1193 results for 2004-12; refer to date index:

December 3rd, 2004

CWR train in Guelph heading to Kitchener, meeting 580 at Mosborough. Yesterday, 518 - the CWR train, and previous to that a GM extra that we all missed - met 432 at Rockcut siding. Like Mosborough, it is very much unused. To make matters more interesting, the CWR train, led by the 2 2210s, set off an original-paint and reporting marks D&RGW hopper at CN Guelph Junction. The CWR train is fully loaded, and CWR only stretches from Silver (Georgetown) to Guelph.

December 5th, 2004

GEXR laid CWR on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday they worked for more than 14 hours straight in intense rain, but Sunday was a beautiful day and they were able to wrap up their work within only about 6 more hours. By the time I found them they only had 2 pairs of strands left to lay, and only one of them was near enough to a public road for me to see.

In the evening, CP's 2004 US-bound holiday train (there is a second holiday train which heads North and ends up in British Columbia) stopped in at the Galt station. Though I heard its clearance from Guelph Junction to Orr's Lake on the scanner, we didn't leave till later on and only caught it moments before it left.

December 19th, 2004

Travelling from Ste-Agathe, QC (the site of the Ste-Agathe sub, abandonned in the late 1980s) where I grew up to the US, we stopped at Ste-Thérèse yard, near a recently abandonned and torn down GM car factory and the site of a CP-QGRY interchange, then on to Beaconsfield and across the border to the origin of Amtrak's Vermonter at St. Albans.

December 20th, 2004

We woke up at 6am in St. Albans hoping to catch the 6:35am Vermonter outbound. We missed it by a hair, and after learning from NECR's friendly AGM that there would be no more trains scheduled until about 13:00, we headed South to Burlington, eventually working our way down the VRS line to Rutland. We then headed to White River Junction to spend the night, finding NECR 324 switching in town shortly after we arrived. They continued switching until well after we went to sleep.

December 21st, 2004

We got up in White River Junction and headed for the tracks just in time to see the Southbound Vermonter. After that we toured the museum next to the station and proceeded along the tracks to Bellows Falls before concluding our travelling in Brattleboro.

December 22nd, 2004

We went looking at Deerfield yards, and while we did find them, I blew all my pictures of them. :( So it goes. In the afternoon I found a Guilford train heading to the NECR from the yard in Deerfield and chased it at its whopping 5 miles an hour from Bernardston to Northfield before running out of light.

December 24th, 2004

Having a few minutes to get away a couple of points during the day, I checked the Brattleboro yard, finding it again having shifted its cars around. Brattleboro seems to host a lot of what appear to be coal cars, though I can't figure their purpose there. The yard seems to be switched only at night, which makes finding trains there tough. I also tried to get better shots of the Deerfield Guilford yard. While my shots were better, I really should try again another day (not this trip, unfortunately) to see if I can do it right.

December 29th, 2004

On the final leg of our trip from home to Quebec to Vermont and back, we saw a CN train with 3 CN units and 2 CSX units heading East on the Kingston sub just West of Montreal. Frustrated, we went to the tracks at Coteau Junction. There we caught wheel service work, and a CN freight with a BC Rail dash 9 in second place, pretty well making up for missing the CSX engines.

December 30th, 2004

We heard of an 8-engine train coming in from the West, but missed it at the Junction and hours later left having seen only foremen and OSR working. As we left the Junction, the grade crossing lights at Campbellville road were on, so we went back to the tracks. Apparently it was nothing more than a signal test.

December 31st, 2004

GEXR discussed the presence of a D-6 dimensional on #580 leaving Kitchener and that was all the motivation I needed to head out into the haze and see.