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.
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CP #254 leaves Hamilton to the south.
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CN #422 enters Hamilton.
February 20th, 2010
Mischa and I went down to Hamilton for the morning. We didn't find anything in Hamilton, owing largely to a pub that took nearly an hour to bring burgers to the table, but did get two at 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.
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CP #243 comes off the grade at the Junction.
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CP #255 comes off Waterdown grade and heads down Milton grade.
April 1st, 2010
Travelling to visit family for the long weekend, we stopped at Belleville to shoot CN #369, and took a few minutes at Dorion to see the AMT commuter train rush.
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.
Dorion, Quebec
(map) The CP Veaudreuil sub turns into the CP Winchester sub and junctions with the M&O sub, and the whole collection diverges from the CN Kingston sub after several miles of parallel running at Dorion, just off the Island of Montreal on highway 20 to the west.
April 18th, 2010
CN #525 passed through Georgetown station with mostly new boxcars from NSC as I waited to pick a friend up on the GO bus.
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.
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CN #525 passes through Georgetown station with a long cut of new NSC boxes.
May 29th, 2010
The evening of the 28th, Mischa and I went to Guelph station to watch GEXR 432. Months after the arrival of GSCX 7362 and 7369 from the NECR, I still had not seen them running. True to form, the unusual happened right in front of me. We decided to watch the train from the east edge of the Walker Building parking lot at the west end of the Guelph viaduct. Right in front of us, about 6000 feet back, we heard a pop and saw the hosebag separate between two cars. Moments later, 432 was stopped in emergency and, being the good foaming samaratins we are, we took off to try and find the head end to alert them to the reason for their emergency brake application. After rendering the crew assistance in moving around the two kilometre long train to repair it, 432 set off for Toronto with 3 cars jettisoned in the out-of-service Guelph siding. The next day, I shot a very short X432 lifting the cars which were repaired over night after stopping at the farmers' market for my week's vegetables.
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 3rd, 2010
I stopped at Guelph Junction for a few minutes, missing 243 and catching 421 with 3 SD40-2s.
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.
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CP #421 enters OCS at Guelph Junction.
June 15th, 2010
With only a few days left before I moved out of Guelph, CN 6167 was finally moved across the tracks to its new home as part of the city's new Transit Hub. I was only able to watch a few minutes of the progress.
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 29th, 2010
We took off after CN 396 with an EJE unit catching it at Lynden Junction and again at Aldershot station.
Lynden, Ontario
(map) This town is East of Brantford on the CN Dundas sub and once hosted the South end of the CN Fergus sub.
Aldershot, Ontario
(map) This is the region between the (abandonned) Burlington West train station and Bayview Junction.
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.
Ste-Ursule, Quebec
Ste-Ursule is the site of a provincial park and a huge viaduct west of Trois-Rivieres.
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Two hy-rails clear the bridge at Ste-Ursule for Via #601
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VIA #601 with two former GO F59PHs crosses the bridge at Ste-Ursule. The train will be split in two at Hervey Junction.
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Two hy-rails return to their posts maintaining the bridge at Ste-Ursule.
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec'
Trois-Rivieres is mid way between Montreal and Quebec City on the north shore of the St-Lawrence river, along the QGRY.
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A QGRY train arrives at the yard in Three Rivers.
St-Leonard-d'Aston
St-Leonard is south of Trois-Rivieres along the Drummondville sub on the south shore.
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CN #120 passes through St-Leonard-d'Aston
Aston-Jonction, Quebec
Aston-Jonction is a junction along the Drummondville sub south-east of Trois-Rivieres.
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CN #120 pulls by CN #401, both longer than the siding, at Aston Junction after waiting for 401 to put part of its train in the spur.
St-Leonard-d'Aston
St-Leonard is south of Trois-Rivieres along the Drummondville sub on the south shore.
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CN #401 comes around a bend just outside of St-Leonard.
Ste-Angèle-de-Pr/©mont'
Ste-Angele-de-Premont is just north-east of Ste-Ursule.
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A CN train climbs northbound out of Ste-Ursule.
October 14th, 2010
Traveling from my new apartment in Gatineau along the QGRY to west in my first explorative journey in the area, I found two units parked at Masson and a switcher working in the yard at Thurso. I was expecting a train from Ste-Therese as well but it did not materialise and likely came shortly after my departure. The tracks in Gatineau proper along the QGRY Lachute sub have been ripped recently enough that some of the trucks involved are still kicking around. So much for any thoughts of running the O-train across the bridge into Gatineau (same alignment)!
Masson, Quebec
Masson is between Gatineau and Thurso on the QGRY Lachute subdivision and is the site of a large rail using facility with two dedicated QGRY engines to service the area.
Thurso, Quebec
Thurso is the present eastern end of the western half of Autoroute 50 and is the western most point of the western run of the QGRY out of Ste-Therese (traffic further west is handled by a local road switcher). There is a large lumber facility with its own switcher.
Plaisance, Quebec
Plaisance is between Montebello and Thurso on the QGRY Lachute subdivision.
October 23rd, 2010
I went down to Cornwall to have dinner with an old friend from high school and ran across a Baldwin electric parked next to Brookdale Ave that I am pretty sure was not there last time I went to the city.
Cornwall, Ontario
Cornwall is about 30 km into Ontario from the Quebec border coming out of Montreal on the CN Kingston sub.
October 27th, 2010
I had a couple of hours to kill in Montreal in the evening so went over to check the Deux-Montagnes sub, an electric commuter line that runs from Central station through the mountain to the north.
Montreal, Quebec
Montreal is the junction point of the CP, AMT, CN.
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.
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A CN manifest leaves the east end of Montreal heading west.