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About wmthomson


An enthusiast interested in trains since my high school days (1939-45) at Port Credit High School (beside the CN main line), although not always with a camera. Recently moved to Guelph from Kingston Ontario. Still have my Pentax K1000 but mainly shoot digital now. *All photos copyright Bill Thomson. Editors note: Bill passed away in July 2022, his page is being maintained by RP.ca staff in his memory. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/guelph-on/william-thomson-11195826

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wmthomson's 715 photos on Railpictures.ca:


CP 5995 on the westbound "Pick Up" rolls into Guelph Junction, with the station attendant at the ready with orders to be hooped up to the westbound. Trailing SD40-2 5995 are C630M 4504, SW1200RS 8153(?), and four units that would be set off here at the junction (most appear to be RS18 roadswitchers).
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 12/09/1984
Location: Campbellville
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 15 Favourites
Winding around the bend in the shadow of the mountains, CN 5228 West splits the rock faces as it approches Jasper, Alberta at Mile 233 on the Edson Sub. GMD SD40 5228 is on the point with an unknown SD40-2W, and a rebuilt CN F7Aum still earning its keep (that is, a rebuilt F7 A-unit that was later converted into a B-unit with windows blanked off - they were the only F-units to receive the angular fuel tanks).
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 08/20/1986
Location: near Jasper
Province: Alberta
Comments | 11 Favourites
Rock faces, mountain ranges, trees and rail - Canadian railroading out west! CN SD50F 5434 and another SD lead a westbound train with a good-sized cut of colourful cylindrical hoppers on the head end, west of Jasper AB on the CN Albreda Sub. The bridges here are for the Miette River at Mile 7.8, just east of the Geikie mileboard.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 08/20/1986
Location: near Jasper
Province: Alberta
2 Comments | 9 Favourites
CN train 411 (MacMillan Yard to Sarnia via the Guelph Sub) passes by the station at Stratford with Bombardier HR616 2111 in the lead. On the track next to it sits a train of ballast cars with two Goderich-Exeter GP9's, 180 "Falstaff" and a 17x sister, which came from another operation of owner RailTex (they were originally built for the Quebec Cartier Mining railway). <br><br> The Goderich Exeter Railway, or GEXR, was created a year earlier in 1992 to operate CN's Goderich Sub (Stratford to Goderich line). In 1998, the GEXR would take over the Guelph Sub from CN (who leased the line to them) and handle its daily operations, as well as those on associated spurs and branches. In September 2014, it was announced CN would sell part of the Guelph Sub to GO Transit parent Metrolinx, with CN (at this point, actually GEXR) retaining rights for freight operation on the line. But there are rumours CN might be taking back operations when the lease comes up for renewal in the near future.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 09/14/1993
Location: Stratford
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 23 Favourites
CN GP40-2LW 9511 and N&W SD40-2 6195 rest by the Windsor roundhouse & turntable at CN's old engine terminal, once located along the Detroit River waterfront. Across the border, the skyline of the City of Detroit looms in the background. Today the rails are gone from the Windsor waterfront, along with the roundhouse and turntable. 9511 was retired by CN in the mid-late 90's and now hauls commuter trains for the MBTA. N&W 6195 works for the Norfolk Southern (after the N&W-Southern merger).
