2015 Spring Sale!

Spring has spring - I`m doing some spring-cleaning of my collection, offering Trackside Treasure`s loyal readers some unique items. First email received indicating interest to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca - the item is yours! Please order by Item #'s in your email. Items will be shipped well-protected via Canada Post, upon receipt of payment. Shipping costs will be actual postage. Payment by cheque, money order, or well-concealed cash. Thanks for browsing my items, and I hope you`ll find something to add to your collection!

ITEMS SOLD SO FAR: 1, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23.

ITEM 1- TRAINS Magazine August 1969 issue Royal Hudson on cover - Hudson Royalty article by JA Brown and Omer Lavallee $3.

ITEM 2-TRAINS Off the Beaten Track Magazine Railway Annual No.4, 1955 $5.

ITEM 3-TRAINS Magazine Railway Annual No.3, 1954 $5.

ITEM 4-TRAINS&TRAVEL Magazine Railroad and Photo Annual, 1953 $5.

ITEM 5-Illustrated Treasury of the American Locomotive Company, DPA-LTA 1980, 225 pages. 700 builder`s photos, INCLUDES 50 MLW, hardcover $25.

ITEM 6-Illustrated Treasury of Baldwin Locomotives - Steam, Electric, Diesel-Electric, DPA-LTA 1983, 225 pages. 700 builder`s photos 1830-1950, softcover $25.

ITEM 7-Railways of Southern Quebec Volume 2 by Derek J Booth, Railfare 1985, 168 pages. Lavish B&W illustrations, hardcover with dustjacket $20.

ITEM 8-Modern Travel in Canada, CRHA 1972, 32 pages. Reprint of CN locomotives, trains and system $5.

ITEM 9-William van Horne, FitzHenry&Whiteside 1976, 62 pages. B&W illustrations $5.

ITEM 10-Pictorial Booklet Series No 1-6, Newfoundland Coastal Museum, six 16-page books. B&W illustrations. Ships, trains of Newfoundland in elastic-bound folio, $12.

ITEM 11-CNRHA CN Lines Vol 15 No 1, 2009 $4.

ITEM 12-Trains of Northern New England by Krause & Bailey, Quadrant Press 1977. 95 pages. B&W illustrations of Rutland, MEC, B&M and CV steam trains, softcover $12.

ITEM 13-Railway Association of Canada (RAC) Canadian Railway Atlas 3rd Edition, $7.

ITEM 14-CPR Steam Locomotives Diagrams & Data ed. Omer Lavallee, Railfare 1985. 72 pages, B&W plans, photos, data with colour cover, softcover $12.

ITEM 15-Steam in Canada by Donald C Lewis, LPD 1984. 144 pages, B&W plans, photos, data with colour cover, softcover $15.

ITEM 16-Canadian National Steam Power by Clegg & Corley, Railfare 1969. 128 pages, hardcover good, $20.

ITEM 17-Kingston Division CRHA Kingston Rail, four issues from 2009-2011, $8 for all four.

ITEM 18-CP 6069 SD40-2 five 8x10 photo collection by Jack Grimes Photography of London, ON. Views of all four sides B&W, 1 colour, $20 for all five.

ITEM 19-UP 6108 and colourful export units five 8x10 photo collection by Jack Grimes Photography of London, ON. Four colour, 1 B&W, $15 for all five.

ITEM 20-Over 300 4x6 print collection - CP locomotives (54 prints), US locomotives (71), Structures&Track (30), Canadian Shortlines (38) and Preserved Equipment (110) $30 for all 300 (that`s only 10 cents per print! - sample CP locomotive prints at top of post)

Thanks for your interest in my sale! Order two or more items, receive a free VIA timetable! 

WAIT! Just in! Some late additions! Photos available on request. Prices and conditions as noted:

ITEM 21 Canadian Pacific Posters 1883-1963,Choko&Jones1995 edition, colour poster reprod softcover, 186 pgs $12.

ITEM 22 Rail Canada Volume 4, Donald C Lewis, 1983, perfect-bound First Edition w colour section, cover wear $30.

ITEM 23 CPR Dining Car Service Standard of Portions, Prices&Table Service, 1920, reprint 3x4”,158 pages, good, $10.

