Jay’s Blog

To break up the monotony of my photo posts (and to distinguish my shots from my chase companions), this post will be more of a ‘photo essay’. I don’t intend on writing an essay for every post, but depending on how popular this post is, I may do it more in the future.

On Monday, January 29th, Rob Eull, Brendan Frisina and I embarked on a trip to Stratford, Ontario. The plan was, upon arrival in Stratford, to find GEXR 581 in the yard and then chase it to Goderich. As we arrived in Stratford, we heard over the scanner 581’s crew building their train. We drove to the yard and found 581. The old relics powering the train looked beautiful in the snow. The crew was assembling their train from the cab of RLK 4001 (a GP9-4), but the pair of FP9Aus (RLK 1400 and RLK 1401) would be leading west. 432’s crew was also preparing for the day, warming up the cold engines and shuffling about. The morning Via train arrived shortly after with 901 leading.

As 581 worked the yard, the trio of trainfans headed to a local Tim Hortons to warm up. Even though it was extremely cold out, the temperature did not deter Rob from buying an Iced Cappuccino. After Tim Hortons, we scoped out potential shots around Stratford.

Returning to the station, we found 581 ready to depart. It pulled past the regular yard unit and 432’s power. The engineer stopped the train in front of the station. The conductor threw the switch to leave the yard, ran into the station for paperwork, and climbed back on board the locomotive.

Our first ‘chase stop’ was a short ways down the road, just east of the old Canadian National Railway steam shop.

We then proceeded to a spot that we had found earlier. An overpass next to a cemetery provided us with a great vantage point, and a small ‘S’ curve in the distance. That ‘S’ curve would be the biggest bend in the tracks until we reached Goderich.

The next location was a rural crossing where the tracks crossed over a small wooden bridge. By this time the snow was really blowing.

The snow blowing directly into our faces and camera lenses, we capture the scene as 581 thunders through a crossing and passes through a field.

The snow lightens up as 581 passes by an elevator complex.

This scene was shot from inside the van. Instead of getting out to brave the cold, Brendan and I opened the van’s sliding door and shot across the fields.

After shooting from the van, we jumped out and ran (walked) to the crossing. Surprisingly we beat the train to the crossing, speeding along the rails at about 10 miles per hour.

581 passes the Cargill facility east of Clinton.

Sandwiched between 1401 and 4001, 1400 passes with a dusting of snow and ice.

581 lifts two empty grain cars in downtown Clinton.

4001 proudly shows off its Lakeland and Waterways Railway logo.

A close up of 1400’s number boards and nose.

Getting closer to Goderich, we decide to try a road with the tracks passing over it. Unfortunately, half way down the road, winter maintenance ended. Seeing this sign a little too late, Rob passes through the drift and onto the unpaved road. Luckily, someone else had been down the road and had left (somewhat drifted in) tire tracks. Scared that the front wheel drive would get stuck, Rob kept the van moving until we made it to the clear patch of road underneath the tracks. The road was too narrow to turn around under the bridge, so Rob attempted to reverse back to the cleared road. This didn’t work, as the rear wheels got off track. Rob pulled under the bridge again, and turned around in a relatively clear patch near the bridge. After turning, Rob made it back onto the maintained road and we waited for the train. Incredibly the train held off during the excitement and we were able to shoot him after we escaped the ‘Road of Snowy Death’. Our tire tracks can be seen in the photo.

At the next crossing, the tracks pass by a valley and into a rock cut. The sun FINALLY made an appearance!

After a great chase, we arrive in Goderich. A new Volvo Grader undergoing road tests sits outside of Goderich’s Volvo Assembly Plant.

Not long after us, 581 pulls into Goderich. The engineer and a shop worker investigate a train problem. Due to the cold weather, the train wasn’t building up all the air necessary for the brakes to function.

GEXR 3834 forlornly sits near the exCN Station and near the GEXR shops.

As 581 worked on its air problem in the main yard, we went down to the harbour to find some good photography locations. We shot the harbour and two ships docked for the winter, the Algoma Central “Algomarine” and the Algoma Central “Peter R. Cresswell”.

The Sifto Salt Mine:

Eventually 581 worked its way down the 3% grade (very steep for railways) and dropped off grain cars at the elevator. 581 then pulled out of the elevator tracks and headed down the Sifto Salt Mine spur.

The harbour is quite a transport hub, with trains, trucks, and ships all servicing the salt and grain industries.

4001 is now the leader of the train as they pull cars out of the mine’s yard.

4001 crests the top of the grade and heads into the yard.

And the parting shot: Lake Huron in the winter.

It was an excellent day! After eating at Pizza Hut, we started the long trek home.