Puslinch, and CN was busy but didn't have anything particularly unusual.
August 29th, 2004
GEXR and OSR were both working Guelph on this very wet Sunday so I went to see who I'd find. I never found GEXR working but OSR was working PDI. Later, GEXR 431 came back with 4837 and 4839 - two more CSX units in testing.
August 21st, 2004
Laura, Steve, and I went to CN territory to see what we could see. And boy did we see. CSX, BNSF, a business car, and a spiderman engine were just the highlights.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
Burlington West, Ontario
(map) This is between Burlington and Aldershot on the CN Oakville sub, where the CN Halton sub merges in.
August 19th, 2004
I stopped at mile 30 for three trains before heading down to Aldershot to pick up Laura.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
August 17th, 2004
On the way back from the North end, I found OSR switching on the South industrial. Later in the day, Walter called in that a BCR unit was through Ingersoll about 13:40. It finally showed up at mile 30 at about 17:00 after lifting at both Beachville and Aldershot.
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.
August 15, 2004
I went up to Scotch Block for the afternoon, leaving when it started raining.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
July 30th, 2004
CP 9300, the last in CP's 6000HP roster for me to photograph, was heard at Coakley so I headed down to the Junction to watch it.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
July 25th, 2004
We went to Ottawa Linux Symposium from July 21st to 24th and on the way back on the 25th stopped for a few minutes of trainspotting at Belleville.
Belleville, Ontario
(map) CN and CP are roughly parallel through Belleville. The CN Kingston sub and the CP Belleville sub head through the city, crossing just East of the city where the Belleville sub swings North to Smiths Falls.
July 17th, 2004
Laura and I tried to go to Ingersoll for the day and found it dead as a doornail. After several hours of boredom, we headed for home and the parade finally started. We went on to the small community of Creditville where we watched the parade until we got too hungry.
Creditville, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas sub heads through this community locked between the 401 and the 403. The track is perfectly straight for several miles and with binoculars several signals can be seen at once far into the distance.
July 14th, 2004
During the afternoon, between rain storms, Laura and I headed to Scotch Block and back via Guelph Junction. We caught a UP SD70M at mile 30, and a CEFX-led 121 car train at the Junction.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
July 11th, 2004
Laura and I ran up to the North end of town to run some errands when we got a call from Steve that 432 was on its way and OSR was to move a transformer. We caught 432 at CN Guelph Junction/Alma Rd. Later in the day, Chris and I caught 431 at Alma/Guelph Jct again and then going over the Hanlon as they set off some cars at the Junction. Then we moved on to River Run centre where we caught OSR with a little flatbed and a transformer with no time to spare - they arrived at the same time we did.
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.
July 5th, 2004
Laura and I caught OSR up at the interchange. They headed South a few minutes later with about 30 cars down to lower yards and PDI.
July 4th, 2004
CSX SD70ACes ran light through Guelph running as GEXR's only power for 432/431.
July 3rd, 2004
CSX units led 432 through Guelph at lunch time on Saturday.
July 2nd, 2004
Laura and I had to run into town for a minute and caught GEXR at CN Guelph Junction running light.
June 30th, 2004
The third day of Laura's and my honeymoon saw us at Newtonville for the middle part of the day. In the evening we took a sight-seeing flight out of Guelph airfield which lasted a little under two hours. In that time we travelled from Guelph to Guelph Junction to Cambridge back to Guelph Junction to Burlington to Toronto, around the CN tower, back toward Hamilton, up the Hamilton sub, back again to Guelph Junction, up Guelph Line road to the streetcar museum after taking a brief tour to take pictures of southbound OSR, and finally took pictures of GEXR 431 stopped for a hot journal at axle 271 before coming in for landing.
Aerial Photography
These pictures and videos are taken by plane in no specific places.
Newtonville, Ontario
(map) This community is about an hour East of Toronto. Through the area the CP Belleville sub from Toronto to Montreal, and the CN Kingston sub on the same routes run parallel.
