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Rail wise, Not much has changed here.. rail yard is exactly the same, boehmers tank is gone and so is the factory at right. Wye/Bridgeport spur at bottom left is now out of service. Thanks for sharing.
(other than Shortline GEXR operating it)
Really neat image Steve. I was literally only almost two months old when this photo was taken.
Now i’m the old man in this conversation!! hahaha Jason’s a young pup!!
Holly crap. That photo is almost 40 years old. I was 19 at the time, and only had the SLR camera for a matter of months.
I think I took a couple photos that day – just looking for anything that wasn’t a RDC. I did not realize that the Kodakchrome was not the best in that light.
We’re glad you did. Jason and I are frequent Kitchener guys… I spent a crapload of time there capturing CN in the last 6 months.. let alone all that time with GEXR
I moved to Waterloo in 1974, I think. And I only remember seeing 1 or 2 freight trains on the “main”. I worked at a printed circuit board factory, located at Victoria and Park, for a couple summers and after school, so I should have seen or heard more trains. Based on the photos that I have seen of that line, it must be much busier these days.
PS I saw the CN local run up to Elmira lots of times, but never with my camera. Besides, it was only a switcher (Do I hear Joni Mitchell?)
For freight it’s not all that busier, at least, I don’t see how it can be..
There’s 540, 568 and 431 in Kitchener and 566 at night. 431 is Toronto to Kitchener and return, the rest are locals, basically there’s three jobs per day based out of Kitchener and one comes from Toronto to lift / set off traffic.
But if you add the passengers and the GO trains it starts to add up quickly.. up to 8 passenger trains each way per day
I have a feeling freight in the 70′s to today is probably comparable. (But back then you also had CP!)
I’m almost 40 years old as well. Going to turn 40 this October 7.
Yes, the last six months and even before with the departure of GEXR in Kitchener, has certainly been lively in Kitchener with the return of CN.
I have to check my photos but I believe that old brick building to the right behind the switcher was still there when I started photographing trains in 1993. The Boehmers tower was still there as well, however the wooden pens were long gone and that shack. I actually haven’t seen many photos with that shack there. Glad you were able to capture this and post Steve!