Showing posts with label Hamilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamilton. Show all posts
Throwback Thursday 17 CN CP9 4536 at Hamilton Jct
on Tuesday, January 3, 2017
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| CN 4536 starts up the Cowpath with an eclectic 1980's consist. March 4, 1983, Keith MacCauley photo. |
Today's Throwback Thursday features a guest contributor, my dad Keith. Here's his article on some CN GP9 action in the Steel City, back in the day (March 4, 1983). Thanks dad!
- Peter.
In this image we find back to back Canadian National Railways GP9’s Nos. 4536 and 4565 powering a relatively short mixed freight past the CN HAMILTON JCT. sign board as they head northwest (RR east) to merge onto the Dundas Subdivision and exit the ‘Steel City’. In the background above the tank cars is the York Boulevard structure known locally as the ‘High Level Bridge’. Note that 4536 is leading the consist long hood forward as Dick Dilworth intended when he created the legendary EMD GP diesel road switcher platform back in 1949. Perhaps not immediately obvious; the ‘Zebra Stripes’ on No. 4536 have been applied in reverse! (aside from CLC CFA/CPA/CPB’s GMD F/FP’s and MLW FA/FPA’s, the stripes should align on coupled units regardless of operating direction). Spotting features of the mid-production 1957 GMD-built GP9’s are twin 36” fans above each radiator section and a longitudinal fuel tank tucked under the frame between the trucks. Standard CN-issued accessories include the skate style cab roof antenna, below cab hanging re-railers, barrel-style spark arrestors, winterization hatch above the end radiator section, forward mounted bell, MU connections and cross over platforms. Note that 4536’s foot boards are still in place! Trailing the 16-567 powered duo is one of CN’s then-numerous boxcar come caboose (aka ‘van’) created at the mammoth Montreal based Pointe St. Charles facility. Attached to the PSC van are a couple of CN’s modernized 40 ft. boxcars (shortened ladders – no roof walks) and a hodge-podge variety of freight cars. Vans at both ends of the consist most likely imply that the crew has a long afternoon of switching ahead of them in Brantford involving a number of reverse moves requiring crew protection.
Remarkably, the overall scene above is little changed today, although work is currently ongoing that will significantly alter the landscape – a project was recently launched to widen the grade such that a third mainline track can be added adjacent to the bay side right of way. Noteworthy ‘can you spot the differences’ include removal of the maintenance shed (above the first 40 ft. boxcar) and track immediately parallel to 4536 (which actually stub ended a couple hundred yards past the signal). As well, unseen in the distance is enhanced track work under the High Level Bridge added several years ago to bring GO Train service to the former T, H & B Hunter Street station. No doubt the signals shown have been revised and updated.
What has become of the GP9 duo? Incredibly, both are still extant. No. 4536 was remanufactured in 1992 into GP9Rm #7053 by Pt. Ste. Charles and continued to serve her original owner until late 2010. Declared surplus, the unit was sold off and is now part of the Rail Trust Equipment Fleet as RTEX 7053. Wearing her fifth (at least) paint scheme, she is currently dressed in an attractive black with diagonal orange end stripes design (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3401167). Similarly, 4565 was remanufactured by PSC into GPRM #7231 in 1986 and continues to serve her original owner on Canada’s west coast out of Prince George in central British Columbia. (http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1595368)
Otherwise, the PSC van and 40 ft. boxcars are of course long gone, as would be any unrebuilt freight car from the consist manufactured prior to July 1, 1974 (freight cars built prior to July 1, 1974 are limited to an AAR Interchange life of 40 years, those built after; 50 years). Most likely the steel is still with us, albeit recycled into another form - I wonder if Gillette bought any of the steel from these cars?!
- Keith.
Throwback Thursday 7 CNR 6218 at Hamilton ON Ferguson Ave in January 1966
on Sunday, September 25, 2016
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| CNR 6218 leads a railfan excursion southbound through downtown Hamilton, ON on a snowy day back in January 1966, with a good-sized crowd in attendance. Uncredited slide, author's collection. |
Since we’re still in the grip of winter here in southern Ontario, today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to another snowy day in January 1966. In the above photo we see CNR 4-8-4 #6218 southbound on a railfan excursion over the CN’s Hagersville sub, on the infamous portion of street running through downtown Hamilton, ON.
Running from a connection to the CN Grimsby sub near Elgin street in north Hamilton, the line extended southward through the city and up the escarpment (“the mountain” to Hamiltonians), and from there through its’ namesake town to Jarvis, where it met the “Canada Air Line” (CN Cayuga sub). Aside from running north-south in an otherwise east-west dominated area of trackage, the line was also noteworthy for its’ street running portion, the steep grade up the mountain, and in later years, it gained additional fame when the Hamilton-Nanticoke steel train ran over the line with an A-B-A set of F7’s.