June 29th, 2004
The second day of our honeymoon saw us originating in Smiths Falls, where we spent much of the day, before heading through Perth South to Belleville, through Prince Edward County. We spent the night at Brighton.
Smiths Falls, Ontario
(map) The junction of the Ottawa Valley Railway, the Ottawa Central Rail Road, the CP Brockville sub, the CP Belleville sub, and the CP Winchester sub is a busy place indeed. There is a large yard in the historical railway city, a museum, and all CP traffic between Montreal and Toronto, and Montreal and out West.
June 28th, 2004
Laura and I married on June 27th. Our honeymoon consisted of travelling from the wedding site in Ste-Agathe, Quebec to our home in Guelph, Ontario, following train tracks and interesting towns. On the 28th, we started at the Chateau Veaudreuil, travelled to the CSX Montreal sub on the South shore, headed back up to Coteau, and then went to Cornwall. From there, we travelled to Smiths Falls and spent the night.
Côteau, Quebec
(map) Coteau is the junction of the CN Valleyfield sub which connects the CN Kingston sub to the CSX Montreal sub, the CN Kingston sub, and the CN Alexandria sub to Ottawa. It is just a few minutes East of the Ontario/Quebec border, just off exit 12 of highway 20.
Cecile, Quebec
(map) Cecile is the Junction of the CSX Montreal Sub and the CN Valleyfield sub near Valleyfield, Quebec.
June 16th, 2004
Finally, just before leaving Brattleboro, I heard an EOT on my scanner and got to the tracks just on time to catch a short local train heading North on the NECR tracks in town.
Brattleboro, Vermont
(map) This town is on the New England Central Railway track near the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont borders.
June 5th, 2004
The Royal Canadian Pacific travelled to Windsor on the 4th. On the 5th it returned from Windsor and headed to Hamilton, then up to Guelph. It's probably the first train in three decades that has gone straight from Hamilton to Guelph up the Hamilton and ex-Goderich subs.
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.
Arkell, Ontario
(map) Arkell is between Guelph and Guelph Junction on the ex-Goderich sub of the Guelph Junction Railway now serviced by the Ontario Southland Railway. Moffat is between Arkell and Guelph Junction.
Moffat, Ontario
(map) Moffat is between Guelph and Guelph Junction on the ex-Goderich sub now serviced by the Ontario Southland Railway. Arkell is between Moffat and Guelph.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
May 29th, 2004
Steve advised that there were 3 dimensional loads parked at CN Guelph Junction after we heard discussion of them on the scanner. Steve and I chased 432 around downtown Guelph, though GEXR #432 only took one of the loads. The remaining 2 left a little bit later on a second 432, but I never did get to see them.
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.
May 21st, 2004
Laura and I headed down to Ingersoll to catch 148 and then headed up to Scotch Block to catch it again. It had a pair of E8 6-axle widebody units with a business train.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
May 16th, 2004
Laura, Steve, and I headed down to Ingersoll for a few hours. Among the highlights was an Ontario Northland SD75i on horsepower hour repayments.
May 7th, 2004
Laura and I headed to Guelph Junction for 10 solid hours and caught 3 7-engine trains among a variety of others.
Flamborough, Ontario
(map) This is a community at the top of the Hamilton sub between Waterdown and Guelph Junction. It is technically part of Hamilton, as a result of the amalgamations.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
April 29th, 2004
Laura and I headed down to work from the Junction again. The day started out nicely with OSR and CP's Guelph Junction turn working together in the Goderich wye. At 9pm, we found out two Alaska units were dispatched out of London on train 724. We scrambled to Galt station where we caught them at 23:48, catching them again at Guelph Line road in Campbellville at 00:16.
April 28th, 2004
Laura and I headed down to Guelph Junction for the day to work from there.
April 26th, 2004
Laura returned from the US on the Maple Leaf. I spent the day at Guelph Junction and then went down to Aldershot to pick her up, catching CP 166 on CN.
Aldershot, Ontario
(map) This is the region between the (abandonned) Burlington West train station and Bayview Junction.
