Caption: It's a hot sweaty and hazy July afternoon. I got up at 0600 in Sarnia to chase D725 from Sarnia to Chatham for the first time and my last photo before Chatham was This one. I had my first car, a Toyota Tercel and there was no air conditioning unless I drove with the windows down, and now I'm wandering around the Chatham area CSX line looking at stuff in this putrid heat. I make my way to the Chatham station and engine house to explore, and I found a pair of CSX units by the engine house waiting for D724 but I had to get back to the station. Without knowing, I heard the groan of a pair of engines coming westbound and got in position as quickly as I could to get a snap and this is the result - a pair of SD40-2's from the same series, one ex SOO and a SOO

These were the days before many people really carried cell phones, or mobile data for that matter (I was one of the few exceptions) and information did not flow as freely as it does today. I had no idea what was coming nor cared - my attention was on the CSX. Not long after this shot, the CSX Clerk in the station 'Skip' Dunn, took pity on me and invited me in to cool off and gave me some waters. Bless his heart, for he let me wander around and do whatever I wanted and the relief was very appreciated. While the crew worked to build their outbound train and Skip helped them out with paperwork, etc, I continued to stay cool in the Chatham Station until the northbound departed for Wallaceburg with a new pair of units. I had live chat with friends on my Blackberry (JMIRC) and after telling them how friendly everyone was, the next day,a few friends met up with me in Sarnia to repeat the chase . Skip was just as hospitable and invited the whole crew in, and would continue the hospitality every time I saw him. Within 7 months these rails would fall silent and remain so today with an uncertain future. Skip unfortunately passed not long after he retired from CSX and many of these guys retired after the downsizing of the CSX Canadian division in 2006. I'll share more pictures of this down the road, I have quite a collection :)