Long before the F’s became a fixture on the line, however, CN was known to run railfan excursions over the line with their popular Northern engines 6218 and, at least on one occasion, CNR 6167. Not generally a through line, there was little traffic to interfere with the railfan excursions; moreover, it provided a convenient way to turn a train without wyeing it (i.e. Windsor-Caledonia, Caledonia-Hamilton, Hamilton-Windsor; this particular arrangement likely never actually took place but is used to demonstrate logic of turning the train without a reversing move). Interestingly, the big CNR Northerns were not native to the line in the days of steam – quite the opposite in fact. Due to weight restrictions over the antiquated Grand River bridge at Caledonia, the line was restricted to the use of lighter engines, particularly CNR’s E-10 moguls. The light engines were insufficient for the steep climb up the mountain however, thus doubleheading (or even tripleheading) was common, with the helper(s) cutting off at Rymal, Glanford, or sometimes Caledonia if tonnage was heavy enough. A new bridge installed in 1953 eliminated the weight restrictions, and allowed heavier power such as the J-4 Pacifics, N-5 Consolidations, or H-6 Ten-wheelers, though the E-10’s were still common on the line. Undoubtedly the largest steam ever operated on the Hagersville sub, the CN Northerns on occasion did require helpers if traversing the line southward (up the grade), particularly in winter.
Which makes this photo that much more interesting. Indeed, the train is southbound on the Hagersville sub, heading for the climb up the mountain. Since helpers on the excursions were usually placed in front of the steam locomotive to simplify their removal at the top of the grade, it would appear that this excursion will climb the grade without helpers (the steam obscures the view of part of the train behind the engine, but it does not appear that helpers were added on this trip). This is even more interesting considering that the city appeared to have got a pretty decent snowstorm shortly before this excursion – note that Ferguson Avenue isn’t plowed! It would appear that the train is perhaps 8-9 cars long, likely well within the capability of the big Northern to pull up the grade – though I wonder if there was ever a calculation done to see what the tonnage rating would be for a U-2 Northern southbound up the grade? The train is about to make the sharp left turn, cross the TH&B tracks and begin the climb up the grade to Rymal - I bet the sound would have been fantastic!
Being that the photo was taken in downtown Hamilton, we are fortunate to have an exact location for the photo, even though there was no information on the slide mount. The street sign in the photo reveals that the photographer was standing at the corner of Ferguson Ave and Hunter Street. Another slide I have shows that he took a photo of the street sign up close, perhaps to remind himself where he was on this particular day. It also appears that the photographer was in good company this day – note how many other people are out on a snowy day to observe this special run. I doubt that if CN still ran excursions today, that many people would stop to watch – or even care about – the magnificent Northern leading a passenger train. The crowd in the photo is probably heavily biased towards railfans I would guess. A Google Streetview image of the same location today reveals that the area has been entirely reconfigured. What was once a mostly-residential neighbourhood has been somewhat commercialized, and many of the houses have been demolished and replaced with apartment buildings. One would be hard-pressed to even recognize that a rail line ever ran down the street! (Which interestingly, has been paved with bricks, as if to make it easy to replace the line if CN ever chose to do so – but will never happen). Though I bet if they did, the view from some of those apartment buildings would be awesome...
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| A snapshot from Google Streetview of approximately the same angle as the above photo, taken almost fifty years later. Photo credit: Google. |
But at least the subject photo reminds us that not all grey winter days are dull – often the best action seems to happen on grey gloomy days!
‘Til next time,
Cheers,
Peter.
Throwback Thursday 26 CN Plow Run at Hamilton ON March 1984
on Monday, June 20, 2016
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| A late-winter storm has called for a plow extra on the Grimsby sub. Here CN RS-18 #3624 pushes plow #55219 eastbound near Parkdale on March 1, 1984. Reg Button photo, author's collection. |
Tonight’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to March 1984. We’re at Hamilton, ON on the first day of the month, where we find an eastbound plow run on the CN Grimsby sub near Parkdale. As if that’s not interesting enough, the power for this plow run is RS-18 #3624. Plow runs on the CN in Ontario were synonymous with CN’s bastion of F7Au’s, some of which specially modified for this purpose. As the F’s aged, however, backup snow-fighting power was facilitated by modifying a number of RS18’s and GP9’s with distinctive “snow shields” which stymied snow incursion into the fans and radiators. Interestingly enough, CN 3624 wasn’t one of them. Even more unusual is a plow run on the Grimsby sub – far more typical on CN’s branchline network north of London, the sight of a snowplow on the double track Grimsby sub mainline is indeed unusual (I wonder if CN had any double-track plows left in 1984?). Hamilton is not typically affected by winter storms to the same degree as the Toronto area or southwestern Ontario, but the Niagara peninsula does have a habit of attracting some pretty major snowfalls. So it was likely that somewhere farther east this unusual movement would encounter a bit more resistance than the trip has already dealt the plow. Any way one looks at it, however, it is quite an interesting occurrence – one of “if it hadn’t been photographed, I wouldn’t believe it” trains! Interestingly, the photographer noted “first time on the Grimsby sub” on the slide mount. I don’t know whether that’s accurate or not, but it almost certainly hasn’t been repeated since. CN 3624 itself had a fairly long career, having been built in 1957 by MLW. Aside from a repaint from the CN noodle scheme to the zebra-stripe scheme, it seems that the unit lead a generally uneventful life, reaching the Moncton deadlines by 1990, and likely scrapped shortly thereafter. But for a least one day, it must have been pretty exciting to have been at the throttle in that engine…
‘Til next time,
Cheers,
Peter.
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