Trackside Log for Saturday, November 29, 2008

I woke up this morning and determined that it would be a great day to visit Fort Erie, even if it was rather cloudy. I got my gear together and headed out. I first ran across Canadian Pacific Job 1 at Brookfield just returning from Canadian National's Southern Yard.

• 0932 Brookfield - CP job 1 - CP 3032-CP 3097

Then a little farther east I ran across Canadian National train 338 west.

• 1004 Stevensville - CN 338 west - CN 2608-CN 2647-CN 2435-CN 2501-CN 2658

While waiting for 339 in Fort Erie I heard the hot box detector in Stevensville go off. Two alarms were recorded so it was going to be a while before the train got to me. According to the conductor the wheels on one car were blue. Not good. The car was part of the set-off for NS 369 so it became their problem.

• 1209 Fort Erie - CN 339 east - CN 2650-CN 5791-CN 2691

After an hour of futzing around with their train, 339 was finally ready to go. By now, however, the sun was starting to come out. Beauty!

• 1310 Fort Erie - CN 339 east - CN 2650-CN 5791-CN 2691
• 1340 Fort Erie - CP 246 east - CP 9604-CP 95xx
• 1356 Fort Erie - NS 369 west - NS 9796-NS 9868

After Norfolk Southern train 369 cleared the International Bridge I called it quits for the day. There wasn't likely to be any further traffic anyway. I headed out to the west end of the yard and photographed 369 again...

• 1406 Duff - NS 369 west - NS 9796-NS 9868

...and continued on home.

Trackside Log for Saturday, November 22, 2008

Today I figured I would make the drive to Copetown and the Canadian National Dundas Subdivision to see what traffic might show up for the afternoon. Based on the time of my arrival I expected the pair of lunchtime Via trains to be first but I was wrong. An eastbound freight snuck in before them.

• 1300 Copetown - CN eastbound - CN 5349-IC 6001
• 1305 Copetown - VIA 73 west - VIA 6453
• 1325 Copetown - VIA 72 east - VIA 6431
• 1400 Copetown - CN 385 west - CN 5627-CN 2564
• 1425 Copetown - CN 393 west - CN 5644-IC 1039-IC 6071

After 393 passed I heard on the scanner that train 435 would be working Aldershot shortly. I drove down to take a look at it and managed to find a couple other trains first. I also noticed that the longtime Aldershot landmark, Aldershot Cold Storage, was in the process of being demolished. It was kind of sad to see so I made sure that I photographed train 422 passing by one last time.

• 1454 Aldershot - CN 547 west - CN 7018-CN 4129
• 1619 Aldershot - CN 422 east - CN 5377-CN 5363-CN 4130
• 1551 Aldershot - CN 435 west - CN 8021-CN 2409-CN 253-CN 7260 (photo)

The light was diminishing quickly so I called it a day.

Trackside Log for Saturday, November 1, 2008

Once again I had the scanner turned on while at home and waited for any activity on the Canadian Pacific Hamilton Subdivision. It turned out to be a very good day. Both trains in the morning were powered by SD40-2s. That is a rare event these days.

• 0957 Fenwick - CP 427 north - CP 5919-CP 6044
• 1150 Fenwick - CP 246 south - CP 6046-CP 6060

The weather was pretty cloudy, but I was able to photograph the two trains anyway.