Ontario Northland's Four-Car Covered Hopper Fleet

Ontario Northland bought a petite fleet of National Steel Car covered hopper cars to transport agricultural products from Northern Ontario to market. The four covered hoppers were purchased as carload shipments from agriculture customers in Earlton, New Liskeard and the Englehart clay-belt region continued to grow. Historically, trucking has been used to haul agrifood products to southern Ontario destinations. But the longer the haul distance, the more sense rail makes.

The Rail Services division is Ontario Northland’s primary revenue-generator. The division's purchase of the single-digit fleet of new cars in December, 2022 allowed Ontario Northland to meet growing agricultural demands in the northeast region. Beginning in 2021, Ontario Northland began shipping four cars of oats per week (approximately 200 annually) from an area farm. The 200 railcars of oats removed approximately 400 truck trips annually, resulting in fewer greenhouse-gas emissions and less wear-and-tear on area roads.

Koch Farms in Earlton is one such agrifood business. Investing in a loading dock and auger, making an agricultural transload facility to enable shipments by rail, the farm wanted to enhance capacity and access to rail enabled the handling of greater product loads. The farm was also approaching the renewal of its 10-truck fleet, which was being used to haul product to Ontario, Québec, and Iowa markets.

The switch to rail saved the farm money.  Shipping by rail saves the farm $1,000 per rail car, or $200,000 per year. Furthermore, the farm was able to avoid expenditures on the renewal of its truck fleet. Prior to contracting with Ontario Northland, the farm was running 10 truck roundtrips per week and was going to replace the truck fleet with three tractor trailer sets . In shifting modes to rail, the farm was able to avoid the purchase of the three tractor trailer sets. 

Due to the success of shipping by rail, the farm is assessing the potential of building a 1,000-foot spur to connect their property to the transload on Ontario Northland. The line would enable streamlined operations as product would be able to go straight into a covered hopper car, removing the need to store product in silos. The spur would also facilitate an increase in potential rail shipments, helping the farm attract other farmers to ship their product by rail. The farm has committed to shipping all oats and canola in the 2022 season by rail, increasing the number of cars annually from 200 to 400. 

The Ontario Northland petite covered hopper fleet is occasionally seen here along the CN Kingston Sub. Though I've not been fortunate to photograph one of these moves myself, I have seen them on the Belleville Railstream webcam. Almost always together in one cut.

ONT 6003-6002-6001-6000 on a CN eastbound freight and consecutive - Jan.9/26 (above and top photo - four images at Belleville, ON courtesy Railstream, LLC)

ONT 6001-6000-6003: three of four new grain covered hoppers on CN No 372 - Feb. 25, 2023:

ONT 6003-6000 - half of the fleet - on CN No 372 with soybeans to Becancour - March 31, 2023

This photo of the four cars on Ontario Northland train 214 on October 25, 2024 was posted to social media (below). Presumably, the cars stay together and return to Ontario Northland rails often enough that the graffiti was removed at North Bay shops?

June 26, 2026 - Andrew Ferguson posted this photo to social media of the four cars with ONT 6000-6001-6002-6003 tagged at right, eastbound through Belleville on CN No 306:

Link:

• drizzly video of the four cars at Hamilton in May, 2023

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And the wiener is...a fox raiding a barbecue in BC. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is a famous English-language pangram—a sentence containing every letter of the alphabet. To be frank, this fox jumped furter - getting away with about six hot dogs, according to Crowsnest Pass RCMP:

First past the [999th!] post - Expanded...It's been a very positive week!

 

• At the KHSC 2026 Nursing Awards, our daughter received the Specialty Award for Nursing Leadership. Our granddaughter is getting ready to visit school for the first time!

• Our son is on the verge of the launch of free texting via MeshCore throughout the city with Our Livable Solutions:

• Our son-in-law is assisting providing installation skills for MeshCore repeaters, sometimes with a nearby raccoon:

• My wife is winning her second set of monthly rewards from the Government of Canada during her big month: Mother's Day, Wedding Anniversary,  Special Birthday!

• Our daughter-in-law led a very enjoyable Spring Arts showcase at Kings Town School in which our grandsons participated.

• I was fortunate to have a profile published in Profile Kingston magazine:

Kingston-Portage Road Trip, 1979 - Part 1

My brother David and I were heading to Portage la Prairie to visit our aunt and uncle in August, 1979. Of course, a big part of the trip, plus the journey, involved train-watching.  I was packed on Thursday, and we didn’t leave until 0615 on Saturday! We packed lots of food and drink in his Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. And my Kodak Hawkeye 110 format 'instamatic' camera, of course!

