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My efforts spending a night last year cutting down a couple trees here made it all worth it when I finally shot the train I always wanted to at this spot. The Royal Canadian Pacific heads west on the Paynesville Sub on a perfect fall evening, rounding the curve into Maple Lake. The amount of effort people put into this hobby is crazy, but at this moment, it was, and is, all worth it.
An F-unit Friday flashback: VIA train 56, the Bonaventure, arrives in Brockville ON in the early evening of 11 June 1983 behind GMD FP9 No. 6523.
The Algoma Central train to Hearst passes MP 21 north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario with FP9 1754 leading the way in wonderful fall colors - October 3, 1998.
My only shot of the RCP on the move over the July long weekend was as the train approached Banff. We were camping in the area, and I had a bit of time to hop out.
In this shot, the RCP is approaching the Banff Ave overpass. I was just tall enough at 6'7" to shoot through the fence here.
For a few months last year the only thing I could hold was the Ayer spare board in Massachusetts (which wasn't particularly convenient seeing as how I live near Waterville, Maine). Fortunately I had a good friend who was willing to let me stay with him, and being based out of Mass did provide the fringe benefit of being close to District 3 action. Such was the case when Pan Am's OCS ran out to Deerfield, seen here splitting the automatics at Millers Falls in the pouring rain. The veteran pair of FP9s were running good on this trip, and didn't have any issues hauling the four car executive train to East Deerfield.
Algoma Central FP7 No. 1754 leads Wisconsin Central train LO35, rolling smartly through Cooks, Michigan, while taking the train from Gladstone toward Trout Lake and Sault Ste. Marie on January 18, 1997.
Video: youtu.be/qjrKbxomuNE
Canadian Pacific's Officers Special rolls through the small town of Dresbach, MN on a beautiful fall morning. The combination of fall colors, morning light, and the classy train all made for a wonderful scene. Video will be up shortly!
Crusing west on the Back Road, Pan Am's OCS is seen passing the distant signals for CPF119 in Oakland. The signals still display the old Maine Central mileage from Portland, one of the few, if not the only one, that still does.
After shooting the CP OCS last Thursday for the 1st time, I got the opportunity to shoot the KCS OCS for the 1st time this Wednesday. The KCS OCS made a round trip from Kansas City to Jacksonville with some officials to check out the line and the grain loop there in Jacksonville. Here they are heading South on the former GM&O Jack Line trackage near Murrayville.
A fresh layer of snow coats the ground, while tenacious leaves still cling to their trees as Pan Am's OCS rolls under the home signal at CPF-BY, in Lowell. The pair of former CN FP9s are leading the now four car OCS, with the addition of former CSX sleeper Mississippi to the train, and the usual ST 100-102 trailing behind it. CPF-BY is one of the more interesting areas on the railroad, with a maze of crossovers around the corner, and loads of non-conforming dwarf signals governing them, as well as the old signal bridge here on the Lowell Branch.
The Canadian Pacific OCS heads west in Brightwood, ND approaching 92nd Street on the CP Elbow Lake Subdivision. This was the shot of the day after a long chase across the entire state of Minnesota into North Dakota. The light just kept getting better and I couldn't stop until the sun was gone.
The Gettysburg Northern local is seen on a beautiful Fall afternoon on the former Reading Company branch that runs from Mount Holly Springs to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The GP10-FP9 duo are seen passing empty apple crates emblematic of the vast orchard land they travel through. Most, if not all, of the box cars seen here are empties from International-Paper and will be handed off to CSX in Gettysburg.
The Canadian Pacific OCS rolls west on the CP Paynesville Subdivision paralleling Minnesota 55 in Brooten. It truly was an awesome experience chasing this classic trainset all the way across Minnesota. With the current state of the industry it’s nice to see that CP still values their heritage and maintains this train.
PAR 1 (ex-CN FP9) leads the Pan Am Railways OCS out of the Hoosac Tunnel eastbound. Once double-tracked and electrified, the 4.75-mile long Hoosac Tunnel is currently the longest railroad tunnel east of the Rockies, and was the second longest in the world in 1875 when it first opened.
A late running WC/AC train 4 catches the sun near Heyden on February 28, 1998 with 1750, 1762, 3007 and 2003 leading the charge.
After a fairly gloomy start to the day chasing POWA, the weather got increasingly better during the afternoon chase of Pan Am's west bound OCS. After a dry summer and early fall, the foliage for this year was mediocre at best. Here at Belgrade Stream, there was a nice pocket of color and the stream was calm giving a nice reflection.
Kansas City Southern FP9(A) #1 leads NS #089 out of the siding at Villa Rica after meeting Amtrak #20. KCS and NS execs rode from Meridian, MS to Atlanta, GA that morning then the train deadheaded back west to home rails.
