2080 results for 2006-12; refer to date index:

December 9th, 2006

With credible rumours of NS 327 and 328 being discontinued at the end of the year circulating, I chased NS #328 from Paris, where I arrived at the same time as it did, to Grimsby via Copetown before catching CP #127 and #159 at Guelph Junction and heading home.

December 15th, 2006

CN #422 had 5 Venezuelan SD70ACes on delivery and CN #394-14 had a KCS SD70ACe on point. Both well worth getting. Trains for the day were VIA #85, CN #271, #422, #148, #394-13, #393, GEXR #432, and #394-14.

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.

December 17th, 2006

We got up well before dawn to arrive at Paris on time for the two endangered NS trains in spite of poor weather. NS #328 showed up with two cars exactly at sunrise, followed by VIA #70, #71, CN #391 with interesting power, CN #148, and NS #327 with a conrail-painted leader. We headed up to Ayr and caught CP #159 followed shortly by CP #257, a single unit light power, before heading to Breslau for VIA #85 and GEXR #432... which chose this day to not run.

December 20th, 2006

VIA #85 was well over an hour late resulting in a Guelph meet with GEXR #432. They met just out of sight at mile 49.

December 21st, 2006

With NS #327/#328 in their dying days, I went down to Ingersoll for a late #327. In the afternoon I shot CP London Pickup and #424 at 51.90 Galt sub. Lousy lighting in all cases.

December 23rd, 2006

We went to the Halton sub hoping for CN #278. We caught CN #271 at Silver Junction in Georgetown, CN #278 at Brampton GO station, then, with nothing else in the area, wandered up to Vaughan Intermodal Terminal to see what was happening there. CP #103 showed up shortly after we did with 5 AC4400CWs and 6 autoracks to pick up its intermodal cars, a yard job was working, and CP #104 took off with two SD90/43MACs light power. We returned home via Streetsville, where we just missed a CP eastbound, then headed to mile 30 where we caught CN #393 and #422, the latter being the only CN train of the day lacking foreign power.

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.

December 28th, 2006

D&H 7303 led on CP Galt sub on the 27th, but we were on our way south at the time and could do nothing about it. We spent the 28th in Altoona picking up NS trains, catching 17 Conrail-painted units including one SD80MAC among many trains, stopping to see Horseshoe Curve, Cresson, and surrounding sites... More to come!

December 29th, 2006

We took off from Altoona northward searching for shortlines, stopping to check the NS/Nittany and Bald Eagle interchange at Tyrone and their base at Lock Haven, shot the RDCs at Bellefonte, and returned to the other side of Altoona to hunt for the Everett at Hollidaysburg, following their tracks until we found them switching at Roaring Spring before heading to Gallitzin for one coming out of the tunnel and wrapping up the day at Cresson and Lilly.

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.

December 31st, 2006

With 2006's dying hours at hand, we returned home from Altoona stopping to see what we could find on the way, culminating in a stop just outside of CSX's southernmost Buffalo yard at Lake Avenue, where a CSX security officer gave us a CSX 2007 calendar and wished us a happy new year. Happy new year indeed!