Railpictures.ca - Profile and photos of rsmith

Profile Page for rsmith

This page shows statistics, photos, and an all-time map for rsmith. Photographers: Filling your map and earning awards can only be done one way. Submit today!

About rsmith

User has not yet set their bio. To set your bio click 'My Profile'.

rsmith's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 379
Total gold: 3653
Number of comments recieved : 1122
Number of comments posted : 925
Total views: 653362

Contact rsmith

To contact rsmith for licensing, permission, or to send a private comment click this link: (contact)
* note: all inquiries are moderated

rsmith's 379 photos on Railpictures.ca:

I'm beginning to like train 402, but it's schedule doesn't work well for good sun angles until the tracks turn southwest in Caledonia. Today's 402 was worth a chase, and after getting clouded out at a few locations, the sun was out in full force at 3rd Line as the train crawled through a slow order passing the mountain of gypsum at CGC. There was an armada of foamers following the train, but somehow I managed to be the only one at this crossing. It was good to see you today Kevin!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/05/2021
Location:	Hagersville
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 13 Favourites

The GMTX leasers don't seem to get a lot of love from railfans. I seem to be one of the few that like them, so when GMTX 2254 showed up in Brantford I hoped for a decent day to get a photo. Today was the day, and again their shove back from Normerica occurred right at lunch. The sun even cooperated. You may not like them now, but years from now when they're gone, you'll wish you had taken more photos of them!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/05/2021
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 8 Favourites

The 4th 402 to run from Sarnia to Garnet on Thursday didn't have any cars. Perhaps they brought cars from Sarnia to London, and ran light power from London to Garnet. I don't know, but I sure hope there was cars at Garnet for 401, otherwise I'm not sure why they didn't annul this 402. It takes time for Imperial Oil and Stelco to switch back to rail service after using trucks for many weeks, so hopefully they get things organised soon. Regardless, it was a CN train on the Hagersville Sub. so it was worth a shot.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/04/2021
Location:	Cainsville
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

Not just another pair of CN GE's on a dull winter day. Naturally, a noteworthy train runs in less than ideal weather conditions. This is the first Sarnia - Garnet train 402 to operate, which is a new opportunity to photograph a "main line" train on the Hagersville Sub. The train is photographed just east of Cainsville, ON, at the first of three crossings of Old Onondaga Road East. The timing of the train should work out perfectly to get early-afternoon photographs of the train crossing the Grand River bridge in Caledonia. Counterpart train 401, Garnet - Sarnia, will operate at night, based on the current schedule. CN 2153, built as ATSF 836, is a long way from the Santa Fe transcon! It's hard to believe these C40-8Ws have been on the CN roster for 10 years already. Hopefully 401/402 will stick around awhile and yield some interesting consists; I'm looking forward to photographing at locations along the Hagersville Sub. that I haven't before, as well as seeing other's photos taken along the Hagersville Sub.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/01/2021
Location:	Cainsville
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 15 Favourites

I enjoy taking photos that could have been taken 20-30 years ago. Today's pair of CN GP9RMs on 580 could have easily been taken 30 years ago, since 4131 was in the last batch of GP9 rebuilds, completed in 1991. Also noteworthy is the other unit in the consist, 4028, the last of the 4000's in service on CN. Unfortunately, this consist only lasted a few days. CN 4131 replaced CN 4770 late last week, and GMTX 2254 arrived in Brantford later in the afternoon to replace 4131 already. Today was the only day the pair operated in decent sunlight, so I was fortunate that 580's shove back from Normerica coincided with my work schedule. The GP9RMs look good for being 30 years old; that lead paint has sure held up!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/24/2021
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 18 Favourites

Just when you start getting sick of seeing the same CN GEVOs all the time, and start considering other hobbies, CN puts together a consist to keep things interesting. Thanks to a timely heads up, I deviated from my normal route to work in an attempt to find a location to photograph 396. Finding a glimmer of sunlight at Bethel Church Road, I waited. Apparently the RTC was having switch issues at Paris, which held up 396 at Paris West and 149 at Hardy. 396 ended up crossing over in front of 149 at Hardy. The delay was unfortunate for some, but led to the sun being much higher than I expected. Considering I last saw an IC lead on the Dundas Sub. in the summer of 2018, it was exciting to see this consist to say the least. Lets hope the trend continues!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/10/2021
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 24 Favourites