After a mostly cloudy day a small group of us gathered at the western end of the Kansas City Southern's Bonnet Carre Spillway bridge to shoot the outbound business train as they began their deadhead run back north to Shreveport. As the train entered the 1.8 mile long, 10mph, bridge we were in clouds. As the train crept closer the sun found a magical gap in the clouds, and stayed that way just long enough to get the train off of the bridge. The KCS FP9 passenger motors, and corresponding business train are the best looking train around. KCS 1 was originally built for the Canadian National all the way back in 1955, and is still going strong on the head end of the KCS business train today.
Thanks for looking and enjoy!
Northbound KCS Business Train rolls down Rich Mountain on the Shreveport Sub. Took me 25+ years but I finally caught the train on Rich Mountain and with a little Fall color as well!!
GBSOA heads east at Kinross with 1752, 1754, 1756 and 1751 leading 40 cars on July 28, 1998. On this day WC came up short of power at Steelton and the old Fs were all that was available to get train SOGBA started on its trip toward Gladstone. When SOGBA met eastbound GBSOA at Rudyard power was swapped and the F's headed back to Steelton. Total clouds on this day, not one peak of sun broke out but FP9 leaders in freight service were rare so I was out doing what I could to get some shots.
Two of Canadian Pacific's classic FP9's sandwich a GP20C-ECO on their Royal Canadian business train crossing the swollen Mississippi River into Sabula, IA.
April 30, 2019.
Fall colors are coming in nicely as PAR 1 (ex-CN FP9) leads the Pan Am Railways Office Car Special eastbound at Farley in Wendell, MA on the District 3 Mainline.
A mile or so north of Bellevue trestle on the morning of September 13, 1997 is ACR train 1. 1753 and 1752 lead the way on the all day jaunt to Hearst.
CP's business train begins its journey east on the Brooks Subdivision. The train will eventually make it all the way to Ottawa for the LPGA Canadian Open which CP is a sponsor.
An eastbound VIA train has made its station stop at Brockville, Ontario. It looks like the front of the train will continue to Ottawa, and the FPA4 on the siding will couple to cars left on the main line to proceed to Montreal. This was my first visit to Brockville, and the focus was to capture MLW FPA4’s. I distinctly remember being disappointed every time that a train with an F-unit came around the corner. I don’t think that I would be disappointed today.
Build it and they will come... for the baseball and the trains. In this scene from 18 March 1989, the SkyDome in Toronto is nearing completion (note the sign of contractor Ellis-Don just below the sliding roof) as VIA FP9 No. 6512 powers a deadhead shuttle move from Union Station out to the maintenance yard in Mimico.
CN's Toronto - Windsor train #145 approaches Denfield Road, between Hyde Park and Komoka. Up front are FP9 6519 and F9B 6619.
scanned from a Kodachrome slide
It's a gorgeous autumn afternoon just outside of Reeseville Wisconsin, as the Royal Canadian Pacific executive train hustles under the wood timber Bobolink rd bridge, heading for Bensenville with a quartet of GMD's finest leading the way.
CP Train 40B-12
CP 1401,1900,4107,4106
Reeseville, WI.
Autumn 2017
Down on the south end of Canadian Pacific's Kansas City Sub, I ran out after work today, and got the CP 40B coming into town at MP 485 of the Kansas City Sub. This is at the Lancaster Rd. crossing between Liberty and Mosby, MO, and after the SD70ACu leader debacle from a few months ago, I knew that I HAD to get out for this one. It's still a bit baffling that it wasn't running ABA, but I'm not going to complain too loudly about that.
The 2024 version of the CPKC Holiday Express blitzes across the Morganza Floodway in Morganza, Louisiana. The Morganza floodway is a flood control project by the US Army Corps of engineers that is designed to divert water from the Mississippi River Basin to the Atchafalaya River Basin in the event of a large scale river flood. The spillway carries the rails of the CPKC's New Orleans subdivision, and Louisiana Highway One, across the floodplain.
Concurrently the Spillway is used, alongside the Old River Control Structure, as a defense mechanism to the Mississippi's planned diversion into the current Atchafalaya basin due to avulsion. If these structures were to fail in a high-water flood the resulting diversion of the main channel would wipe out the southern half of towns and farmland along the Atchafalaya River swamp. It would also drain the current main channel of the Mississippi to levels far below what is necessary to keep commercial shipping afloat on the heavily industrialized lower Mississippi River. The results from this avulsion would decimate the economy of the Southeast US, and cause a geopolitical disaster unseen in modern times.
On a cool, cloudy, early December morning none of this is on the minds of anyone in the area though as the "KCS Belle" clad EMD FP9 set, that the former railroad was well-known for, hustle the Holiday Express over the structure. It only takes about a minute for the train to cross over; and it would only take this one structure failing to do its job for Louisiana to permanently lose the culture it has today. The Great Flood of 1927 was the last flood to level that amount of damage to the area. As we approach the 100th anniversary of that flood the cyclical pattern of nature reminds us another of that magnitude could be due soon...
Thanks for reading and looking!
With its close proximity to Lake Superior morning fog could always be a problem when shooting the ACR. It always seemed to be at its worse in the fall when the colors would be at there peak and the ever later sunrises didn't help the situation. This is train 3 north of Bellevue with 1755 1754 and1750 leading 15 cars on September 13, 1997. The fog has just started to lift and I'll only get one more decent shot near Searchmont before this job heads into the nearly roadless bush country to the north.
