February 3rd, 2005
8 trains in 2.5 hours at the tracks: CN 382, 271, 396, 154, 148, ?, 421, and 391, including 4 foreign units from 3 different lines and a scale test car.. not bad for an unplanned trip.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
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CN #382 climbs the hill with a UP SD40-2 in second place.
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CN #271 autorack/autoparts train heads down the hill on its westbound trek.
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CN #396 goes up the hill slow enough to walk beside.
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CN #154 heading for the Grimsby sub glides by down the hill, its number counter-intuitive to its direction.
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CN #148's 17,500 horsepower make short work of climbing the hill, climbing it faster than most of the trains that go down it.
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An eastbound train whistles at me as he passes.
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CN #421 whistles as it passes with an SLR (St Lawrence and Atlantic) engine in third place.
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CN #391 passes with two UP units behind the leader.
February 4th, 2005
On the 3rd, GEXR ran #432 to Mac yard. #431 came back in the late afternoon. Then, after #88, #432 went to Mac yard again. Today, GEXR #432 returned from Mac yard following Via #85 in from Silver around lunch time, and in the late afternoon, I heard #432 announcing its departure from Kitchener. It crossed the detector at 56.2... then 30 minutes later crossed at 56.2 again. Hours went by, and Via #88 called Kitchener mileboard. GEXR #432 came back on the air and told #88 they'd be following them to Silver after spending the day in the shop track. So Chris, Laura, and I met Steve at the Guelph Via station to watch the two trains. While #88 was going by, Chris' camera batteries died and he didn't have any spares, and as #432 approached, my camera set up for the video went into a fatal error mode and refused to cooperate until the moment the train was out of sight, when it came back on and pretended nothing happened. My camera set up for still shooting, on the other hand, was able to be switched to video just on time to catch the first frame with #432's leader right in front of me. Oh, the complications in such a simple task. These few shots are dedicated to the crew of tonight's #88.
Guelph, Ontario
(map) The city of Guelph is my home town and is just East of Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph sub, and the Ontario Southland Railway/Guelph Junction Railway track, the other end of which is at Guelph Junction.
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VIA #88 pulls into the station for its station stop and departs shortly followed by 5 GEXR units running light.
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.
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GEXR #433 switches at CN Guelph Junction before heading to the industrial tracks.
Guelph Junction, Ontario
(map) Technically Campbellville, Guelph Junction is the junction of the Guelph Junction Railway -- currently serviced by OSR -- the CP Hamilton sub, and the CP Galt sub. It is between Milton and Galt on the CP Galt sub.
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CP #138 with 4 SD40-2s, 2 SD40-2Fs, an SD60, and an AC4400CW heads through the Junction eastbound.
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A manifest freight heads eastbound through the Junction.
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CP #159 One-unit-wonder high priority intermodal heads through the Junction westbound at a crawl.
February 13th, 2005
Feeling cabin fever, Chris and I joined Steve at Scotch Block, where we saw the tail end of #391 disappearing as we arrived, and CN #398 and #434 over the next several hours. CP was just as quiet...
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
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CN #398 heads for Mac yard.
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CN #434 goes by with 3 engines and a short train pretending there isn't really a hill.
February 20th, 2005
GEXR #433, normally a Kitchener-London train, switched Guelph again briefly late Sunday afternoon.
Guelph, Ontario
(map) The city of Guelph is my home town and is just East of Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph sub, and the Ontario Southland Railway/Guelph Junction Railway track, the other end of which is at Guelph Junction.
February 23rd, 2005
CN trains 148, 145, and 398 had little of interest aside from an empty 12-axle QTTX depressed centre flat on the latter, and CP trains 153 and 424 provided the usual mix of intermodal and freight for that line.
Scotch Block, Ontario
(map) Scotch Block is an excellent photography location at mp 30.0 CN Halton sub, between Milton and Georgetown.
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CN #148 heads East with standard power.
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CN #145 heads West with a single draper leading.
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CN #398 shows why I should check to make sure my camera is level with its leading autoracks.
Puslinch, Ontario
(map) This community straddles highway 401 from West of Guelph Junction to Killean on the CP Galt sub.
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CP #424 with SOO 6003 and SOO 6002 cross Victoria Road, just East of Puslinch siding.
