12762 results for Guelph_Junction; refer to date index:

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.

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.

February 28th, 2003

This was another routine trip to the Junction.

March 22nd, 2003

This was another another short trip to the Junction.

March 24th, 2003

A regular trip to Guelph Junction caught a local CP train switching a work train.

March 26th, 2003

This was another routine trip to the Junction.

April 9th, 2003

I travelled to Guelph Junction to watch the GO trains return to their roosts there. 5 of them park there at night and on the weekends.

April 11th, 2003

I caught OSR's train in a couple of places around Guelph and then later 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.

April 26th, 2003

This was another routine trip to Guelph Junction.

May 6th, 2003

I headed down to Guelph Junction during the afternoon to get out of the house. In the evening, my girlfriend went to downtown Guelph to get some ice cream. Naturally I had to watch VIA 89 come through before going home.

May 18th, 2003

This was another of my railfanning trips of no particular consequence.

May 29th, 2003

A junction of junctions, this trip took me to both Bayview and Guelph Junctions.

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.

June 27th, 2003

This was another routine trip to the Junction.

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.

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 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.

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 22nd, 2003

I decided to spend a full work-day at Guelph Junction working on my laptop with GPRS and watching whatever came through.

September 21st, 2003

We went to Guelph Junction at the end of the afternoon and tried to set up a lan networked by packet radio from the parking lot at the Junction. It didn't work, but it was fixed so it would the next time.

September 27th, 2003

Laura was learning to drive my car, so she drove us to Guelph Junction, we watched one train go by, and then she got us home.

October 24th, 2003

Laura went to a horse back riding lesson in Moffat, so I headed South and spent an hour at Guelph Junction, leaving just before CP 9144 came through. Grumble.

January 1st, 2004

Steve, Laura, and I went trackside to see who was working on New Year's Day. For a holiday, the tracks were pretty busy and in under 2 hours we caught 3 trains.

January 11th, 2004

We were going to go to a hobby shop in Burlington... We never did make it though. We caught 432 on the siding with 2 depressed-centre flatcars, and 85, the International, meeting there. The car we were in needed to be boosted. We changed cars and headed to Guelph Junction to see if there was anything there... there was. We caught 6 trains including a CWR unit train, in the span of about 2 hours, and there were more coming when we finally called it a day. 2004-01-17

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 19th, 2004

A beautiful day and a lot of trains. What more could you ask for?

March 22nd, 2004

Armed with a brand new car battery actually capable of handling my laptop and all the other gadgets I run, I headed out for a day of trackside work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

April 28th, 2004

Laura and I headed down to Guelph Junction for the day to work from there.

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.

May 5th, 2004

Another Alaska unit scramble. ARR 4322 departed London at 16:45, which would normally mean arrival at Guelph Junction at around 18:15. It came about 21:30.

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.

May 25th, 2004

I spent a few hours working from the Junction after hearing about dimensional loads on the scanner. Apparently they only meant excess-height cars, and I only caught 4 CP trains, a hy-rail truck, and OSR.

June 3rd, 2004

Jay advised there was a UP dash 8 eastbound. UP 9153 went through but my camera didn't cooperate, so I caught a picture of it going off in the distance. Them's the breaks.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

October 27th, 2004

An ex-Rio-Grande tunnel motor was spotted heading East. Needless to say I couldn't pass that up...

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.

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.

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.

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.

December 30th, 2004

We heard of an 8-engine train coming in from the West, but missed it at the Junction and hours later left having seen only foremen and OSR working. As we left the Junction, the grade crossing lights at Campbellville road were on, so we went back to the tracks. Apparently it was nothing more than a signal test.

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.

