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.
No comments:
Post a Comment