April 23rd, 2004
Amtrak #85/#88, the International, ended on this day with the final run being a morning Westbound from Toronto to Chicago. It went through Guelph with its trainee Via trainset in tow. Via with an engine and 3 LRCs will be taking over the route only as far as Sarnia. Later in the day, Steve, Chris, and I met up at Guelph Junction for a few regular freight trains.
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.
April 18th, 2004
Amtrak's train called "The International" from Toronto to Chicago's final Sunday in existence... 27 people took the train together as a group trip up to Sarnia for a final-miles excursion, through the GHRA.
Sarnia, Ontario
(map) Sarnia has an absolutely massive CN freight yard. It also has the St. Clair tunnel across to Port Huron, CSX traffic, and a gaggle of running rights.
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.
April 14th, 2004
On my way to the second day at Real World Linux 2004 Conference and Expo in Toronto, I wanted to take a picture of VIA 6406 which was leading the morning's #86, one of two VIA engines on my Most Wanted list due to having an HO Via engine with that number.
April 10th, 2004
Laura drove the car for the first time and took us to Scotch Block mile 30 Halton sub. There was a long lull in the afternoon but for the most part it was fairly busy.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
April 9th, 2004
Good Friday saw me and Laura head to Puslinch at the crossing at mile 46.76 and then a couple of crossings West of Guelph Junction. It was a very good day for unusual stuff.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
April 5th, 2004
Laura and I went to Guelph Junction and Scotch Block for the day and saw pathetically few trains, but we did catch a GCFX-CN-GECX-GECX lashup on CN, with the two GECXs being ex SP and UP tunnel-motors.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
March 28th, 2004
We planned to have 6 of us go to Ingersoll for the day. Like all well-laid battle plans, it did not survive contact with the enemy and Steve and Matt ended up going alone. I went to the Kitchener train show at Bingemans and checked out the Kitchener GEXR yard before leaving town. I missed GEXR 432 by only a few seconds... Late afternoon Laura Chris and I managed a trip to Guelph Junction. There we caught an Eastbound with 2 leasers - both having failed coming up to Guelph Junction. The crew told RTC that they weren't sure if they'd make the final grade into Toronto with only one engine and over 7000 tonnes, but that they'd try to start the second engine at the bottom of the hill and hope it lasted all the way to the top. Nuts.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
March 10th, 2004
I drove out to Guelph Junction and worked from GPRS from there. At the end of the day, the car's alternator died and I got towed home.
March 9th, 2004
Such beautiful lighting I couldn't pass it up - I spent a couple of hours at the Junction and caught a very interesting lashup at the crossing on Galt sub at mile 46.76 in Puslinch.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
March 8th, 2004
I worked at Scotch Block for the afternoon.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
March 6th, 2004
Our first big trip in my new car... Chris, Steve, and I went to Ingersoll hoping to catch a lot of CN trains. We ended up catching more CP than CN, including a meet at the Beachville siding normally used for parking freight cars.
Beachville, Ontario
(map) Beachville is between Woodstock and Ingersoll on the CP St. Thomas sub.
March 3rd, 2004
I spent a little under 6 hours at Guelph Junction on my laptop working, but managed to catch 12 trains (and miss OSR!) and a self-propelled crane. Among the interesting stuff was a UP Dash 9, the crane, and the day was finished off by CP 8218 leading a track inspection train - which I tried unsuccessfully to chase East.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
March 1st, 2004
Nothing like a new car to get me trackside. My old car died November 12th and I finally buckled and bought a new one. Armed with a new car, I spent the day at Guelph Junction on my laptop working, and seeing what I could see. As luck would have it, I saw a lot - starting with CP SD90MAC-H 9301, one of the 4 6000HP units CP has.
February 22nd, 2004
My digital camera returned, we set off for the Copetown train show and made a day of it -- and what a day! Over 200 photos.
Brantford, Ontario
(map) This is the home of the Southern Ontario Railway, part of the large-and-growing family of Rail America, and also houses the CN Dundas sub. It is between Paris and Hamilton.