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 05/28/1985
Location: Windsor
Province: Ontario
Comments | 13 Favourites
VIA train 66 behind Bombardier LRC-2 locomotive 6918 crosses the viaduct on CN's Belleville Sub over the still waters of the Napanee River.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: VIA Rail
Date: 06/10/1983
Location: Napanee
Province: Ontario
Comments | 4 Favourites
CN GP9 4252, F7Bu 9195 and RS18 3704 are in charge of a freight on the Douglas Point Spur near Port Elgin. The Douglas Point Spur ran off the Southampton Sub, southwest from Port Elgin to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Plant at Douglas Point, just to the north of Kincardine. This line and much of the Owen Sound Subdivision would be abandoned in 1989, and the spur is now part of the Bruce County Rail Trail. <br><br> <i>Note: Geotagged location may not be exact.</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 04/03/1986
Location: near Port Elgin
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 30 Favourites
CN train 411 with four units on the head end - GP40-2LW's 9572, 9549, an M636 and another '40 - start the climb up the Niagara Escarpment at Limehouse, on CN's Guelph Subdivision.<br><br>The train is passing by a quaint sectionhouse(?), which appears to be made or clad in stone. The spur in the foreground is for Acton Limestone Quarries (later Indusmin), who operates a large limestone quarry here and was once an online shipper. <br><br> 411 was a regular Toronto-Sarnia train that was scheduled on the north route to London and on to Sarnia. It was always an interesting train.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 01/05/1985
Location: Limehouse
Province: Ontario
7 Comments | 14 Favourites
Another shot of Trainmasters working around West Toronto: CP 8917 runs long-hood forward heading east on the CP's North Toronto Sub, crossing the West Toronto diamonds, likely working a West Toronto to Toronto Yard (Agincourt) transfer. The large 3-axle FM-style Trimount trucks are visible here. When a group of TM's were retired in the late 60's, a number of units had their traction motors removed from them and reused in new MLW C630M's. <br><br> The 21 FM/CLC H24-66's as well as a number of 8500 and 8600 series H16-44's were originally set up to run long hood forward (LHF) and painted as such, but most were converted to short hood forward (SHF) operation after a number of years, as is 8917 here. Even though all the Trainmasters were converted to SHF operation, one or two H16's such as 8554 and 8555 were left LHF until retirement, despite being repainted in the multimark as if they were SHF. <br><br> <b><i>More at West Toronto:</i></b><br> CP doubleheader leaving the station: <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=14058"><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=14058</b></a><br> CP 8917 from old Weston Road bridge: <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15874"><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15874</b></a><br> CN Steam with the interlocking tower: <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=16093"><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=16093</b></a><br> CP 8919 near West Toronto station: <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15951"><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15951</b></a>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: Summer 1965
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 11 Favourites
VIA train 83 climbs the Dundas escarpment at Dundas, 30 years ago in August 1984. MLW-built FPA4 6767 leads a nearly perfect consist (with an ex-CP Budd car mingling among the matching ex-CN blue and yellow equipment).
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: VIA Rail
Date: August 1984
Location: Dundas
Province: Ontario
Comments | 10 Favourites
An A-B pair of matching F-units in CP's Action Red, FP7 4031 and F7B 4433, head west on the Galt Sub through Campbellville passing the ponds. Also of note are the early design cylindrical hoppers behind, bracketing a grey pressure-flow covered hopper. This scene is a difficult shot today due to the foliage growth. <br><br> The remaining GMD F-unit fleet on CP only had a few more years to go, before being retired en masse in 1982 (although a few remained in Montreal commuter service before going to CTCUM).