January 8th, 2005

I left Laura and a friend at a fabric store in Guelph and headed down to Guelph Junction to catch a set of trains I'd been tracking on the scanner. I missed the first one by fractions of a second, but it was ham turn running light. The next two went by heading East, one off the Ham sub one off Galt OCS territory. After them I figured there would be no trains for a while and headed back to Guelph, hearing GEXR detector 56.2 as I entered the Hanlon. I thought I might be able to beat 432 to the overpass at Victoria and Elizabeth, but was too late to set up a shot. After that I saw OSR switching PDI and called it a day. It was worth a try, anyway.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

April 16th, 2005

Laura and I went to Guelph Junction for part of the afternoon... but the car wouldn't start to come back. So after only two trains, the second of which arrived at the same time as CAA, we got towed home. :(

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.

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.

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.

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.

May 25th, 2005

CP set out some CWR on the Galt sub around Galt/Cambridge.

June 27th, 2005

In the evening I heard CP 5431 Eastbound around Orr's lake and decided it would be a good catch, the 53xx and 54xx engines being increasingly rare. I got to the Junction and caught 5 trains, but 5431 turned out to be London pickup, which turned at Galt.

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.

July 4th, 2005

I heard that VIA #84 had 2 engines (919 and 920) and so ran off to catch it downtown, then watched #580 go onto the South industrial. Later in the day, Chris and I caught London pickup, CP #257 at the Junction, and GEXR #431 back in Guelph.

July 14th, 2005

A train climbing Campbellville hill set off some grass fires, closing the 401 for part of the day and the Galt sub for about 7 hours. In the evening, I poked down there to see what I could find. The parade got under way just as the sun was going down, but in the time we were there we caught the CP water train which had helped fight the blaze, three GO trains in very quick succession that had been held short of the hill, CP #419 with a colourful, if domestic, consist, CP #424 with an ex-Milwaukee bandit, and another train whose number I didn't catch with another CEFX yellow trailing and CWR laying equipment. Not bad for 2 hours on CP.

October 2nd, 2005

To break the monotony on a Sunday afternoon, Laura and I headed to Scotch Block to see what we could find. We got stuck in traffic approaching Mansewood just North of Milton and watched CN #394 pass with 3 BNSF units. We finally broke out of the traffic a few minutes later and attempted to pursue them to the other side of Georgetown. We got to a grade crossing at mile 20 and heard #394 calling a foreman at mile 11... We went back to Scotch Block and saw a couple of trains, then went to see if CP had anything much to offer in spite of a track block at Galt until 18:00. We caught one train on the Hamilton sub.

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.

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.

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.

October 25th, 2005

CP #419 came to Guelph Junction with a good mix of CP power - CP-SOO-CEFX. Later on, I caught CPs 137-127-525-141 at Puslinch and CPs 246-Pickup-424-248 at Killean in the space of 2.5 hours.

October 26th, 2005

I went to the Junction to see what was kicking around. There wasn't much. Three palindromes and an intermodal - CP #424, #525, #141, and #152 - went through.

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 10th, 2005

I shot an unknown Westbound and #167 at Guelph Junction.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

November 25th, 2005

With good trains everywhere, I managed to miss all of them... I caught VIA #72 and #73, and CN #330 and #435 at Paris and CP #424 and #420 at Guelph Junction.

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.

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.

January 13th, 2006

This Friday the 13th saw an unpatched SP unit on CN #148. We went to catch that and also caught CN #398, #392, #435, #422, CP #525 and #424 with 8 units. My camera decided the battery was dead as CN #435 approached, though it wasn't interesting power anyway.

January 22nd, 2006

I wanted to see CN's new GEVOs, numbered in the 2200 series and likely to be forever lost to our various coasts for DPU service. We spent the day at Hamilton West catching 3 BNSF leaders and a CP GEVO leading a CEFX SD90/43MAC on the way home, but never did catch the CN GEVO we knew was supposed to come at some point. At one point during the morning, it had been so long since we had heard or seen any trains that we decided it was time to move West to Paris. As soon as we were committed to highway 403, 394 with its BNSF leader showed up on the scanner and we had to go all the way up to the top of the hill, turn around, and come back down, only managing to catch it at Burlington West.

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!

