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About Stephen C. Host


I've been into photography since 2001 - but like many others grew up interested in all things railway from an early age. I reside in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and currently use two cameras: Nikon D800, and a Nikon D90 (Backup only). Prior Nikon cameras include D60, D70 and D100, and a F65 for when I dabbled in Film (Kodachrome/Fuji Velvia and Provia). Lenses used tend to be either 70-200 F/2.8, 50mm/1.8, or 16-35 F4 (Until 2016) and a 18-35 F/4-5.6 (2016+). I recently acquired a 80-400 Nikon which I've been playing with with some results I'm happy with, but the jury is out if I am OK with the image quality :) Professionally - I am an Engineer (P. Eng. - Computer) for a large automotive concern. I also freelance as a photographer with the Canadian Press and their affiliates (AP/etc.) since 2009.

Stephen C. Host's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics


Number of images: 843
Total gold: 7009
Number of comments recieved : 2377
Number of comments posted : 3922
Total views: 938288


Stephen C. Host has the #3 all time image on railpictures.ca!
Stephen C. Host has the #25 all time image on railpictures.ca!
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Stephen C. Host has won Editors Choice 1 time




Stephen C. Host has 4 images in the Time Machine


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Stephen C. Host's 843 photos on Railpictures.ca:


So, how about that heat? In this photo GEXR's plow crew (from the MOW team) are cleaning out the switch for the east leg of the wye as they have to turn the train to plow back west to Stratford, and you can see the battle was already quite good. We had a number of plow runs in 2014 on the GEXR mainline between both Stratford and London, and toward Guelph , not to mention dozens of plow runs to Goderich. Mostly memories now, as it's quite rare for GEXR to use their plow to Goderich, the only saving grace is we have yet to see winters as bad as they were in 2014 and 2015. The last three winters (2016, 2017 and 2018) all started with a bang (Often requiring a single plow run, by someone - GEXR, CN, or OSR) but ended with a fizzle as the precipitation and cold did not come to pass as the farmers almanac would have had you believe. I'll share more of these memories over the years, the number of plow runs I shot in those two years was upwards of 40! Technology and age of equipment may threaten the use of a wedge plow but when mother nature is at her worst there is only one time tested solution, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to do this so close to home. GEXR's snow removal crews made it look easy but I know a lot of hard work and knowledge goes into their success. Cheers to the GEXR gang!
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Goderich-Exeter
Date: 01/25/2014
Location: Guelph
Province: Ontario
6 Comments | 17 Favourites
I'm standing on a nice small farm near Carlisle where the owner gave us permission to take a photo from their property. This is the second time I've shot here and both times was the weed sprayer. I don't find the Hamilton subdivision to be all that scenic, but there are a few nice photos to be had, and this is definitely a nice spot. Only issue is it's a very small window of time to have good light here, but if you can get a southbound around 1-2 PM you'll be golden. Please ask for permission if you plan to shoot here :) It's an active farm.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Delaware and Hudso…
Date: 05/26/2018
Location: Carlisle
Province: Ontario
Comments | 8 Favourites
It doesn't matter where this photo is, it could be anywhere, but as a friend Ryan Gaynor said - lightning stripes and pans just look good. I agree. Also on my 80-400 f/5.6 and I am surprised this one turned out.. I rarely pan with that big honkin lens and when I do they don't usually work :)
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Delaware and Hudso…
Date: 05/22/2018
Location: Guelph Jct
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 8 Favourites
CP's Weed Spraying Train passes through quaint Campbellville, and somehow, I managed to cut all of the clutter in my final shot - all the crossing gates, everything. It was so dark that any photos including headlights blew the train to a silhouette, as the engines turned in the curve it looked far better (and I was shooting 1/400 in Manual mode) and my final shot here was the best. 80mm on my 80-400 f/5.6 lens. <a href=https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+thomson+campbellville+site:railpictures.ca target=_blank>Bill Thomson</a> shot here tonnes of times and I am reminded of his photos when shooting here! Thanks Bill for sharing them. I'm glad to continue in your footsteps.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Delaware and Hudso…
Date: 05/22/2018
Location: Campbellville
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 11 Favourites
One of the hallmarks of a shortline is personal service. Here we have OSR setting off propane cars into Dowler-Karn's facility in St. Thomas, opened in 2015 as joint venture with Factor Gas of Sarnia, and itself a family run business. On one hand, we have a railroad that believes in winning customers back to rail, large and small, and a family run company who matched with this belief to open a small terminal in St. Thomas capable of handling 7 cars at a time. During winter, when the propane is flowing I've heard this facility can get quite busy. This photo was taken <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31831 target=_blank>after an epic battle with snow</a> and with motive power like this, the keepers just keep rolling in. Thanks, OSR!
