Trackside Log for Monday, March 28, 2011

This afternoon I had a little time to bide before an appointment in Hamilton. I drove down to Aldershot yard in time to see a westbound departing. I drove over to Plains Road for a photograph.

• 1403 Burlington - CN 435 west - CN 2568-CN 5628
  

Next I drove over to the Southern Ontario Railway's yard in Hamilton to see what was going on there. I first headed over to the shops.

• 1433 Hamilton - SOR power - RLK 1757-SOR 1359
  
• 1433 Hamilton - SOR power - SOR 5005

And then to Bay Street where maintenance crews were working on CEFX 2014.

• 1439 Hamilton - SOR power - RLK 1755-RLK 1808
  
• 1439 Hamilton - SOR power - CEFX 2014
  

After the photographs I left for my appointment.

Trackside Log for Sunday, March 27, 2011

Once again this morning I awoke to the sound of air horns approaching town. Today it was Canadian Pacific train 255 north. I didn't really have any way of getting out to photograph it so I watched it roll by behind my house.

• 0729 Fenwick - CP 255 north - SOO 6050-HLCX 7003-CEFX 3163-CP 5958

CEFX 6009 was conspicuously missing from the consist which was on train 254 south two days earlier. Nonetheless, Missy and I got our day started. It was a spectacular sunny day so I thought a road trip would be appropriate. I gathered the gear and set out. I didn't really have a plan but found myself driving northwest. My first stop of note was the VIA station in Kitchener. There I found the pair of LLPX GP38s the Goderich-Exeter Railway has had for a long time.

• 1006 Kitchener - GEXR power - LLPX 2210-LLPX 2236
  

At this point I finally figured out where I wanted to go for the day. It had been a very long time since I'd followed the Goderich-Exeter so I struck off for Stratford. I pulled up to the station to discover another pair of parked locomotives.

• 1051 Stratford - GEXR power - GEXR 3821-RLK 2211
  

The next destination was the shore of Lake Huron and the town of Goderich. I pulled up to the former Canadian National station and found four locomotives in the dead line. However, the sun wasn't at a very photogenic angle so Missy and I opted to take lunch down to the former Canadian Pacific roundhouse area. I ate lunch while watching the Algoma Central Marine ship Capt. Henry Jackman load salt. When lunch was eaten we returned to the dead line to better lighting.

• 1242 Goderich - GEXR power - GEXR 3834-RLK 1400-RLK 1401
  
• 1244 Goderich - GEXR power - GEXR 4046
  

After some photographs I thought to myself, "The Canadian National Strathroy Subdivision isn't that far away." So I turned south and followed the eastern shore of Lake Huron to Wyoming. My timing was fairly good. As I was approaching town I heard the CN DI dispatcher inform train 393 that it would meet train 330 at Wanstead. I arrived in Wyoming with plenty of time for 393.

• 1414 Wyoming - CN 393 west - CN 2624-CN 2632-CN 2647-CN 9542
  

As it turned out, I narrowly missed seeing train 385 as well. Oh well. You can't have everything. Missy and I were still up for some exploration so we followed the Strathroy Subdivision a little farther east to Wanstead. I was hoping to photograph something passing by the grain elevators there so I parked and waited. Before long a VIA train screamed into town.

• 1449 Wanstead - VIA 85 west - VIA 6431
  

Now I began to wend my way back toward home. While driving along the Strathroy Subdivision I spotted another Canadian National westbound but I didn't have much hope of catching up to it before Sarnia. That was too far and it was a boring looking train so I continued eastward. At Hyde Park I stopped to photograph the old wooden bridge over the Canadian National tracks.

• 1550 Hyde Park - Franks Lane bridge
  

I would have liked to have photographed a train passing under the bridge, but after a short wait and nothing pending I continued east. I meandered my way through London and before long found myself on Highway 19 driving toward Tillsonburg. But I first stopped in Salford at the Ontario Southland Railway shops.

• 1704 Salford - OSRX 175-OSRX 501
  
• 1704 Salford - OSRX 182-OSRX 500
• 1704 Salford - OSRX 644

I drove through Tillsonburg and over to the St. Thomas and Eastern's yard. As usual their power was parked near Vienna Road.

• 1728 Tillsonburg - STER power - TRRY 1842
• 1728 Tillsonburg - STER power - STER 3582

My final railway oriented stop was the Southern Ontario Railway. I drove past both Garnet and Nanticoke but to no avail. I couldn't find the train anywhere. No matter. The day was thoroughly enjoyable and Missy had great fun too.