On August 18, we drove all day reaching Cochrane, ON at 1700. Dave had decided to drive the more northerly of the two northern Ontario routes. He was a driver who didn’t dawdle. At North Bay, we cased the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) yards and shop. Temiskaming & Northern Ontario 2-8-2 503 was preserved and fenced in North Bay City Park (above). Kitty-corner to the park was ONR’s expansive shops complex. GP38-2 1803, SD40-2’s 1732-1736, and Northlander power unit 1982 were visible (below). We also found ONR’s former Wabash/Norfolk & Western business car Onakawana/400 (top photo). Also at North Bay: CN 9553-9449-5579 and 1387.

At the Cochrane station, ONR RS-10 1400 was switching, and 1730-1802-1521 were powering a freight. 

Also at Cochrane’s station were VIA 6787-6778-9644 in CN colours-Manitou-5492 in CN colours-5569-4884-ONR 812. Normetal-lettered 4-6-0 219 was at the shop, with its cab windows boarded up. ONR National Steel Car coaches 805-806 in green paint, and white/yellow/two-tone blue 801 were nearby, as were ONR cabooses 95 and 96. CN-painted VIA 6518 was with baggage car 9641 and coach 5193 at the station.

August 19 found us leaving Cochrane at 0545, keeping a sharp eye out for moose on the highway. We kept track of times mileages and speeds using a cassette tape recorder, with occasional comedy improv bits thrown in. At Kapuskasing’s VIA/ONR station, former fantrip star CNR 4-6-2 5107 was preserved. On the other side of the station was the Spruce Falls Power & Paper plant. A small Jordan spreader, orange boxcar 321 and transformer-laden depressed-centre flatcar were part of their captive rolling stock fleet visible beyond the CN yard. Their switcher slumbered in the shop:

At Hearst, we found an Algoma Central Railway passenger train at the ACR station at 0815, led by GP-9’s 100-164. Content to wait for the train to pass us by so I could record the consist, imagine our surprise as it inexorably backed away from us, ever so slowly. Beyond steam-generator car 74 were ex-troop sleeper baggage-express cars 203-205. The identity of the baggage car and three coaches will forever remain a mystery. It was a not-so-great moment in Canadian railfanning!

We made it to our next stopover at Schreiber around 1500. CP 4508-5905 were in the yard (below), as were 4711, 5799, 5023 and switcher 7090. CP 8709 had a Speno rail-grinding train in the yard, and vans 437147 end-cupola, 434580 and Jordan spreader 402890 were there, too.

Superintendent’s car 10 sat across from the station with the Speno train behind:

Freights past the station that evening: Eastbound at 1642: 5531-5019; eastbound at 1853 (below): 5621-4509-4567-5557 priority train with van 434432; eastbound at 2120: 5671-5694-5757 priority train; westbound at 2138: 5722-5730-5662-5726 with van 434559.

Departing Schreiber on August 20 at 0545, we breakfasted in Thunder Bay and made it to Portage at 1700. Of course, our first visit to the CN and CP yards was that evening, and we caught three trains there.  Our first full day, we were back at the tracks netting 12+ trains. It was the height of VIA’s circus train era, with CP fully signing over their western passenger operations the previous October. Cars and locomotives were in CP red and VIA blue stripes. CN and VIA paint adorned ex-CN cars. One-of-a-kind blue & yellow ex-CP 8558 was the middle unit on one morning’s VIA No 2!

Also on August 21, we located a scrap switchstand at Helston, where CN’s branchline was being pulled up (above). More station trainwatching ensued on August 22, the afternoon of the 23rd and 24th, morning of the 27th and afternoon of the 29th. Other excursions we made with our aunt and uncle: Winnipeg’s Rainbow Stage production of ‘Desert Song’, the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at Austin, a ride on the Prairie Dog Central (below) wyeing at Grosse Isle with your humble blogger, and paddlewheeler cruise in Winnipeg, the Mennonite Museum in Steinbach and Portage’s Fort la Reine Museum, and St. Ambrose Provincial Beach. On August 25 we returned to Helston to salvage collector’s items including the abandoned switchstand, which would depress the GTI’s rear suspension all the way back to Kingston!

Winnipeg's Paul Newsome, now a published author with his new book on the PDC, noted that local farmer Arnold Borthistle is at right! In Part 2 we head back east, again tracing the shore of Lake Superior and partaking in some CP sights and sites.

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I'm honoured to have a diorama in this upcoming exhibit at Kingston's Pumphouse Museum. I'm looking forward to seeing the amassed artifacts and displays on planes, trains, and automobiles, and ships, and more! 'On the Move' opened this past Friday and runs until November.

