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Number of images: 381
Total gold: 3709
Number of comments recieved : 1128
Number of comments posted : 942
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rsmith's 381 photos on Railpictures.ca:

Nice evening light bathes the Via Budd cars from Sudbury arriving at their destination in White River, ON with VIA 6250 and VIA 6205. They'll overnight in the yard and return to Sudbury the next morning. Many of you may recognise this photo from the "Hey Budd, can you spare a ride?" article published in UK's Model Rail magazine No. 109 October 2007. All joking aside, it's proof that there's value to posting your photos online. I was contacted by the author of the article and he used two of my photos earning me a cracking 40 pounds.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	05/01/2003
Location:	White River
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 21 Favourites

The sun made a brief appearance between April snow squalls as 580 switches out their cars for the day using the smoky GMTX 2255 and GMTX 2695. After switching for a while they tied up in the yard and conductor and brakeman headed to the office, I can only assume a maintainer got track time so 580 had nowhere to go. They seemed annoyed as they walked away from their train. The power at right is the units for CN 581, the nocturnal turn to Garnet that interchanges with the Southern Ontario Railway.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	04/21/2020
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 8 Favourites

It's early in the morning and the Hudson Bay Railway yard crew in The Pas is already at work getting the freight cars together for the mixed train to Pukatawagan. Someone's sweet ride is securely chained to an old cut down bulkhead flatcar for the trip north. Once the freight is together the spare VIA F40PH in The Pas will be used briefly to move some tank cars out of the way. Then the mixed train power, a pair of M-420(W)s, will bring the assembled freight cars down to the station so they can be combined with the passenger cars and be on their way. It was fun to watch all the action at the yard and station. I'll always remember the train goes to Pukatawagan because I recall someone saying don't forget to pack-a-toboggan.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	06/12/2006
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 13 Favourites

Follow-up to the photo I posted of OSRX 501 and 502, and the photo Jason Noe posted of 501 when it arrived in London in BC Rail paint. I had assumed 501 was purchased from the BC Rail, however in looking up the history of 502 I found that 501 came from the Greater Winnipeg Water District. 502 didn't come directly from BC Rail either, having spent time at Vancouver Wharves before coming to the OSR. The photo shows OSRX 502 parked in the yard outside the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas, ON. You can faintly see "Vancouver Wharves" is the space between white stripes. It's interesting how the pair were reunited after being sold off by BC Rail. They were originally built as Pacific Great Eastern 1001 and 1002 and now are both preserved at the Waterloo Central Railway. I suppose one may become a parts source but time will tell.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	05/04/1997
Location:	St. Thomas
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 10 Favourites

St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway train 270 is at Guelph Jct. swinging off the Galt Sub. and on to the Hamilton Sub. with STLH 5627, HLCX 5036, and CP 5518. That is if I'm reading my scribbles on the slide mount correctly. And I thought my printing was messy now. Yikes.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	07/13/1997
Location:	Campbellville
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 13 Favourites

OSR 501 and 502 smoke it up as they shove a cut of racks up the hill to Cami. The racks are behind three hoppers, I promise you. The two S-13s were sold to the Waterloo Central a few years ago; I don't believe anyone has posted shots of them at their new home. Got any? I encourage you to post them. I have fond memories of watching a guy paint 501 with a roller while it was parked at CP's Quebec Street yard in London. He did a good job, the paint held up well!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	03/17/2010
Location:	Ingersoll
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 14 Favourites

Given the current situation in the world I was hesitant to head out on Saturday. I typically like to railfan with a companion to help pass the time between trains but considering work won't even allow two guys to travel in the same truck that option was out. I decided to set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. and see what Saturday morning brought. At 5:30 a.m. I realised I had set the alarm for 5:00 p.m. but thankfully my brain is programmed to get up at that time anyway. A quick trace revealed the object of my affection, the GMD-1us assigned to London would be on CN 514 starting in Chatham Saturday morning. I quickly packed some food and water to avoid having to stop anywhere and embarked on the 2 hour drive to Chatham.

The drive on the 403 and 401 was eerily deserted; just me a few trucks. I arrived in Chatham shortly after 8:00 a.m. and about 40 minutes later the crew arrived. There was a ton of cars for 514 and the crew would have a long day. After switching out box cars for Charron Warehousing they then headed to the Sarnia Spur with 9 hoppers for ADM in Blenheim and 12 hoppers for Agris in Thamesville. They left the Agris cars in the former C&O yard while they went down to Blenheim where they set off the 9 empties and lifted one load. After the blistering 10 mph trip back to Chatham they then had to sort the potash cars for the two Agris facilities before heading to Thamesville. Five hoppers went to the smaller facility in Thamesville and seven to the larger, easterly elevator.

In the photo, CN 1439 and 1444 have just set off the five hoppers and are running around the other seven so they can be set off at the elevator at the right of the photo. They would lift one empty hopper here and return to Chatham with the load from Blenheim and the empty lifted here. Back in Chatham there day would not be over because they still had to switch Charron before calling it a day. There was also a CN gondola in the yard in Chatham that I don't know where it would have gone. I parted ways with the train in Thameville for a quiet drive back to Hamilton. In these unusual times be safe out there. Time to dig in to the slide binders and do some scanning!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/21/2020
Location:	Thamesville
Province:	Ontario

6 Comments | 11 Favourites

An SW1200RS leading 254? Yes, that was my first thought when I heard CP 8158 South on the scanner. I'm old. The AC4400ACM rebuild still looks nice and clean leading 254 south down the Hamilton Sub. Evidence of recent brush cutting can be seen on both sides of the right of way. I would have loved to have seen the cutter in action because it took down some pretty good sized trees!