Trackside Log for Saturday, March 26, 2011

This morning I heard horns in the distance just as I was getting up. I looked out the back window to see a trio of SD40-2s pass by. The second of them was an Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. The sun hadn't yet cleared the trees and I wasn't quite ready to leave the house so I decided to head out with Missy for a photograph after they finished working Welland Yard. I took Missy over to the yard to watch them lift cars out of the CaSo track before driving over to Brookfield for a picture in better light.

• 0911 Brookfield - CP 254 south - CP 6043-ICE 6427-CP 5927
  

While waiting for train 254 I heard them issue a track release to a train 626 that was approaching. The Hamilton Subdivision dispatcher ordered train 254 to come to a stop because of a problem with clearance at the border which meant that I would easily be able to move to a new location for the ethanol train. I opted to photograph it exiting the tunnel under the Welland Canal.

• 0939 Welland - CP 626 south - CP 6046-CSXT 307-CSXT 7395-CSXT 7796
  

Astonishing. Canadian Pacific ran an ethanol train on the Hamilton Subdivision in daylight, on the weekend, and in sunshine! After a few photographs from atop the Highway 140 bridge Missy and I headed back home.

Trackside Log for Friday, March 25, 2011

I was working from home today and turned the scanner on after Missy and I returned from our walk. It wasn't long before I heard Canadian Pacific train 247 working Welland Yard. After it finished and obtained its clearance from Welland to Kinnear I drove out to Chantler Road for a photograph.

• 0956 Fenwick - CP 247 north - SOO 6045-HLCX 7231-HLCX 7230
  

My, what a colourful locomotive consist. It takes me back to the Canadian Pacific of the 1990s. Train 254 later on that evening reaffirmed my 1990s déjà vu. I heard the crew call out mile board Smithville with an SD40-2 leading. I figured there was a good chance for something interesting behind it so I headed out to River Road for photographs.

• 1744 Fenwick - CP 254 south - CP 5958-CEFX 3163-HLCX 7003-SOO 6050-CEFX 6009
  

The train proved to be an assortment of GM motive power indeed. It was rather surprising to see the expatriate CEFX 6009 bringing up the rear. As the former SOO 6009 it was back visiting what were once home rails.

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 24, 2011

As is often the case in southern Ontario, today was a beautiful sunny day after the snow storm the day before. Since it was looking quite nice out I took my camera along to work this morning and passed by Garnet to see if the Southern Ontario Railway was parked there. It was.

• 0933 Garnet - SOR 596 south - NECR 3840-RLK 4057-RMPX 9431-RLK 4095
  

I'm still rather surprised at how frequently the power on the train gets shuffled around. The CEFX GP20D is gone, in its place is RLK 4095 and the New England Central GP38 is up front.

Trackside Log for Monday, March 21, 2011

The previous day was the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade. Unfortunately I was only able to see about a half hour of it. I spent the rest of the day in bed at the Comfort Inn not feeling well. However, I awoke this morning feeling much better although not completely well. Nevertheless it was time to drive back to Ontario. Once again Sam and I would make our route through New York.

The morning started by snowing and would remain that way until we crossed the border into New York. We only made one stop in Quebec at Huntingdon to see if there was anything parked there. CSX provided nothing of interest so we kept driving. Our route followed the former New York Central St. Lawrence Division south. Activity on this track, now operated by CSX, is quite limited so I didn't really expect to much. Sam had a few packages she wanted to post so we located the post office in Gouverneur. While she conducted her business I made a quick run over to the tracks to check them out. I was stopped at the Beckwith Street crossing behind a school bus when I heard horns approaching from the south. Unbelievable.

• 1429 Gouverneur, NY - CSX Q621 north (CN 327) - CSXT 554-CSXT 7633
  

It was getting rather dark under the overcast skies. The only other stop we made was in Syracuse to visit a friend of Sam's. Otherwise we drove directly back home.

The weekend was marred by my illness but the weather for the parade was perfect and by all accounts it went perfectly. Although I wasn't as healthy as I would have liked for the drive to and from Montreal at least I was able to photograph some interesting trains.

Trackside Log for Saturday, March 19, 2011

Today Sam and I were headed to Montreal for the 187th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. Sam met me at home in the morning and we began our trip through New York. After the fastest border crossing into the United States I've had in years (only two questions) we were off to our first stop, the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville in Lakeville, New York. This day provided the same trio of former Green Bay Western Alcos that I've photographed before and a pair of work cars.