ITEM 24  Railway Station Reports – Cobourg, Ernestown and Kingston ON, Historic Sites & Monuments Board of Canada, original photocopies, $15 for all three,

ITEM 25Association of American RRs  Standard Code of Operating Rules, 3x4’ 1965, rev 1980, softcover good, $5.

ITEM 26 The road to Paradise – Rebirth of the Strasburg RR 1983 24 pages, B&W ill, colour cover, $3.

ITEM 27 TRAINS Magazine– Fiftieth anniversary Special edition Nov 1990, $3.

ITEM 28 Model Railroader – How to Build a Model Railroad January 2013, $2.

ITEM 29 Classic Trains – 1954-1966 The Last Streamliners Special Collectors’ Edition, 2003, $2.

Employees Timetables

Employees Timetables listings are in the following format: Item #, Railway, date, timetable #, area covered, details and price. All VG-E condition unless noted.

61. CN May 1/88 78 St Lawrence Region, bilingual, printed in red & blue inks $5

62. CN Nov 29/87 77 St Lawrence Region, bilingual, printed in red & blue inks $5

63. CN May 29/83 68 St Lawrence Region, bilingual, printed in red & blue inks, used $5

64. CN Aug 1/98 76 Champlain District, binder format, $5.

67. CN Apr 25/76 56 Great Lakes Region Southwestern Ontario Area, fair $5

68. CN Nov 1/93 50 Great Lakes Region $5

69. CN Jan 15/90 42 Great Lakes Region $5

70. CN Jun 7/87 56 Great Lakes Region $5

71. CN Oct 26/86 55 Great Lakes Region $5

72. CN Jun 3/84 49 Great Lakes Region $5

73. CN Apr 24/94 Supplement 2 to 71 St Lawrence Region $5

74. CN Jan 1/81 13 Mountain Region $5

75. CN Dec9/79 8 Mountain Region $5

76. CP Jun 1/86 40 Eastern Region Smiths Falls, Toronto, London Divisions $5

78. CP Apr 28/85 70 Prairie Region Moose Jaw & Saskatoon Divisions $5

80. British Columbia Railway Nov 20/77 4 $5

Sask Pool Leased Covered Hoppers

In 1996, Nova Scotia's Trenton Works built two lots of 5250 cubic-foot covered hoppers for grain service. Both lots had large Saskatchewan Wheat Pool logos applied, like pristine UMP 850850 on a stopped CN train No 369 at Kingston's VIA station on September 29, 1997 (above). These cars could handle 10% more than traditional covered hoppers - OK for lighter grains like oats, canola and barley, but perhaps making them over some track weight limits if loaded with wheat. It's likely the cars would be loaded on mainline high-throughput facilities. It's important to note that Sask Pool did not own these cars. Though other Canadian grain-handling companies had leased hoppers before, this was the first time such cars were emblazoned with a corporate logo. A string of new WCRC-lettered Pool covered hoppers alongside a CN cousin, in the May 2, 1996 edition of Sask Pool's Western Producer newspaper:

Sask Pool was interested in advertising the provision of cars to meet their sales targets for shipments to eastern Canada and the United States. There was not even a guarantee these cars would be loaded in Saskatchewan, especially at a Pool elevator - there was an equal  chance of Pioneer or United Grain Growers loading a Sask Pool car! The first 50-car order was delivered in grey paint, lettered for Washington Central Railroad: WCRC 3800-3849 - liberal use of such 'railway' reporting marks was made by car-leasing corporations. WCRC 3843 is on an 83-car CN grain train with locomotives 9606-5176-5189 at Belleville, ON on a snowy January 31, 1997:

No longer in existence, WCRC was a 1986 railroad start-up based on former Burlington Northern lines in eastern Washington. This series of grey covered hoppers was later lettered for the Upper Merion & Plymouth - UMP 850950-850999, then FURX - First Union Rail, then some to NOKL (Northwestern Oklahoma), later SMW - St Mary's Railroad West, with the same numbers! SMW-lettered cars retained the unique (un-covered hopper car-like?) data block lines like SMW 850645. The second, 200-car order was painted off-white, lettered as UMP 850700-850999, later NOKL, FURX, Norfolk Southern and finally SMW, all using the same number series. In imid-2023, some of the FURX cars with POOL logos are repatched in the TIMX 56xxx series. UMP 850768 is in the same train at Belleville on January 31, 1997:

A few more of my observations - on even-numbered trains the cars would be eastbound/loaded, on odd-numbered trains westbound/empty:
-UMP 850878 in a cut of grain cars on CN No 204 on July 13, 1997.
-UMP 850866 on CN No 395 on November 29, 1997, then again on No 395 on January 21, 1998.
-UMP 850788 on 93-car grain unit train CN No 896 on February 22, 1998.
-UMP 850747 and WCRC 3827 on CN No 361 on April 11, 1998.
-UMP 850747 destined Vergennes, Vermont on CN No 330 April 26, 1998
-UMP 850785 destined Moncton, NB on CN No 308 on May 2, 1998.