CN 2438 leads CN 421 through Clifton, nearing their destination at Port Robinson. CN was running management training trains from Mac Yard to Paris and return at this time, 907 westbound and 908 eastbound. CN 2438 and CN 2420 were assigned to the train (among others), however on this Saturday CN must have been short of power at Mac Yard and stole 2438 for a 421/422 run Saturday/Sunday. I have photographs of 2438 on 907 the week before and the week after. The second order of C40-8M (2430-2454) has many more remaining in service compared to the first order; only three have been sold for scrap by my count (as of 02/2021). Units in the second order differ in appearance from the first order because they arrived in CN North America paint instead of "zebra stripes", have one less marker light (no green), and the bell was relocated. The question is where? I can't see it in any of my photos. I assume it's under the frame, behind the front pilot? 2430-2454 look too bare without the bell mounted on the front of the cab.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	06/19/2011
Location:	Niagara Falls
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 11 Favourites

Out of curiosity, I decided to go through my digital photos to see how many photos I have of CN C40-8Ms. I found some decent photos that I hadn't uploaded, and this is one of them. The photo was taken 10 years ago less a day, on a nice sunny winter day similar to the weather we're experiencing now. By my count, at least 13 units of the first order (2400-2429) have been scrapped and 2 active units have been repainted, leaving only 15 C40-8Ms left on the roster in "zebra stripes." CN 2426 isn't one of them. It was sold in the Fall of 2020 to Martech Industrial in Welland, ON to be cut up like many other Dash-8 variants sent there.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/08/2011
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 9 Favourites

This is entertaining; continuing to play off each others photos. Following up on James Knott's photo of CP ballast cars in CP's Fisher Yard, here's a Southern Ontario Railway ballast train consisting entirely of CP ballast cars. The train had come up from Hamilton, where I just happened upon them when they were pulling in to the yard in Brantford to run around their train. Now pointed in the right direction, the SOR ballast train departs the yard headed for the Hagersville Sub. Early on, SOR got their ballast from CN. This was the only time I saw CP ballast cars on SOR. Later they would get ballast in a private company's hoppers, I don't recall the reporting mark, but they were plain maroon cars. Near the end of SOR operating on the Hagersville Sub. a contractor trucked in several ancient ex. Amtrak ballast cars that were loaded in Hagersville. I never got a photo of those cars or the ballast train; I wish I had!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Southern Ontario R…
Date:	06/15/2010
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 13 Favourites

All is quiet in Assiniboia, aside from the occasional "moo" from the cows at the nearby roundhouse, repurposed as cattle pens for a livestock auction company. GWSR 2000 and 2001, after their careers on CN, first went to the Cape Cod Central, then National Railway Equipment, before being sold to the Great Western Railway. Long a MLW stronghold, lately GWRS seems to be switching to GEs.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Great Western Rail…
Date:	06/15/2006
Location:	Assiniboia
Province:	Saskatchewan

2 Comments | 10 Favourites

Arnold's photo that he recently posted taken in Earlton from the Hwy. 11 bridge showing the unusual geography reminded me of this photo I had taken there a few concession roads to the north. I too found it strange that this flat farm land exists in northern Ontario. It's sure not the typical landscape we're used to seeing Ontario Northland operating in. I need to get back up there.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	06/29/2012
Location:	Earlton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 13 Favourites

Three spiffy CP geeps have run light down from Kinnear to Fisher Yard to lift a cut of cars and drag them back up to Kinnear. Units are 1691, 1650 and 1559. Back then these geeps were as common as dirt and we got sick of them. Now, it sure would be nice to see them again! Lots of cars in Fisher Yard on this day; today there may still be a few ballast cars stored in the yard, otherwise I don't think it sees much use.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	04/XX/2003
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 11 Favourites

Every Wednesday, after VIA 72 departed the station, CN 580 would leave the yard to go serve the Burford Spur. I spent many lunch hours standing at the corner of Colborne Street and Clarence Street watching the show as 580 slowly made its way along Clarence Street. The traffic control signal at Colborne Street is manually operated by a crew member to stop vehicular traffic on both Clarence Street and Colborne Street. The mid-block signal on Clarence Street was always green unless a train was crossing. A traffic signal that only turns red twice a week was often missed by northbound motorists, leading to some entertaining circumstances when the vehicles got up to Colborne Street, facing a red signal and southbound train with nowhere to go. I miss those days. The spur is now owned by the last customer on the line, Ingenia Polymers, and contracted out to Allied Track Services who operates the spur using a trackmobile.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	09/24/2014
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 23 Favourites

