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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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Number of images: 715
Total gold: 10824
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Number of comments posted : 21
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wmthomson's 715 photos on Railpictures.ca:

The steel swing bridge carrying Penn Central's CASO Sub (ex-Michigan Central) over the Welland River at Montrose is pictured, as viewed from the nearby Queen Elizabeth Way on a gloomy day in 1967.
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At the time of this photo, this portion of the CASO ran straight from Niagara Falls to Welland. Due to the Welland By-Pass project, it wouldn't be long before a portion of the line to the west was diverted south on a new alignment via Brookfield to the new Townline Tunnel running under the Welland Canal. This bridge and portion of the line still see rail traffic today (but far less volume), as this part of the CASO became CP's Hamilton Sub in the 1980's, and later CP's Montrose Sub.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Penn Central
Date:	1967
Location:	Niagara Falls (nea…
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 11 Favourites

The 1907-built wooden trestle carrying CP's Walkerton Sub across the Saugeen River in Durham is pictured in 1966. Located at about Mile 16 of CP's Walkerton Sub, the line was abandoned by CP in 1984 but the old wooden trestle survives today as the <a href=https://www.southgreynews.ca/local-news/new-life-for-heritage-walkway-bridge><b>Heritage Walkway Bridge</b></a>, and recently underwent a half a million dollar refurbishment.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1966
Location:	Durham
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 5 Favourites

Canadian Pacific flanger 400404 is seen amid other freight equipment in the yard in London in 1966. Like CN, CP also had their own flanger cars stationed around the system for clearing snow and ice from the flangeways between rails.
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Like many other flangers CP had, this car had been converted from one of CP's fleet of steel "minibox" boxcars originally built in 1929/1930 (that were shorter in height than most regular steel boxcars). As newer larger boxcars displaced them, many miniboxes migrated into maintenance of way service, including becoming tool cars, bunk cars, flangers, and generator cars. On this car, twin flanger blades have been mounted behind each of the trucks, a cupola added to the roof, access doors cut into the sides, and the old center 5' sliding door has been removed and opening covered over to match the rest of the body.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1966
Location:	London
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 11 Favourites

CN wooden flanger 56414 is shown parked on a siding by the freight shed near the station in Owen Sound in 1958. The "LU 11-56" stenciling on her sides below the weight denotes the shop code for London (LU) and November 1956. Like snowplows and Jordan spreaders, CN kept flangers stationed at various points across the system in order to clear snow and ice from between the flangeways. Most of CN's old flangers were home-built from wooden boxcars or flatcars, with flanger blades added between the trucks and a cupola on the roof for better operating crew visibility (lineside signs noted to crews when to raise the blades to clear obstructions present between the tracks like switches, bridge guides and railway crossings). <br><br>Their use diminished over time, and old wooden ones eventually gave way to newer flangers CN converted from steel boxcars. Many snowplows had their own sets of flanger blades mounted between the trucks under the body, or a hinged flanger tip at the front of the snowplow blade.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	1958
Location:	Owen Sound
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 11 Favourites

A platform view of CN's North Sydney station is pictured in July 1971, located at Mile 98.8 of CN's Sydney Subdivision. This CN (later VIA) station is presently boarded up but still exists, apparently owned by the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway (who purchased the line from CN in 1993).

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	July 1971
Location:	North Sydney
Province:	Nova Scotia

Comments | 8 Favourites

Ontario Northland ore hopper 6613 is seen on a CN unit ore train heading through "Mile 30" near Milton in July 1974. This car was part of a group of 61 NSC-built 3712cuft cylindrical covered hoppers built in 1973-1976 for service hauling pelletized ore in unit trains from Bruce Lake, Ontario. CN had 201 cars of the same design they also pooled with ONR for this service. Note the wheels attached to roof hatches that contacted an overhead rail and allowed the hatches to be opened and closed automatically before and after loading.<br><br>There were also 35 earlier (slightly shorter) cars of this design numbered in the ONT 6500-series, built in 1967 for ore train service from Temagami with similar CN cars.<br><br>Another ore train photo: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=18066><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=18066</b></a>.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	July 1974
Location:	Scotch Block
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

