A collection of rail encounters during my runs in and around the Greater Toronto Area, and wherever else I may be. I grew up near the 'coal banks' in Sydney, N.S. and often played on the coal train cars. I'm also an avid runner having logged over 20,000 miles. Here I put them both together.
The nice thing about commuter traffic is that it's both predictable and constant. Living close enough to the Lakeshore east line that I can listen to the engines throttle up from my back porch gives me a venue to catch a lot of commuter traffic.
Early mornings reflect a sequence of trains that have to cover a mix of long and short haul commuter traffic in a variety of services. The nice thing about the mix of GO and VIA is the power options and the mix of express and local trains together on the same lines and makes for some interesting management.
Between 6:45 and 7:15 AM, you have 7 different trains in 6 distinct consists prioritizing themselves over the Kingston sub east of Union Station. 5 of those pass through in the first 15 minutes, often parallel to each other and can have as many as 3 consists over the stretch below Danforth Avenue at the same time. On October 10th I decided I would capture all of this action into a single vid, which ended up being 5 minutes in length.
2 of the trains are on a single consist, being the VIA 50/52 trains that are tied together until Belleville, then split their respective ways to Montreal and Ottawa. This is the first of the bunch that passes through and can often be in a drag race with a westbound GO express that departs roughly 1 minute later than the VIA depending on lateness of the VIA units. With the GO units, the convention is to have express units use the same center track as VIA while the westbound GOs share the north track with local units. Some track switches manage the overlap of westbound local and express trains. All of this is within close tolerances as the units are often within short minutes of each other.
A couple of unique hits on this video. One of the GO trains had dual MP40 units up front, an express EB train probably moving an extra power unit to Oshawa. I also got a good throttle up for an F59PH leading WB with an MP40 pusher. For the final sequence I managed to catch a head-to-head meet of the EB and WB units on the short bridge over Woodbine Avenue. This was a good sequence of trains to catch in such a short period.
A lot of my time is taken up working on some renovations so running and certainly hanging around crossings have been curtailed for the time being. I have managed a few outings, mostly early on weekday mornings.
A couple of weekends ago I got a lucky break a caught an early arriving VIA Canadian train #2 trundling down the Bala on it's way into Union Station. I've hung out at this trail crossing a few times but with limited success. There's not much warning for approaching rail traffic and the noise of the nearby DVP tends to drown out the growls of throttled-down engines. Occasionally they wail a horn for someone near the lines where they shouldn't be and that offers some advanced warning. On this day I had to scramble to get the camera ready as I had just arrived. Some sprinkling rain kept me from prepping the camera settings as I usually would have done. A sudden rumble north of the crossing and a gleem of lights off the rails told me it was the Canadian approaching the turn and I wasn't one the side of the tracks I wanted but had to make do with the location to avoid crossing during the warning lights.
Later that week I got up and out bright and early a couple of mornings and put together this sequence of VIA train 52/50 to Montreal and Ottawa followed by regular GO service into Danforth Station off Main Street. The VIA and GO units have similar departure times and often end up side by side on this stretch. No luck catching them that close on that morning but I am hopeful that I can get some footage of that very situation one day.
On Friday before the long weekend I took some time on my return home from work to catch a scheduled GO Stouffville service heading north. The GO trains have a lot of level crossings to deal with on the Uxbridge sub and make generous use of their horns to let traffic know of their approach to these busy roadways. I used my older Sony SD camera which lacks the better image stablization of the CX-250 and shows a bit of wobble, especially when the engineer laid on the horn when exactly next to me.
I also moseyed down McCowan towards the western end of the CP Toronto yards in Scarborough as I've not gone around that area before and it was on the way. Locations are inconvenient but I did catch a pair of GP9Us doing switching duty and shot a bit of footage from a lower level, but not very good positioning at all. I'll need to find more time to scout out a better location sometime. I can't really run out to that area, a further than my current long runs encompass.
And finally I tried some footage off the biking trails in E T Seton park near the high CP rail bridge that crosses over the Don. This location is outside the end of the fence of the Tremco plant near Thorncliffe Park/Leaside and sits high above the valley below and level with the rail crossing for a different angle than most people will see. In late fall to spring it's pretty barren up there and the view is much better, but the summer has lots of foliage in the way. I didn't stay very long but managed to catch a pair of eastbounds with likely empty returns heading for the yards in Scarborough.
Having been sidelined with a cold for the last while, rail vids had to take a back seat. Oh, I've done plenty of running. I just can't be standing around in the cold waiting for something to show up. The closest I've gotten is a couple of visits to the pedestrian bridge over the CP tracks at Summerhill to see if I could get a lucky strike. The one time I was there and had a chance, I managed to double pump the rec button on the Sony and came up blank as a beauty of a mixed CP consist trundled by.
So with this biggest storm of the last 4 1/2 years upon us, I thought a quick jaunt over the Main Avenue timed for a couple of scheduled passes would be in order and chance to get some footage in nasty conditions. It's not far away, less than 15 minutes. I had my trail shoes outfitted with hex screws for traction and my full winter wear on. Camera in a carry bag, in a plastic bag and all wrapped up nice and tight.
Made it with a minute to spare as the eastbound VIA tandem of 52 and 50 headed for Montreal/Ottawa came peeking through the blizzard like conditions at speed. 6442 was in lead for Montreal bound #52 up front but the unit leading #50 in tow lacked number lighting and I didn't catch what was on the side as it passed.