Using CN's public car trace system, I was able to follow a few UMP cars in March, 1998:
-UMP 850845 dest. Quebec City, QC on CN No 898 March 3, 1998, returning on CN No 899 dest. Winnipeg
-UMP 850802 and UMP 850821 dest. Limoilou, QC eastbound on CN No 898 March 9, returning on CN No 899 March 13.
-UMP 850863 released loaded from Kindersley, SK dest. Limoilou, QC then eastbound on CN No 204 March 6
-UMP 850866 bad ordered at Winnipeg, then actually placed at Leross, Saskatchewan on March 13.

Randy O'Brien kindly shared a couple of POOL car photos, taken at Fort Erie in May, 2006. FURX 850802 and NOKL 850713 were brought to the CP-NS interchange for furtherance to Buffalo, NY. Thanks, Randy!

Adam Regush photographed SMW 850870 at the former Parrish & Heimbecker mill in downtown Saskatoon in 2014. Note the evidence of more than one set of reporting marks, likely NS in line with the number, not to mention the unsightly work of the graffiti taggers, not seen in my pristine-condition photos above!

NOV 2018 UPDATE: SMW 850957 passed in front of the Belleville Railstream webcam (screen capture - below)  on November 14, 2018 on an eastbound CN grain train:

It's b-a-a-a-c-k. SMW 850957 on a long cut of grain cars in Belleville yard on May 10, 2019 with the same amount of graffiti!

AUGUST 2019 UPDATE: Same car number, 850723 but new WFRX (Wells Fargo) reporting marks on this train of westbound grain empties at Kingston on August 16:

January  2021 Update: It's WFRX 850723 again! (images courtesy RailStream, LLC)

And again! November 10, 2022 - the other side of  850723:

November 2019 Update: SMW 850780 through Kingston on the 3rd, westbound empty:

December 2019 Update: SMW 850769 has had its Pool logo painted out, westbound at Belleville on the 2nd:

April 2020 Update: FURX 850966's Pool logo has flaked off, eastbound through Kingston on April 10:

November 2020 Update: WFRX (Wells Fargo) 850708 heads west through Kingston with other grain empties. Also on this train were NDYX 850620 and WFRX 850614 (once owned by NS, not shown), similar in appearance to the grey cars' lettering block:

March 2021 update: SMW 850797 on CN No 368 at Belleville (image courtesy RailStream, LLC):

April 2021 update: WFRX 850776 on CN No 106 at Belleville (image courtesy RailStream, LLC) On New Year's Day, 2023 WFRX 850776 was once again westbound for more grain, appearing exactly the same as below:

April 2021 update II: fadey SMW 850805 westbound at Belleville (image courtesy RailStream, LLC):

August 2021 Modelling Update: Prairie Shadows has announed their intention to release the 5250 cu.ft. Trenton car in HO scale, including a UMP/Pool variation, though no pricing announced:

October 2021 Update: Some POOL cars now with AEX 262xx-series reporting marks.

November 2022 Update: FURX 850856 westbound at Belleville (image courtesy Railstream, LLC):

July 2023 update: Some POOL cars now with TIMX 560xx reporting marks and HKRX 500xxx reporting marks.

Retro Update! Same car number as above! Marc Simpson kindly shared this B. Sirman photo from his collection. It shows a clean UMP 850868 in Calgary in the mid-90's:

Thanks to Darrell Sawyer, Marc Simpson and Adam Regush for their assistance with this post.