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: Summer 1978
Location: Campbellville
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 28 Favourites
Steam-era West Toronto Diamond in the Winter: Canadian National Mikado 3518 heads north on the Brampton Sub (today the GO Weston Sub), passing the former West Toronto interlocking tower and about to cross the diamonds with the CP's North Toronto Sub. A group of employees tend to the ten(!) diamonds that make up this interlocking. In the background on the left one can spot the CP grade crossing tower for Osler Avenue. On the right, the tracks of the CP Galt Sub curve under the now-demolished Old Weston Road bridge where this photo was taken from. <br><br> The large human-manned interlocking tower here locally controlled the passage of CN & CP trains over each others' tracks, and was demolished around when the interlocking plant was upgraded to be remotely control by the CP Toronto Terminal RTC around 1965 (photo of the area soon after <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15874"><b>here</b></a>). In May 2014, the final train crossed the diamonds here - after years of construction work, GO Transit/Metrolinx converted the diamonds to a fly-under to reduce delays for increasing passenger service on this corridor. <br><br> The closest pair of diamonds are for the CP Galt-MacTier connecting track, allowing trains like The Canadian heading to and from nearby West Toronto Station to get onto the MacTier Sub (shown <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=7371"><b>here</b></a> by James Adeney using the connecting track). It also crossed over both tracks of the Brampton Sub out of frame to the left via two more diamonds. The next two tracks are the afforementioned CN Brampton Sub mainline from downtown Toronto to Brampton, Guelph and beyond (later becoming the Weston Sub, today owned by GO Transit). <br><br> The last track crossing just behind the tower is CP's "old Bruce" service track to industries on the east side of the corridor, heading as far down as Laura Secord (Nestle today) at Dundas Street before connecting with CN near Parkdale. It was part of the original Toronto, Grey & Bruce line before CP absorbed it, with much of the line to the north becoming the CP's MacTier Sub. The Penfound Varnish Company on the right was also serviced off this track. This diamond crossing was eventually removed and replaced with a sharp curving lead starting by Osler Ave. The old Bruce service track was fully removed in the 90's after much of the manufacturing industry along this corridor located elsewhere or stopped shipping via local sidings. Today all the industry and customers that once shipped by rail in this area are gone, but mainline freights, passenger and commuter trains still pass through on a constant basis.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: January 1959
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 34 Favourites
Running long hood forward, CP "Trainmaster" 8919 rolls south on the Galt Sub by West Toronto Station on a transfer run to Parkdale Yard. One of 21 FM/CLC H24-66 units built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 50's (8900-8920), they were the most powerful units of their time, and often used solo on transfer assignments in the Toronto area when this photo was taken. Those duties would later fall to the lone MLW RSD17: 8921 "The Empress of Agincourt". <br><br>Also note the sideways-blocked load in the trailing gondola.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: Summer 1965
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
Comments | 7 Favourites
When CP took over running the Steel Train from CN, the power changed from <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=14807><b>zebra-striped F-units</b></a> and <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15147><b>Geeps</b></a> to Action Red C424's, SW1200RS, and leased Chessie & B&O power. Here CP C424 4207 leads 4242 and another sister as they head for Nanticoke from Hamilton, running on the former TH&B just before going up the Niagara Escarpment.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 10/25/1986
Location: Hamilton
Province: Ontario
Comments | 8 Favourites
Painted in its proper colours from the "stealth" version it and its sisters wore in brief CN freight service, GO 604 is seen parked with a train of Hawker Siddeley Canada single-level commuter cars (based on the HSC RT-75 / TTC "H-series" subway car design) at Mimico in 1967. Of note, GO trains were maintained out of an old CN carshop in CN's old Mimico yards before the construction of Willowbrook shop a number of years later. <br><br> Before the official startup of GO Transit, these units did temporary runs in CN freight service in a modified paint scheme: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15870><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=15870</b></a>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: GO Transit
Date: 1967
Location: Mimico
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 8 Favourites
