Jay’s Blog

This morning I woke up to some MOW equipment working on the main line at Coakley. Because of this, trains passing were required to pass on the siding. Since the siding was recently upgraded, the speeds have been improved, and less time is wasted for a train travelling through the siding.

I heard a train get a clearance from Mile 85, to Coakley, clear main track, this morning, and thought I’d go see what it was. The lead unit was 9839, which was part of CP’s last order of AC4400CW’s in the Golden Rodent scheme.

It was a nice day, the sun wasn’t in the best position but it wasn’t bad, so I decided to use my 18-55mm lense. Good thing I did too, because the train had a special guest on it.

The second unit was an TCB (Texas Central Business Lines Corp.) GE B23-7! It looked to be fresh out of the paint shop with a great, simple yellow paint job. These older GE’s are very rarely seen on Class 1 railways now, pretty much only shortlines still have them running. The TCB is a shortline in Texas, USA, so I have no idea why it is in Ontario, Canada. Maybe for an inspection or maintanence? or maybe it was recently acquired by the TCB, judging by the fresh paint?

I get on my bike, and ride up to Pittock Park bridge, to watch the train. As it got closer, I could see yellow handrails, which got me excited. As it comes closer, I realize what it is. I shoot it from the bridge, but the sun would be better at the yard. The train is taking the siding, so with some luck I can beat it to the yard on my bike.

I start biking towards the yard, passing the engines. The tracks are on a direct route to the yard (obviously), but the roads are not. So, the train still is ahead of me. I cross the highway, and bike down to the road that parallels the yard. As I get to the tracks, the train is pulling out of the siding. It wasn’t waiting for anything else, just had to take the siding because of the MOW on the main.

I’m on the wrong side of the tracks as it is pulling out, so I bike faster, trying to beat it to the crossing. Just as I cross the tracks, the lights start and the arms go down. Close, But I won! I quickly set down my bike (throw down, actually) and run to a better shooting location. I didn’t have much time to set up for the shot, so I’m glad the pics came out ok!

I shoot the train, and it goes by westbound. By this time I’m exhausted. I didn’t feel the greatest, either (headache, heavy chest from biking so far so fast). But, it was a neat train, and very cool move to get shots of.

Hope you enjoy them!

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 29th, 2005 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Trains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.