Caption: This was one of those rare lucky trips back from Toronto that actually graced me with a freight train. By this date freight activity through downtown Toronto was rare to come by, although much worse these days. Sadly almost all rail served industries near Toronto's downtown core have vanished in recent decades, with most factories either demolished or repurposed. This also led to the demise of CN Don yard on the Eastside of downtown, today it is a GO/Metrolinx storage yard, and it appears that the Portlands no longer has rail service either. Back in 2007 CN still ran at least one local between Mimico and Don yard along with through trains 434/435. This day long hood forward GP9RM 7038, and 4107 (with spark arrestors still intact) have a very short train in tow as they roll along the Gardiner Expressway and past the Exhibition's Dufferin Street gate with its arch in the distance. The train will soon arrive back at Mimico yard. Today with the Oakville subdivision east of Burlington West under Metrolinx ownership, freight traffic during the day is scarce. There is only one local job currently that works east of Clarkson, and sadly this only happens under the cover of darkness, and typically only travels as far east as Mimico.
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Nice catch! Agreed, the 2 locals working or passing through Clarkson, the latter to Mimico/nee Portlansd. Wouldn’t this one work out of Oakville even in 2007?
You may be correct. I do remember power sitting in Mimico yard back then but maybe it was a rare occurrence or was just laying over. So possibly this was an Oakville assignment.
Very nice image. CN 7038 is currently assigned to Kitchener.