The scene at West Toronto diamond in 1965, looking east off the old Weston Road bridge that once crossed over the tracks here. Note the abundance of section houses by the diamond and the relatively new signal bungalow, which replaced the West Toronto interlocking tower (that was demolished not too long before this photo was taken) when the interlocking here was modernized. The CP Galt Sub curves under the bridge in the foreground, part of the diamonds for the North Toronto and CN Brampton (Weston) Subs are visible behind the signal bungalow, and the MacTier Sub curves north in the background from Osler Ave. <br><br> But probably the most notable thing in this photo: a Canadian Pacific Transfer run heads west to CP's Lambton and West Toronto Yards with CP 8917 in charge, a rare H24-66 "Trainmaster". Built in the 50's by Canadian licensee Canadian Locomotive Company in Kingston using Fairbanks Morse designs and opposed-piston engine technology, the Trainmasters were the most powerful units of their time, turning out 2400 horsepower from a 12-cyliner opposed-piston engine (24 pistons in 12 cylinders!). CP ordered a total of 21 and for a time employed them all over the system, with a 1965 Eastern Region diesel assignment sheet showing 8917 and 8918 assigned Toronto to handle transfer runs between Lambton/West Toronto, Parkdale and Agincourt Yards, often running solo due to their high horsepower. They were also used on mainline freights in the region with other manufacturer's units. <br><br> Ultimately FM/CLC stopped making locomotives in the late 50's, and CP eventually shied away from the more maintenance-intensive CLC engine design. A group of Trainmasters were retired in the late 60's and sold to a supply dealer for engine salvage and scrapping, with the rest of the small fleet dwindling over time until the last three were retired in 1976. 8917 here was retired in April of 1972, and cut up for scrap at CP's Angus Shops in Montreal QC during early 1973.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 1965
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 21 Favourites
Before GO Transit started up in 1967, the eight unique HEP-equipped GP40TC units GO ordered from GMD London were used in break-in service on CN freights, often times with CN units too. They were painted slightly different than they would look in a year: an all dark blue "stealth" paint version with white CN logos and numbers, no white cab or frame highlights, and no large GO logos on the long hood. Shown here is a rare look at "CN" 601 at Toronto Yard in 1966 (later renamed MacMillan Yard), with another sister GP40TC visible behind SW1200RS 1318. <br><br> The units would be touched-up before entering GO service, with white paint applied to the cab, front logo panel and frame, and new GO logos and numbers would be applied. All are still in service with Amtrak as rebuilt GP38H-3's.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 1966
Location: Vaughan
Province: Ontario
Comments | 11 Favourites
Canadian Pacific RS18 8750 and C424 4214 are in charge of CP's Goderich Wayfreight, heading back south en route to Hamilton. The units are seen crossing the trestle over Bronte Creek in the town of Progreston (south of SNS Flamboro on the Goderich Sub, today part of the CP Hamilton Sub). <br><br> <i>[Editor's Note: for a shot of the same spot today (not much has changed!), see Ryan Gaynor's photo here: <a href="http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=10037"><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=10037</b></a>].</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 06/27/1985
Location: Progreston (Flambo…
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 16 Favourites
In the summer of 1964, fifty years ago lashups of pure Wabash F-units were common. Two lashups with Wabash F7's 676 and 725 leading other F's in various paint schemes sit at the Central Avenue bridge, near the border in Fort Erie ON.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Wabash
Date: Summer 1964
Location: Fort Erie
Province: Ontario
8 Comments | 39 Favourites
Steam era action at Bathurst Street: Canadian National 0-8-0 8421 switches a heavyweight business car around the Spadina Coachyard (off to the right) at Bathurst Street bridge. New GMD SW1200RS and ALCO/MLW S-series diesel switchers work the freight-only Bathurst Street yards to the left. The CN Spadina Roundhouses' coaling tower is visible to the upper right, where dozens of steam and diesel power were maintained for service out of downtown Toronto. Also of note is the relatively new looking brick yard tower (identical ones were at Mimico and Don Yard, all demolished today). The Toronto skyline 50+ years ago looks much different than it does today, with the tallest building being the Canadian Commerce Bank Building (which was also the tallest building in the British Commonwealth). It held this distinction from 1931 to 1962, and was 69 feet taller than the Canadian Pacific's Royal York Hotel, also visible here above the yard tower. <br><br> CNR (or GTW) 8421 shown here was one of six P5j 0-8-0 switch engines built by Brooks, purchased from original owner Buffalo Creek Railroad in 1947 and assigned Grand Trunk 8400-series numbers. "GTW" 8421 (however it's shown here sporting CN lettering on the tender's wafer logo) is former BCK 27, and operated in GTW/CN service with its former owner's number and lettering after purchase until becoming 8421. Most photos show these steamers around downtown Toronto, switching the freight and passenger yards in the area. All were retired by the end of the steam era in Canada, and scrapped.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 00/00/1958
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 40 Favourites
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