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Chris van der Heide's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 198
Total gold: 804
Number of comments recieved : 62
Number of comments posted : 75
Total views: 384148

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Chris van der Heide's 198 photos on Railpictures.ca:

VIA Rail's train 185, a.k.a. the "Lake Superior", a.k.a. the Northern Ontario Budd cars, slows to its final station stop at White River, ON.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	07/14/2015
Location:	White River
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

CN train 571 idles on a yard track at Hawk Junction as the passenger train will get the first turn to go north. Today's train is 28 cars of mostly interchange traffic for Canadian Pacific at Franz and empty pulpwood flatcars.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/2015
Location:	Hawk Juinction
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

<p>Last run of the "Algoma Spirit" a.k.a. the regular passenger service between Sault Ste. Marie and Hearst on the former Algoma Central Railway.

<p>In the late spring of 2015, the regular passenger service on the former ACR was transferred to new operator RailMark Canada. For a while, trains were operated under RailMark's management using manpower provided by CN paid for and contracted to RailMark while they hired their own crews. In mid June, RailMark took full control of the operation with their own personnel, and almost immediately problems cropped up with the service drastically deteriorating until CN pulled the plug on their relationship with RailMark effective June 15, 2015.

<p>A timeline of RailMark's tenure goes something like this:

<p><b>January 24, 2014</b> Local communities are quietly notified that the federal subsidy to the passenger rail service will be cut, and as a result, CN will end operation of the passenger train as of March 31, 2015.

<p><b>February 14, 2014</b> CN announces a 4-week extension to April 29, 2014

<p><b>April 14, 2014</b> Transport Canada announces a one-year extension to the federal subsidy, to the end of March 2015, in order to give local stakeholders time to evaluate options and propose an alternative solution. Over the next year, a working group is formed to study and lobby for the service, and due to CN's desire to get out of the passenger business, look for alternative operators for the service.

<p><b>March 31, 2015</b> On the very last day before CN was slated to discontinue operation, Transport Canada officially announces a new three-year subsidy deal with a new operator, RailMark (although the name of the operator had slipped out about a week earlier when it was revealed they were looking to hire train service personnel in the Sault Ste. Marie area). The funding package is set up in such a way that the city of Sault Ste. Marie will act as trustee to manage the subsidy and have local accountability for the new operator, which has yet to prove their track record - indeed, their record so far seems to consist mainly of other failed tourist trains, a red flag to many, including this photographer. CN will continue to operate the train under the old subsidy agreement until the end of April to give RailMark time to get ready. (It should be noted that RailMark is apparently selected by CN from three qualified bids.)

<p><b>May 1, 2015</b> The first day of RailMark's operation of the train, but the train does not run. RailMark's president will cite the lack of a signed agreement yet with the city for the provided funding. One major pre-condition that the city's Economic Development Corporation has recommended is RailMark being able to prove a certain financial ability to maintain an operation, in the form of appropriate insurance and financing in the form of an available line of credit covering up to three months of operating costs. RailMark has succeeded in obtaining a required operating certificate from Transport Canada and the required insurance but cannot yet show they have the available financing.

<p><b>May 7, 2015</b> The first northbound train under RailMark's management leaves Sault Ste. Marie, with only a single passenger as no one knows it is actually running. The agreement is still unsigned, but RailMark goes ahead in good faith. Crews and personnel are provided by CN and paid for by RailMark.

<p><b>June 16, 2015</b> The first day of 100% RailMark operation with their own crew. The train apparently makes it as far as Mead (approximately 25 miles south of Hearst) before the crew hits their hours of service limit and the train is halted there.

<p><b>June 17, 2015</b> The southbound train does not run at all. Many passengers are left stranded. There are allegations of a rules violation the day before and an investigation. RailMark has only the single crew available, so service is effectively brought to a crashing halt for the duration of the investigation. The crew is apparently cleared of any wrongdoing, but service is disrupted for almost an entire week. The passenger equipment is towed to Sault Ste. Marie by the freight train at some point during the week.

<p><b>June 22, 2015</b> At a meeting of the Sault Ste. Marie city council, the EDC recommends not signing the funding agreement with RailMark, as they have still failed to meet the pre-conditions for the agreement, i.e. being able to show adequate operational financing with an available line of credit.

<p><b>June 25, 2015</b> The train makes its first run north from Sault Ste. Marie since the disruption, but only as far as Hawk Junction. From this point forward, the train will operate north of Hawk Junction only, providing NO service south of Hawk, and erratic service between Hawk and Hearst, with the train on some days turning at Oba and not running the full way. Eventually CN will announce it is terminating its relationship with RailMark as of July 15.

<p><b>July 13, 2015</b> The last northbound train leaves Hawk Junction. It will run as far as Oba and return to Hawk Junction later in the evening. The next day the equipment is brought down to Sault Ste. Marie apparently as a dead head move, bringing passenger service on the ACR to an ignominious end.

I happened to already have vacation in the north planned, and by coincidence it just happened that the day I would be in the Wawa area turned out to be the day of the last run. Here the crew (who unfortunately it would seem would now be out of a job) poses just before departure for a photo by a representative of the local Wawa News, standing to my right.