April 9th, 2006

We went out around 11 to see what trains we could find. In 5 hours we caught 6, shooting 4 of them. CN #393 and #435 were first up at mile 30, CP #246 and #167 came next at Guelph Junction, then CP #722 snuck by us and on our way home we watched GEXR #431 go by in the distance.

April 14th, 2006

We went down to the Galt sub to shoot CP #243, then headed over to the Junction for #425 and #162 on the Hamilton sub. The sun came out just as #162 arrived, backlighting the train.

April 16th, 2006

I heard CN #411 with a BNSF leader leaving Mac yard and went off to mile 30 for it, catching CN #332 and #411 there, and CP #242 and #243 on the way home at the Junction.

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.

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.

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.

July 4th, 2006

With detours going every which way since Friday, my car decided that it preferred to spend the weekend in the shop. Just my luck, both my scanners were stolen out of my locked car some time over the weekend, complete with the antenna and power cable. It really shakes my faith in humanity. Steve came and got me in the evening, and we went to get a detour train CN #F329 at Aldershot, then got an unknown, but probably detour train heading down the Hamilton sub at Guelph Junction.

September 24th, 2006

In a day of foreign power heaven, we only got out in the evening for CP #159 and #424, the latter sporting 7 engines, in the rain.

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.

November 3rd, 2006

I took Laura to the airport for a dawn flight and stopped for 3 hours and 10 trains at Guelph Junction on the way home: 4 GO, and CPs #158, #147, #257, #256, #524, and #142. Laura took the video camera on her trip.

November 18th, 2006

We went to Guelph station for GEXR #432, then down to Guelph Junction for CP #255, missing it, but catching CPs #424 and #198 in short order.

November 23rd, 2006

The Royal Canadian Pacific, CPR's business train, came to the Galt sub. In spite of nearly blinding fog, an army of railfans went to Guelph Junction for it. My whole day can be summarised as: Guelph Junction: CP #142, RCP, Milton/Trafalgar Road: RCP, CP #243, Scotch Block/mp30: CN #385, #148, #394, #271, Guelph Junction, Moffat, Corwhin, Arkell: OSR northbound chase, Guelph: OSR/GEXR #432, Cambridge/Galt: CP #159, #741, #141, with CP London Pickup working in the background, and CP #257, one unit light power, hiding just out of sight. Not a bad day!

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!

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.

February 10th, 2007

We went down to the Galt sub for CP #159 and #138, went home for lunch, and returned to Guelph Junction for #242, #243, #240 which set off a hot car for OSR, #198, moved over to the crossing at 46.76 at west switch Puslinch for CPs #424 and #525 before heading over to Paris Junction for CN #271 with SD70M-2 class unit CN 8000 leading, stopping to push a Honda Civic out of a snowbank near Wolverton on the way. We had just missed CP London Pickup meeting #525 at Wolverton.

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.

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.

April 6th, 2007

D&H 7304 was trailing on CP #254-06 having finished its front couplers in repairs in Winnipeg. A few of us went to Guelph Junction for it. CP #424 slipped by behind while #254 was going through the Junction with 8818 and 4 AC4400CWs. Right after they both cleared the signal went back up at Guelph Junction east for CP #242 and we waited nearly an hour for it to turn up, not knowing what was on it and in spite of the miserable weather. It turned up with KCS 653 and 625 in consist 15 cars behind the power! Well worth the wait.

April 21st, 2007

In the afternoon we headed down to Guelph Junction for CP #424 with a freshly painted CP GP9u, CP #525 ham turn with 3 units, and CP #127 with a rent-a-wreck trailing a GEVO, then returned to Guelph for GEXR #431.

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.

May 12th, 2007

We went to Guelph Junction for CP #255, down to Bayview for CN #422, CP #254, VIA #73, CN #331, CP #426, VIA #72, leapfrogged CN #271 between Hamilton West and Bayview, and continued with CN #396, #148, #333, #393, #435, back to Guelph Junction for CP #427, and Puslinch for CP #722 with 20 ballast cars, CP #198, #243, #525, and up to Guelph for GEXR #431.

