SLR extended-height boxcars

A unique series of turquoise-coloured excess-height boxcars that frequents CN's Kingston Sub has includes SLR 3015 at Belleville yard, September 19, 1999 (top photo). I caught SLR 3015 eastbound on CN No 376 on November 25, 2016 (below). In the intervening 17 years, rust, relettered reporting marks, conspicuity striping and graffiti have been added!

SLR 3006, simlarly-painted to SLR 3015 in the top photo, at Belleville, undated (Tim Reid photo)

Built for East Camden & Highland as EACH 2351-2499 (non-consecutive) as part of IPD boxcar boom in 1979, thence to Green Bay & Western series GBW 10000-10099 between 1981-1983 and used for Wisconsin paper loading. ITEL shops in Junction City, KS raised the car roofs and added stiffener channels thus visibly changing the cars' capacity from 5327 cubic feet to 6047 in 1987-89, their AAR designation from XM to XP and their reporting marks to HS 14200-14296. The cars received their turquoise paint and large Stone Container Corp markings during this rebuild. Sixty cars went to Minnesota, Dakota and Western (MDW) 4100-4159, then 37 of these to SLR St Lawrence and Atlantic (SLR). SLR 3025 is on CN No 376 at Kingston on April 11:

MDW 4102 at Belleville, ON on November 3, 2012:

MDW 4155 also on November 3, 2012:

SLR 3032 in the company of other paper boxcars, October 25, 2013 at Belleville, ON:

Sep 19/15 SLR 3005 CN No 369 at Belleville, ON:

My other SLR/MDW boxcar observations, with date, car number, and CN train on:
Oct 4/97 SLR 3009-3017 on No 390
Oct 5/97 SLR 3035 on No 318
Feb 1/98 SLR 3006 on No 395
Feb 28/98 SLR 3016-3017
Aug 1/98 SLR 3007-3027 on No 368
Mar 5/99 SLR 3030 on No 364
Mar 20/99 SLR 3011-3033 on No 318
May 1/99 SLR 3013 on No 301
Jul 24/99 SLR 3005-3010 on No 301
Aug 19/99 SLR 3000-3035
Aug 20/99 SLR 3016-3020
Aug 25/99 SLR 3011
Aug 27/99 SLR 3014
Sep 4/99 SLR 3030 on No 364
Sep 19/99 SLR 3015-3017-3029
Oct 17/99 SLR 3008-3027
Nov 25/99 SLR 3009 No 301
Apr 23/00 SLR 3006
May 20/00 SLR 3002
Jul 9/00 SLR 3026 dest. Joffre QC
Jul 23/00 SLR 3029-3036 on No 310
Mar 11/01 SLR 3001-3017-3029 No 321
Aug 30/01 SLR 3011 on No 369
Aug 3/02 SLR 3011
Apr 4/10 SLR 3013-3031 on No 309
Sep 11/10 MDW 4117-4129 new paint sides-4122-4113 new pain]t sides-4159
Nov 3/10 MDW 4125
Aug 11/11 MDW 4152 on No 368
Dec 5/11 SLR 3005 on No 376
Jan 25/12 MDW 4157 on No 368
Apr 6/12 MDW 4114-4124 on no 368
Sep 19/12 SLR 3032
Sep 27/12 MDW 4119

Getting an 'E' for effort and a 'G' for graffiti: SLR 3014 westbound on CN No 369 at Kingston's VIA station on March 6, 2016 (above). 

New reporting marks for some of these unique boxcars in 2015-2017 operating in Western Canada: LRS 1420 and 3462 and WRWK 4339,4369-4397 (per Steve Boyko, Christopher de Vries and Mark A Perry FB). 

Malcolm Peakman shared a photo of SLR 3022 through Napanee, ON in January 2017 on CN No 376. Notice the weatherproofing on the extended roof and the show-through of Stone Container Corporation lettering!

SLR 3009 (below) and 3025 were together on CN No 369 on July 31, 2017:

Running extra...

From a planned episode of the TLC series Railfan Sisters, here is an airborne view of landing over a Conrail Shared Assets Area yard just south of the airport in Newark NJ:

The I-95 ground-level view:

If you woke up this morning and said, "I would love to find a link to some classic Conrail" then here it is. 

