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About MrDan

MrDan is an avid photographer, railfan, modeller and slide collector 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 written permission has been obtained (but link sharing to the photo's page is welcome and encouraged). Original photographer credit is noted for any collection slide uploads whenever possible. ***Images posted including (those collection slide images) are not to be reused in any publication, both print or online, without prior permission***

MrDan's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 992
Total gold: 10449
Number of comments recieved : 1234
Number of comments posted : 1094
Total views: 1784419

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MrDan has 1 image in the Time Machine

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MrDan's 992 photos on Railpictures.ca:

After one of the regular summer steam excursions from Toronto to Niagara Falls, Canadian National "Bullet-nosed Beatty" 6060 sits near the station in Niagara Falls being serviced as passengers crowd the platforms for an up-close and personal look at the big 4-8-2 Mountain (a few even climb up into the cab). CN RDC-4 6401 sits one track over near the station, on one of the regular Toronto-Niagara Falls trains. A rare Budd RDC-4 (one of only 14 made, 6 of which were owned by CN), in a scene like this it doesn't hold a candle to a live steam locomotive.<br><br><i>Mike Mastin photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Mike Mastin photo, …
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/28/1976
Location:	Niagara Falls
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 15 Favourites

After coming down the Don Branch from Leaside, Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 1260 (G5c-class, built 1946 by CLC Kingston) stops at Don Station on a westbound passenger train on its final leg downtown to Toronto's Union Station. A TTC bus (probably a 1900-series Can-Car) heads west on the Queen Street bridge spanning the rail corridor and nearby Don River.
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With the decline of passenger service in the 1960's, the CPR's Don Station (opened in 1896) was closed in 1968, and moved to Todmorden Mills a year later for preservation. It has since been moved downtown and is now one of the centerpieces at the Toronto Railway Museum's "Roundhouse Park".
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<i>Original photographer unknown (duplicate slide), Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	06/18/1954
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 16 Favourites

CN GP9RM 7274 and slug 274 switch cars at the south end of CN's sprawling MacMillan Yard in Vaughan, after switching out the lumber facility at the west end of the yard. CN's yard administration building is visible in the background, built in the 1960's when the whole yard was new.
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With 68 and 66 years of service for their original owner (7274 originally built as GP9 <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=52439><b>4595</b></a> in June 1957, and 274 originally built as CN GP9 1746/<a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=29015><b>4422</b></a> in April 1955), it's hard to believe both of these units worked alongside the last of the steam locomotives in Canada, and are still at it putting in a full day's work decades later.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/16/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 13 Favourites

GO Transit GP40TC 506 cruises over the Jones Avenue underpass along CN's Kingston Sub with a short 4-car Lakeshore East commuter train, passing what appears to be afternoon recess at the nearby Blake Street Junior Public School. The right-of-way along this section of the Kingston Sub in East York was quite built-up, tight, and inaccessible, so photos along this stretch aren't too common.
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<i>Brian Ottaway photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.<i>

Name:	Brian Ottaway photo…
Railway:	GO Transit
Date:	06/04/1980
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 20 Favourites

Codeline poles fly by as CN GP40 4017 speeds northbound on the Newmarket Sub leading 5 old 6-axle commuter coaches on the "Barrie Bullet" somewhere south of Barrie. The exact location of this photo isn't noted, but it appears to have been shot between two rural crossings relatively close together.<br><br>The two 89mph-geared CN GP40 units (4016 & 4017, later 9316 & 9317) did time on CN's and later <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=40694><b>VIA's passenger trains</b></a> out of downtown Toronto's Spadina Roundhouse, and even worked in <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36391><b>GO Transit commuter service</b></a>. One of the assignments they often drew was the "Barrie Bullet" commuter trains between Toronto and Barrie. One of the 3000hp units solo was pretty much enough, and it lead <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=47148><b>long hood forward on the trip back</b></a>.<br><br><i>Barry Schroeder photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Barry Schroeder pho…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	Circa August 1978
Location:	Barrie
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 20 Favourites