An Oshawa bound GO train would be next. It would normally arrive just before the VIA but I'm guessing was a bit late on it's Union Station arrival and took a few more minutes to reach Main Ave. In the meantime I taped a TTC streetcar climbing the hill on Main on it's way to the station. No slipping here, the tracks were clear from plenty of traffic. I think the vehicles with tires fared a bit worse in the city today. This is tacked onto the end of the clip. After that, the GO unit finally arrived. Autofocus took a bit to kick in with the snow flying about, and again I couldn't catch the lead unit number in the poor lighting.
Sunshine promised for tomorrow. Down into the valley for me, camera in hand, and see what I can come up with.
Too nice to hang about this weekend. It's not often we get temps in the teens in January. Getting them for a full weekend makes you wonder what you did to deserve it. Shorts on, a couple of t shirts and out the door to catch some Kingston sub action.
Saturday was dropping by nearby Danforth GO station, enjoying the sunshine and catch what I could. I headed out to try and catch VIA 60 as it passed through Danforth and got there just in time to miss it. I did get a few seconds of it's rear end disappearing to the east. Some bits of a couple of scheduled GO units had to suffice. I did grab a couple more segments at a section on Eastwood Avenue thats pretty close to to rails but hard to get good position. The southern track is so close to the ROW fencing that eastbound units seem like they're going to roll right over you. The houses nearby must have their dishes glued down just in case. I returned to Danforth a little after noon to see what else may come by. I noticed the signals on the north and centre tracks switched from yellow to red while standing on the bridge. The north track would be the scheduled westbound GO. The centre track would be VIA, but I wasn't sure which one. Later checking it was VIA 643 Kingston/Toronto. The GO had already passed, the VIA came by 10 minutes later.
On Sunday I headed out to an area just off St. Clair Avenue E and Midland Avenue, a little N/E of Scarborough GO station and see if it offered a decent viewing location. It rained all night but by morning had moved off to the east leaving just a hazy day behind so no problems taking the new Sony along.
I scoped some sections along a street adjacent to the tracks called National Street. The hillside leaves the ROW fencing well below the viewing angle, although a bit steep and hard to get a good footing. Also, lots of trees planted to offer some separation from the tracks for the nearby new housing development making some spots more obscured than others. At the north end of the street the view of Kingston sub to the north east is nice and unubstructed although the property beyond the roadway is CN owned. No need to step into the field though, the view simply standing at the end of the street is as good as it gets.
First came VIA train #60 out of the southwest. The heavy haze carried the unmistakable roar of a locomotive from well down the tracks. The haze also gave it neat effect of the lights piercing through as the train powered it's way through Scarborough GO station and along the long straightaway until it bends to Brimley. Lead loco was P42DC VIA 919. I shot it from the embankment in a slightly flattened area with decent footing an no tree or fencing in the way of the shot.
Next up, I headed to the north end of the street to catch an eastbound GO unit reversing it's way toward Union Station, nothing particularly interesting and I failed to have the Sony on as it appeared around the corner so we'll leave that vid in the archives.
For the last I waited for the eastbound GO which would be a few minutes after the w/bound unit. Staying in position at the north end of National, I picked up the lead loco as it passes on the southern track and appearing through the trees of the embankment. As it passed and I switched to the N/E view I noticed the lead loco was not alone, with an older EMD slotted in second place. The second unit was 558, an F59PH. A quick lookup in google and youtube shows a few other hits for this locomotive for the past couple of years. Not sure if it has been in continuous service or temporarily retired but it was a surprising catch nonetheless!
Trails were too messy to run this weekend with the snow melt and the rain. Kingston sub is never far away for a street run, always manages to deliver and even the occasional surprise can be had.
I'm not a fan of running in the fog. I suspect that inhaling all that particulate, especially here in the city, isn't a particularly healthy endeavour over the long term. During heavy fog I stay in until it clears. And, it's been foggy these days with warm daytime conditions, no wind and mornings at the freezing mark so I've had to skip morning runs.
Today was an exception, with fog limited to low laying areas like valleys, swamps and recessed rail corridors only. And with the sky lightly illuminated to the south east it seemed a bit of fun to grab the Sony and jog down to the Danforth Subway station.
Lots of commuting action on weekday mornings here. The trains start early and go straight through to nighttime. Heavily run by GO and VIA, these trains move fast as well so keep your feet back of the yellow line when you're standing on the platform when a through unit passes because they do not slow down even a smidgen.
Here we start the morning with VIA tandem of 50 (Ottawa/Montreal) and 52 (Montreal direct) 10 minutes after it's 6:41 departure time from Union Station. It will make a stop further down the line at Guildwood, but not here. At the same time is an eastbound GO unit on it's way to Oshawa but lags a bit behind the VIA units. I do wonder if these two trains drag it out on this section since they have identical departure times from Union Station. Maybe I'll venture down to Union one morning just to see, good for a longer morning venture.
After departing Danforth the GO unit meets a sibling through unit making it's way to Union Station and no stop here, just a fast pass. Watch the lights as they meet.
Part of my Saturday morning run along the Danforth. Positioned under the Main Street overpass at Main GO Station, this westbound unit is being pushed by GO #642, an MP40PH-3C. In the confines of the overpass, the power unit is super loud, especially as it's only about 6 feet away from me.