In February 2024, Prairie Shadows released these cars in HO scale. Posted to social media by 'Lisa' Larson: 

Running extra:

Train show Report...Kingston Rail-O-Rama was held last weekend at the Ambassador Motor Hotel, within flange squeal distance of Kingston's VIA station. Touched base with a plethora of Trackside Treasure readers and Kingston-area rail enthusiasts and modellers: Malcolm working the entry desk, Paul with his portable HO Kingston Sub layout, Ron with his precision RPO display, Gary and Warren at the CARM booth;

Paul at bargain-laden BRS table, Peter at his table, Dave of Canadian Express Line, the always-acerbic Michel Bellehumeur with his table o' goodies, Liz Reid with Tim's photo collection, plus chats with co-chair Graham, former hobby-shop employee Steve, barbershop Ken and well-lit module operator Bruce. Crowds Saturday morning were excellent, plus an additional display room for CRHA, Meccano and FSME. I picked up lots of reading material, vintage VIA and Kingston photos from Liz, and a Rocky Mountaineer brochure just for dreaming. Aging myself, I told the Maritime Travel rep that I travelled the ex-CP route when still operated by VIA. My vestibule view was included, not an extra-fare car platform!

Wintertime at the Station, March 2015

It was time for some power railfanning! The afternoon of March 7 was overcast with flurries. I headed out not knowing I would encounter seven trains in 60 minutes! There was action afoot on CN's Kingston Sub. Rolling out to the first stoplight, headlight and ditchlights beckoned to the east. Driving west towards Collins Bay to fill up on gas and coffee (and Timbits!) to find...headlight and ditchlights beckoning to the west! CN No 376 was led by 2335-2132. With a closing speed of 90 mph, the cab of ex-UP 2132 exx-CNW 8550 flashed past mine.

Mid-train was DPU 8854 amid a tempest of tank cars:

Pulling a 'youie' across four vacant lanes, I stopped and rolled down the window in time to snap CN No 369 with 2221-5732 and lumber loads on the head-end. Car control dictated the train's Belleville traffic (likely ingots for CN No 149) be set out at Belleville in yard track BY26.

Burlington Northern green P-S covered hoppers including BN 467424 passed parallel traffic on Bath Road. I like me some Burlington Northern, and the small logo is OK.

Dude, don't worry about looking into my lens...look at those nearly-pristine CN cylindricals behind you!

You know you're in the slowest Timmy's drive-thru in the world when a passing VIA train has fewer cars in its consist than your lineup does! VIA No 64 places its order for two units and eight cars, please. Led by 6427-6431, an LRC Business Class and HEP1 coaches 8107 and 8130 round out the consist. All of these sightings a scant six minutes after squealing out of the driveway! :) Then another six minutes in the DT :(

Where did the snow man keep his money? In the snow bank! Solo 8885 leads CN No 305 westward past the snow bank at east end of the parking lot at Kingston's VIA station at 1420.

The dip in the consist is 89-foot wheel flatcar CN 48994. Resting railfan ride reposes right.

DPU 2249 follows obediently:

Take that, vandals! Enclosed NSC-built TTUX 891129 enclosed flat car accompanies 891193 and 891023. Inside, Sprinters slumber safeguarded.

After 13 minutes and a chat about trains, photography and life in general with Liz Reid, mother of Tim, CN No 149 conjoins John Counter Boulevard crossing behind 5767-5703:

Dang them Homewood thick cabside numerals:

Seven minutes later, VIA No 65: 920-3474-3328Ren-3350-3321Ren-3303Ren-3352 arrives and is soon ready to head west on the south track. My coffee was collapsing and the Timbits were thinning.

Snowbanks are lower but angle is higher:

Also on the south, VIA No 47 arrived at 1457 with 6434-3467-3364-3317Ren-3336.

When Foreman Persad toned the RTC and requested 30 minutes to tighten frog bolts on south track crossovers at Queens West, and the RTC responded "There's nothing close to you for an hour" all I heard was: Time To Go Home.

Running extra...

Congratulations to CN RTC VAP who retired this week, joining TJB in retirement.

Have you seen these sites?
CP La Riviere/Napinka Subdivisions by Neil Froese, TCRC 847 shares photos along the CN, TCRC 295 pays a classy tribute. From the Ellen show, Honk Scares! A staffer rides a bike around the studio lot. The bike is fitted with an air horn and air pig. I need to watch this again, since the first viewing was full of my wife laughing uncontrollably and I couldn't concentrate (or even hear, for that matter) the melodious tones of the tuneful air horn.