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Caption: For me, this image is powerfully nostalgic. For it is a CP detour train, running down from the GALT sub into Hamilton and back out to Toronto via the CN on account of the big Nov 1979 train derailment in Mississauga. Over 200,000 people were evacuated as tank cars threatened to blow; and it would be the single most intense derailment in Canada's history in terms of mass evacuation.
Anyway, after this train wound its way down the hill from Waterdown, I ran across the roadway and grabbed this image as it rolled up to the area known on CN as Hamilton Jct. The power on this train was impressive.
CP 8679 leading followed by C&O 3046, 3006 and 3532. Loved seeing GP30s.
Added note: A few years previous, I think 1975; there was a wooden bridge over to York which crossed the tracks, from Valley Inn Rd. It had a rather severe load limit. A "not too bright" truck driver ignored the sign, and as a result the bridge collapsed. You can see the concrete remains on the right hillside. And straight ahead of CP 8769 in the distance the CN section shack and 'Hamilton Jct' sign can be seen.
The CN "Cowpath" is on the left, which is the link to the Dundas sub and West from Hamilton.
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Amazing photo AW..always loved the GP30′s. That derailment in Mississauga changed railroading for good in terms of the movements of dangerous commodities!
These trains were the lower priority freight. Hotter trains detoured on CN all the way from London to Mimico where they used the Canpa Sub to rejoin CP tracks. The leased C&O units didn’t have a radio setup that CP could use, so they used a trainman’s “lunchbox” radio connected to the loco antennae. The range was poor and that’s the most likely reason that CP units had to lead on the CN joint section detours, so communication with the CN dispatcher was guaranteed..
These detours ran up one track of the CP Hamilton Sub, wyed the power and ran back up the clear track to the back of the train. We had to set the van over & double to it before heading east on CN with pilots. London crews weren’t qualified on the “joint section”. And in 1979, the Goderich Sub and all track west of mile 15 on the Galt, was the exclusive domain of CP London crews.