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.
I haven't had much time to be out taking images of trains lately. There is a bridge under repair that connects my local area of Taylor Creek with Sunnybrook and it's throughly fenced in until the workers have completed their tasks. If you're familiar with the area, it's the bailey bridge that crosses the CN Bala tracks near Don Mills Road. The area has been undergoing renovations to replace the aging footbridge under Don Mills. That work is completed and now they are doing the decking on the bailey bridge. Before the bridge closure you could still navigate across Don Mills but a deckless bridge isn't very useful. Most people are just going around the fencing and cross the tracks but I have this inate refusal to tresspass on the Metrolinx right of way so I'm staying away from the area until the work is done.
Bala below Doncaster sees not a lot of CN action these days. VIA's Canadian #2 still uses it and Richmond Hill GO service on weekdays, but I haven't seen freight action there in months. CP's Belleville and North Toronto subs are my freight train sources these days. The bridge work at Don Mills makes this less accessible for the time being. I can still get around through the area near Cottonwood Flats if I have time for longer runs. The level CP crossing at Wicksteed needs only 25 minutes for me to get there with the bridge open, but over an hour with the bridge out. Summerhill is more accessible right now and Summerhill has better viewing, albeit not at track level. I did try a few longer shots of the Leaside yard area from Cottonwood Flats but there are just too many trees in the way.
The reliable Kingston sub is always nearby. 6:30AM and on that is one busy line. Mutliple GO trains an hour, plenty of VIA trains coming in and going out. Being wakey wakey with the ever earlier sun shining in through the window and the window opened a crack for air, the Lakeshore line gets mighty noisy. This morning I headed down Woodbine Avenue to the crossing north of Gerard Street just in time to catch VIA combo 50/52 heading to Ottawa and Montreal with it's unique two train tandem.
Blink and you'll miss it:
They don't have the high-speed train warning signs posted everywhere on that line for nothing.
While scoping out some other locations on the streets nearby I'm glad I had the camera rolling here for this GO eastbound unit:
Not the best location, it was over a fence at the base of Westlake Avenue just south of the Danforth, but it was a unique catch. This double-ender had two of GOs refurbished F59PH units, #564 up front and #563 tacked onto the rear. These 59s have to double up to meet the performance demands of 10 car passenger service as they lack the oomph of the MP40PH 4000HP powerhouses on most of GOs trains.
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.
Last Tuesday, on a day off, I headed down the valley with intent to catch Via's Canadian on it's eastbound run from Vancouver. Upon crossing under Don Mills, I'm sure I heard the distinctive metal on metal sound of a railcar on the Bala line. My thought was that it might be the Canadian running a bit early, which is always a possibility. Scheduled arrival in Washago is 6:30 AM, leaving some 3 hours to reach Union Station. It doesn't take 3 hours to get from Washago to Toronto, so if there's no blocking line traffic and it makes Washago on time, it could easily arrive early.
At this location, the northbound ONR's Northlander is always bang on time, as it only 5 miles out from the station. On that particular morning it was a few minutes late, which reinforced my thought that some southbound rail traffic did hold it up by a couple of minutes. I'd also missed it by about a minute as I was late getting out the door and didn't quite get into position.
Having missed the Northlander, I arrived at a level crossing at the rec trails a bit north of Pottery Road. It has a nice bridge over the Don River and a good viewing angle, an interesting location for catching some traffic. It has a set of signals to give a little advanced warning of an oncoming train. My hope was to catch the Canadian here as it crosses the bridge. However, after waiting around for almost 2 hours, there was no sign of the Canadian that morning, nor any other traffic since the Northlander went through, and so I headed back through the trails and home.
...
Skip forward to today (Saturday), I got up considerably earlier and headed back to the same crossing. No Northlander today as it doesn't run on Saturdays, but I was plenty early to not get caught off guard by an early arriving Via.
Bala can be mighty quiet on a Saturday morning. I could hear the occasional freight high up the valley along CP's Belleville sub. It was a good hour in when the crossing lights came on and the bell started ringing. Too bad the engine sound was from the south instead of the norh, so it wasn't the Canadian. Instead a GO train on it's way to Richmond Hill came through, lead by MP40PH-3C unit #613. The video's unfortunately rather shaky. I leave steadyshot off for close trains as the steadyshot highly distorts the image for large / close moving objects. It does give an idea of what this crossing looks like.
Figuring it would be 15 or more minutes before any southbound traffic could show up, given that it's all single tracked to north of York Mills Road, I jogged down to Pottery Road and back just to stay moving and keep my legs from tightening up. Returning back, I waited around for another lengthy period. It was well after 10 and I wasn't feeling much like waiting around too much more. I decided to head back along the north trail as it stays near the track area and gives the occasional good viewing spot should something happen by. I was less than a minute away when I could hear the crossing signals going off and high tailed it back, too late to catch any power unit so I was hoping to myself 'please just be a GO unit'. Sure enough, the familiar green and white double-deckers were passing by S/B, so I breathed a sigh of relief and returned back to the trail and headed north.
Now, the city is busy rebuilding the pedestrian walkways on the trail at Don Mills. As a result, it takes some inventiveness to get around the fenced off construction areas. For the crossing at Don Mills into ET Seton Park, you have to scale a somewhat steep rise to Don Mills Road, cross the roadway, then back onto the regular trail and to the bridge. The footbridge is not part of the construction. On it, I had to get on my hands and knees and peer low to see the railway signal to the south, which glowed green. The signals are in crappy locations down here and are almost useless to figure out traffic conditions on the line for railfanning.
Standing on the bridge, it's about 15 minutes back home from there, it's quarter to 11 and I've been out since 7:30. I'm standing and pondering whether to give a few minutes first and then leave, or leave now, when a very distinctive blast of a horn to the north beyond the bend in the rails made the decision for me. Opened the Sony and positioned it, resting my hand against part of the bridge, and there it is...Via Canadian train #2, eastbound from Vancouver, rolling nice and easy through the valley. A couple of extra blasts from it's horn (the first one caught me off guard and my hand jerked) echoed off the surrounding area. #6429 leads #6411 in tandem, with 21 stainless steel Budd cars in tow (including 3 domed units). Lots of passengers were seated in the domes taking in the final views of the valley as their trip was coming to an end.
I didn't get to catch it at the crossing I wanted, but this was pretty good substitute. It really is a magnificent train to see, especially in the valley I can only imagine what it's like to ride in.
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.
