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.
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.
video
The Hull, Chelsea, and Wakefield steam excursion's 2-8-0 and European train-set crosses a rural road about 2 miles from its terminal.
video
The Hull, Chelsea, and Wakefield steam excursion enters its station in Hull (amalgamated with Gatineau) near the QGRY wye.
July 23rd, 2006
Following most of a week at Ottawa Linux Symposium, my parents came up to Ottawa and took us on an HCW steam excursion for my birthday.
video
Swedish diesel loco HCW 244 parks in its enginehouse as HCW 909 disappears out of sight to turn on the turntable behind the rest of the equipment.
October 28th, 2011
Catching me off-guard, I found that the Lachute sub along Maloney Blvd in Gatineau is being put back in, displaced slightly from its previous alignment to make room for a bus transitway. Need to figure out how they're handling the single-track bridge along the route further up...
August 16th, 2017
We caught the QGRY coming into Gatineau on our way back to the riding.
video
A Quebec-Gatineau Railway heads for Gatineau.
May 13th, 2019
Heartbreak in Gatineau: The Hull, Chelsea, Wakefield is truly no more, with both the track and the train itself ripped up. While the Union Pacific gets Big Boy 4014 up and running again, this is what Canada's national capital region tourist train looks like today. Surely we can do better. I had a chance to ride this train in 2006 and chasd it in 2005. It was closed almost a decade ago by washouts and never recovered, the equipment put up for sale and vandalised too much to save before it could be sold.
December 6th, 2019
Traveling between Ottawa and home, I decided to finally take the time to look for the QGRY Friday run, which I had passed a few times without ever having time to watch it over the past few years. I found it faster than expected and chased it up the Buckingham spur to the end before carrying on.
video
Follow along as I chase a QGRY local from Buckingham Junction up to End of Track.