Dave Rodgers: more coast to coast railroad photos

[John Ashworth]

I thought that you may be interested in a few items of railroad interest that I photographed during our recent 'Coast to Coast' tour. Thanks to Bob Sandsusky, Bruce Anderson and Greg Nazarow for additional information.

IMG_2054 Throughout our journey on 'The Canadian' we crossed an endless selection of westbound freights at an average frequency of around one every 30-45 minutes. Mostly these were double stack container trains. The longest freight was no less than 212 cars with mid-train helper and a banker! Some freights crossed on double track sections but often the freight was given priority and 'The Canadian' was routed into the loop. Generally however crossing were very smart with little delay. Here is a westbound double-stack CN container train in Saskatchewan.

IMG_2031 The eastbound 'Canadian' has a lengthy stop at Jasper allowing passengers to explore the town whilst the locos are serviced and loco crews changed, fresh passengers board and train windows are cleaned. Here are the pair of VIA Rail's XXXX Nos. XXXX at the head of the train during the station stop. The same pair of locos worked throughout from Vancouver to Toronto 4466km/2791 miles.

IMG_2073 As we approached Oba the Conductor announced that the Algoma Central train was just leaving (it is supposed to be a connection but presumably there were no passengers) on its journey from Sault Ste. Marie - Hearst. The coach has a Budd look so I'll assume it's ex-Amtrak (originally Santa Fe) and the second baggage car has a similar look. The locomotive appears to be one of the AC's 3 ex-Denver Ski Train F40PHR's (originally Amtrak too) and still in SKTX orange and silver. The lead baggage and trailing power cars are still in the Algoma Central colours. CNR now calls the ex-ACRR its Soo subdivision. Freights would now use CN motive power and I suspect CN would still fill in on passenger hauls in the tourist season when the 3 F40's can't cover.

IMG_2075 Despite steam having finished in the late-1950s/60 a number of concrete coaling towers are still standing in both USA and Canada, presumably being seen as too disruptive to demolish. Here is the CNR coaling tower at Washago some 88 miles north west of Toronto presumably allowing locos to be re-coaled whilst still attached to their trains.

IMG_2081 Journey's end (Phase 1) - Toronto Union Station. Opened by the Prince of Wales in 1927 this station is currently the hub of operations for VIA Rail and GO suburban services. Huge investment is currently underway with a new glazed roof over the platforms currently being constructed.

IMG_2094. 2095 Canadian National Railway Class U-2-g 4-8-4 No. 6213 on display at the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre based at the John St. roundhouse. This loco was built by Montreal Loco Works in 1942 and had only a 17-year life before being bought by the City of Toronto.

IMG_2109 Canadian Pacific Railway's North Toronto station. Built in 1916 it was largely superceeded by the opening of Union Station and today, after restoration, it is now Canada's largest liquor store!

IMG_2114 An interesting view taken from a highway bridge over part of GO Transit's Willowbrook yard, a short distance west of Toronto Union station. In the foreground are some VIA Rail stainless steel cars including refurbished and newly modified CN Park observation car No. 8708 Kootenay Park.. Behind them are some ex-BR Renaissence sleeping cars. These were ordered for Channel Tunnel services but were sold to the Canadians without ever working a revenue train in the UK! On the 3rd line is a row of unnumbered diesels which were GO (Govt. of Ontario) Transit model F59PH (EMD) nos. 543-545, 548-550, 552, 3, 5 & 6 (10 in all) sold in August 2011 to Montreal's Metropolitan Transport Agency (AMT). Montreal hasn't been ready to take them yet so they were de-numbered and stored (under tarps until this spring) pending their shipment. They're 22 years old and still have a few miles (oops, kilometres) left in them. They were displaced by GO's new MP40PH-3C (MPI) units which have 4 000 hp rather than the 3 000 hp of the F59's. The older models were no longer suited for handling the increasingly longer commuter trains (12 cars now rather than 10).

IMG_2180 4 eastbound trains on 3 tracks - a scene taken from the rear of Amtrak's Maple Leaf (track 1) on a 6-track section just east of Buffalo. A light engine CSX 862 stands at signals on track 2 with a freight in the block section immediately behind. A double-headed freight CSX 5255 and 7725 passes on track 4.
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IMG_2185 Amtrak's New York-bound 'Maple Leaf' stood at Syracuse for 20 minutes whilst crews were changed. The stop allowed time for a wander down the platform enabling me to get a photo of a westbound triple-headed CSX double stack container train with lead loco being GE No. 7689.

IMG_2186 New York Central 1913 ALCO-built 0-6-0 Switcher No. 6721 on display at Utica station.

IMG_2189 Engines were changed on the 'Maple Leaf 'at Albany Rensselaer station from diesel to a dual-mode loco (diesels are not allowed into Manhattan). I was expecting the engine change to be at Croton-Harmon - the limit of 3rd rail electrification on the Hudson valley line (as in steam days) and was somewhat surprised to change engines so far from New York but these days Croton-Harmon is a MTA depot rather than an Amtrak facility. Whilst changing locos another Amtrak GE dual-mode (electro-diesel) No. 716 stands in the opposite platform as a CSX westbound freight stands in the loop.

IMG_2191, 2192, 2195, 2196 and 2197. We alighted from the 'Maple Leaf' at Poughkeepsie and stayed the night here. Next morning we took a MTA Metro-North suburban train for the remaining 73 miles to Grand Central Terminal, New York City. Poughkeepsie is the limit of the Metro-North suburban system and the push-pull trains rely on dual-mode electro-diesels for power as only the 32 miles from Croton-Harmon are electrified (3rd rail system). Poughkeepsie station was built for the New York Central Railroad in 1918 and is a historic monument being refurbished in 2009. The four platforms are used by both Metro-North and Amtrak services. Just to the north as can be seen in pic IMG_2196 is the huge 6768ft long former-New Haven 7-span cantilever bridge over the Hudson River which was taken out of service in 1974 and is now a walkway.

IMG_2199, 2201 and 2204 Grand Central Terminal, New York City. By any standards this is a most imposing station. There are currently no less than 44 platforms on 2 levels although with only 286 departures per day. Work is in hand to bring Long Island RR trains into Grand Central Terminal by 2016 and then the layout will be enlarged to 48 platforms and 75 tracks. I have to confess to being mightily impressed by the terminal's facilities and layout but to me it lacked the real interest - the trains. These are tucked away in a subterrean cavern that I found to be incredibly claustrophobic and dingy. Give me a proper station anytime where trains are an intergral part eg. York!

See also http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... =30&t=9550

[Nathan Berelowitz]

Nice selection of photos.