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	02/29/2020
Location:	Waterdown
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 7 Favourites

A colourful scene presented itself as VIA 72 made its station stop in Brantford and was passed by CN 580 returning from Paris. A short glimpse of variety on the main line instead of the seemingly endless monotony of CN Gevos and SD75Is.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/28/2020
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 13 Favourites

Yes, it was chase-worthy. Another photo of CP 246 as it slowly descends the Hamilton Subdivision at Flamboro with CP heritage painted 7014 leading.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	02/16/2020
Location:	Flamboro
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

CP 246 slowly grinds its way along the Galt Sub. with CP 7014 leading. For once the sun appeared as the train approached rather then disappear; you can see a few cars back that they are in cloud. At Guelph Jct. the train will head south down the Hamilton Sub., pass waiting CP 255 at Dejardins and then stop at Kinnear to work. There were lots out to see 246 today, lets see some other photos! Thanks to those that provide the heads-up.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	02/16/2020
Location:	Campbellville
Province:	Ontario

5 Comments | 14 Favourites

The crew of CN 514 had a short morning because all they did was run to Thamesville and back to Chatham. Of course I went on a wild goose chase trying to find them before realising this but that's how it goes some times. In hindsight I should have bailed off the 401 when I heard static on the scanner while going by Thamesville. Thankfully they briefly stopped at the station in Chatham affording me time to get one shot of the train. Here CN 1439 and 1444 are backing their 6 car train in to the siding east of Keil Drive South before calling it a day.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/15/2020
Location:	Chatham
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 23 Favourites

Meeting of the '81s. RLHH 2081 shoves northbound with cars from Ingenia as Brantford Transit 10081 waits to turn left on to Darling Street heading for the downtown terminal. An intense storm had just passed and I frantically had to adjust the camera settings when the sun made a brief, well-time appearance making a very dramatic scene.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Southern Ontario R…
Date:	11/16/2017
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 15 Favourites

With train 331 abolished again, it seems as though 435 is now running on an earlier schedule. It was a fairly consistent late-afternoon train working the yard in Brantford, however the past three days it has arrived around noon (which works out great for me!). Today behind the road power was CN GMD-1us 1444 and 1412, most likely in transit to London. CN 1412 lined up nicely with the precarious milepost 23 sign on the station wall while the conductor went in to the office to get paperwork. The milepost sign has hung like that for decades yet it still hangs on.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	01/24/2020
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 8 Favourites

January 20, 2010. I couldn't resist the nice sunny day and opted to take the afternoon off and go search for the OSR Woodstock job. As I headed for Beachville I found them heading to Woodstock. After interchanging with CP I followed them back west, capturing one of my all-time favourite OSR shots in Beachville. OSR 182 and 378 look great in the afternoon winter sun, with a good looking train without an autorack in sight. 182 is currently assigned to the Guelph Junction Railway. 10 years later I post this photo... it was a nice sunny day today too. I should have went to Woodstock.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	01/20/2010
Location:	Beachville
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 12 Favourites

Some were wondering what hot rail action was happening on the Burford Spur these days. Sadly it's still just the Track Mobile that typically works one day a week hauling hoppers to and from Ingenia. I had yet to bother to get a decent shot of the current motive power so since the sun was shining and I was in the 'hood I waited a few minutes for them. More surprising is that I wasn't the only one that had the same idea! Here, Allied's Track Mobile is crossing Greenwich Street with three loads for the plant. Three is probably the most it can pull, even though it's advertised to pull twelve. Unless it's something extraordinary I promise I won't post another photo of the track mobile Steve...

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	01/08/2020
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

9 Comments | 7 Favourites

The Ontario Southland Cayuga Clipper departs Courtland westbound after lifting 4 empty hoppers from Cargill and setting off 3 loads. The old Cayuga Sub. is looking pretty sad these days with weeds and brush all along the right of way and many of the railway grade crossing signals don't activate until the train is occupying the crossing due to rusty rail conditions. You can't help but picture in you head some of the great Wabash and N&W photos that are on this sight when you're standing trackside watching a pair of OSR geeps trundle along whats left of the Cayuga Sub. It's fared slightly better then the CASO but for how long is anybody's guess.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	01/02/2020
Location:	Courtland
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 8 Favourites

There aren't too many photos of WC 900 out there. Algoma Central SW8 140 was 1 of 27 AC units acquired by the Wisconsin Central on January 31, 1995. Looking forlorn and forgotten behind the AC shop, we figured she wasn't long for the world considering there was another WC switcher working the yard. After some internet sleuthing I found it was sold to Independent Locomotive Service and is now ILSX 900. It got some tender loving care at ILS, was repainted solid maroon and spent years on the Chicago Terminal Railroad. However, it looks like it's down on its luck again and now covered in grafitti and stored in Minneapolis, MN. Hopefully ILS will find another use for it.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Wisconsin Central
Date:	08/02/1995
Location:	Sault Ste. Marie
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 18 Favourites

CN CS-02 switches a cut of cars outside of the car shop in Walker Yard. I believe this was CN's attempt to reduce maintenance on a locomotive by classifying it as car shop equipment. I don't think it lasted too long. I had thought it was ex. CN 1272 but the Trackside Guide says 1272 was retired in 1995 and sold to Canac so I doubt CS-02 is that unit, unless it sat in storage and/or was CS-02 for years.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/23/2002
Location:	Edmonton
Province:	Alberta

3 Comments | 7 Favourites

Another nice brief sunny morning before the clouds rolled in finds 580 switching with GMTX 2277, CN 5273 and CN 2304. After years of watching single CN GP9RMs on 580 I'm loving the variety lately. 580 would soon leave with seven cars for Normerica. They made quick work of that before returning to the yard, grabbing cars for CGC and then heading off to Hagersville.

Name:	Rob Smith
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	12/11/2019
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 9 Favourites

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