T.G.'s Photography Blog

  Q560 is a daily manifest train that originates at CSX's Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati, Ohio, and travels to its final destination at Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, New York. Earlier this month, I came across CSX Q560 -02 with Canadian National (CN) 2838 and CSXT 39 on the point at DeWitt Yard waiting for a new crew. CN 2838 and CSXT 39 are on the head end of a crewless Q560-02 sitting on the North Runner at DeWitt Yard.   Q560-02 sat on the east end of the North Runner at DeWitt Yard in Minoa, New York. The train had arrived at DeWitt Yard in the early morning, after passing through Fairport, New York, at 03:35 AM. Depending on traffic, trains generally take an hour and a half to cover the distance between Fairport and Syracuse. A westward view of the east end of DeWitt Yard from North Main Street. Q560-02 is on the North Runner, next to the Local Yard Lead.   The day I caught Q560-02 was the day that CSX implemented the new "M" prefix for manifest train symbols. Any train or...

CN 3115 is one of the Canadian National Railway's (CN) heritage locomotives. Heritage locomotive paint schemes usually honor railroads acquired by present-day railroads . CN 3115 honors BC Railway, whose railroad operations were acquired by CN in 2004. BC Rail began life as Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) in 1912. In 1918 the British Columbia provincial government took over the PGE. In 1972 PGE was renamed British Columbia Railway, and then in 1984, that name was shortened to BC Rail.  Q212-22 arriving at CP282 Nearing CP282, CN 3115 leads Q212-22 slowly east on Track 1. CP283's signals are in the background. I heard CSX's NF dispatcher, who controls the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) tell Q212-22 that it was going into Track 7 to hold for some traffic coming west. Track 7 runs between CP286 and CP291 of the STS. NF was making room for I017-21 to run west on Track 2 while I009 worked the Departure Yard Lead and tied up Track 1 at CP285. CP285 is on the western end ...

Back on a hot summer evening in June of 2008, I was up chasing trains in North St. Louis. While hanging out on Branch Street I heard a train coming north on the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) Merchants Subdivision. It turned out I was lucky enough to catch a BNSF manifest freight train being led by an ex-Santa Fe (SF) Warbonnet locomotive and a Canadian National (CN) cowl unit.  North Market Interlocking I first photograph the train as it rolled north through the TRRA's North Market Interlocking. The interlocking is listed as being at milepost 5.0 of the Merchants Subdivision, per a TRRA timetable. It is located between Branch Street, to the north, and North Market Street, to the south. North Market Interlocking is a junction where BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and a short NS line (now unused) interchange with the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. The NS line connects on the west side of the interlocking, while the Hannibal Subdivision connects on the east side of th...

Two Wednesdays back, I was lucky enough to catch a CSX train with Kansas City Southern locomotives leading a military train through the Central New York region. As luck would have it, I was able to see and photograph another CSX train this past Wednesday with foreign power. This past Wednesday, I caught K684-14 with Illinois Central (AAR reporting mark IC) 2706 and British Columbia Railway (AAR reporting mark BCOL) 4648 on a loaded ethanol tank car train. BCOL is also known as BC Rail. CSX train K684-14 at Memphis, New York Except for a CSX signal maintainer, everything was quite on the railroad when I arrived at my usual spot at the Erie Canal Trail parking lot in Memphis, New York . The signal maintainer was working on the block signals to the west at milepost 303.5 of the Rochester Subdivision. The parking lot is off of Bennetts Corners Road, which is MP 302.54. A CSX signal maintainer's vehicle is parked to the west at the block signals at MP 303.5. I listened as the train...

 Back in May of 2014, my dad and I followed Canadian National's (reporting mark CN) Centralia Subdivision south through central and southern Illinois. After driving south to Makanda, Illinois, we wound up chasing a manifest freight train, led by CN 2110 and CN 2593, back north to Irvington, Illinois.  CN Centralia Subdivision The Centralia Subdivision runs between Sandoval Junction (milepost 247.2), at Sandoval, Illinois, to the station name of Illinois (milepost 263.1) at Cairo, Illinois. Sandoval is about six miles north of Centralia, and Centralia is about 60 miles due east of St. Louis, Missouri. Cairo is the southernmost town in Illinois and sits at the confluence of the Mississippi River and Ohio River. The Centralia Subdivision was once a part of the Illinois Central Railroad (reporting mark IC) and became part of Canadian National when CN purchased the IC in 1998. The subdivision is part of the CN (ex-IC) mainline running between Chicago, Illinois , to New Orleans, Lo...

Back in July 2013, as some family and I made our way from Toronto to Niagara Falls for the day, we stopped off at Bayview Junction so I could try and get my fix of railfanning at this busy railroad junction. Unfortunately, for me, the morning turned out to be extremely slow at the junction. We hung out on the pedestrian bridge over the tracks on the eastern end of the junction for about two hours, and we wound up only seeing two trains.  Bayview Junction Bayview Junction is a busy railroad interchange located in Hamilton, Ontario. The junction's rail lines form a triangle that is situated among the Royal Botanical Gardens. It features Canadian National's (CN) Dundas and Oakville Subdivisions, plus Canadian Pacific's (CP) Hamilton Subdivision (not seen in any of this post's photographs). In addition to CN and CP freight trains, Amtrak ,  VIA , and GO Transit commuter trains pass through the junction. According to the current schedule, as of June 2021, there are eight ...

UP 9055 and CN 2412 - Modoc, IL and Ellis Grove, IL Union Pacific (UP) 9055 and Canadian National (CN) 2412 lead a manifest freight train north over the Kaskaskia River, on the Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision. The Kaskaskia River bridge is located about a mile north of Kaskaskia Lock and Dam site. The lock and dam site is about a mile up river from the confluence of the Kaskaskia River and the Mississippi River. March 3, 2006, between Modoc, Illinois, and Ellis Grove, Illinois.

Sitting without a crew on Union Pacific's (UP) Jefferson City Subdivision , is Canadian National (CN) 8020. CN 8020 is on the point of UP train MKCAS14. This train was coming from Kansas City, MO., and going to the Alton & Southern's Gateway Yard in East St. Louis, IL. The locomotive is an EMD built (an EMD SD70M-2. April 16, 2008. Eureka, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann. All rights reserved.

Signs seem to be everywhere along Canadian National's Dundas Subdivision between the VIA station and the Thames Street crossing. This view is looking eastward from the station platform. The Dundas Subdivision runs between Bayview Junction in Hamilton, Ontario (to the east) and London, Ontario (to the west). Photo taken: Ingersoll, Ontario. September 18, 2015. Photo © Tom Gatermann