Canada's Most Scenic Trainwatching Spot?

Where is Canada's Most Scenic location to watch trains? Not necessarily the most tains, or the best trains, but the most photogenic trains due to supremely scenic surroundings. I intended to do a Top Ten. Then I realized it would become a Top 20. You may think the most scenic spot is right where you are. Let's face it - just because Trackside Treasure names Elbow Rapids, ON as Canada's Most Scenic, doesn't mean that a plethora of readers will travel there, cameras in hand to record the rail action. For less effort, less money and more satisfaction, that spot may be one or two miles from where you live, making up in easy access what it may lack in serendipitous scenic splendour. That said, let's get scenic!

Dundas Hill, Ontario - never been there, but I revel in any high-angle photo of this supremely scenic scene that I come across. It was even featured in a United Church bulletin from 1996, illustrating Genesis 12 - Going Out Not Knowing (below).  Even though TRAINS magazine and others have featured ground level photography here, it's just not the same. The top of the Dundas Peak gives one a hawk-like view of the sweeping vista. Present in early photos, it's too bad the station and back track are now gone. (Above) - from page 37 of Greg McDonnell 's superlative Signatures in Steel, CN SD's 5021-5047 lead a train there in June 1972.

I'm not even going to mention Bayview Junction (well, I just did). Mad train frequency, cool recently-redesigned trackage and legendary variety. Not scintillatingly scenic. Not even scenic, though lots of greenery and gardens are nearby - CN rolls pulpwood past the bay in 1981:

A Trackside Treasure poll revealed that 60% of respondents find British Columbia's trackside scenery to be Canada's most photogenic. I couldn't agree more. That's why my next two most scenic spots can be found on the left side of Canada. The first is Painted Canyon, sometimes called White Canyon at Mi 93 of CN's Ashcroft Sub between Lasha and Pitquah. Large rockslide sheds, 20+ bridges and tunnels totalling one mile in 20 miles of trackage have been constructed to CN's mainline through the topography. Here's my vestibule view of rockslide sheds, taken from VIA No 4 in 1985:

I believe the most supremely scenic site in BC is in the Fraser canyon, 6 miles west of Lytton, BC at Cisco. Here, CN and CP's main lines exchange sides of the river. More about Cisco in an upcoming post!
"At Hell's Gate, the waters boil through a small opening between columnar rock formations that once must have formed a natural dam. A suspension bridge and an overhead aerial tram complement the two railways in a tableau of the human assault on this hostile topography.  Nowhere I have traveled has there been such a striking juxtaposition of ferocious natural obstacles and ingenious human inventiveness in conquering them."

The CN looms above CP's Cisco bridge and the frothing Fraser below:

Closer to home, I would nominate CN's Kingston Sub double-track stone-piered bridge over the Napanee River at Napanee, ON. While there are more scenic rail bridges around, the stone-arched and steel Grand Trunk Railway bridge certainly puts passing trains 'on a pedestal'. But the real scenic highlight comes from being aboard a train crosssing the bridge over the river, especially westbound. A placid early morning view from VIA No 651:

VIA Turbo at Napanee, on the same bridge (Brian Schuff collection) and a commercial postcard aerial view (top photo) set the scene:

The river and rapids curve below, and the former Gibbard furniture factory, flag-flying town hall and small-town streets hug the shoreline of the river. Napanee, early-1900's Vintage Kingston Facebook photo:

Based on the stiff sceneramic competition, it may not be surprising that no-one in the Trackside Treasure poll chose the Corridor as Canada's most scenic trainwatching area! An eastbound CN freight led by 9525-2328, crosses the bridge on April 24, 1994 (below). I was proud to have my logo with the numerals '2000' nested in the arches chosen for Napanee's Millennium logo back in Y2K!

"[Her memoirs] revealed a lifetime of love for the scenes of the prairie - the wildflowers exploding like fireworks from the spring grasses, the promise of infinite possibility in the huge sky, the mornings like an invitation to participate in the beginning of the world." CN 5357-9588-5107 lead 85 cars east through fields springing with life, into Portage la Prairie, MB on June 13, 1982:

While the Prairies were voted second-most scenic region, what about the Rockies - taken from aboard VIA on CN rails at Henry House, Alberta in 1986. The Spiral Tunnels, Field and so many other scenic delights were unfortunately sold out to private interests when VIA retreated from the southern Alberta CP route.

"All morning the Canadian winds along the spectacular shore of Lake Superior. To the right is the immense emptiness of the Great Shield, rock without end only partially overgrown with ragged forest that struggles vainly to set down roots and veined with rivulets of water running south. To the left is the blue of the lake stretching to three horizons with sizeable white breakers crashing on the rocks just below the railway grade.  How the voyageurs must have welcomed their first glimpse of the water after nearly a thousand miles of stams and portages from the east. And how they must have yearned to be free of it after a week of storms and wetness, rounding each point of land only to confront another vast expanse of blue and another point on the far horizon."
CP Mink tunnel, taken from No 1 near Coldwell, Ontario in 1986 while VIA's Canadian ran on CP's former especially scenic Superior route - another route no longer accessible by VIA Rail:

Italicized excerpts from Last Train to Toronto - A Canadian Rail Odyssey by Terry Pindell - a fine read!

What locations would you nominate for your top ten, top three or favourite most scenic trainwatching spot?