CP 8036, 8834 and 8774 lead a short CPKC #101 northbound from Toronto Yard to Vaughan Intermodal Terminal to pick up the rest of their train, having just received yarding instruction from VIT and entering the siding at Elder South. A cut of ballast gondolas with excavator are tacked on the head end ahead of six intermodal cars.
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The train is passing some of the farmlands and old farms in the northwest area of Vaughan (former farming hamlet of Elder's Mills) that will soon be suburban housing developments when progress pushes further north. There's no shortage of housing encroaching in the distance, and the downtown skylines of Toronto and Vaughan (VMC) are also visible.
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While the lands here are still farmed for now, this farm itself sees little activity. Research shows it was last owned by long-time residents George and Fern Wardlaw (George passed away in 2022 at the age of 96). Aerial imagery shows multiple old farmhouses and residences on site (inter-generational families?), all of which were cleared after 2009 when farming operations wound down and the property sold, leaving the old barns for occasional use by construction and limited farming operations. A very rusty old farm truck sits by the tracks greeting every passing train, a relic remaining from decades past until the developers come knocking.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian Pacific K…
Date:	09/08/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 14 Favourites

CPKC's "Friday Night Special" #421 heads north up the MacTier Sub at Elder with a long train lead, by a nice mix of power up front: CP ES44AC 8839, oily AC4400CW 9830, clean AC4400CWM 8200, borrowed CN ES44AC 2923, and old SD40-2's 6028 (in ratty faded pink System paint) and 6055 (multimark!). If one looks carefully, they can see the ever-present CN Tower from here.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian Pacific K…
Date:	09/08/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

Two lads on a bicycle meet TTC PCC 4280 (A5-class car, built by CC&F in 1945), operating on an eastbound King run heading northbound up Broadview Avenue at Bain. The streetcar is passing by the new Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Church (completed a year earlier). Rollsigns up front read "King" (route) and "Subway" (destination), with a yellow card on the dash likely reading "Broadview Station" (the rollsigns on older cars facing retirement may not have been updated with the new subway terminus names in 1966).<br><br>The end for many of the TTC's early air-electric PCC streetcars was days away: 4280 would be one of the old air-electric PCCs rendered surplus a few days later by the opening of the Bloor-Danforth extensions in 1968 (eliminating the <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31201><b>Bloor and Danforth "shuttle" runs</b></a> operated with streetcars since 1966), and subsequently end up as one of the cars sold to Alexandria, Egypt in 1968 (there had also been a culling in 1966 when the original Bloor-Danforth subway line opened).<br><br><i>Robert D. McMann photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Robert McMann photo…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	05/07/1968
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

CPKC train #420 makes its way south down the MacTier Sub, crossing the mighty Humber River south of Woodbridge on the approach to Emery. Today's power is CP AC4400CW 9713 and KCSM SD70ACe 4163.
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CP's Humber River bridge at Mile 10.48 MacTier Sub was constructed as part of one of the old line realignments around Woodbridge: the original Toronto, Grey & Bruce line snaked through the lower part of the valley here and crossed the river at a lower bridge*, until straightening and elevating the line for the present high-level bridge shown. The original TG&B line at the upper left also kept going straight off to the left (to out of frame) at the present curve, once entering Woodbridge on a more westerly alignment. This was realigned east to the present alignment (north of the curve, heading into the distance) around 1907-1908, and the north end of the old alignment became a short spur into town.
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And if that wasn't enough, the old Toronto Suburban Railway interurban line from Weston to Woodbridge snaked along the Humber River through the valley here until its discontinuance in 1926. (A look at some old <a href=https://www.toronto.ca/ext/archives/s0012/fl1961/s0012_fl1961_it0271.jpg><b>aerial imagery from 1961</b></a> shows a few of the old alignments from both.
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<i>* That small white square, visible poking up in the Humber River north of the "island" on the east side, may be an old bridge abutment from the original alignment.</i>

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian Pacific K…
Date:	08/14/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

A westbound CP Rail extra freight waits at Galt in the evening (exact spot unsure) lead by an eclectic gathering of power: CP C424 4242, F7B 4434 and FP7 4031. One of CP's many wooden vans (caboose) is curiously marshalled two cars back, mingling with the mixed freight.
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Each unit here had some significance on the roster: CP C424 4242 was one of the first two units (along with C424 4239) painted in the new "CP Rail" 1968 multimark livery, and ran on the publicity train of matching multi-coloured freight cars often seen on postcards.
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CP F7B 4434 was formerly numbered 1908 (originally renumbered from 4434 to 1908 in the mid-1950's for use on CP's new transcontinental train "The Canadian"), and the only F7B to get action red as a 1900-series unit (it wasn't renumbered back to the 4400's with the other F7B's until later).
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CP FP7 4031 acquired its trademark drooping rear end or "hunchback" after trailing one of the two trains involved in a fatal head-on collision in Bowden AB in April 1971. Despite being the trailing unit, its nose was damaged when the loaded grain boxcar behind rammed into it, and was repaired with the nose of sister unit 4039 (also involved in the wreck). The collision damaged 4031's frame (hence the drooping rear end), but the unit was otherwise repaired and served for many years after in this state.
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<i>Bill McArthur photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Bill McArthur photo…
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	August 1977
Location:	Galt
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 18 Favourites