CN snowplow 55502 sits in the yard in Belleville, spending its summer waiting for colder weather and snow to plow. It was built in 1940 as one of CN's few double track plows on the roster, designed with the blade angled to one side to plow snow to one side of the tracks (for double track mainline operations) instead of to both sides like on single track plows. Note the sideways mounted horn (to keep snow out of the bells), old smokejack, and operating/handling instructions on the sides of the plow ("Headlight must be removed before routing this plow through areas with restrictive clearance" and "Warning, this plow is too high to pass through Winnipeg train shed").
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55502 doesn't appear on any recent Canadian Trackside Guide rosters, so had likely been disposed of at some point.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	08/02/1991
Location:	Belleville
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 10 Favourites

L&PS wooden flanger car FA1 is pictured in the yard at London ON, with electric freight motor L2 in 1954.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	London and Port St…
Date:	1954
Location:	London
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 11 Favourites

CN RS18 3151, one of the six RS18 units CN rebuilt for the new Tempo train corridor service that started just a few months before in June 1968, sits on its side after derailing on Sarnia to Toronto Tempo train #150 one mile east of Oakville. CN crane 50109 in the background is on the wreck train, working cleanup duty at the site.
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For an overview photo of the derailment, see: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38626><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38626</b></a>

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	09/16/1968
Location:	Oakville
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 18 Favourites

A crowd of bystanders take in the cleanup efforts of the wreckage of CN Tempo train #150, derailed along the Oakville Sub one mile east of Oakville station while travelling from Sarnia to Toronto. A wreck train and big hook work to clean up Tempo cars that are sprawled along the mainline, some coming to rest on automobiles parked in this adjacent lot. RS18 3151 is pictured on its side in the distance. One woman was killed while walking between cars when the train derailed, eight people were injured, and the engineer lost an arm.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	09/16/1968
Location:	Oakville
Province:	Ontario

5 Comments | 14 Favourites

VIA's (formerly CN) Spadina Coachyard in Downtown Toronto is pictured in March of 1984. The tracks are teaming with passenger equipment, including VIA LRC consists with locomotives 6916 and 6921, an Ontario Northland TEE train for the Northlander, Tempo cars, cars from the blue and yellow fleet, a steam generator car, and old heavyweights including some baggage cars still painted in CN colours. All of this was switched by a fleet of <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=27375><b>CN S13 units</b></a>, five of which are visible. They also <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=30123><b>shuttled entire consists</b></a> to and from nearby Union Station.
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By this time in the mid-80's all of the former CN steam-era facilities and yards at Spadina were on borrowed time. Soon VIA would move operations to nearby Mimico (the new Toronto Maintenance Centre and yards), and the downtown railway lands would be cleared in preparation for construction of the new Skydome (Rogers Centre) where the old Spadina roundhouse was. Most of the former coachyard property would lay empty until development years later, into mostly condos.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	03/25/1984
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 23 Favourites

Ontario Northland 528, a Jordan spreader, is pictured stored at Cochrane between two boxcars. According to the Canadian Trackside Guide, it was built by the O.F. Jordan Company in 1945 as a Type A spreader, serial number 795. Jordan spreaders are handy for both plowing sidings and yards during the snowier seasons, and spreading ballast and cutting ditches during the warmer months.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	10/05/2008
Location:	Cochrane
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 5 Favourites

A closer look at some of the lettering and images over the main entrance of <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=38517><b>CN's Hamilton (James Street) Station</b></a>, including carved murals in the stone of CN steam engines and railway equipment in various industrial, prairie and port scenes. MCMXXX is 1930 in Roman numerals.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	January 1980
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 5 Favourites

Ontario Northland Railway snowplow 555 is pictured stored awaiting the next winter snowplowing season at North Bay, in October of 2000. It was originally built for the ONR by Canadian Car & Foundry in December 1923. Modern features such as a dual sealed-beam headlight and upgraded front windows mingle with older features like the stem-winder brake wheel and solid-bearing journal trucks.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Ontario Northland
Date:	10/03/2000
Location:	North Bay
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

The entrance of CN's Hamilton (James Street) Station is pictured in January 1980. The station, built in 1929-1931, saw CN, VIA, and GO passenger service until the early 90's. LIUNA, the Labourer's International Union of North America, purchased the building and renovated it as an events centre for banquets and special events.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	January 1980
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