$RLK 3873 pulls Wellsboro and Corning Railroad (WCOR) SD40-2s 307, 302, 301 and 309 out of Stuart Street yard to be lifted by CN. They would be interchanged to NS in Buffalo, who would take them down the southern tier to Corning, NY and interchange to the WCOR. The four SD40-2s arrived in Hamilton as QNSL and were crudely patched "WCOR"at Railcare before continuing on their trip to the states. The area of Pennsylvania that WCOR serves was experiencing a boom in oil fracking, and the railroad needed bigger power to haul the seemingly endless hoppers of fracking sand to be used in the fracking process. WCOR went nuts relaying double track and building sidings to store the hopper cars waiting to be unloaded. The railroad became so attractive it was snatched up by shortline holding company Genesee and Wyoming. Soon after the G&W purchase oil prices dropped, fracking became less profitable and most if not all operations ceased. That resulted in a huge drop in business for the WCOR, so much so that three of the four SD40-2s were reassigned to the Buffalo and Pittsburgh. WCOR 307 and 309 still operate on the B&P. I'm not sure about the status of 301 and 302; I know at least one of them was returned to the lessor. Regardless, the SD40-2s looked pretty snazzy while it lasted. The WCOR even had this photo on their website for a while and it got me a free ride on the Tioga Central, the tourist train that operates on the WCOR between Wellsboro Junction and Hammond Lake. Proof that sometimes you can get unexpected benefits from your photos!$

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Southern Ontario R…
Date:	03/05/2010
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 12 Favourites

A week or two before the Ontario Southland Railway took over operation of the CP St. Thomas Sub., I paid a visit to Woodstock to photograph the local CP action for the last time. It's 8:38 a.m. and the sun is trying to peak through the clouds as the Woodstock based train was just getting started with CP 8211 and CP 8201. As they were slowly heading over to the "yard" to start switching out their train, CP 8215 and CP 8252 flew past on the Galt Sub. Perfect timing for a completely unplanned photo. Sometimes you just have to be there!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	12/04/2009
Location:	Woodstock
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 21 Favourites

RLHH 1755 and 1359 pass the Air Liquide plant approaching Birmingham Street, in beautiful north end Hamilton, on a snowy January day. Southern Ontario Railway was so close to home yet I rarely went on the hunt for them. RaiLink is gone, and so is Southern Ontario Railway in Hamilton. Don't take the local railway scene for granted!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Southern Ontario R…
Date:	01/18/2009
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 22 Favourites

ONT 2001, 1603 and 2002 rest outside the shop on a beautiful, crisp winter day. Gotta love the Ontario Northland.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	02/22/2003
Location:	Cochrane
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 17 Favourites

A nice sunny day on Christmas break had many railpictures.ca contributors out to photograph the CN and CP locals in beautiful north-end Hamilton today. The CN 07:00 job had the triple-set with GMD1us 1444 and 1408, and GTW GP38-2 5849, so that's what I was after this morning. The "700" is seen about to hit the CP diamond, just west of Gage Avenue North. The CP local was working Adams Yard already, and radio communication between the two railroads provided us with their game plan for the day. Too bad CN had foreman working on the N&NW spur. The 07:00 job was only able to work Parkland Terminal before getting held up from working the CP interchange and switching Stelco. What seemed like a simple work plan turned in to a long day for the crew.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	12/29/2020
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 21 Favourites

CN 148 has cut off of their train to make a lift at Aldershot. Leading the reverse move is CN 7600, a new heritage-painted GP40-3 rebuild. Yes, the green is incorrect but it still looks pretty good. Maybe it'll look better with some road grime on it. There's also a matching slug numbered 600, but it must be hitching a ride on another train. When news broke of these GP40-3s I figured I'd never see one, assuming they would be assigned to major yards far out of view from the public. So thank you to Joe and others that provided heads up. There's also a GP40-3 in Illinois Central black. I'm interested to see what other paint schemes these GP40-3s come out wearing.

Name:	Rob Smtih
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	12/20/2020
Location:	Aldershot
Province:	Ontario

20 Comments | 28 Favourites

A heritage photo of a CN heritage unit. Here's a photo I took and looked at once and never again until today; CN 3069 is one of two CN heritage units that I photographed before they became a heritage unit. CN 8952 was the other, however it was trailing. A ho-hum shot made more interesting now that CN 3069 is painted to commemorate the Wisconsin Central.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/20/2017
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 5 Favourites

first ◄…2 345 6…►last

rsmith's Map:

Note: Due to Google's greediness you may have to click the OK button when it asks you if you own this website. We'll replace this in time, but it's going to be a while. Sorry :)

*Note: Only photos with GPS added upon submission are mapped here. Some users do not map images and may show a blank map.