Departing out of the east <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=33883><b>entrance/exit tunnel</b></a> into the underground St. Clair West Subway Station loop, TTC railgrinder PCC's W30 and W31 head east out onto St. Clair Avenue East. In the distance, one of the two PCC's painted for Toronto's Sesquicentennial 150th Birthday (4536 or 4545) is seen heading eastbound <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36971
><b>near Bathurst</b></a>, about to duck into the station.
<br><br>St. Clair West Subway Station opened in 1978 as part of the Spadina Line extension, and included an underground bus/streetcar loop with approach ramps in the middle of St. Clair Avenue for transit vehicles to enter and exit. Station entrances for patrons are visible on both sides of the street. The Loblaws pictured has since been replaced by a larger building in the parking lot area, straddling the north subway station entrance. Part of Holy Rosary Parish's church buildings are also visible on the bottom right, in this photo taken from a nearby apartment.
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Both yellow railgrinders W30 and W31, converted from TTC 4600-series A11-class PCC's (originally built for Cleveland in 1946) for grinding rails across the streetcar network, still exist at the Halton County Radial Railway museum in Rockwood ON (W30 has been retrofitted with seating and gives museum patrons rides, while W31 is on static display inside of the barns).
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Original photographer unknown, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	Circa July 1984
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

CP M636 4734 and RS18 8757 operating on an eastbound freight (green flags and class lights denote this as the first section of a timetable freight) smoke it up as they accelerate their train out of Guelph Junction, passing by the derail near the east end of the south siding. The head end has two stock cars, a dimensional load of construction machinery (possibly a large off-highway truck) on a flatcar, and empty open autoracks.
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<i>Gord Taylor photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	Gord Taylor photo, …
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	September 1974
Location:	Campbellville
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 19 Favourites

Another view of TTC PCC 4545, likely on the same warm Summer's day <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=42933><b>as this one</b></a>, operating on the St. Clair route. This time, 4545 is seen waiting in traffic northbound on Mount Pleasant Avenue at Manor Avenue, on the trip up to Eglinton Loop.
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The advertisement on the side of 4545 is for the new Galleria Shopping Centre's grand opening on August 15th, 1972 (closed in 2019). Some of the stores visible in the background are the Silver Moon (Chinese & Polynesian Food), Pleasant Smoke Shop, Pleasant Hardware (Home Hardware franchise?), Lobster Gourmet and Imperial Jewellers. The "Central cooling" ad in the background is advertising Coca Cola as as solution to the heat). Much of this two-story block of stores is still intact today, although streetcar service on Mount Pleasant ended a few years later in late July 1976.
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<i>Original photographer unknown (possibly a John H. Eagle photo), Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.</i>

Name:	unknown, Dan Dell'U…
Railway:	Toronto Transit Co…
Date:	Summer 1972
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

After being issued permission to work the east track of the CP MacTier Sub between Emery and Sheppard, CP 4522 North headed up to the switch at the north end, cut off their short train of five empty gondolas, did the ol' run-around and came back up from the south end to lift the cut of loaded scrap gondolas from the Combined Metal Industries (CMI) siding. Here the power, GP38-2's 4522 and 3055, have coupled on and are preparing to lift the loads before spotting the empties back onto the siding.<br><br>At one point many businesses and industries in the Emery industrial area of North York used rail service, but today only a handful still do, including CMI (scrap), Gerdau Ameristeel (scrap) and Scott Forest Products (wood and lumber products). As per their website, CMI's Toronto Yard deals with all sorts of scrap metal, including cars. A stack of well-worm automobiles are visible under the canopy, drained of their fluids and waiting to be fed into the crusher. Sorted and unsorted scrap metal fills the gondolas: the first appears to be loaded with miscellaneous cut-up metal sections, panels and pieces, the second with scrap brake drums and wheel rims, the third with shredded metal, and the fourth with crushed metal cubes.<br><br>A note about the power: while CP 3055 is your run-of-the-mill GMD-built "Canadian" GP38-2, CP 4522 originally started life as a rare EMD GP40X model (a test-bed of sorts for future GP50 technology, including a 3500hp rated 16-645F and HT-B high-adhesion trucks). Built as UP 9003, she eventually found her way to NRE and became rebuild fodder for an order of GP38-2 equivalent units for CP. While the classic GP40X flared radiators were kept, the middle fan was blanked off, new twin non-turbo exhaust stacks replaced the single turbo stack, and a paper air filter housing was added to the body ahead of the dynamic brake section. The experimental HT-B trucks were also swapped for standard Blomberg B's.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	08/14/2023
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 12 Favourites