February 15th, 2004
With my regular camera getting a new LCD at Canon, I borrowed Laura's point and shoot analog camera and got the pictures back a week later on CD. This is the result of one roll of film. We caught 2 ex-Amtrak MMA F40PHs and CP 9303 switching the Waterloo sub. Interesting day.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Drumbo, Ontario
(map) North-West of Brantford, Drumbo is the site of the long-abandonned Drumbo sub, but the CP Galt sub passes near town and it has a couple of good spots to shoot from.
Brantford, Ontario
(map) This is the home of the Southern Ontario Railway, part of the large-and-growing family of Rail America, and also houses the CN Dundas sub. It is between Paris and Hamilton.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
February 1st, 2004
On February 1st, 2003, I started railfanning. On that day, I borrowed a camera, and I shot trains. It was a great day. On February 1st, 2004, I wanted to celebrate the first anniversary of my train chasing by heading out. We missed a parade at Guelph Junction, went up to Scotch Block, got stuck in the snow... CAA finally showed up as the only train in the area came by. Meanwhile, my camera's LCD ceased to function, so I could no longer see what the camera was doing. Oh well. It's in for warranty service now, maybe they can figure out what happened - and fix it.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
January 31st, 2004
CN 383 on the ground at Bayview Junction. Via detouring the Guelph sub. 682 impacting snow drift (damage) at St. Mary's. 431 failed at Kitchener. And that's just what I was around for.
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.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
January 24th, 2004
Steve and I headed up to Ingersoll for the day. We caught 26 trains, though missed photographing a couple of them. The Telus engine came through unannounced at a healthy 80 miles per hour and we missed the Illinois Central Operation Lifesaver unit while chasing a CP train on the St. Thomas sub. We saw 4 CP trains and all of them were powered by 2 GP9s.
Beachville, Ontario
(map) Beachville is between Woodstock and Ingersoll on the CP St. Thomas sub.
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
January 18th, 2004
We were just going to go catch 153 at Puslinch and come home...
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
January 17th, 2004
Steve, Chris, Paul, and I headed to Guelph Junction, Milton, Oakville, Burlington West, back to Guelph Junction, and then home in a great circle route of train tracks and hobby shops. The second stop at Guelph Junction yielded an SD90/43MAC doubling the escarpment grade.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
January 3rd, 2004
Steve, Laura and I headed to Ingersoll to railfan. We met Walter there first thing in the morning and Chris joined us in the afternoon... it was a real party!
Ingersoll, Ontario
(map) The CN Dundas, the CP St. Thomas, and the OSR Port Burwell subs are very active through Ingersoll, with the CP Galt sub just to the North in Zorra.
December 20th, 2003
Steve had to head up to Sarnia and I got to tag along. We took 11 hours to get back because there were train tracks on the way...
Sarnia, Ontario
(map) Sarnia has an absolutely massive CN freight yard. It also has the St. Clair tunnel across to Port Huron, CSX traffic, and a gaggle of running rights.
December 13th, 2003
Steve and I spent a few minutes track-side on the Galt sub and then went up to visit the Toyota plant at Cambridge.
Cambridge, Ontario
(map) Cambridge is the home of Babcock and Wilcox, Toyota, the CP Waterloo sub, the CP Galt sub, the CN ex-Fergus sub and a lot of trains.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
November 29th, 2003
Steve, Chris, and I went up to Ingersoll to meet up with Walter and learn our way around the not exactly quiet area of Ingersoll and surrounding area.
Woodstock, Ontario
(map) The CP Galt and CN Dundas subs meet here, as do highways 401 and 403. It is a busy place.
November 1st, 2003
A derailment in Aldershot yard sent at least one detour passenger train up the Guelph sub, along with a parade of Eastbound special moves. The first was a GMD move of UK-bound 6-axle units followed shortly by a Babcock and Wilcox generator move. The derailment consisted of a few passenger cars being shipped and several other cars in various states and interesting angles.
Aldershot, Ontario
(map) This is the region between the (abandonned) Burlington West train station and Bayview Junction.
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.