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Ontario Southland
Date: 12/27/2017
Location: St. Thomas
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 15 Favourites
GEXR has played a large role in the ION LRT by delivering the new cars to the Commonwealth Plywood siding in Waterloo. The cars don't sit for very long as they are desired to be delivered very quickly. Imagine my surprise to head to Kitchener to find both 431 and a LRT sitting in the yard, mind you, by this time of night (8 PM!) 431 is long off duty and a new crew from Stratford has taxied over to bring 431 across to Stratford. 584 would deliver the LRV that evening and was switching the yard as I took this photo. At any rate, an ex SP SD45 and a Bombardier Flexity side by side is an odd pairing to say the least.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Goderich-Exeter
Date: 05/16/2018
Location: Kitchener
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 7 Favourites
Railpictures.ca contributor <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/author/noe target=_blank>Jason Noe</a> and I teamed up for this photo, we ended up meeting up in Kitchener by chance and heard 516 was west of town and coming our way, so we went west to see what we could find, and ended up here. We had a bit of a wait on our hands, but you could hear this train coming for miles as they seem to be up-grade leaving Baden.It sounded so good before I took some photos I dropped my phone in the grass on record to capture the action. I've since extracted and edited the audio, and I'll let you listen for yourself, but I was clicking the camera shutter with some fury, and it is included in the audio because I just don't know how to edit it out. <a href=http://steve.hostovsky.com/april18/516_audio_cropped.mp3 target=_blank> MP3 is linked here - click to listen</a> and turn up your audio. What a show.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Goderich-Exeter
Date: 04/29/2018
Location: Baden
Province: Ontario
6 Comments | 13 Favourites
Anyone recall exactly when the Expressway trains to Detroit were cancelled and what their symbols were? We took these for granted, four per day , operating on schedule.. boring unit trains we thought. But thankfully I was able to photograph a few in good light on nice days.... because it would seem I basically ignored them most of the time instead seeking out Branchline action or manifests. While the economy of ours heats up the market for truckers is becoming very very tight - companies are now turning to rail to get product moved, and I wonder if the rail market is also tightening up and CP is instead looking to concentrate their resources on higher revenue shipments, my thoughts on why the Expressway is to be cancelled at the end of this month. Feel free to comment below and add to the discussion.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 09/12/2004
Location: Campbellville
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 11 Favourites
I find this spot a difficult one to shoot, what do you include? What angle is the train really at, as there's a bit of a banked curve as well I'm well above the train on a pedestrian overpass. Also, there are poles for security cameras and animal noises used to scare away the things that fly or walk into tunnels (which set off alarms). And I really don't want to block those really neat tunnels with a pole. So this is what I did on April 1st - I include most of the Imperial Oil buildings and what makes it for me is the leader - I simply saw a signal for an eastbound and waited (not too long) for it. A very clean used dash 8 in the lead makes this a nice catch in my books. Time was 0900 and the sun is quite nice in the spring in the morning - not quite so in the late summer days, as you have to let it swing around just enough to cast no shadows, but if you go at the right time there's usually a few eastbounds in the morning, most often though they pass just before dawn.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 04/1/2018
Location: Sarnia
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 11 Favourites
While I usually remark that I spend a lot of time here, one must not remiss the Men and Women who work this line day in and out.. they spend far more time down here then I do, I just tote my big camera every once in a while..<br><br> And this is the kind of scene I love to shoot, gritty Hamilton, Dofasco smokestacks, tank cars.. holding tanks for Ruetgers Canada (formerly VFT) at right, and the Orange of G&W looks really really good here. Too bad 2117 has already gone tits up only a month after coming online - let's hope it's rebuilt quickly.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Southern Ontario R…