If you like grain boxcars, check out this video. It's got 14,000+ views in three days! AmtrakGuy365 (Jared) asked back in December, 2021 to feature my photos, and feature them he did! Four months ago, it was Incentive Per Diem boxcars. These videos make me feel...historic!

I came across a photo of the Concordia, KS flour mill this week and got a little obsessed by this structure. It is treasure that is located trackside, so it might become a post. Even though it's American. But it's not the first American subject featured on here. I'm just going back to the daily blogging grind and we'll see if a flour grows. Who know wheat will happen.

Thunder Bay (and Cochrane) 1979, Part 2

During our 1979 Thunder Bay visit - Part 1 and itinerary here, we visited a terminal grain elevator at the harbour. The view toward the yard throat (above) is near the dumper shed looking west between Sask Pool elevators 7A and 7B. Inside, a grain inspector described the grading and inspection process for us:

Ever seen a grain boxcar unloaded on the unique, tilting car shaker? Here is an interior view of the grain leaving a CN boxcar. The C.N. initials are on the inside of the car door, while the wooden grain door and paper lining can be seen emerging from the far side of the car interior as the grain is unloaded.

For reference, here's another photo of a boxcar being emptied in Prince Rupert one year earlier. Covered hoppers relieved the industry of the upkeep of these expensive, dangerous unloading methods. In their own time, I suppose they were an improvement on shovelling the car out, but a rolling hopper bottom discharging into a grate is a lot more efficient and safer, too. Docked alongside the elevator in Thunder Bay was a bulk carrier lake boat, likely one of the Hall ships of the HALCO fleet. This is between Sask Pool 7A and the Thunder Bay McCabe elevator, later UGG 'M'. It's April, it's Thunder Bay, so there's still some ice in the harbour!

We toured the Mount McKay Scenic Lookout on the Fort William Indian Reserve. I took this photo due to the subtle railway content - a transfer movement with CN GMD-1's leads grain cars along the Mission Spur from the Cargill elevator, as well as ore cars, alongside City Road, approaching the James Street swing bridge.  CP's Westfort yard is at right centre. The white Paterson elevator's silos, along the Kaministiquia River, are almost demolished. Fantastically, our hosts told us one elevator was destroyed with dynamite due to a huge rat infestation. Chew on that!

On our way home, taken from the bus window in Longlac, CP woodchip gons (and one CN car at extreme right) were alongside.

What would you do during a main street supper stop in Cochrane, ON. Why not hotfoot it down to the CN-ONR station? We did, finding 1803 idling:

Then, 1401 emerged from the yard with an 'Ontario's Development Road' green boxcar and trainman riding the footboard.

This particular RS-10 was the last of ONR's still in service as late as 1985, having been one of four acquired in 1955-57. Still soldiering on, here negotiating yard tracks:

I snapped the slightly forlorn, Temiskaming & Northern Ontario museum train languishing behind snowbanks:

Thanks to Phil McGinn and Brian Martyniuk for assistance with this post. Watch for an upcoming post with some of Brian's early VIA era photos from the Lakehead.

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This week I came across a nice selection of western Canadian photos, including Alberta grain elevators. Many of these photos were taken in the late 1980's before the classic wooden elevators started coming down in large numbers.

Having attended the Skate Canada national championships in Kingston this weekend, I'm reflecting on what a truly Canadian event it was (though you can be born in Japan, Alaska or Russia and still compete). The scrape of skate blades on clean, fresh ice is something that really resonates, be it figure skaters or hockey players displaying grace, sportsmanship and athleticism. Canadian Tire was a major sponsor, distributing Flawless Routine! cardboard signs. I think I can repurpose mine into a sign that reads Flawless Poutine!

Canadian Tire is innovating...a 60-foot intermodal container, already government-approved and then tested by CP at its Vaughan, ON terminal. Will this container push intermodal car builders into a new era with longer cars to accommodate these massive boxes that can be filled with boxes of hockey tape, extension cords, coffee makers and other must-have items?

Sceneramic Scequel

This is the fourth, perhaps final post in what has become a sceries on Sceneramics, a special scenic scenario of splendour specifically schemed. Links to all four posts can be sceen at top of scidebar.

SUPER DOME ON PGE?

Did Milwaukee Road Super-Domes ever operate in Canada? Yes! The Pacific Great Eastern did not have enough of its own passenger equipment to mark the opening of its northern BC lines in 1956, so it borrowed some from western US roads (above). Bert Mills photo via Trevor Mills, Bob Loat and Bruce Chapman.