Shortly after the train departs, a brief but rather wet rainstorm puts an appropriate punctuation to a black day for northern rail transportation.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/2015
Location:	Hawk Junction
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 6 Favourites

Side by side at Hawk Junction.

CN L571 with CN 2419 in the lead idles in the yard while beside it on another yard track CN 4730 prepares to move the regular passenger train from its overnight storage location over to the station platform.

Officially, the passenger train is a Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst schedule, however since new operator RailMark Canada took full control of the operation in late June, the schedule has been abysmally shattered. Due to a gross lack of crew manpower, for the last several weeks of operation the train was operating north of Hawk Junction only, if it operated at all (an investigation into allegations of a major rules violation at one point shut down service for almost an entire week, stranding passengers and giving RailMark a huge black eye; the crew was apparently later cleared of wrongdoing, but could not operate a train during the investigation period).

Sadly, the train seen here is actually the last northbound run of the passenger train out of Hawk Junction, as CN had put a stop to their relationship with RailMark effective July 15, 2015. And this train would only operate as far as Oba to runaround and return to Hawk Junction later that evening, with the equipment shipped off to Sault Ste. Marie the next day for storage.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/2015
Location:	Hawk Junction
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

The northbound Agawa Canyon Tour Train crosses the old truss bridge over the Goulais River at Searchmont.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/2015
Location:	Searchmont
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 3 Favourites

The Agawa Canyon Tour Train rolls out onto the 800 foot long, 100 foot high trestle over the Bellevue valley.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/13/2015
Location:	Heyden
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

Ontario Southland GP7s 383 and 378 rumble across the Thames River bridge in Woodstock with a collection of empty autoracks for the CAMI car plant in Ingersoll.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	06/13/2015
Location:	Woodstock
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 4 Favourites

Ontario Southland's classic pair of ex-SOO high-nose GP7s rest with a single tank car at Woodstock station as the guys finish off their lunch break and get ready to exercise a work clearance on the CPR main to head over to the Coakley East siding to pick up empty auto racks for CAMI.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	06/13/2015
Location:	Woodstock
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

With a whistled greeting, CN 393 glides down the hill to the Paul M. Tellier railway tunnel (better known by its old name, the St. Clair Tunnel) with 115 cars in tow.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	2/5/2015
Location:	Sarnia
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

Name:	Chris vanderHeide
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	04/25/2015
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 7 Favourites

The daily CSX transfer led by the typical pair of GP38-2s heads south on CN industrial to return to home rails with interchange traffic lifted from the main CN yard at Sarnia.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	CSX Transportation
Date:	04/04/2015
Location:	Sarnia
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 5 Favourites

Northbound train 113 from North Bay arrives in Englehart behind SD75i 2102 and SD40-2s 1730 and 1734, while its southbound counterpart no. 214 waits to depart for North Bay with SD75i 2105 and SD40-2 1735.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	08/01/2014
Location:	Englehart
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

The inbound train now under control of the yard crew, southbound no. 214's inbound mainline crew detrains at the end of their run at North Bay. The yard crew will yard the train and switch inbound tonnage to the CN transfer yard.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	08/01/2014
Location:	North Bay
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

Southbound train no. 214 arrives at North Bay Yard, and the yard crew is ready to hop on board and take over the train from the inbound road crew who will disembark as the train slowly rolls across the grade crossing at the north side of the shops.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	08/01/2014
Location:	North Bay
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

Ontario Northland's daily Englehart to North Bay freight train no. 214 round the curve along the shore of Cobalt lake at the former ONR Cobalt station.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	08/01/2014
Location:	Cobalt
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

South Simcoe Railway's ex-CP 4-4-0 steam engine 136, built in 1883 for Canadian Pacific by Rogers Locomotive Co., simmers on the main track while passengers for the last excursion run of the day wait to board at Tottenham for the 45 minute out and back run.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Tourist
Date:	08/03/2014
Location:	Tottenham
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 4 Favourites

The southbound Agawa Canyon Tour Train, with CN GP9Rm 4110 on the southbound head end, approaches mile 10 just north of the former location of Odena siding on the former Algoma Central Railway.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Algoma Central
Date:	07/29/2014
Location:	Sault Ste. Marie
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

The southbound Agawa Canyon Tour Train crosses Second Line as it returns to Sault Ste. Marie at the end of another run. The train is now within the yard limits and will soon be passing the sprawling Steelton yards of the former Algoma Central Railway and the Algoma Steel Company before arriving at the downtown station.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Algoma Central
Date:	07/29/2014
Location:	Sault Ste. Marie
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

Northbound Canadian Pacific train 421 rolls across the massive trestle above the Parry Sound harbour.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	08/02/2014
Location:	Parry Sound
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 3 Favourites

Huron Central RM-1 road slug 802, GP40-3 3802 and GP40-2(W) 3010 work the yard at Sault Ste. Marie building the train that will depart later in the afternoon for Sudbury.

Name:	Chris van der Heide
Railway:	Huron Central Rail…
Date:	07/30/2014
Location:	Sault Ste. Marie
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 4 Favourites

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