Date: 03/19/2018
Location: Hamilton
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 12 Favourites
These are MY oldies. They aren't all that long ago but boy were things much more interesting in this timeframe. Pumpkins eat your heart out, these are my favourite. What happened to these two units? 6825 appears to have survived to BNSF 1851 at Barstow CA yard, NS 6693 of the 113 NS units in this series only 32 active (http://www.nsdash9.com/rosters/6550.html) and 6693 is now SD60e 6982. It'll take me a while to figure out if I have shot the 6982 as a SD60e :)
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Burlington Norther…
Date: 12/22/2004
Location: Hamilton
Province: Ontario
2 Comments | 17 Favourites
<b>Train: </b> The sign says it all as GEXR 431 blasts their horn for downtown Baden, many residents are lined up to pick up a pie at Pizza Express just to the right of frame. The pizza must be good judging by the number of people going in and out in the 20 minutes I was there.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Goderich-Exeter
Date: 04/22/2018
Location: Baden
Province: Ontario
1 Comments | 13 Favourites
With thanks to <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/author/ironhead target=_blank>Cityslicker</a> who gave me a great tour of the south end of the Bala sub (I owe you one, bud), chasing this O998 on a line with many meets was glorious - plenty of opportunities to leapfrog ahead for shots of a train that I classify as a 'never say never' train that actually happened. Your wildest imagination wouldn't have paired these three things together - the leader was more than enough to classify it as a "never" train - the Amtrak superliner? Priceless. <br><br> With a meet at Pine Orchard with a northbound freight, we had the opportunity to get ahead - so chose this spot at Vandorf with a gaggle of other great Railfan friends who were out. The sun was almost playing ball here, and it was a mostly cloudy day so to get this much sun was actually a nice break. More to come..!
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 04/24/2016
Location: Vandorf
Province: Ontario
Comments | 9 Favourites
Folks, it's time to address the elephant in the room, and unfortunately, I don't have good news. The rumours have been flying for months (years actually) and the inevitable seems like it's now going to happen - the Southern Ontario Railway and the Goderich-Exeter Railway will not be the same once the leases end later this year.<br><br>For the last 20 or so years the employees of the GEXR and SOR have worked very hard to service their territories and substantially increased business through innovative ideas and service plans. CN gave up this business in 1997/1998 and if history is any indication, these Shortlines have greatly improved customer service as CN was sorely lacking in such at the time. It is the GEXR an SOR employees' hard work that made the railways successful and these are the folks that will be most affected by this - I give out a heartfelt apology to all of them and wish them well as this may not be an easy transition for everyone. Their livelihoods depend on this and, given this fact I'd like our members to refrain from wild speculation on what is to happen, trust me when I say this, even with this news we still don't know for sure other than dates.<br><br>Last week a letter was faxed/mailed to all affected customers, and area terminals in Ontario stating some very simple facts, and I'll quote it verbatim - shorting irrelevant portions out, noting that this is the first public mention of this plan since it was rumoured some years ago, and furthermore, as of today, CN and GWRR have yet to issue any official press releases on the subject. As follows:<br><br>"CN is pleased to announce that we will be assuming control of operations for the following rail lines:<br><br>Southern Ontario Railway's Hagersville subdivision effective September 18 2018. This rail line includes the following stations: Caledonia, Hagersville and Nanticoke.