Railpictures.ca - Profile and photos of mrdanno4050

About mrdanno4050

MrDanMofo is an avid photographer, railfan and modeller with an interest in rail photography, prototype operations, equipment information, urban transportation and model railroading. He also assists the RP.ca moderation team, as well as has helped in the past model railroad manufacturers with research and development of various rail-related models and projects. He has had a number of photographs appear in magazines, books, advertisements and used by historical groups. As per RP.ca's photo use guidelines, all photos uploaded by this user are not to be used for commercial and other purposes unless prior permission has been obtained.

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mrdanno4050 's photos on Railpictures.ca:

<b>The early bird gets the worm.</b>
<br><br>
As a general rule of thumb, anything worthwhile tends to show up at the darnedest times - and it's all about timing. CN #384 today had some goodies, necessitating getting trackside early on a Friday we would have otherwise slept in for. Someone in London or Sarnia would have had to get up in the wee hours of the morning under darkness, but since our photo spot is near the end of this train's run, we only had to get downtown just at the end of morning rush hours.
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As luck would have it #384 wasn't early or late this morning, and it rolled into town just before 9am with CN 2658 leading Burlington Northern Santa Fe 5424, Wisconsin Central "Flag livery" 3027, and a grey KCS-painted Grand Trunk Western 5944, seen here crossing Fletchers' Creek west of downtown Brampton.
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The track in the foreground that appears to lead off to the photographer curved south to service Georgia Pacific on Queen Street. Known as the "Dixie Cup Spur", it was taken out of service with the triple-tracking of the corridor in 2008/2009, never reconnected, and eventually ripped out in April 2013. (Photo of it in service can be seen <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=3744>*here*</a>).

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/23/2007
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 3 Favourites

TTC 5165 leads a set of T1 subway cars, southbound at York Mills Station on the northern section of the Yonge line.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	09/28/2011
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 2 Favourites

Coming off the Hamilton Subdivision from Hamilton (where else?) CP 8547 and CEFX "Bluebird" 1046 roll #427 into Guelph Junction on the connection track for the Galt Sub (shown on right) bound for Toronto.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	03/16/2008
Location:	Campbellville
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

After working the nearby Ford plant and spotting some autoracks for loading, CN GP9RM 7007 heads back light to Oakville Yard, its reflection cast in the still waters of a nearby pond. The moon is in the sky, the last light of the day is slowly fading to darkness.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	04/18/2008
Location:	Oakville
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 4 Favourites

<b>Busy single track mainline.</b>
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Back before the double- and triple-tracking of the busy CN Halton Subdivision for expanded GO service, there was a stretch in Brampton between Kennedy Road and Queen Street that remained single tracked since at least the 1950's (between mileboards Peel and Brampton East, resp.). This section, while a bottleneck during busier times, offered the advantage of making sure one caught every train without the photographer getting hosed during meets.
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On a slightly overcast day, in the span of just 15 minutes, that single track section presented a nice parade in the following order: CN #435 heading west with a pair of SD's and 3 Geeps, #392 motoring east with a Draper Taper leading a WC SD45 and IC SD40 (both Operation Lifesaver units), and finally our pictured #338 with a trio of SD40-2's riding his block. Wide-nosed SD40-2W CN 5338 and CN-painted IC SD40-2's 6200 & 6139 lead the charge east, past the AEI reader at Brampton East and over the dual James/John St. crossings.
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The roadbed and bridge over Queen Street for the future double tracking here can be seen already in place, and crews were working to the east to clear the line for installing double tracking through this section, to come online a few years later in 2008/2009.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	12/23/2006
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | Favourites

After a big early morning derailment just east of the Credit River closed the entire line at 2am, GO service on the Georgetown line was severely crippled all day. Morning trains were cancelled, GO bus service was a mess due to 15 centemetres of snowfall, and evening train service was reduced (2 instead of 4 trains) and only ran as far as Mount Pleasant Station, with passengers going further west having to hop GO shuttle buses to their destinations. CN maintenance crews were all over the derailment site, and Hulcher crews with side-boom tractors and excavators were busy cleaning up the mess and cutting up CN #394's damaged cars at the Credit. The biggest impact however was that the otherwise busy CN Halton Sub was quiet for most of the day, as no freight or passenger traffic could pass. Evidence of this litters the champaign-lit ground this evening: it's 5:30pm, and the powdery snow being kicked up hasn't been touched by any other train since the derailment 15 hours ago.<br><br>After dropping off its load of evening commuters at Mount Pleasant just east of the derailment site, GO #205 highballs eastbound back to Toronto. F59PH class-unit 520 leads 10 empty commuter cars through downtown Brampton, slamming over the diamond at Mile 15.5 on the north track. Not being able to get to and tie down at Georgetown overnight, any GO's had to deadhead back to Toronto and return deadhead in the morning when the track was finally cleared.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	GO Transit
Date:	03/05/2008
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | Favourites

