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My dad and I would usually venture to the town of Pairs on either Saturday or Sunday mornings to check out the action on the CN Dundas Subdivision. You were always guaranteed some trains that could range from the intermodal “Lasers” 238 and 239, as well as 380, 381, 410 and 411. Trains 380 and 381 ran between Toronto and Windsor, while 410 and 411 operated between Toronto and Sarnia. Also, you would have the usual morning VIA trains as well as occasionally a local from Hamilton that ran to the pit in Paris. I’m assuming on this morning, the signals around town were all red so we ventured down to where the second train station had once stood. Long since torn down, the only thing that remained was the CN express building that was now used for storage at the time. The problem with where the building was situated was that the front of it was never really in good lighting, only maybe at certain points during the longer days of the year. However, at the time I was just fairly new to the hobby so lighting and sun positioning hadn’t really factored into my photography decisions. If it had, I probably never would have taken the photo seeing as how I was shooting more or less in the direction of the sun and on a backlit subject. In the years that followed I don’t believe I ever took another stand-alone photo of the building, only just including it in frames of trains going by. Then one day we went back and it was gone.
Copyright Notice: This image ©Jason Noe all rights reserved.



Caption: My dad and I would usually venture to the town of Pairs on either Saturday or Sunday mornings to check out the action on the CN Dundas Subdivision. You were always guaranteed some trains that could range from the intermodal “Lasers” 238 and 239, as well as 380, 381, 410 and 411. Trains 380 and 381 ran between Toronto and Windsor, while 410 and 411 operated between Toronto and Sarnia. Also, you would have the usual morning VIA trains as well as occasionally a local from Hamilton that ran to the pit in Paris. I’m assuming on this morning, the signals around town were all red so we ventured down to where the second train station had once stood. Long since torn down, the only thing that remained was the CN express building that was now used for storage at the time. The problem with where the building was situated was that the front of it was never really in good lighting, only maybe at certain points during the longer days of the year. However, at the time I was just fairly new to the hobby so lighting and sun positioning hadn’t really factored into my photography decisions. If it had, I probably never would have taken the photo seeing as how I was shooting more or less in the direction of the sun and on a backlit subject. In the years that followed I don’t believe I ever took another stand-alone photo of the building, only just including it in frames of trains going by. Then one day we went back and it was gone.

Photographer:
Jason Noe [926] (more) (contact)
Date: 07/10/1993 (search)
Railway: Canadian National (search)
Reporting Marks: CN (search)
Train Symbol: Not Provided
Subdivision/SNS: CN Dundas Subdivision (search)
City/Town: Paris (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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Photo ID: 39217

Map courtesy of Open Street Map

Full size | Suncalc
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4 Comments
  1. First time I have ever seen a “head-on” shot like this of the old building.
    Smart move!

  2. It’s a good thing you didn’t pass the shot by due to the sun. It’s better to get a less than ideal picture than no picture at all.

  3. Thanks very much for the comments.

  4. The last known station for Paris….when we first moved to the area, took a family drive to Paris to explore. Upon arriving in town, many memories of riding on VIAS over the Grand River came flooding back. Great little ‘railway town’, and once busy divisional point. But this building still stood…and I believe it was around 1996 that CN quietly demolished it. As I think you mentioned, all that remains now is a gravel area where the beautiful station used to stand…and a fenced in pit of maintenance items where this building was.

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