SCENERAMIC STYLIN' 1980-STYLE

David Thomson sent six excellent early-era VIA Sceneramic photos. No 4 at Matsqui BC June 1980, approaching...

with Jasper ahead of two Action Red-striped ex-CP sleepers:

David also rode Qu'Appelle on a trip to Vancouver in June, 1980. Looking grubby at Jasper:

and a rare interior forward-looking photo of Qu'Appelle, approaching slide sheds:

Athabasca and Columbia west of Viking, AB in March/April 1980: Columbia passing through snow flurries:

and Athabasca bringing up the markers, trailing a CP-painted sleeper:

Having seen the Sceneramics quite a bit, David commented that Jasper was likely never painted in VIA colours. 

Here's an online auction site photo of CN track inspection car Sandford Fleming, interestingly coupled to a Sceneramic in CN colours at McBride, BC in 1979:

GEORGE H. DRURY SCENERAMIC REVIEW

In his travelogue article in the March, 1982 TRAINS magazine, Kalmbach librarian George H. Drury reviews the cars thusly: "The Sceneramic dome has windows of several degrees of transparency - clear, tinted, and reflective - and the curvature of the glass is just right to give you a twice-life-size reflection of yourself. The lower level of the car is a snack bar, and the upper level has a service bar across the middle, cutting the lounge in half. The lounge decor is an improbable but agreeable mix of turquoise walls, olive carpet, and couches upholstered in turquoise-and-olive and red-and-purple. The car rides well, but at the leisurely pace called for by the four-night transcontinental schedule anything would. The diesel generator at one end of the lower level of the car makes enough noise to penetrate the passenger spaces."

1976 DERAILMENT

Somewhere just west of Winnipeg, sometime in 1976, this CN train derailed, with Yellowhead and auxiliary CN 50108 featuring prominently in these online auction site photos:

ONR OWN NOW

Grant Bailey kindly sent a photo of Ontario Northland Super-Dome 900, lettered Otter Rapids, on ONR's Dream Catcher Express train in October, 2005. Formerly Milwaukee Road 57, the car spent some time with BC Rail among other owners.

Having received the stainless steel 'temple treatment' earlier in its dinner train career,

GOT ANSWERS?

Some answers to some of the challenges that the original Sceneramic series generated:

-Superliners borrowed by VIA in 1984-85 were NOT run through the Winnipeg trainshed (Relative car heights: Superliners were 16'2", Sceneramics 15'6", ex-CP Budd domes 15'10".) When ready to depart, the train with Amtrak cars was backed out the north end of the depot, then ran west on the parallel CN Rivers Sub through tracks, outside the trainshed.

-Restrictions in Winnipeg Union Station Trainshed, taken from General Footnotes 2.8 and 2.9 of CN's Time Table No 23, November 15, 1981:
Winnipeg Union Station Train Shed - Clearances are restricted on all tracks leading to and into this train shed. Overhead clearance is 16 feet 2 1/2 inches from top of rail. Cars of greater height than 15 feet 10 1/2 inches must not be moved through the trainshed on these tracks. Conductors and yard foremen must know that all cars being handled have proper clearance before entering the trainshed. Engines equipped with standard ice-cutters must not enter the trainshed. ALL MOVEMENTS RESTRICTED TO 10 MILES PER HOUR THROUGH THE TRAINSHED. Movements handling snow plows must not use north track passing Winnipeg Union Station trainshed. Snowplows will not clear platform adjacent to north track.  (Mark Perry photo):

SCENERAMIC, HO!

VIAphile Tim Hayman has modelled Jasper well-weathered, in VIA colours. Notice Tim's treatment of the dome glass and 'tiny lettering'. Working with the Walthers model, Tim repainted the seating and may return it to its VIA floorplan. Tim used Microscale decals and Bragdon weathering powders.

My thanks to the above contributors for adding some additional material on the scintillating Sceneramics!

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What do you think of this list?
1. Be agreeable
2. Know your goods
3. Don't argue
4. Make things plain
5. Tell the truth
6. Be dependable
7. Remember names and faces
8. Think of success
How to be a successful blogger? Well, maybe, but originally posted 90 years ago in a Hudson's Bay Newsletter, in February 1924: The eight commandments of salesmanship! Pelting you with dam interesting stuff just fur the fun of it, the ever-eager-beaver blogger of Trackside Treasure lodge.

Go Canada! The Dufour-Lapointe sisters, Justine and Chloe take gold and silver in Sochi in the women's moguls. Bravo!