The Thursday Proto Photo Thread, 1/19

[Lenny53]

This engine hasn't even seen home rails (well, by the time I'm posting this it will have) and it's leading another RR's train.

What is the location, anywhere near the Acton -  Rockwood area?

[cv_acr]

What is the location, anywhere near the Acton -  Rockwood area?

Breslau. It would have passed Acton about 30 minutes after I shot it.

[Lenny53]

Breslau. It would have passed Acton about 30 minutes after I shot it.

Thanks.  My brother-in-law lives in Rockwood and the only time I shot anything on that line it was 2 CSX SD70ACEs in Sept 2004.

I might be in the Guelph area soon to photograph some heavy equipment for my brother-in-law's company.   Do you know approximately
when the freights run to Georgetown and back?

Cheers,
Lenny

[Lenny53]

there is something about banged up train cars that is awesome.

These cars were "banged up" when a unit Tank Train derailed on CN last summer;



 

[cv_acr]

Thanks.  My brother-in-law lives in Rockwood and the only time I shot anything on that line it was 2 CSX SD70ACEs in Sept 2004.

I might be in the Guelph area soon to photograph some heavy equipment for my brother-in-law's company.   Do you know approximately
when the freights run to Georgetown and back?

Cheers,
Lenny

Lenny:

GEXR 432 normally meets the westbound VIA no. 85 in Kitchener every weekday. 85's station time in Kitchener is approximately 12:20. Travel time is about 20 minutes to Guelph, another 15 minutes to the defect detector in Acton.

432 does not stop in Georgetown. It runs all the way to CN's MacMillan Yard in Vaughn (north Toronto area). It returns as GEXR 431.

There's a railfan chat that you (and others, I notice at least one or two people here from Southern Ontario) might be interested in. Anyone is welcome; most of the people who hang out there are in the southern Ontario Region (from Sarnia to Guelph to Welland) but there are a couple from farther afield. One of our regulars is in Washington DC.

If you're familiar with IRC, point your favourite client to irc.railfan.ca or irc.oftc.ca (both names for the same server), channel #railfan

If that last paragraph made no sense to you, you can still participate; go to http://thegrebs.com/oftc/ and put #railfan in the channel box, choose a nickname, and get started.

[Lenny53]

GEXR 432 normally meets the westbound VIA no. 85 in Kitchener every weekday. 85's station time in Kitchener is approximately 12:20. Travel time is about 20 minutes to Guelph, another 15 minutes to the defect detector in Acton.

432 does not stop in Georgetown. It runs all the way to CN's MacMillan Yard in Vaughn (north Toronto area). It returns as GEXR 431.

Wow, that really very helpful.  I will not waste my time going trackside in the mornings or weekends when I'm in the area.  This is the only time I shot anything on that line and it was quite by accident;

[cv_acr]

Actually, I guess that was a little unclear. They do run on weekends as well, but are often a small train on Sundays and are sometimes early. On Sundays they sometimes meet 85 in Guelph, or Kitchener.
But yes, mornings - not so much in the way of freight action east of Guelph. Looking more around 1:30-2ish in Rockwood for the eastbound freight.

GEXR has recently (within the last couple weeks) changed their operations slightly. They used to interchange pretty much all general freight traffic to CN at Mac yard in Toronto. Now they interchange all westbound traffic to CN in London. This is now handled by train 433 (Kitchener-London and return) which used to be a hotshot unit autoframe train, but now handles general interchange freight as well.

[cv_acr]

Further to what I've said on the GEXR operations so far, here's some observations and rumours:

2 engines, CEFX 6537 and GEXR 3843 are rumoured to be leaving the GEXR in the future. 3843 has been sidelined out of service for a while. Rumour is that 2 engines will be coming down from the Mackenzie Northern, which is being resold to CN.

Today 432 (Stratford-Toronto) and 433 (Kitchener-London) were apparently approximately 80 and 60 cars respectively. Traffic on GEXR seems to be about as high as it gets, considering 80 cars is a good size for 432 before they started interchanging in London as well. 432 used to often be very small or even light power running to Toronto on Sundays, so when they started interchanging in both directions, we wondered if they would continue to run it on Sundays. Given the huge size of both trains, it's likely that 432/431 will continue to run on Sundays, unchanged. 433 used to be 6 days a week; now that it handles general freight and not just frames from the Budd plant in Kitchener, I wouldn't be surprised if it will be 7 days a week now.

There have been times over the last year or two when GEXR will run a 2nd 432 from Stratford. Since they don't have extra engines, this happens after 431 returns to Stratford, which means 432-2 comes through Guelph around midnight when it runs. It's not often, but it's not unheard of.

[cv_acr]

For lenny53 and anyone else interested in Goderich-Exeter's operations:

Even with interchange traffic flowing in both directions now instead of only to Toronto, it's becoming quite clear that there is no decrease in the frequency that trains run. GEXR 432/431 to Toronto are still running every day of the week, and the last two nights they have also made extra second runs to Toronto, which even before the change in operations was a rare occurance.

So it's becoming quite clear that the change in operations has no impact in terms of running any less trains; this change makes interchange more efficient, and is clearly necessitated by the increasing traffic on the line.

[TiVoPrince]

Gotta love
those oil cans.  Wonder when someone is going to make some...

[Lenny53]

Gotta love
those oil cans.  Wonder when someone is going to make some...

I've been wondering if the inter-car connections could be made out of neoprene tubing.

[TiVoPrince]

Gotta love
those oil cans.  Wonder when someone is going to make some...

I've been wondering if the inter-car connections could be made out of neoprene tubing.

For the HO Roundhouse cars
I used really thin shrink wrap around a machine bolt to give it some texture.  The included tubing from the kit was way too small in diameter for the purpose...

[up1950s]

Ok , about that great shot with the class lights . Are they also called markers ? On the LIRR it was either Head lights , or markers . Sometimes both if the train was fewer cars than normal , this way the Dashing Dans on the platform would know to not stand in the last 2 car positions as the train came to a grinding halt , therefore making a quicker loading of passengers . But that's a freight , so whats the rules governing those lights ?

WOW, Dashing Dan  , theres a term I have not heard in awhile.  Hey Richie, do you remember the jingle?  ;D

Sorry , the only jingle I remember is digging deep into my pockets for monthly ticket fare . I didn't know , or at least don't remember there being a jingle . I think at that time my mode of transportation was a 3 speed English racer . What is that jingle and when was it on the top ten hit parade , so to speak ?

[cr6841]

sean,

         shots look good. the rain always screws it up somehow. i wish i had my camcorder on you running for that train. at least i did catch you saying "dirty ba#@&*ds, when the light power move came up, and YOU were not ready with the camera. classic sean moment. everyone else's pics look good too!

matt