<br>SOR's Hamilton subdivision effective December 13 2018. this rail line includes the Hamilton rail station"<br><br>And in a separate page"CN is pleased to announce that we will be assuming control of operations of the following stations on the Goderich-Exeter Railway (GEXR's) Guelph Subdivision effective November 15 2018: London east, Thorndale, Kelly's, St. Marys, Stratford, Shakespeare, New Hamburg, Baden, Petersburg, Kitchener/Waterloo, Breslau, Acton, Elmira, St. Jacobs, Galt, and Cambridge"<br><br>Many of the employees of the SOR and GEXR browse this site and it is my personal opinion that CN is making a mistake - but it's not our decision is it. There may be forces at work far greater than local managements control that are effecting these decisions. I simply wish all the best to those affected and hope that everyone is treated fairly, and with respect. As you go out to photograph these operations, I ask the same of our RP.CA members, to remember the livelihoods on the line and to give the same respect and distance, over time we'll see what happens and what CN's plan is. It will be business as usual until then... and only then will we know what exactly is to happen - as anything in the railway, until it actually happens, there is always the 'subject to change' rule that rings true.<br><br>And for the youngins in the audience or those uncertain what this means: The Goderich-Exeter Railway will remain between Stratford and Goderich and Exeter as those stations are not mentioned in the notice above. The Southern Ontario Railway is expected to possibly survive in some capacity as the Esso switching contract at Nanticoke is separate to the lease, as is the Brantford Ingenia (Burford spur), but we say possibly because this notice could greatly change circumstances for G&W. G&W will also retain Railcare Inc. in Hamilton as this was purchased in 2016. Everything else - get your shots.<br><br>
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Southern Ontario R…
Date: 03/13/2018
Location: Guelph
Province: Ontario
36 Comments | 13 Favourites
Back in 2001 I photographed one of these.. once.. on my 2 Megapixel crappy Point and Shoot camera, while I was on bike, and not only did I not know what I was looking at, I never shot one again. By the time I got serious into trains, I realised what I missed. 17 years later, I was able to make good on what I told myself - if one happens to run down this way I'll be sure to get it. (Heck, I've made trips down to the US and still didn't get one). Despite the storm, I and a gaggle of of others braved the cold to get this. Crossing fingers that this repeats - as units on the Maple Leaf do sometimes repeat on cycle.... and hopefully in better weather. I can't believe this is mid April!
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Amtrak
Date: 04/15/2018
Location: Hamilton
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 14 Favourites
Here's the second shot <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31301 target=_blank> from the first of a series at Galt Station </a> that shows three distinct paint schemes on three CP GP9's in their twilight of service. I love seeing photos from guys like James Adeney, Robert Farkas, Arnold Mooney and others who captured CP's twilight of service for various motive power eras - such as the end of the 1st generation ALCO's in the mid 70's or the end of the MLW era in mid to late 1990's. To me this photo captures some of this era-ending essence, the ratty mismatched paint schemes, locomotives that failed to be brought into the new corporate branding, paired with some that succeeded. <br><br>Bottom line is all of these are now gone, permanently off the CP roster. 8249 survives for now - sold to J&L Consulting, and the other two? I have no idea, but CP won't roster a GP9 ever again. CN still has plenty (for now) so young kids who missed CP's era can still get some on CN - don't waste time though - I would have called you out in early 2010's if you said by 2014 all CP GP9's will be off the roster - it happened fast. (Thanks, EHH).<br><br> Photo notes: Shot with my Nikon D800 in glorious 36 megapixel ultra high definition detail, at 70mm. Trust me when I say this, but if you zoom in on my shot the level of detail is phenomenal. And I stood on my SUV's roof to get over those tall late summer weeds, and the elevation gives a little different perspective.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 09/08/2013
Location: Galt
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 13 Favourites
Testing the branches for the first time, CN 1501 is southbound on the former CNR Fergus subdivision. Railiners (RDC's) would have plied this line until sometime in the 1960's (By 1969 Railiners operated North of Guelph only on the Fergus, once a day in each direction per April 27 1969 CN TT). Curious if anyone knows if RDC's operated in excursion service on the Fergus sub or if they were all conventional trains? This could have been the first RDC since the last scheduled Railiner passenger train between Lynden and Guelph. Your comments or observations are appreciated in the comment section. Thank you.