Museum displays have really changed since we were kids....the work of taggers in 1992 at Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Day the Trainset Train Came to Town

The tidy Trainset Train had grown tired of its claustrophobic 4x8-foot figure-eight under-and-over-plywood layout. What lay beyond the confines of that basement? Beyond the left-up-down-right-under-around again circuit world?

Then it happened. The rectangular-based plastic sectionmen started their railsaws, swung their spike mauls and put in place a No 4 turnout, dropped in a few nine-inch snap-tracks and then, slowly at first, the Trainset Train tentatively took flight.

Presently it encountered a different, detailed world. One with handlaid track, the air heavy with the smell of dilute white glue and freshly-filtered ballast. Operating CTC signals beckoned between scratchbuilt individually-lit structures. Strangely, its plastic wheels had lost their clickety-clack snap-track soundtrack. Stealthily and silently it passed yawning yards full of metal-wheeled and stirrup-stepped super-detailed metal-wheeled rolling stock, gliding by gravelled engine terminals full of grimily-weathered, LED-lit locomotives. It was all so - prototypical!

Its realism reverie ended as a just-released Bowser SD40-2 lumbered up to them. What was this? Why could it not couple on? Shiny black horn-hook couplers would not glad-hand the Kadees, as the scale cut levels and air hoses hung forlorn nearby. Jack-rabbit start whirring motor operation clashed with this DCC-equipped sound-effected sentinel.

Multiple-unit locomotive consists trunded by, complete with clanging bells, air horns and like-you-are-really-there DCC acceleration, $50 cars and EOT's flashing into the distance. No plasticky all-black-smokestacked end-cupola cabooses here! "Look at us!", these believable brethren seemed to boast. "You're second-rate strangers in a strange land, far from your half-inch-thick hardwood home with your truck-mounted couplers and no-individual grab irons, you gawkers not guests!"

Ah, but if only these 100% accurate coveted cousins could know the thrill of endless laps, free of their dimly-lit multi-track signalled staging yards, and their carefully-constructed, car-card-constrained operations. The fun times full of just-because. Fun times...indeed.

Sadly, sullenly, slowly at first, the Trainset Train reversed direction. Ready to return to its Ready-To-Run roots. Back to its yesterday, which seemingly in one blink of a grain-of-wheat bulb had become a dim, distant past. Gathering speed, rejoicing at regaining home rails again, the comforting clickety-clack resounded once again under its wider-than-prototype hood. Its lone interior cab light seemed to glow more warmly under its single-piece translucent cab windows.

Its wheels spun happily. Ever-higher over each bridge pier until it finally looked down over its little world of wonder: the lichen more green than ever, the driverless autos forever stopped on Main Street, the Superior Bakery, Ma's Garage and the silent styrene sweep of its Plasticvile panoply laid out below. 

The Trainset Train would stay in this HO home, never again to roam!

Running extra...

Many of the Trainset Train cars in this post were given to my by childhood friend Ross Grant. Ross had a basement layout that we operated for hours. And it was fun. Bachmann, AHM, Tyco, Lima and Model Power rolling stock and locomotives! They live on in a corner of my railway room, always reminding me of those early years.

Ross and I were the only two in our gym class that stood by when the teacher slyly ordered our class to line up tallest-to-shortest, in alphabetical order. Simultaneously! Ross went on to become an engineer and retire in his forties based on investments he chronicled in a successful e-book! I became a blogger.

VIA's ex-CP Canadian Cars - Scrapped!

In September 1978, CP transferred 169 cars of its 173 Budd-built Canadian fleet to VIA. The following scrapped cars were no longer on CP's active passenger roster at the time of the transfer to VIA:

• CP 3011 and 3014 scrapped by CP after being damaged in a washout in Terrace Bay, ON on April 17, 1965 (top photo) along with U-series tourist sleeper 'Upton' and locomotives 1401-1906 which became parts sources for CP GP-35's! Reports of  crew operating through 10 mph slow order for the previous washout at track speed.
  
• 128 scrapped by CP after being damaged in a rockslide near Revelstoke, Clanwilliam, BC on August 26, 1968. Thanks to Bruce Chapman for sharing a fascinating clipping of this unfortunate incident:
  
• Fundy Park retired after collision at Gull Lake, SK in August, 1959 

Included in the transfer were Glacier Park, Revelstoke Park and Yoho Park, all of which had been stored at Glen Yard in the early 1970's, after normal wear-and-tear and minor accidents. The three were used as part sources for other Park cars - subsequently returned to service by VIA.

