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Caption: The weather was nothing short of miserable today, with plenty of rain and wind and really nothing going for it in the way of good conditions for photography. But with an educated hunch that CN was going to be running one of my favourite (if not my favourite - sorry Sarnia Spur) branchlines, I decided to take a chance regardless and headed out for the Humberstone Spur. I've gotten a pretty good handle on 562's schedule, so I timed my departure from Hamilton in time to find them out and about at Southern Yard, setting off a couple of empty tube cars for Welded Tube. Immediately after, they called for a pass stop at Yager to head to Port Colborne on the Humberstone Spur - the hunch was indeed correct. This move is so elusive that even the RTC quipped, "That's a new one for me - I am used to you guys heading for the Hamilton Sub after Southern Yard."
With the pass stop in hand, they proceeded south down the Humberstone light power with two six axle units. The chase is always fun, and with no sun to speak of today I got to do angles such as this one that are otherwise not available in the other times I have caught this move. I can only imagine what it's like in this house on Alma Street when an ET44AC and SD70M-2 roll past the front windows with about a dozen feet at most between train and house. Not quite a tight a fit as some places like Brantford, and fairly comparable to a relatively snug fit in Hamilton, but also a considerable difference in the units traversing the lines in question.
Once at Vale, they lifted one empty tank of sulphur dioxide and returned north to Port Robinson. As I explained in this shot of Vale's critter, Vale receives shipments of both sulphur dioxide and chlorine (see a recent example of inbound chlorine loads here) for their processes with cobalt.
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Neat shot, Jamie!
Great shot James…I was the guy in the Black Merc…I heard the whistles coming into town yesterday around 3 pm, and decided to watch the moves…always amazes me to see that much power to move 1 or 2 tank cars… crazy stuff
Thank you, Craig!
Thanks Michael, I was wondering who that was and if it might be someone from this site.
Hopefully next time it won’t be raining so I am not seeking shelter between shots, and we hopefully won’t have to be under physical distancing measures too, and I will be sure to say hello.
And yeah, the six axle power sure adds to the novelty of a seldom traversed line that sees at most two cars moved at once. One of the few times I don’t mind so much with a Tier 4 on point, just given how novel it is.
PS not sure if you had a scanner on, but it took them so long inside Vale itself because they couldn’t make a joint on the empty. I heard them say that usually Vale shoves those empties up that little spur a bit further, but this one was left at a point where the radius was such that they couldn’t get a joint made.
Geez. Jamie-on-the-spot again!! I’ve yet to catch that “evasive” move. Very nice shot.
Cool view Jamie. This is an interesting spur and it’s neat that every train on it has different power assigned to 562. What is with that tree to the right by the house though…it looks like it’s off a HO model railway!
When the madness ends and we can go back to socializing..hit me up for a drink in Port or Nephton…keep up the good work…Michael
Thanks Arnold and Jason. Arnold, we gotta do something about you catching this one!
Sounds like a plan Michael.
I’m interested. I thought it only ran about once a month on average.
Did they finally hook up to the car? And if so, how did they go about it?
Did they finally hook up to the car? And if so, how did they go about it? And why did they take two units with them. As if they didn’t have enough power.
This is great as always!
They got the car yes. They take whatever power they’ve been assigned that day. As many as three six axle units have done this run. 562 has many duties.. this being just one of them.