It was the day after the excellent St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal and time to head back to Ontario. We said our goodbye's to Ken, Sam picked up some smoked meat, and we were off. Once again we stopped at Coteau on the way by. This time the Ottawa Central was there with three RS-18's but my timing was off and we couldn't photograph them in the yard. However, as before, a Canadian National eastbound was on the way.
I was in Montreal for the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Sam and I were looking for something to do for the morning. I thought it would be nice to head down to Farnham and see what the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic was up to. Sam was game for an adventure so we set off. When I got to Farnham a northbound was just getting a clearance. I headed to Cowansville to intercept it.
We then paced it back to Farnham.
After having lunch at a local eatery we dropped by the yard again to see if anything else had shown up. As luck would have it a painted B39-8 was now present.
We were to meet up with Ken in Montreal for the afternoon so we returned north.
Today Sam and I were driving to Montreal for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. We decided to take our time and make a few stops along the way. We were headed for her parents' place near Brighton so I took the opportunity to stop along the parallel Canadian National Kingston Subdivision and the Canadian Pacific Belleville Subdivision to see what might show up. As luck would have it we just missed a couple trains, but we wound up with one straggler.
After lunch with Sam's parents we continued our trek. I wanted to stop by Coteau to see what might be there. The Ottawa Central was not to be seen, but a Canadian National train was just pulling in.
It was getting pretty dark when we left to meet Ken in Verdun. I was happy to see a couple trains along the way.
The morning was quite sunny so I attempted to photograph something in it. As luck would have it, Canadian Pacific was rather busy. Three trains were all in Welland. I decided that the two southbounds were the attractive options. I'd forego train 135 north.
Since I was near Canadian National's Southern Yard I drove by to see if there was anything of interest there. Luck was with me. A tiny bit of sun was left for me to photograph a pair of UK JT42CWRM's.
Just as I finished the last shot I ran out of sunshine. Good timing, eh? Then I returned home feeling pretty satisfied. I had the scanner on at home and eventually heard train 255 north get a clearance out of Welland. It was getting dark but I figured I could get a couple shots in.
The train was creeping because they only had a clearance up to mile 27 (this is mile 26). I drove ahead to shoot it again. I don't get to see SD40-2 consists much any more so I figured it was worthwhile.
This afternoon I had been updating my site with some more of Randy's photos when I heard Canadian Pacific train 255 reporting the siding switches in Welland to the dispatcher. I decided to go photograph the train.
Today I was working around the house and moving the last of my belongings from St. Catharines. While there I heard but didn't get to see the Herzog tie train on the Grimsby subdivision. However, when I got back to Fenwick with a desk and some other miscellanea I heard that Canadian Pacific train 254 was nearing town and that 255 would be following shortly thereafter. I took the time out to photograph the pair of them.
That's one of the reasons I bought my house. After that I was back home setting up my office and waiting for my parents to arrive.
It was a nice bright morning so I took advantage of it to photograph the snow. I hadn't photographed Canadian National since the conductors went on strike which led me to Fort Erie to see some goings-on. As I was nearing town I heard that the crew of train 338 would be parking at Duff to take train 339.
I was just leaving Fort Erie when I heard the NI dispatcher tell train 339 that Canadian Pacific train 257 would be arriving shortly. I headed to Stevensville to photograph it there.
Train 257 lost its air and went into emergency in front of me. The coulds were starting to roll in so I packed it in and headed home. Canadian Pacific train 256 was working Welland Yard on my way back to Fenwick, but I didn't stop for it. After working the yard, train 257 resumed its trip north. I was heading out and heard it coming so I photographed it coming around the bend in Fenwick.
The GP9 was to be set off at Kinnear. After the train cleared I went hunting for lumber.
Today I went home for lunch after having picked up an order from Sears. While at home I heard from the scanner that train 256 was approaching Fenwick so I zipped over to the Church St. crossing to photograph it.
After photographing the train I headed into town for some supplies.
After a while the cable guys showed up and wired me up which allowed me to write this entry from my new home.
