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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.

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Number of images: 709
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wmthomson's 709 photos on Railpictures.ca:


General Motors diesel-hydraulic switcher 600, a "GMDH-1", is seen here on trial on the Canadian Pacific Railway at St. Marys, Ontario in 1958. An experimental locomotive concept that never caught on, a total of four demonstrator GMDH-1 locomotives were built at GMD's London ON plant in the mid to late 50's, equipped with two large truck-sized diesel engines mated to a pair of hydraulic transmissions. GM's automotive department no doubt had a hand in the carbody styling. No orders were to follow from CNR, CPR or other railways, which were by then well into dieselizing their fleets (with the more popular diesel-electric locomotives). <br><br> Number 600 was the second unit built (serial number A1713, blt September 1958). Reports indicate it was later sold to a railway in Brazil and is now scrapped. The other three fared a little better: while one was sold to a contractor and sent to Pakistan, the original demo 1001 resides at the Canadian Museum of Science & Technology (it had been the GMD London plant switcher for years). Another unit, after changing hands more than half a dozen times, remains active to this day at a petroleum company in Kaybob, Alberta. A single GMDH-3 was produced, essentially a smaller version (with only 3-axles and a single engine/hood), that now resides at a preservation society in southern Michigan. <br><br> <i>Geotagged location may not be exact.</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Builder/Manufactur…
Date: 00/00/1958
Location: St. Marys
Province: Ontario
4 Comments | 15 Favourites
CNR 2-8-0 2602 crosses the Credit River at Port Credit with a freight in tow, in March 1957. Built in 1907 by MLW for the Grand Trunk, this N4a-class "Consolidation" only had about a year left until she was scrapped. The large steel bridge over the Credit River is mileage 13.27 on the CN's Oakville Sub, and still spans the southern tracks today.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 03/00/1957
Location: Port Credit
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 26 Favourites
CPR G1 Pacific 2233 is helping a westbound freight up the Cooksville Hill on the Galt Sub in 1954. The train is passing by the Cooksville Brick plant in the background at Mile 16.18, located northeast of the intersection of Mavis and Dundas. Starting out as National Brick Co. in 1912, it was officially known as the Cooksville La Prairie Brick Co. by 1953, and had a spur off the mainline that CP serviced (note boxcar in background inside grounds), as well as their own small steamers for moving cars around the quarry and buildings. Today the spur is gone, and the brickyard has been redeveloped as a residential neighbourhood.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 00/00/1954
Location: Cooksville
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 9 Favourites
CN Toronto to London passenger train 75 with Hudson 5702 crosses Cooksville Creek at Mile 11.8, on the Oakville Sub in 1957. While competitor Canadian Pacific had a healthy fleet of 4-6-4 Hudson steamers, Canadian National only had 5: CN 5700-5704, K5a class units built by MLW in 1930. 5702 and her sisters were used in passenger service out of Toronto's Spadina Roundhouse until the end of steam, and today 5702 can be found on display at the Canadian Railway Museum (Exporail) in St. Constant, QC. Sister 5703 (as 5700) is at the Elgin County Ry Museum in St. Thomas ON.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 00/00/1957
Location: Cooksville
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 10 Favourites
<b>Steam Doubleheader!</b> CPR G1-class Pacific 2232 assists H1b-class standard Hudson 2815 as they pass by West Toronto Station in a cloud of smoke, about to cross over the diamond(s) at West Toronto junction and head north on the Mactier Sub. Note the West Toronto interlocking tower, demolished sometime in the mid-late 60's when the interlocking plant was modernized. The train is about to take the connecting track leading from the east track of the Galt Sub, across the double main tracks of the North Toronto Sub, and onto to the MacTier Sub (the ex-Toronto Grey and Bruce line) just to the north. Often used by The Canadian in later years, it's since been removed. West Toronto Station was demolished by the CPR in 1982, despite efforts by groups and the city to save it.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 00/00/1958
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 23 Favourites
Canadian National 4-8-4 6258 rests among other steam engines at the Mimico roundhouse in 1956. One of CN's large fleet of Northerns, 6258 was built by MLW as part of the U2h-class in 1944, making it just 12 years old when this photo was taken. CN was ordering brand new GP9's and RS10/18's at this time, and the end of steam was not far off: 6258 would be scrapped 5 years later in 1961.<br><br>Located in the town of Mimico (now an inner suburb of Toronto) and just to the south of the busy Oakville Sub, the Mimico roundhouse would be demolished in the 60's, the turntable removed and the pit filled in. Presumably this occurred when CN moved its locomotive servicing to the new Toronto (MacMillan) Yard and its more modern diesel repair facility. Today VIA and GO Transit have large servicing facilities in Mimico, but CN's presence here is but a shadow of its former self: a small freight yard to serve the few remaining local customers that use rail.<br><br>[<i>Historical Editor's Note: VIA has a turntable here at their Toronto Maintenance Centre, but it's located in a spot northwest of where the Mimico Roundhouse's turntable would have been. It is unknown if this was a brand new turntable, or if the old Mimico turntable was available and reused in a new pit<i>.]