<b><i>GM over GM</i></b><br><br>Rumbling over traffic (including a GMC pickup truck) on the busy Islington Avenue below, CN #115 with 8851 on point heads east after departing Brampton Intermodal Terminal and crossing the massive Humber River bridge (Mile 4.3 of the Halton Sub). Skirting the north side of Toronto just north of Steeles Ave, a stone's throw away one can note CP's MacTier Subdivision crossing just north of the Emery industrial area.<br><br>Built by Electro Motive's General Motors Diesel Division in London ON, SD70M-2 8851 was as good as it got in terms of new power on CN at the time. Alas, with the Caterpillar takeover and elimination of the London plant they're no longer made with Canadian pride, instead in work-to-rule Muncie, Indiana at lower wages. A sign of the times.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	06/05/2009
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

Sunrise at Halwest, in between GO trains at Bramalea Station.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	04/22/2008
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 3 Favourites

<b><i>Red Interlopers!</i></b><br><br>Heading south on the OBRY's Owen Sound Spur, the CP Streetsville Turn with 8215 & 3105 crosses Alpha Mills Road on the way back to Streetsville Junction as light power. After having switched a customer up the line (likely Kaotin Natie north of Highway 401), the pair of Geeps are heading back to the Galt Sub mainline to begin switching PDI's transloading facility inside the old wye area.<br><br>Today's rare catch began with driving over the crossing at Mississauga Road on the way home, and catching a glimpse of a headlight in the distance. Assuming it was the OBRY, a quick detour to Alpha Mills revealed the photographer was mistaken, but yielded a far greater prize. While shortline owner Orangeville Brampton Railway handles operations and switching on most of the line, CP retains service on the portion south of Mile 2.4, of which there are one or two customers remaining that get CP-switched every so often.<br><br>And the carpet? Your guess is as good as mine...

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	01/10/2008
Location:	Mississauga
Province:	Ontario

6 Comments | 3 Favourites

Rolling past the towering Mount MaKay in the background and the Thunder Bay International Airport in the foreground, CN GMD1 1435 rolls by automobiles not even 1/4 of her age on a crosstown grain transfer, from Port Arthur to the Neebing area.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	07/14/2007
Location:	Thunder Bay
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 4 Favourites

Roaring westbound through the city limits of Brampton and Mississauga, three rebuilt CN SD40's haul a long 399 upgrade between Torbram and Goreway, past Torbram Yard off to the right. Leaders CN 6020 & 6016 were remanufactured by CN as upgraded SD40u units, trailing unit WC 6944 was rebuilt as an Alsthom leaser, before it was then leased back to CN and sublettered WC. Today the 6000's are relegated to road and yard duties across the CN system, and the former WC/GCFX units have been sold off and spread across North America.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	11/24/2007
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 3 Favourites

A RailServe crew is busy switching tank cars of crude oil in Clarkson Yard, for the nearby Petro Canada refinery. LTEX GP38 2077 is the power of the day, one of two units stationed at the plant for switching inside and moving cars between there and here, where they are lifted and set of by CN locals along the Oakville Sub.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	10/06/2008
Location:	Mississauga
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 4 Favourites

Heading to Davisville Subway Station, a train of northbound T1 subway cars has just passed a southbound train of older H5's heading into the tunnel. Shot from the old CNR Beltline Bridge (once used to deliver Toronto's first subway cars in the 50's, now long abandoned as a railway corridor and currently a walking trail), part of the Davisville Yards can be seen on the right, to the left Yonge St. and the sprawling office towers north of Bloor.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	10/24/2008
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Cando
Date:	11/01/2008
Location:	Alton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

<b>Like Sardines in Tin Cans.</b>
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With its 1960's tiling, low ceilings, narrow platforms and crowded nature, the TTC's Yonge Subway Station during rush hour is enough to make anyone feel claustrophobic. At 5:07pm on a Wednesday, the usual large crowds wait to board as passengers disembark an eastbound train bound for Kennedy with TTC H6 5899 in the lead. Inside the train, it's standing room only for the rest of the trip.
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And it wasn't any better for your photographer, who was heading westbound and then south to Toronto's Union Station, where he traded standing armpit to armpit with strangers for one of the last seats on a packed GO Train home.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	09/07/2011
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 1 Favourites