October 22nd, 2003
GEXR 580 went on the ground at the London/Edinburgh grade crossing on the ex-Fergus sub.
October 6th, 2003
St. Thomas Central Railway's Essex Terminal Number 9 0-6-0 wrapped up three days in Guelph with a one-way excursion to Kitchener.
October 5th, 2003
St. Thomas Central Railway's Essex Terminal Number 9 0-6-0 switcher ran an excursion from Hespeler to Guelph and back three times. The first one I slept through, the second one I chased, and the third one I volunteered on.
September 28th, 2003
Steve, Laura, and I went on a planned trip to Komoka's Melrose Junction, where we watched trains all afternoon, and met the owner of the property in the junction who was very nice and friendly, and invited us to watch from his property. Chris joined us later and we moved on to Hyde Park.
Hyde Park, Ontario
(map) Between Komoka and London, Hyde Park offers an excellent railfanning site. A single-lane wood bridge crosses both the CP Windsor and CN Strathroy subs on Denfield Road.
Komoka, Ontario
(map) This is where the CP Windsor, CN Strathroy, and CN Chatham subs meet just West of London.
September 13th, 2003
Laura, Chris, and I went to the hobby shop at the North end of Guelph and picked up OSR working on the scanner. We went to watch them and then waited for GEXR 431 to return from Toronto before going home.
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.
August 24th, 2003
Babcock and Wilcox sent a 500 tonne generator up the GEXR Fergus sub. Steve found it wyeing at the seldom-used Fergus sub wye in Guelph on GEXR 432, en route to Toronto Mac Yard, and let me know. The two of us chased it, leap-frogging eachother along highway 7.
August 22nd, 2003
I decided to spend a full work-day at Guelph Junction working on my laptop with GPRS and watching whatever came through.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
August 20th, 2003
I decided to spend a full work-day at Guelph Junction working on my laptop with GPRS and watching whatever came through.
August 5th, 2003
Laura and I had posted security in the GHRA caboose through the night. In the morning we watched OSR move the van back to its home base at Crompton Uniroyal.
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.
July 30th, 2003
Laura and I had to go to the license bureau again on Woodlawn. On the way home, we stopped to watch GEXR and OSR trade freight cars on Edinburgh.
July 27th, 2003
Three of us headed out to the Halton sub just south of Milton on the CN Halton sub to see what we could see. We sure saw. The day started with a train with dragging equipment, and, in exchange for fetching coffee, we got a tour of an SD75i cab, and didn't get worse for the next 6 hours.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
July 17th, 2003
After suffering cabin fever, we went to to kill a few hours at Guelph Junction and saw two trains on the Hamilton sub and one on the Galt sub.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
July 14th, 2003
The National Model Railroad Assocation took a tour of Guelph Junction. The Guelph Historical Railway Assocation and Ontario Southland Railways strutted their stuff, but CP was nowhere to be found...
July 11th, 2003
The Guelph Historical Railway Association's caboose was moved from its parking place in Guelph to Guelph Junction for an NMRA presentation of Guelph Junction and GHRA's possessions's on July 14th.
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.
July 5th, 2003
The 8th annual CNet meet.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
July 1st, 2003
Canada Day 2003, we went on a large circle route catching both CP and CN over the course of several hours.
Waterdown, Ontario
(map) This town is at the top of the hill coming out of Hamilton on the CP Hamilton sub.
June 20th, 2003
OSR moved a 40 wheel Schnabel car out of the ABB plant in Guelph to the GEXR interchange track.
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.
June 14th, 2003
Canadian Pacific ran a steam train excursion from Toronto Union Station to Guelph Junction and back using CP 2816 and a GO consist. I was one of some 1500 passengers on the excursion, in the leading car, and I made some effort to railfanfan -- take pictures of other railfans.
Toronto, Ontario
(map) The capital of Ontario, this city has a number of very busy lines and yards on both the CP and CN networks.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
May 29th, 2003
A junction of junctions, this trip took me to both Bayview and Guelph Junctions.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 23rd, 2003
I went to the station to pick up my housemate, who was returning from a rail trip to Montreal.