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 00/00/1956
Location: Mimico
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 9 Favourites
Canadian National "Ten Wheeler" 1322 pauses at Meaford before returning to Collingwood, on CN's Meaford Subdivision in 1958.<br><br>1322, an H6c class Mikado, was built in 1910 for the Canadian Northern Railway. It was donated to the City of Barrie in 1960 (after being renumbered 1531) and survives today owned by the Simcoe County Museum in Midhurst, ON.<br><br><i>[Editor's notes: Operations on CN's Meaford Sub, which originally ran 52 miles to Meaford from Barrie, were transferred when Barrie and Collingwood both stepped in to buy portions of the line in 1996 when CN wanted to abandon it. It is now part of the <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=6943><b>Barrie Collingwood Railway</b></a>, with operations contracted to Cando. However, in 2011 Collingwood decided to discontinue rail service over their portion of the line from the CPR interchange at Utopia to Collingwood. The Barrie section of the former Meaford Sub remains active].<br><br>Note, geotagged location not exact.<i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 00/00/1958
Location: Meaford
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 15 Favourites
I was working in the Listowell area in March of 1985 and heard on my scanner that there was a plow extra heading south on the CN Newton Sub (later west) to Kincardine. I had time to go to a side road south of town and set up near a crossing and the plow soon appeared. I took my photo just before it passed then WAM, I was bowled over by a sheet of heavy snow and knocked over a fence (I was not injured but it was a shock). I then went to a local restaurant and tidied up my clothing. The resulting photo was average but it brings back memories: CN snowplow 55408 charging across a grade crossing south of Listowel, propelled by a pair of GP9 units. <br><br> <i>[Editor's note: CN plow 55408, a wedge plow built by Eastern Car Co (Trenton NS) in 1937, mets its end not too long ago after avoiding the scrapper once. Once it was retired from CN in the 90's (many lines being abandoned or torn up in the southern Ontario area reduced the need for plows) it was sold to Zubicks in London for scrap. In 1995 the Goderich Exeter Railway traded their plow, 55437, to Zubicks for 55408, as it was in better shape. Known by some as their "orange plow" (they also owned sister 55413 painted black), it continued the fight on mother nature for its new owner until recently, when it was cut up for scrap in Goderich during May 2013.]</i> <br><br> <i>(Note, geotagged location may not be exact)</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 03/00/1985
Location: Listowel
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 24 Favourites
CN RSC-13 units 1733 and 1706 haul a freight train at Harriston ON, in January 1963. Harriston was Mile 5.01 on the CN's now-abandoned Owen Sound Subdivision (the line from Palmerston to Owen Sound), and junction point with the Southampton Sub (Harriston to Southampton). While the new CN noodle logo and image was introduced 2 years earlier as evident by the boxcar on the far left, the older green/yellow livery with the maple leaf herald still has a noticeable presence. <br><br> The RSC-13 was a CN-only model built by MLW in the mid-late 50's, with an RS3-style hood and A1A trucks but using the older 1000hp 539T engine - essentially their version of a GMD GMD-1. They were intended for light rail and branchline use, and while many worked out of Stratford and Toronto in their early years, they were more known for handling freight on Prince Edward Island in their later years (when retired, the A1A trucks from many went under RS18's upgraded for branchline service as RSC14's). <br><br> <i>Geotagged location not exact</i>.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 01/00/1963
Location: Harriston
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 37 Favourites
It's 1952 and CN F7A 9046, built July 1951, is nearly a year old as it heads eastbound through Sunnyside (Toronto) on the Oakville Sub, with white extra flags flapping in the wind. <br><br> The green & gold paint livery was the original delivery scheme for these units from GMD London, and was replaced with CN's yellow, green and black scheme in 1954, followed by the noodle and zebra stripes in 1961. Sunnyside Station and its platforms also still existed at this time, and the Gardiner Expressway that now parallels the Oakville Sub was still a few years away from construction. This image was taken from the south side of a now-gone footbridge that spanned the tracks between King St. and the Lake Shore Blvd., approximately half way between the station and Dowling Ave., likely removed when the Gardiner was built. <br><br> <i>[Editor's note: accepted due to rarity]</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 00/00/1952
Location: Toronto
Province: Ontario
4 Comments | 29 Favourites
The last for now of our look at the now-vanished Oshawa Railway electric line, we find OR line car 45, used for overhead maintenance work on the electric catenary wire, parked behind 44 halfway up the line south of the shops. This car was built in 1925 by the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway, another CN Electric Lines operation, and was transferred to the Oshawa Railway where it worked until the line was de-electrified in 1964. CN donated it in 1964, and it is now restored and in operating condition at the Halton County Radial Railway museum in Rockwood ON.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
Comments | 10 Favourites
