Springtime in Millhaven

It started out as a springtime shopping trip to Napanee. It turned into a trainwatching tour on the way back to Kingston. Not so much trains-zipping-by-type-trainwatching more like 21st-century-local-industrial-activity-and-car-loading-type-trainwatching.

CANDO Contracting performs switching services on CN's Millhaven Spur. CN and later CANDO switched cars at the spur's plastics plant until it closed and has since been completely demolished. Now CANDO serves the newer Coco Paving asphalt operation across Jim Snow Drive, south of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, and has recently participated in loading monorails for export to Saudi Arabia! What?? Read on...OBRY GP-9 1000 (top photo) has recently been supplanted by SW1200RSm 1004 (ex-CP 8118)  in its new paint scheme:

Barebones operations facilities - ZIM container, porta-potty and someone ditched the office chair! The storage location is just north of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard (green star in satellite photo above). Ernestown's wind park looms in the background - one of five wind turbines:

Extreme close-up with wheel chock and plug-in:

South across Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, two tracks full of asphalt tanks have been set-out by CANDO:

To the west, looking east from north-south County Road 4, the Gibson Gas facility is in service with PROCOR hoppers and the Trackmobile visible around the roadside berm:

Non-telephoto shot:

The Trackmobile can push empties up to the service track at Millhaven for lifting by CN:

Extreme closeup:

Adam Walker-inspired context signal box shot...back at the Millhaven Spur, a temporary ramp is in place at the south end of the former siding, just north of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard. A 'New Jersey' has been pushed into place to prevent unauthorized use by any other companies than Bombardier loading monorails, local skateboarders or BMX bikers!

Formerly a storage track, this spur is used to roll in transport trailers with shrink-wrapped monorail cars for Saudi Arabia that are backed aboard Trailer Train flatcars for furtherance to port. Just to the left is the Bombardier (formerly Urban Transit Development Corporation) facility and test tracks, which surprisingly have never been rail-served.

 Malcolm Peakman shared a March photo of the crews from RailTRAN securing the precious loads.

Paul Hunter shared a photo of another pair of the cars being handled by CN No 518 also in March...all the way down the Cataraqui Spur after lifting at Millhaven, then back up to the Kingston Sub!

Now if I'm really lucky, one of these shopping trips will result in spotting the Trackmobile moving north from Gibson Gas, CANDO wrestling asphalt tanks, or Bombardier monorail, streetcars or other mass transit goodies in action!

Running extra...

What do a giant steel apple, a hissing steam engine, and a stubby 7 year-old kid have in common? Stay tuned for a three-part series in which that question will be answered!

Oh Oh! Speaking of steam, Rapido Trains has just announced the release of its first steam locomotive. It looks nothing like a CPR D-10! But it's OO scale.

In HO scale, I still hearken back to the release of Cox trains Big Pine lumber set: