Caption: Seeing as the SW1200 rage is on, I thought I'd add another one of my 'now illegal' drone shots from last year. Unfortunately I've already uploaded most of my SW1200 shots, so this is about all I have left. On this day I was returning from a rather dull Bayview meet, and decided it was time to get a photo of 7304 at CN's Parkdale Yard. Here it sits, presumably shut down on this slow Saturday afternoon. This would be the last photo I would take not using a relatively high quality camera for the next two months, as my DSLR had disappeared the night before, and my drone would be out of service as well three days later due to a crash. Both my DSLR and drone are back today, though this photo definitely doesn't bring back the best of memories. It would be a long summer without any way to get decent photos.

In the right hand corner is the Niagara Escarpment, and Lake Ontario is also partially visible looking towards the transformer lines. The wye between the buildings stretches back behind them and skirts along the many steel industrial sectors that still somehow exist today. The track then merges back onto the Grimsby Sub at Stuart Street Yard. There was a time when manifests would actually work Parkdale Yard occasionally, though that changed and eventually the yard got its own dedicated switcher to switch around the Dofasco steel mill.

It's hard to believe it's been nearly three years since 7304 showed up here. It's been saved twice, in which it was rebuilt after a wreck with ONR 1517 in 1991, and then had its prime mover replaced a few years ago after the original one was damaged due to improper storage. It should be noted that although it is a rebuilt SW1200RM, the sides of the cab are painted red which is exclusive to 7304 among the rebuilt SW1200's. This occurred because of the wreck it had, and for some reason the cab sides were not repainted black. Though the red sides were standard among the unrebuilt SW1200RS units. None of those remain in service on CN so I guess 7304 can serve as a memory. It and 7311 are the only two SW1200 breed units in active service on CN today.