More of Oshawa Railway's electric locomotives, or "motors" as many railways called them, at the OR's shops off Hillcroft St. Here we have motor 326 coupled to 402, both of slightly different designs. Note the pole hung between 326's trucks, used to for moving or "poling" cars on adjacent tracks by way of the round holes or poling pockets on the pilot end. A somewhat dangerous practice that many railroads abandoned.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 10 Favourites
Another from the Oshawa Railway set, work car 44 sits (with line car 45 behind it) on a siding about half way up the line, somewhere south of the main yard and shops. Another homemade car (built by the OR in 1919), 44 would be scrapped 2 years later in 1964 when the line was de-electrified. <br><br> [<i>Editor's note: After some research, this image may have been taken along the line south of Emma St. west of Court St., along the part of the OR line that is now the Michael Starr Trail.</i>]
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 10 Favourites
CN train #628 with FPA4 6778 is stopped at Guelph Station in the Summer of 1962, with the lead unit still dressed in the yellow, green and black "1954 scheme" colours. Delivered in 1959, the MLW FPA4 and FPB4 fleet only had 2 years before the CN noodle and zebra stripes were first introduced in 1961. By 1963 only a few FPA4's remained in the 1954 scheme, and by 1965 only one (6765). <br><br> [<i>Editor's Addition: According to a timetable from that era, CN train 628 was a daily (except Sunday) morning eastbound passenger train for Toronto via the Brampton Sub (later divided into parts of the Guelph, Halton and Weston Subs), arriving at Union Station in mid-morning.</i>]
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Canadian National
Date: Summer 1962
Location: Guelph
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 40 Favourites
Two friends and I drove to Oshawa to get photos of the Oshawa Railway after it was reported that CN (owner of OR) was going to convert to diesels. The Oshawa Railway connected to both CNR and CPR lines that ran through Oshawa, and switched various industries including a number of different GM automotive plants located in the town. Pictured here are the OR's Hillcroft Street shops in 1962, full of electric motors used in freight service and various pieces of maintenance of way equipment. Two years later, electric operations in Oshawa would cease in May of 1964.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
4 Comments | 15 Favourites
Canadian National electric sweeper car 22, assigned the Oshawa Railway, rests at OR's shops off Hillcroft Street. This car was originally built for the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, another one of Canadian National Electric Railway's lines (CNER), and reassigned to the Oshawa Railway when the NStC&T ended electric operations. Note the chain-driven sweeper, powered by an electric motor mounted just above behind the black housing.
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
Comments | 10 Favourites
The Oshawa Railway was a small electric regional railway that provided passenger and freight service in the City of Oshawa from the late 1800's until owner CN converted operations from electric to diesel in May of 1964. Pictured here at Oshawa Railway's shops is OR 402, an electric freight motor built new by OR in 1928, retired in 1964, and scrapped by CN in 1969.<br><br><i> [Note: image geotagged for OR's "new" shops, which were located just south of Hillcroft St]</i>
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: Oshawa Railway
Date: 00/00/1962
Location: Oshawa
Province: Ontario
4 Comments | 11 Favourites
London and Port Stanley Railway boxcab locomotive L1, another of three boxcabs electrics built by GE in 1915 (L1, L2 & L3), switches a hopper downtown in London ON in 1959. For sister L2, click <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=13450><b>here</b></a>. <br><br>[Editor's note: L1 now resides at the Elgin County Ry Museum in St. Thomas, as seen <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=11424><b>here</b></a>. For an earlier photo of L1 taken by Julian Bernard in 1954, click <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=9561><b>here</b></a>.]
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: London and Port St…
Date: 00/00/1959
Location: London
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 17 Favourites
London and Port Stanley Railway electric interurban cars 10 and 8 switch their boxcar at St. Thomas ON, while excursion riders from the train look on from the L&PS St. Thomas Station platform. While the L&PS operated freight service with dedicated electric motors (like boxcab electric locomotive L2 <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=13450><b>here</b></a>), often times a passenger train took on freight loads to help "pay the rent".
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: London and Port St…
Date: 00/00/1957
Location: St. Thomas
Province: Ontario
Comments | 12 Favourites
In 1957 I was on an LP&S excursion out of London, two of their interurban electric passenger cars (10 and 8) were used. On the way we took a box car (to help pay the "rent"). The two cars are seen here switching the boxcar by the LP&S station in St. Thomas, ON. <br><br> <i>[Editor's note: both cars 8 and 10 (built 1915 and 1914 resp. by Jewett) are preserved today, with 8 residing at the Halton County Radial Railway in operating condition, and 10 at the Canadian Railway Museum/Exporail in St. Constant QC. Info from the Canadian Trackside Guide]
Name: Bill Thomson
Railway: London and Port St…
Date: 00/00/1957
Location: St. Thomas
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 18 Favourites
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