May 17th, 2007

Mike reported #241 with brand new GEVO 8849 trailing, #243 with a BNSF trailing, and Jay reported CP #242 with another BNSF trailing. With #254 sitting at the ski hill waiting for #427 I figured I might as well get down to Guelph Junction for the parade. I very narrowly missed 241, but got the other four in short order.

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.

June 8th, 2007

I went to Guelph Junction for CP #427 with CP 8858-8859, the last two GEVOs in the most recent order and in a blank paint scheme. On the way I shot CP #159 off Gore Rd, CP #424 at 46.76 near west switch Puslinch, and OSR, CP Guelph Junction Turn, CP Ham Turn, CP #424, CP #427, and CP #154 at Guelph Junction, then saw CP #141 near east switch Puslinch on the way home.

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.

July 17th, 2007

CN leader on CP 147. Say no more.

September 15th, 2007

We went up to Radio World at 400/Steeles to pick up an antenna to replace the one we lost on our trip. We met up with a friend there and all headed down to Bartlett St. in Toronto on the CP North Toronto sub before heading to Guelph Junction on our way home.

December 1st, 2007

After a lazy morning and lunch we headed down to Guelph Junction to see what we could see, getting CP #159, #138, #255, #427, #249/525 combined, #424, and #254.

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.

March 15th, 2008

After having not seen a train in nearly a month -- see my blog for what's been keeping me entertained in the interim -- I finally got a day out at the tracks. We went to Guelph Junction for CP #245 and CP #247, headed down to Aldershot for CN #421, a GO train, and VIA #72, up to Burlington West for a train whose identity I never did solve, #435, a bunch of GO trains - two of them with the new MP40s leading, VIA #92, CN #556 working at Burlington West, CN #421 impersonating NS #328, and CP #426 just north of the 71.2 detector on the Hamilton sub on the way home.

June 22nd, 2008

I went to Guelph Junction for a few hours in the afternoon, catching 6 eastbounds in mediocre weather.

June 30th, 2008

Using information from the fine folks at the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, we returned to Sodus first thing in the morning and asked at Ontario Midland's office what the itinerary was for the day. We found the northbound OMID outside Newark as it departed the interchange at about 10:30 and then took off to Avon to find the Livonia, Avon, and Lakeville where we expected to find them switching. They had already taken off and so we headed back to Henrietta to find them and some lunch at MacGregor's, whose parking lot backs on to the LAL-CSX connecting track. After CSX Q377 and Q393 passed, the LAL came back southbound, and we headed back to Avon to get them returning to town, the tracks being too fast to chase. From there we headed home, catching CP #426 and #155 near Guelph Junction and GEXR #432 at Wellington Rd 29 back in Guelph. A perfect end to a perfect trip.

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.

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.

May 11th, 2009

Returning home from New Hampshire we stopped for the night in Henrietta, NY. In the morning we chased the LAL from the RGVRRM museum back into Henrietta, then went back to the museum to pick up my sunglasses which I realised in Henrietta I had left on the trunk.... they were present, on the road, and had miraculously not been run over. From there we went over to R&S' tracks, found them shiny but with no indication as to where or how far away a train was, and pushed on to Brockport on the Falls Road, which we followed fruitlessly back to Lockport where we found a CSX local leaving. From there we went to Depew, missed 3 as we approached, and caught 377 and 63. Back in Canada a few minutes later we caught CP 254 at Guelph Junction and watched VIA 87 while our pizza was baked at a nearby pizzeria.

October 8th, 2009

With a few hours to kill on a rare beautiful but cool day, I went to mile 30 and Guelph Junction to meet Mischa and see what would come. CN #392 was first up with a BCOL C40-8M, then saw CP #525, #426, #242, and #421.

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.

June 3rd, 2010

I stopped at Guelph Junction for a few minutes, missing 243 and catching 421 with 3 SD40-2s.