A serenely seasonal spring day was the reason for a drive to Belleville on Saturday, April 18. From the south side of Airport Parkway, VIA 6425 hustles four cars westbound at 1013 with Ren-painted 3332 on the tail end.
Cresting the rise, CN No 371 approaches Mitchell Road at 1020 with 2235-2605:
Passing in review (above) and undulating into Belleville:
Six-pack:
Winchester & Western WWUX covered hoppers 4750-4768-4592-4510-4350-4369 may be heading to Havelock's Kawartha Lakes Railway to take on another load of precious nepheline syenite. The taggers encountered them before I did.
LATX 7010 and red CNLX www.cn.ca-scheme covered hoppers 10190, 9012, 8926 on the tail end. Watch for an upcoming post on the LATX Lantic Sugar cylindrical covered hoppers, brought to you by Rapido Trains!
On the east end of a recent set-out in Belleville yard, this Hyster fork lift reposes aboard HTTX 92037 - I'm not sure if it ended up in Kingston or in Belleville.
GP9RM yard power 7068-4141 would soon disappear from Belleville East after being wyed and readied to run westward.
At OMG Chemicals on Dussek Street, TEIX tank cars 25124 and 2423 wait in the shadow of the building. OMG!
At the IKO roofing-granule transload facility north of the yard, short covered hoppers are still being loaded, though some of the traffic reportedly has gone to CP transloading in Havelock. I visited this facility previously in August, 2014.
Switching two cuts to make CN No 517, the conductor is adding the TIBS. The now-wyed yard power needs headroom at the Belleville station. It appears the 517 train symbol is an as required round-up of local traffic for furtherance to Oshawa or on to Toronto MacMillan Yard, as well as allowing the Belleville yard power to go in for servicing or periodic replacement. Hadn't heard of it before, but then again I live east of Belleville, not west!
Ex-Boston & Maine AEQX 3020, one of three such cars in the train:
ACFX 44717, one of two short ACF covered hoppers in the train:
One of these things is not like the other: CN 618149, newly-repainted. Perhaps set out by CN No 369:
ACTX 210040, hydrogen fluoride tank from Cameco, Port Hope. Then followed unphotographed TEIX 2425, ten PROX tanks from Coco Paving, Millhaven, and five ACFX/PROX/NATX tank cars from Gibson Gas at Millhaven
Kingston Invista INVX 38293, one of thirteen DBUX, TILX and GATX tanks and INVX covered hoppers from Kingston Invista. Subconsciously, I must have considered the tank cars TOO mundane to photograph, since I didn't take any photos of them!
With 2700 feet and a 45 mph speed restriction, CN No 517 would soon head westward after some VIA trains cleared.
Running extra...
Don't be concerned about why someone in BC is modelling Flin Flon MB in HO. Not anymore than you would be concerned about why someone in Kingston is modelling Vancouver. Enjoy Marc Simpson's Hudson Bay Railway Flin Flon Sub in HO, now a right sidebar blog partner. Welcome, Mark. Keep up the great blogging and modelling of CN ballast pits, grain trains and HBR oddities!
Some recent reading:
FOUNDERS - James Wesley, Rawles' futurist view of a (more-)armed America after a banking collapse. It's every man (and woman) for himself, including protagonists walking on the train tracks. Author spends a lot of time on gun nomenclature. Purchased this one in the U.S.
CALL OF THE NORTHLAND - Thomas Blampied's easy-to-read story of the Ontario Northland's passenger trains including his amusing trip account. It's difficult to be 'new in town' in Cochrane! Bought my copy at the Toronto Railway Museum.
LIVING WITH HONOR - inspirational account of America's newest Congressional Medal of Honor winner. After receiving the call from President Obama about the upcoming medal presentation, Sal Giunta replies "Roger, Mr President!" Also an American purchase...hooo-ah!
Glad you enjoyed my book Eric! It was surprising how quickly people in Cochrane discovered I was there, but they were great people and I'm happy that I was able to meet them.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great read, Thomas! I'm still enjoying some of the final political machinations of the story.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly were in the right place at the right time for some of the terminal events at Union Station.
Isn't it an interesting feeling one gets when a mere travelogue and note-taking turns into so much more - a story and a book?
Having made the run to Timmins in 1994 for a convention, I can appreciate your observations and insights along the line. Intricately woven with the political, social and commercial history of this unique region! Well done!
Eric
You're inspiring me to take shots of all the normal cars I see. For example, I have a shot of a Cabot Carbon covered hopper car in Sarnia. I've been trying to get better examples of these cars but I've only ever seen them in Sarnia. Good post. I like the vantage point, which gives you an idea of the topography.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Michael.
ReplyDeleteYes, the area around Belleville can be deceptively un-flat.
Regarding The Year of Photographing the Mundane: in your average 150-car CN train, I can still find a few cars I want to photograph, even with all the private-owner/lease fleet covered hoppers and tank cars and paper cars.
BUT, this year I should be taking photos of The Other Cars.
For instance, where are my photos of CN 40-foot boxcars, of open auto racks, of a single CN C-424. Why do I have to search other sources and train shows to find photos of these??
Ironically, one thing I ALWAYS record are the numbers (and sometimes photos) of carbon black cars. They are not all the same!!
Eric
Great story, Eric. Appreciate the effort you put into your posts. You may be interested to know that the GP9RM 4141 was shot by me when the pungent odeur de DuPont Emron was filling the airspace around her! See http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4177414
ReplyDeleteWell, the pleasure of blogging is all mine, Robert, especially when folks like you send me links like that. Consider it linked into the post! Thanks very much - you really were in Rupert at an interesting time - CN dieselization!
ReplyDeleteEric
Well, the pleasure of blogging is all mine, Robert, especially when folks like you send me links like that. Consider it linked into the post! Thanks very much - you really were in Rupert at an interesting time - CN dieselization!
ReplyDeleteEric
That fork lift may have ended up in Brockville. I will have to check.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris. Might be for ingot lifting. Pretty heavy-duty.
ReplyDeleteEric