• 1146 Lakeville, NY - LAL power - LAL 320-LAL 321-LAL 319
  
• 1148 Lakeville, NY - LAL maintenance of way equipment - LAL 4410-LAL 4400
  

After the photographs were taken we resumed our meandering journey to Montreal. The next stop was the Bath and Hammondsport shops in Cohocton. However, before we got there I noticed a Rochester & Southern train stopped at Mount Morris. We exited Interstate 390 to have a look. A sextet of Buffalo & Pittsburgh locomotives were just setting off a train when I arrived.

• 1210 Mount Morris, NY - RSR northbound - BPRR 31xx-BPRR 3106-RSR 879-BPRR 3101-BPRR 3107-GNWR 50
  

Unfortunately the locomotive consist headed north before I could get any further pictures. They stopped behind the American Rock Salt facility where I was unable to view them. Since we didn't have the time required to wait we moved on toward Cohocton. Once again, our trip was interrupted when I espied a pair of CSX AC6000CWs parked at the Foster Wheeler factory in Dansville. Once again we pulled off the interstate for a look. The two engines were parked on the Rochester & Southern behind the plant among the wind turbine parts being manufactured there. Since they were protected behind a fence I got out the 70-300 lens and photographed them from the road.

• 1246 Dansville, NY - RSR power - CSXT 676-CSXT 612
  

After the second detour we arrived at our original waypoint, Cohocton and the Bath and Hammondsport. The number of six motor Alcos parked there has dwindled to two so I photographed them once again.

• 1315 Cohocton, NY - SIXX 77-NYSW 3660
  
• 1315 Cohocton, NY - BH 4
  

Now we decided to start heading back in the general direction of Montreal. The next stop along the way was Geneva where the Finger Lakes Railway is headquartered. As we drove along US 20 on the south side of their yard I could see a GE still in ATSF paint.

• 1447 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 2310
  

Next we drove around to the north side where the shops are. Behind the shops we discovered two engines.

• 1456 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 1751
  
• 1459 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 2303
  

The 2303 was raised on jacks with its trucks removed. Sam was impressed with that. Around front of the shops were several more locomotives.

• 1505 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 2201
• 1505 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 2301
• 1505 Geneva, NY - FGLK power - FGLK 2309-FGLK 2306

Now we resumed our journey to Montreal. I decided to make our route via Utica so I could check out the Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern. As we were heading along Interstate 90 the skies cleared. By the time we got to Utica it was bright and sunny. We made our way down the the Amtrak station where the Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern shop is. Parked there were two engines.

• 1713 Utica, NY - MHWA power - MHWA 2042
  
• 1714 Utica, NY - Adirondack Scenic power - ADIX 4243
  

Adjacent to the Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern is the former New York Central Tower 30.

• 1716 Utica, NY - New York Central Tower 30
  

In front of the Amtrak station was another pair of locomotives sandwiched between passenger cars for the Adirondack Scenic Railroad.

• 1721 Utica, NY - Adirondack Scenic power - ADIX 6076-ADIX 1502
  

As I was photographing the F-unit a CSX eastbound ethanol train rolled through town.

• 1722 Utica, NY - CSX eastbound - UP 5792-CSXT 166

At that point time was getting on so we continued travelling to Montreal. The day had been productive from a photographic point of view but we didn't arrive at the Comfort Inn in Montreal until approximately midnight.

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day. It was a nice bright morning so I opted to take my camera along to work. I passed by the Southern Ontario Railway's yard in Garnet to see if the southbound was parked there as usual. It was. The first thing I noticed was that the lead locomotive, RMPX 9431 was coupled long hood forward. I'm guessing that it wasn't actually part of the consist for the southbound freight but was in fact used to switch Nanticoke. When finished it was returned to Garnet facing north and coupled to the southbound's consist.

• 0928 Garnet - SOR 596 south - RMPX 9431-RLK 4057-CEFX 2014-NECR 3840
  

It is remarkable how frequently these four locomotives are shuffled and rotated. After a few photographs I got to work for the day.

Trackside Log for Thursday, March 3, 2011

It was a nice sunny morning again so I grabbed my camera as I headed out the door for work. I made the slight side trip past the Southern Ontario Railway's yard in Garnet to see if the southbound freight was parked there as it normally is in the morning. Sure enough it was.

• 0925 Garnet - SOR 596 south - RMPX 9431-RLK 4057-NECR 3840-CEFX 2014
  

Talk about a motley collection of motive power. The ugliest one of the lot was up front too. Oh well.