<b><i>O Canada!</b></i>
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With the afternoon sun and bright clean snow really showing a contrast to the dirty red SD40-2 and slightly cleaner GE, CP 158 kicks up some white stuff cruising through Guelph Junction, past OSR's enginehouse and facilities. Happily there was a rather unique unit in the lead today: CP 6028 features the one-of-a-kind "Triple Flags" livery: someone added an extra Canadian flag onto the usual half-US half-Canadian flag logos on both sides of the unit. Coupled with the typical Canadian winter environment and beaver on the trailing unit, all that's missing in this shot is an igloo, a mountie and a dog-sled team!
<br><br>

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	12/18/2007
Location:	Campbellville
Province:	Ontario

Comments | Favourites

<i><b>Over 7 decades ago...</b></i><br><br>
A warm spring day finds a 6-pack of TTC subway cars heading eastbound along the Bloor-Danforth line's eastern section open cut, between Victoria Park and Warden subway stations. 20 minutes later, the same train will be heading back west after turning at Kennedy Station. People enjoying a leisurely stroll at the nearby Prairie Drive Park pay no attention, likely used to the rumbling of the subway through Oakridge (Scarborough).
<br><br>
While a hydro corridor and subway line inhabit this open stretch in the photo, nearly 80 years before a railway line ran through here: the old Canadian Northern Railways (CNoR) Trenton Subdivision (later renamed the Orono Sub) from Todmorden (in the Don Valley) to Ottawa. Once Canadian National (CN) took over the Grand Trunk and CNoR in 1923, much of this line was eventually abandoned due to duplicate rail lines in the area (the current CNR Kingston Sub to the south being the main one). It would be another 40 years until construction of a subway line in the 1960's began and rail returned.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	05/30/2006
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 4 Favourites

Passing by the location of a former rail customer long-gone (the building at the left once housed STP and Charters Publishing, who had a rail siding here), CCGX 4009 leads the twice-a-week Orangeville Brampton Railway interchange run from Orangeville to Streetsville, seen at McMurchy Avenue in Brampton on the southbound leg of the trip.
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One thing to note is the locomotive and cars covered in snow from sitting in Orangeville up north, with nary a trace on the ground here in Brampton. Mother Nature works in mysterious ways.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Cando
Date:	11/18/2008
Location:	Brampton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 5 Favourites

Naturally, one often takes liberties to get "that shot". Leaving Bramalea on the GO Train, CN #577 with a pair of GP40-2L(W) units were spotted ready to leave Malport and follow us down the single-track Weston Sub, on their way to interchange cars with CP at West Toronto. The only freights that used the line were afternoon transfer run #577 and the night switcher #579 (that only went as far as Etobicoke North though) I also had some time to kill, and an idea for a shot I wanted.
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So, upon arrival at Weston GO Station, it was decided to trade off a quick ride downtown for a shot of #577 and TTC it the rest of the way. Hopping off the train at 12:31pm and walking up a block or two, it was a short wait of 8 minutes. Riding GO #260's block, CN #577 with 9523 and 9551 on point rounds the bend into the town of Weston ON with their short train.
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Then I walked down Church St., and patiently waited for the next 89 Weston bus to Keele Subway Station. Back to your regular programming.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/04/2008
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 2 Favourites

<b><i>Like shooting fish in a barrel.</b></i><br><br>After running out of batteries standing trackside just as CN #577 departed Malport Yard (about a kilometre up the road), I quickly swapped in some new ones and zipped down Torbram Road to catch them at the crossing just to the south. A pair of CN GP40-2L(W) units, rare to find on the mainline but the soup du jour of 577, haul their train around the bend from the Halton Sub onto the Weston via the low speed north service track on a hazy spring morning. <br><br>The junction point of Halwest (officially by Hwy 407 on the left in the distance, in Brampton) is the meeting point between the busy Halton Sub mainline from Burlington to Vaughan, and the mostly passenger Weston Sub from Toronto to Brampton (where we are right now was taken just across the city limits in Mississauga). 577 was at the time the regular CN-CP interchange train, taking CP cars to West Toronto/The Junction and CN cars back to MacMillan Yard in Vaughan.

Name:	MrDanMofo
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	05/28/2008
Location:	Mississauga
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 2 Favourites

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