VIA retired some of the Budd-built cars in the mid-80's, reportedly during a 'house-cleaning'. Perhaps a 'yard-cleaning' would be a more appropriate term:

• 114 retired by VIA in 1980's, for parts in Winnipeg as of 1984, observed through Ottawa, still in CP colours, on a CN freight in April 26, 1986.
• 508 in CP Rail colours in Montreal 1977 wrecked in Telford, MB on train No 2 in September, 1976, transferred unserviceable to VIA in March, 1978. Deep in Pointe St Charles yard in November 1981, retired 1982, coupled to Dayliners 905x at the end of a track, still sidelined for parts in Montreal as of 1984, at Pointe St Charles in June 1985, scrapped in late 1980's. Thanks to Dave Chalmers for corroborating the above information.

• 603 damaged in rockslide near Revelstoke, BC in 1970's, retired for parts in Montreal as of 1984. Winnipeg's Mike Lisowski recalls 603 being moved through Winnipeg still in CP Rail colours, approximately 1985, for scrapping at Mandak Metals.
• diners Alhambra, Cartier and Selkirk received unserviceable from CP, not operated by VIA. The three diners were sold to VIA based on their depreciated book value, with no allowances for condition or lack of parts. One or more of the diners was kept as stationary dining car training at the Glen (per Earl Roberts). Selkirk was reported at Glen Yard in 1975-76 with corner damage, and parts removed were tagged for replacement if the car ever re-entered service. Due to reduced need for CP diners in the pre-VIA era, this was unlikely! A 1976 Phil Mason photo at the Glen shows Cartier, with another diner visible and two Park cars - Glacier Park has a broken dome window and all cars are covered with snow! This 1977 view shows a diner at the Glen. Cartier and Selkirk were still at Pointe St Charles shops in June, 1985. All three diners were sold for scrap in 1985.

Three Park cars were not included in the Head End Power rebuilding program, retired in autumn, 2001:

• Algonquin Park, sold to Luxury Rail Car/Bill Harman in 2004.
• Riding Mountain Park, sold to Harry S Purnell/Adrian & Blissfield RR in 2004, then sold to the Fort Wayne Railroad History Society in November, 2022.
• Sibley Park, moved to the Canadian Railway Museum in St-Constant, QC in August, 2004.

The three unrebuilt domes, photographed at Ottawa 1996 where they were stored from October 1993 to December 1998 (railpictures.ca photo) from left to right: Riding Mountain Park, Sibley Park and Algonquin Park:

The demise of CP 508 - photographed in a Quebec City-area scrap yard in August 1987, John Godfrey photo:

This photo shows CP Dayliner 9020, held for parts until scrapping in 1985, and look behind it - a diner! With other ex-CN equipment and a wrecked dome. Pointe St Charles, Pierre Fournier railpictures photo:

The following Budd-built cars in VIA service were retired by VIA over the last 40 years:

• 513, 617 scrapped after Hinton, AB derailment in February, 1986.
• Aylmer Manor retired due to fire damage in Toronto''s TMC, January 1987. Hulk used in HEP conversion project.
• 8111, 8115, 8121, 8607, Champlain, Dufferin Manor damaged in the Biggar, SK derailment on September 3, 1997, most retired April, 1998 then scrapped, except 8111-8121 which were retired in September 2001.
• 8514 damaged by fire in Halifax, NS on December 22, 1997 and stored, scrapped for parts after donating some to 8503 to repair damage sustained in the Stewiacke, NS derailment on April 12, 2001.
• Wascana was cut up on site after the Stewiacke, NS derailment.
• 8605 has not operated since the Togo Sub derailment on the Churchill line in 2013.
• Chateau Richelieu, 8138 and Waterton Park were compression-tested at NRC, Ottawa in 2022-23.
• Chateau Rouville, 8618, Stuart Manor, Alexandra, Strathcona Park, and 8505 were tear-down tested at CAD, Lachine in 2022-23.

Photos taken during a tour of VIA's MMC in 2003 by Claudette Cousineau and posted to social media show two cars on shop trucks (above) one of which is a Park car. Coupled to VIA 6309 is diner Champlain (and a Manor car?) also on shop trucks:

Earl Roberts kindly added that VIA 8610 and 8136 (ex-NYC 2919) were damaged in a logging truck collision in McKay, AB in January, 2005, with 8136 being retired. Hey -  this could be a follow-up post - VIA's ex-CP Canadian cars - Bent-Crashed-Damaged! Here's VIA 8610 (Peter Mumby photo) on CN flat car 639941 passing through Belleville, ON:

Running extra...