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 03/31/2018
Location: Hespeler
Province: Ontario
7 Comments | 17 Favourites
There's something to be said about classic motive power splitting classic signals on the CP mainline - and I think this says it quite well. In this shot, I put my 400mm lens to good use capturing 1401 splitting these 1940's era sentinels which are so endangered in our PTC crazy world.<br><br>I held onto my shots of the RCP for a long time instead handing our front page to RP.CA's various contributors - since the train was well covered - a couple photos made it to print instead. But it's April 2018, it's still very cold out there and I am pining for those warm summer days - winter just won't let go. So here's my first shot near Palgrave, where I saw this train for the first time in nearly a decade - I missed the RCP's visit in 2014 (and not by much - literally missed a shot at Palgrave by a minute!) so I really made up for lost ground - I ended up photographing this thing between Here, Hamilton, Toronto, to Smiths falls, and back the other way, logging well over 1500 KM on multiple trips - I certainly had my fill for a few years. Apparently it's running to Sudbury next week but with two F units sent to RELCO for rebuild in November 2017 it'll have different motive power instead (I'm told an ECO will be on it). And No, it's not apparently coming any further east. I've had my fill so I'm not going to "viking" my way there for more photos, I'm good :)
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Canadian Pacific
Date: 08/09/2017
Location: Palgrave
Province: Ontario
5 Comments | 12 Favourites
The leasers have sure made things interesting on CN - Tim Steven's <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=32767 target=_blank>Recent image</a> shows anything is surely possible and Joe Bishop confirms it with <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=32572 target=_blank> this GECX ex CSX A434 </a> and all of this was after my <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=32260 target=_blank> GECX ex UP leader</a> a few weeks prior. No, they don't lead every day, but they are leading once or twice a week around here and I imagine the same elsewhere on the CN network.<br><br> I know a few of us went out for this one and it was all luck of the draw - you either got flurries (bad), no sun (workable) or full sunshine. I was joined by Railpictures.ca contributors <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/author/robbie target=_blank> Rob Eull</a>, <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/author/cncndr target=_blank> Mike Dacosta </a> <a href=http://railpictures.ca/author/Railfan97 target=_blank> and Alex Sanders </a> and we were joyous to have full sun for our photos. Lastly, if anyone doesn't know how to find out if these are coming - for Ontario folks join <a href=https://groups.io/g/FPON> https://groups.io/g/FPON</a> which is now on Groups.IO - Yahoo groups sucked and it's finally moved to a much better platform - all you have to do is join and you would have had a 6 to 8 hour heads up on this one. Cheers y'all.
Name: Stephen C. Hosst
Railway: Canadian National
Date: 03/13/2018
Location: Speyside
Province: Ontario
3 Comments | 21 Favourites
A flock of commuters speed eastbound on Highway 403 while IC 1000 speeds eastward on the Oakville subdivision. Most people tend to pan mundane things - VIAs, GOs, common leaders, and panning on cloudy/crummy days (which is good technique, mind you) but I believe you should pan the interesting - and even on a sunny day like this. Making your pan stand out is easy if you just choose the right subject, right? Built in 1995 the class leader of IC's Standard cab SD70 order is certainly interesting, for 18 years after the merger it still retains its original paint. I can think of many ways to improve this shot but it'll be a long time before I see another IC leader to take another crack at it. In a sea of mundane Dash 8s, Dash 9s and Gevos this is much more preferable of a subject to my tastes. - Steve
Name: Stephen C. Host
Railway: Illinois Central
Date: 03/24/2018
Location: Burlington
Province: Ontario
9 Comments | 12 Favourites
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