Here's an aerial view of the downtown Toronto railway lands taken from the Bank of Commerce building's observation deck in September 1964. Visible in the foreground is Toronto's Union Station on Front Street, opposite the CPR's famed Royal York Hotel.<br><br>Behind the station's train sheds are CPR's John Street coachyards, roundhouse and servicing facilities for both locomotives and passenger cars (CN's Spadina facilities are out of frame to the right). A switcher is visible moving around stainless steel Budd equipment for The Canadian, amid plenty of heavyweight and lightweight steel coaches in the yard. A pair of F-units can be seen on the servicing tracks near the roundhouse by the old coal tower, along with a pair of Budd RDC cars ("Dayliners" in CP parlance). Most of the view of the roundhouse is blocked by the top of the Royal York.<br><br>Nearby is the Toronto Terminals Railway Central Heating Plant (which supplied steam heating to downtown buildings including Union Station, the Royal York, and CP's John Street facilities). Along the harbourfront are buildings for Yardley's (perfumes), the Terminal Warehouse, grain elevators, and various piers. The Toronto Island airport is off in the upper right.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	September 1964
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 26 Favourites

CN GMD-1's 1915 and 1914, in matching yellow and green paint, lead a UCRS fantrip on September 22nd 1963. The train is seen here stopped at Haliburton for a photo-op, at the northernmost end of CN's Haliburton Subdivision (Mile 55.5). The two GMD-1's handled the fantrip from Lindsay to Haliburton, after CN Northern 6167 handled the train northeast from Toronto to Lindsay.<br><br>The two 1900's leading the train near Kinmount: <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=17673><b>http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=17673</b></a>

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	09/22/1963
Location:	Haliburton
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 24 Favourites

GTW GP9 4429 leads two CN GP9's at the head end of an eastbound freight flying white extra flags, heading through Komoka on the Strathroy Sub in September 1973.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	September 1973
Location:	Komoka
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 15 Favourites

An overview of Goderich during the heyday of GEXR. Visible in the background is the former CN Goderich station off Maitland Road South, with a few GEXR units parked nearby: 4161 (a former GP7 rebuilt into a slug), GP35m mother unit 3834, and GP7 2127 still lettered for the Georgia Southwestern RR. The small shop building is off to the left, and one can see GEXR's ex-CN 55413 black plow parked off in the distance.
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GEXR (under G&W ownership) has since handed back its operations of the Guelph Sub that it had leased from CN, but still operates the Goderich and Exeter Subs in the area.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Goderich-Exeter
Date:	08/26/2002
Location:	Goderich
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

CPR's Tecumseh Street interlocking tower is pictured at Mile 1.3 of CP's Galt Sub, as seen looking north from CN's Oakville Sub just west of Cabin D & Bathurst Street. <br><br> One of the more obscure and less well-known interlocking towers in the downtown Toronto area, Tecumseh Street tower could be found under the "Toronto Terminals Division" section of CP timetables at Mile 1.3 CP Galt Sub, and also noted under the CP Galt Sub instructions for Parkdale Yard. It was located a stone's throw from Cabin D between Strachan Ave. and Bathurst St. (named after the nearby Tecumseh St.) and staffed and operated by CP mainly to control a CP track that headed southeast from Parkdale Yard and crossed's CN Weston Sub at the Tecumseh Street interlocking (just west of Bathurst St./Cabin D) to access the King Street Shed Lead on the north side that ran up to CP's freight sheds in the King/Simcoe St. area. Ray Kennedy's Old Time Trains page has a photo of the interlocking diamonds <a href=http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Toronto/PARKDALE.htm><b>here</b></a>. <br><br> The tower was removed sometime later in 1984, around the time when Cabin D was removed and the Bathurst St. interlocking area was starting to get modernized and automated (much of the old plant in this area used to be manual switches operated by switchtenders on the ground). <br><br> The two sand domes belong to the City of Toronto on their property near the old Wellington destructor. The tank car on the far right is spotted at one of the Toronto Abattoir/Quality Meat Packers sidings.

Name:	Bill Thomson
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	03/25/1984
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 15 Favourites

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