PAR 1 and PAR 2 (née-CN FP9s) lead Pan Am Railway's Office Car Special east through The Willows at Ayer, MA. With Pan Am Railways is up for sale, this very well could have been the last run of the OCS.
Thursday, November 19, 2020
PAR 1 and PAR 2 (née-CN FP9s) lead Pan Am Railway's Office Car Special east through Shirley, MA. With Pan Am Railways is up for sale, this very well could have been the last run of the OCS.
136 years of railroad history came to a close last week as Canadian Pacific completed its acquisition of Kansas City Southern with a golden spike ceremony in Kansas City to connect the two railroads. As the company's iconic name, logo, and paint scheme begin to fade into history, the legacy of the KCS will continue to live on with its endearing fans, its employees, and with the people that inhabit the many small midwestern and southern towns the railroad has made an impact on. Few railroads have ever changed in the ways that the KCS has throughout its history. Images from earlier days of the railroad often include white F units and Geep locomotives plodding along rickety jointed rail and trains stretching across swamps and rivers on ancient wooden trestles. Today's version is almost incomparable with GE and EMD's most modern innovations decked out in the classic red, yellow, and Brunswick green Belle scheme working hard to move heavy trains across the system.
While the dozen or so trips I've made to KCS territory over the past five years will probably never be enough, I'm thankful for the chance I had to document this unique and extremely underappreciated outfit during the twilight of its existence. In a surprise twist, somebody decided it was necessary to take the F units out for one last joyride before CP took over. The train departed Deramus Yard in Shreveport at 0900 sharp, two days before the merger ceremony. By mid-day, it was descending the famed Rich Mountain grade into Heavener and making good time to arrive in Kansas City early the following morning.
Another lucky coincidence in this perfect storm of events had the train passing through Stillwell, Oklahoma during the evening hours. While not one of the most prominent scenic highlights of the north-south main, Stillwell is arguably the most historically significant location on the entire railroad. The town was incorporated in 1897 and named for KCS founder Arthur Stillwell, as a result of his choosing the build the railroad through the rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma after failed attempts to find a passage through the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas. The town was a regular station stop for the Southern Belle when it provided passenger service between Kansas City and New Orleans until it was discontinued on November 3rd, 1969.
Thanks to the hardworking members of several organizations and historical societies in the area, the depot survived to see today's rendition of the Belle pass by for the final time under the ownership of the Kansas City Southern. The KCS was truly the last of America's classic class I railroads, the uncommon carrier amongst a sea of other companies represented by meaningless acronyms and website URLs plastered with bubble letters on the side of locomotives. So much more than just a flashy paint scheme, all the little quirks that made this railroad special will be dearly missed by all who appreciated it for what it was.
CN train #154 passes Hyde Park, west of London, led by the ABA combination of FPA-4 6790, F9B 6623 and FP9 6537.
Is this the last run? doubtful but the Pan Am OCS spent most of the day at East Deerfield after running east from Ayer. They would eventually tie down here squashing any hope for a run east to Mechanicville.
Pioneer Railcorp is under new ownership and word on the street is the F-units on the Keokuk Junction (and Gettysburg RR) will be put into storage this week. What is most likely their final run into Peoria, PREX FP9 1750 and PREX F9B 1761, and PREX GP20 2003 cross the Illinois River and return to Mapleton with a transfer of 23 cars from the TZPR.
The F's will run from Mapleton to LaHarpe on Wednesday, 8/7. PREX 1752, the other matching FP9 is already in storage at LaHarpe.
August 6, 2019.
The Royal Canadian Pacific trainset heading West for Banff from Calgary on the Laggan Sub. This occurred on Day 3 of my vacation to the Canadian Rockies to Banff & Jasper Parks with my wife. Talk about timing and luck.
This was a private charter that was purchased for a two-day trip to the Rockies. Day one they ran from Calgary to Banff. Day two they ran from Banff-Field-Calgary. This caused some adjustments to our hiking plans.
The Pan Am OCS heads west in the evening light at CPF-WA in Lowell with PAR 1 leading. This trip was significantly delayed thanks to a broken rail in Maine which was ideal as the light was able to swing around to the west. With the rumors of the impending sale of Pan Am it was worth spending the day shooting the OCS. I guess I can't really complain about shooting F units on a mainline passenger train in 2020.
Pan Am's miniature OCS trundles over the Androscoggin River into Lewiston, behind FP9s PAR 1 and PAR 2. The dome car is the most recent addition, and has received a lot of work at the Waterville shops, although unfortunately it hasn't gotten a coat of blue to match the rest of the train yet. The bridge used to be a lot more open, but in recent years, lax vegetation control and powerlines (with more going up) have restricted the view quite a bit. This is the second of three bridges across the Androscoggin River on the old Maine Central, the first being on the Rumford Branch, and the last on the Lower Road in Brunswick.