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.
May 19th, 2003
This was a routine railfanning trip to the Bayview Junction/Aldershot area.
Aldershot, Ontario
(map) This is the region between the (abandonned) Burlington West train station and Bayview Junction.
Bayview Junction, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Oakville, CN Grimsby, and CN Dundas subdivisions meet at a great big wye, beside which is the CP Hamilton sub. This location encompasses CN Bayview Junction, Hamilton West, and Hamilton Junction.
May 10th, 2003
OSR was moving a large transformer on a heavy-duty flatbed from the ABB plant at the North end of Guelph across the street to the interchange track with GEXR.
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.
May 5th, 2003
My girlfriend and I took a long distance trip to Newtonville, where the CP Belleville and the CN Kingston subs are more or less side by side for several kilometres. We stayed there much of the day and managed to catch both a GO unit in freight service and three CN business cars heading to Montreal.
Newtonville, Ontario
(map) This community is about an hour East of Toronto. Through the area the CP Belleville sub from Toronto to Montreal, and the CN Kingston sub on the same routes run parallel.
May 2nd, 2003
My girlfriend and I were heading to Hemlock Junction, as it was having a retirement (closing) sale, and a quilt store for her. On the way, the expressway passed us on the CP Galt sub and on the way back, we caught a couple of trains climbing the hill up toward Guelph Junction.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
April 27th, 2003
I went to a friend's house by the tracks to work on scanner antennas.
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.
April 26th, 2003
This was another routine trip to Guelph Junction.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
April 14th, 2003
CEFX 6537, a rented GP35 retrofitted into a GP38 sat in Guelph for a day without a rear truck. I came across it and came back later with a camera, sure not to miss it.
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.
April 13th, 2003
After stopping at hobby shop Hemlock Junction in Milton, we headed South along the Halton sub and found the rural community of Zimmerman, an excellent location for pictures. After waiting a while with no trains, we headed back and immediately heard a train coming up on the scanner. We stopped in Boyne to watch it. Later on, we went to Guelph Junction for a routine railfanning trip.
Milton, Ontario
(map) This is where the CN Halton and the CP Galt subs cross eachother, though there is no junction.
March 29th, 2003
This was a routine trip to the Bayview Junction area, though we were lucky and caught a foreign unit leading an Automax train up the CP Hamilton sub.
Burlington West, Ontario
(map) This is between Burlington and Aldershot on the CN Oakville sub, where the CN Halton sub merges in.
Waterdown, Ontario
(map) This town is at the top of the hill coming out of Hamilton on the CP Hamilton sub.
March 9th, 2003
Four of us went to the London/Komoka area to see where CP, CN, and GEXR meet.
London, Ontario
(map) The home of EMD, the plant responsible for a lot of the large engines we see on the rails today, London hosts the West end of the GEXR Guelph sub at the CN yard where the CN Dundas sub joins the CN Strathroy and CN Talbot subs, CP's yard, and the CP Windsor and Galt subs.
March 1st, 2003
The GEXR was borrowing some CN power and we went to Kitchener-Waterloo to take a look, chasing it back to Guelph and almost catching it leaving the city, out near the airfield.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
February 15th, 2003
A derailment on the CN Dundas sub near Woodstock sent much of CN's high priority traffic along the GEXR Guelph sub.
February 14th, 2003
A derailment on the CN Dundas sub near Woodstock sent CN trains up the GEXR Guelph sub, keeping us local railfans well occupied.
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.
February 10th, 2003
A week after my first railfanning venture, I took a trip back to Guelph Junction to see what else there was to see. On this occasion I watched a CP intermodal train doubling the hill from Milton with a single SD90MAC in a bit of a snow storm.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
February 1st, 2003
This day was my first time ever railfanning with a camera. I had gone to Guelph Junction with two new friends to work on cleaning up the Guelph Historical Railway Association's baggage car. We got kind of caught up watching trains and didn't get to the baggage car until everyone else had already finished, and we ended up going to Milton as well.