Speaking of vintage VIA, here's a video showing a ride across Canada in 1989. Lo and behold, at the 7:00 minute mark, we see a familiar face. It's John Cowan!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything in Running Extra from the world of entertainment. But enough about US politics! Thank goodness that President Obama is keeping it classy - tonight's CNN Presidential Town Hall at Fort Lee, VA. If you have a short attention span like me, just watch the first 7 seconds where the Commander-in-Chief walks in and the military audience just keeps on standing up.

Speaking of keeping it classy, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are touring BC and Yukon. Their childrens' only public appearance is to be a tea party with Prince George and Princess Charlotte meeting children of military families. Children, remain seated!

North to Muskoka, September 2016

In early September, we journeyed north to meet with my wife's cousin whom she had never met, but had 'found' through ancestryDOTca. While heading north on Durham Road 12 at Brechin East, I glimpsed what appeared to be a standing cut of autoracks just to the west. Then, at the next crossing, we found VIA No 2 stopped, with headlight and ditchlights extinguished! The long train was hours behind schedule due to the freight (immediately ahead with the autoracks) being in emergency.

Their loss was my gain. Fellow railfans wait trackside for hours and days at a time waiting for the Canadian, and here it was sitting right in front of me! If I was on Facebook right now, I would be looking for the 'Feeling Blessed' icon right now!

After our get-together and leisurely meal at the harbourfront Gravenhurst Boston Pizza, the next day took me trackside to beautiful downtown Torrance, ON. Located on CN's Bala Sub, I found a quiet spot just north of Highway 169. Looking south: 

Torrance is the site of a wayside detector:

An airhorn announced a southbound at noon. Was it CN or CP, since CP was just west at Bala...nope, this was a southbound intermodal behind CN 2871-2949, likely CN No 104:

These are video captures, passing the detector and backtrack:

Feeling reflective (is that another Facebook icon, perchance?) I captured the train in one of the Muskoka region's many bodies of water:

Disappearing toward the Big Smoke, about to discharge its cargoes to a waiting host of dollar stores:

After a lunch break with the cousins, I returned to Torrance to find this brushcutter had returned to the backtrack after a morning of weed-whacking.

In the afternoon there were CP airhorns in Bala, but only a lone northbound at 1420 behind CN 2888:

A mix of paper boxcars, covered hoppers, a few auto racks and empty oil tank cars on the tailend:

TRGX 854559 trails a couple of patched BAEX boxcars. Remember that grain magnate Richardson began his empire in Kingston, and the adjacent Queen's University building to our hospital wing is still named Richardson Laboratories 

All I found in Bala was a pair of CP track machines:

And a lone ballast hopper:

We toured the Port Carling-Bracebridge area on a rainy Thursday, stopping by Gravenhurst station on CN's Newmarket Spur. Reports from fellow VIAphile and travellin' man Matt Soknacki indicated that CN Nos 450/451 were still nocturnal, so I thought chances of spotting one of them here were 'Slim to Nil'. (And Slim just left town).

But upon completion of a visit to the beery Sawdust City brewery, my wife craftily pointed out the siren song of a first-generation Geep. Could we make it to the tracks in time? Throw in the beer, throw 'er in gear and put the coal to 'er! Yes we can!

Especially when it's running at 5 mph and it's Canada's shortest train! CN 4132 running light back to its base in Huntsville from an industry in Longford Mills. December 2016 update - Stepan in Longford Mills will be closing.

Into the Woods in a couple more video captures.

With that it was a Friday return to Kingston. Watch for an upcoming post on a gravy-laden Gravenhurst famous fast food flashback to 1979!

Running extra...

Meanwhile, my friend Reg Aitken aka The Explorer was exploring the area of Townline Road east of Napanee, returning from the Picton Train Show. While there he photographed CN No 149 charging west:

This location looks familiar. Future blogger with now-vintage crossbucks, 1976. D J Gagnon photo: 

 Westbound CN No 518 among the bullrushes:

 and an eastbound baggage car-toting VIA train at speed. Thanks for sharing these, Reg!

Graphics guru Randy O'Brien shared this cool graphic. It's based on a photo of the Plasticville Factory I picked up at the Picton show. World's Largest coupler since eharmony: