Caption: TH31 is ordered 0900 on weekends, and they were "up the Belt" not too long after that with five cars in tow - one box, three loaded centrebeams, and one Procor tank. They dropped the centrebeams and tank just shy of where the Beach Branch comes off the Belt Line, east of Gage Avenue. This is a typical move for them when they have to do any work on the Stelco Lead to access places such as Stelco itself, Railcare, and Bell & MacKenzie. On this day they went up to Railcare and dropped the boxcar, and then reversed back to their train light power. They'd then grab the four cars sitting there and take them over to the interchange for CN before it was on to NSC, AIM, and Parkland Terminals.
This was shot looking west from Birmingham Ave, and the track in the foreground is the Belt Line. It doesn't go much further west than this, terminating just past Sherman Ave. There are no active customers on that stretch of track, though occasionally I do see cars sitting here. As recently as a couple of weeks ago there were several gons, and last summer there were boxes that I believe were ultimately for Railcare.
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I should correct myself in the caption. After thinking about it a bit more, I think dropping the train near the Beach Branch is typical when they go to Railcare or Bell & MacKenzie, but not when they go to Stelco. Open to other corrections of course.
Nice shot, Jamie – I love the industrial photos from Hamilton.