Sunday, October 31, 2010

Trackside Log for Sunday, October 31, 2010

I had the scanner on in the background while at home relaxing. It was rather quiet but in the morning I heard a southbound train announce the slow order between mile 36 and 39. Missy and I meandered our way over to River Road to see what it was.

  • 1041 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 5612-CITX 3058-SOO 6040

CITX 3058 is formerly GCFX 3058 and originally CP 5628. It was also rather nice to see SD40-2s again.

In the afternoon I once again heard a southbound call out the slow order. This time I knew what the train was. This was train 626, an ethanol unit train from the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern. Several of these trains have run over the Canadian Pacific Hamilton Subdivision but this is the first that a) has been in daylight and b) I've been home for. Missy and I returned to River Road for a photograph.

  • 1611 Fenwick - CP 626 south - CP 9739-CP 9547

While watching the train roll past I photographed it behind one of the few remaining relics of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway.

  • 1618 Fenwick - TH&B crossbuck at mile 23 of the Hamilton Subdivision

The weather was sub-optimal but I was finally able to photograph one of the ethanol trains.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Trackside Log for Thursday, October 28, 2010

I was just getting ready to take Missy for her walk this morning when I heard some horns approaching from the north. It was a rather dark, cold and windy morning but I thought I'd try for a photograph anyway. The reward was a consist devoid of General Electric locomotives.

  • 0824 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 6080-CEFX 3173-CP 6046

A maintenance of way crew has been replacing ties between mile 23 and mile 26 for the last few days. Consequently train 246 crept by at about ten miles per hour. I didn't bother waiting for the end of the train but instead drove back home to take Missy for her morning walk.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Trackside Log for Saturday, October 23, 2010

This morning while walking Missy I could hear the distant rumble of GM prime movers. After about 10 minutes train 626 came into view.

  • 0720 Fenwick - CP 626 south - SOO 6049-CITX 2794-CEFX 3184-CITX 3072

I wasn't in any position to photograph it but it was too dark anyway.

The plan for the day was to meet up with Marcus and photograph the Credit Valley Explorer between Orangeville and Snelgrove. The original goal was to commemorate the last Canadian Pacific run of the Moonlight to Orangeville on September 28, 2000. I was three weeks late but oh well.

We met at his house and headed off to Orangeville to check out the train. When we arrived it was loading passengers.

  • 1040 Orangeville - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer south - CCGX 4009

Our first destination was Cataract. This is the former junction of the Canadian Pacific Elora and Orangeville Subdivisions as well and the location of a large limestone quarry. Here you can see the train run along the edge of the cataract at the ruins of the Cataract Electric Company.

  • 1150 Cataract - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer south - CCGX 4009

After our long but fruitful wait we drove out ahead of the train and caught up to it in Inglewood.

  • 1212 Inglewood - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer south - CCGX 4009

Once again we made our way south to find another location to photograph the train while the sunshine held out. We settled on King Street near Cheltenham where we could photograph the Niagara Escarpment in the background.

  • 1225 Cheltenham - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer south - CCGX 4009

We followed along again and photographed the train one more time in Snelgrove just before the GP9 switched ends to return north.

  • 1232 Snelgrove - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer south - CCGX 4009

Now that the train was returning north we headed back to Cheltenham for one last photograph of the train.

  • 1256 Cheltenham - OBRY Credit Valley Explorer north - CCGX 4009

By now the clouds had moved in so we called off the chase of the Credit Valley Explorer. Marcus and I then headed into Brampton to the station to see if there was any activity on the Canadian National's Halton Subdivision. As we were arriving we heard on the scanner that three trains were converging on town. Nice timing!

  • 1346 Brampton - CN 435 west - CN 2439-CN 6020
  • 1401 Brampton - CN 422 east - CN 8868-CN 8888-CN 2326-CN 2327-CN 2330-CN 2324-CN 2329
  • 1421 Brampton - CN 382 east - CN 5698-BCOL 4616

Train 422 was a nice bonus to see the five new ES44DCs on delivery. Nothing else was imminent so we departed for lunch and the Credit Valley Railway hobby shop. All in all it was a pretty good day. I wasn't expecting much from the weather but we were fortunate to have some decent sun for the Credit Valley Explorer.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Trackside Log for Wednesday, October 20, 2010

While walking Missy this morning I could hear odd sounding horns from the south. Just as we were returning home I could hear them one concession away. We walked back behind my house to see what belonged to those horns. Before long a Canadian Pacific maintenance of way truck towing two gondolas of ties pulled around the bend.

  • 0915 Fenwick - CP maintenance of way north - CP E06012 (truck)

The truck was loaded with new ties although I'm unsure where they were being placed.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Trackside Log for Thursday, October 14, 2010

I had just walked out the door to head to work this morning when I heard horns approaching from the north. By the time I got to the Foss Road crossing the signals were activated. I watched train 246 pass by me.

  • 0939 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 6034-CP 5917-CP 6080

Once the way was clear I continued to work.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Trackside Log for Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Tonight I was getting ready for bed and heard on the scanner that train 254 south was on the way. Then it hit me. Why not photograph the train's lights illuminating the scenery behind my house with a long exposure. So I got Missy and my tripod and walked to the back of my property and set up for a photograph.

  • 2243 Fenwick - CP 254 south - CP 9574-CP xxxx

In the dark I couldn't see the number of the second engine. But, I was quite satisfied with the effect of the photograph.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Trackside Log for Sunday, October 10, 2010

This morning I decided to take Missy trackside on the Canadian National Dundas Subdivision. The choice was based on the report that train 148 departed Chicago with a pair of BC Rail C40-8Ms for power. I pulled into the former site of Copetown station in time for VIA 70.

  • 0916 Copetown - VIA 70 east - VIA 6414 (Lotto Québec)

After that it was total dullsville for more than two hours. Missy and I wandered around and relaxed until at long last an eastbound presented itself.

  • 1127 Copetown - CN 392 east - CN 5740-CN 5546
  • 1243 Copetown - CN 331 west - CN 2643-CN 5543-CN 5554
  • 1245 Copetown - VIA 72 east - VIA 902

Then the foamers started showing up. On the positive side I took it to mean that train 148 was on the way. First up, however, was VIA 73.

  • 1307 Copetown - VIA 73 west - VIA 6452
  • 1328 Copetown - CN 148 east - BCOL 4623-BCOL 4605

I waited around for a while longer to see plenty of nothing. It got rather boring so Missy and I departed and headed generally toward my family. Somewhat arbitrarily I made the decision to visit Garnet to see if the Southern Ontario Railway was up to anything. As I approached their yard I saw their train parked at the south end. I was able to easily photograph it from the road.

  • 1522 Garnet - SOR 596 south - CEFX 2014-RLK 3873-RMPX 9431

After a few photographs I resumed my meandering drive to visit my family.

Now that I look back at it I'm not surprised that I don't bother to drive to the Canadian National tracks much any more. A total of three freights in six hours is not inspiring.

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Trackside Log for Saturday, October 9, 2010

Not long after returning from MIssy's walk this morning I heard a southbound Canadian Pacific train on the scanner announce the Boyle mile board. It was a beautiful sunny day for a change so I took Missy over to Chantler Road to see it.

  • 0900 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 9675-CP 9590

After the relatively long string of autoracks cruised by we returned home.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Trackside Log for Thursday, October 7, 2010

The crossing signals at Foss Road were activated this morning as I approached them on my way to work. Moments later train 255 north passed by.

  • 0855 Fenwick - CP 255 north - CP 6017-SOO 6051-SOO 6034

Unfortunately, without my camera, I didn't get a picture. Oh well, it was fun to watch roll by.