Looking like a miniature model and almost fitting the entire train on the bridge, CN GP38-2W 4770 and GP38-2 4717 lead their short 10-car local #529 eastbound high over the Humber River in the evening light, heading back to MacMillan Yard after switching some of the industries along the Weston Sub.
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Built in the early 1960's as part of CN's "Toronto bypass" project, this single track bridge was constructed to span the Humber River on the northern reaches of Toronto, just inside Vaughan Township, as part of a new railway line (the Halton Subdivision) connecting the new <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=51354><b>Toronto Yard</b></a> (today's MacMillan Yard) to CN's existing Brampton Sub (today's Weston/Halton Sub) near the new satellite city of Bramalea (at "Halwest"). The line, a mix of double and single track since its inception (with many sections expanded to double- and triple-track since), remains single tracked over the Humber River bridge nearly six decades later.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/09/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

Signs of the times: KCS units, and SD40-2's floating around! After pausing at Emery for the light, CPKC train #421 heads north on the MacTier Subdivision over the Islington Avenue grade crossing near the Vaughan-Toronto border. CP AC4400CW 9766 leads KCSM ES44AC 4752, CP SD40-2's 6080 and 6045, and a sizable freight in tow. There was a time when KCS "Southern Belle" units were rare on CP and SD40-2's were common, it looks like the tables have turned somewhat!
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Harnessing the power of the mighty drone gets a bit more in view here compared to that fellow at the grade crossing shooting the train from the ground: at the bottom right, new condos are going in where there once was a small golf course. On the left is CN's Halton Subdivision, currently between trains. At the upper left, the "Vaughan skyline" of new condos and highrises around the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway are visible. In the upper right are likely highrises along the Weston and Finch area of North York.
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Here's a <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=49393><b>Reg Button photo of the same spot in 1984</b></a>, little has changed with some of the surrounding businesses including LiftKing and the garden centre.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian Pacific K…
Date:	08/09/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

VIA Rail #1 "The Canadian" has just come up from Union Station via the Newmarket Sub, and is beginning its reverse movement onto the CN York Sub for the trip east to Doncaster (and up the Bala Sub). Here, rear dome-observation park car Kootenay Park leads the 21 car consist off the Newmarket Sub, splitting the signals at Snider North as the train crosses back off the Highway 407 ETR overpass. A York Region Transit bus (LFS 1710) can be seen running the Route 760 Vaughan Mills / Wonderland route, originating from the cluster of new condos (around Vaughan Mills) and the faint roller coasters of Canada's Wonderland visible in the distance.
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Head end of the same train: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=52620><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=52620</b></a>

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/06/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

A four-pack of GE's lead CN intermodal #107 shortly after its departure from Brampton Intermodal Terminal: CN 2934, 2850, 3176 and 3977 are about to duck under the Newmarket Sub, heading eastbound through the interlocking plant at Snider on the York Sub enroute for the Bala.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/06/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

Pulling out of CN's MacMillan Yard on York 2, CN SD70M-2's 8811 and 8900 depart with train #306 eastbound taking the curve to enter the York Subdivison. The two tracks at the bottom are the Halton-York bypass tracks. Highway 407 ETR is the first overpass visible, and further back are the growing condos and highrises surrounding the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station at Highway 7 and Jane Street. MacMillan Yard is off to the upper right out of frame.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/06/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

VIA Rail F40PH-3D's 6458 and 6436 lead train #1, the Canadian, northbound out of Toronto on the beginning of its transcontinental journey to Vancouver. The consist of two locomotives and stainless steel Budd cars is seen pausing northbound on the Metrolinx (ex-CN) Newmarket Sub over a wide-open Highway 407 ETR (Sunday traffic), awaiting the light to back up onto CN's York Sub, and head east to swing onto the Bala Sub at Doncaster.

Name:	Dan Dell'Unto
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/06/2023
Location:	Vaughan
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 9 Favourites

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