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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 or videos 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 acquired a 80-400 Nikkor which I've been playing with and after some trial and error and a free repair by Nikon it is producing nice sharp results. 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: 940
Total gold: 8317
Number of comments recieved : 2820
Number of comments posted : 4527
Total views: 1102355

Stephen C. Host has the #3 all time image on railpictures.ca!
Stephen C. Host has the #20 all time image on railpictures.ca!
* Note: Placement on the Top all time image list is subject to change. Taken from the 'Top Shots' page measured by number of favourites

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 940 photos on Railpictures.ca:

Blue hues of a quickly darkening sky reflect off the frozen Eramosa River as oranges of a winter sunset predict a Sailor's delight on the morrow. You'd be hard pressed to miss this train at night: 10 lit up objects adorn the lead locomotive: Number Boards, class lights displaying "extra", two headlights, and four ditchlights, the extra set added to see around curves in the mountainous territory of British Columbia. This was winter's last stand in 2019 - a rare frigidly cold March day just as daylight savings was about to creep in - so too would the warmth and with it goes all the snow.
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I did a similar photo in early 2004 with my first junk digital camera, it was a pleasure to have the chance to try this again, I have had this on my mind for quite some time to try but just never made it happen.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	3/6/2019
Location:	Guelph
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 15 Favourites

The Pitched roofs of wartime housing and smoke from steel companies pepper the Hamilton landscape, VIA 98 passes over Gage Ave in Hamilton with minutes left of sunlight. Thanks to the time change, this shot was possible because last week, feggetaboutit. With any luck we might see this again.. but the last time was April 2018 and push the time dial more than a decade more for the time before that... cross your fingers it returns! But for those who missed it tonight - you have 97 tomorrow morning! good luck!

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Amtrak
Date:	3/12/2019
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

10 Comments | 8 Favourites

A train rounds the curve on the Kenilworth lead at the far end of the N&NW spur, with a single boxcar it looks rather diminutive to the Dofasco factories behind them. The CN mainline here was likely re-aligned for the <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=35394 target=_blank>Ore Trains</a> along with the Ore Train lead constructed just around the curve of this photo. To the left is the Dofasco yard (track owned and operated by Dofasco). This is what remains of Dofasco track in this part of Hamilton the mainline once stretching from about here all the way down beyond Depew St! Their line is mostly ripped up now and what remains looks rather forlorn except for the track inside Bayfront which is still used 24/7 by bottle trains and coke oven moguls.<br><br>My first time actually shooting CN properly down here in the "hole" - I do miss the SOR though. Saturday Morning's yard job was switching the yard while I ran into rp.ca Moderator Ryan Gaynor. We chatted a bit while shooting the geeps switching the yard, then the geeps ran under us with a single boxcar well past any yard leads -- I knew right away they were going down the hole. Box car? Surely for Parkdale Warehousing all the way down the other end of the N&NW spur? Yup, so we got to follow all the way down in quite nice light. Not all jobs are daily, in fact, it seems weekends can be pretty quiet. We ran into James Knott down there also making for a trio of regular Hamilton guys following the action. Great to see y'all. <br><br>With thanks to Tim Stevens, the Hamilton yard jobs are as follows: YHM013 - 0700. YHM303 - 1500. YHM313 - 1400. YHM603 - 2300. Not all jobs are daily but two sets of power are assigned to the yard at the present time. Weekends seem to be quiet in Hamilton but there is some action.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	3/9/2019
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

6 Comments | 14 Favourites

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Goderich-Exeter
Date:	06/21/2018
Location:	Waterloo
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 12 Favourites

A matched pair of M420's ducks between industries in the north end of Guelph. These just look nice in the snow - a nice lunchtime find around the corner from work. Are there any other railways in Canada using M420's after the Great Western in Saskatchewan stopped using theirs?

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	3/1/2019
Location:	Guelph
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 14 Favourites

Three units on this job was somewhat rare on GEXR, and I last photographed a triplet <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=14397 target=_blank>back in 2014</a> when OSR's ex CP 8235 was on lease to GEXR. This past weekend 540 came over to Guelph with the big set of power, normally used on 568. After finishing working the north end of Guelph I was able to photograph the train southbound at Edinburgh/Paisley Rd in really nice sunlight. <br><br> History lesson time: Knight Lumber used to occupy this site and was demolished around 2012 opening up this angle. Further back this used to be the terminus (yard and station) of the <a href=http://www.trainweb.org/ontariorailways/railgwr.htm target=_blank>Galt and Guelph Railway (Great Western)</a> built in 1857 which by 1871 was further extended north to Fergus, Palmerston and Southampton <a href=http://www.trainweb.org/ontariorailways/railwgb.htm target=_blank>(as the Wellington Grey and Bruce Railway)</a> which was all acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway by 1882. With the extension to Southampton and with Palmerston as a division point for other Branches a lot of traffic from Toronto ran through here (passenger and freight) but it was quickly deteriorating by the mid to late 60's. Around 1970 passenger service stopped, but a new Nuclear plant was built at Douglas Point near Southampton and new life was breathed into the old Wellington Grey and Bruce with 80 car oil trains running along 100 miles of upgraded (fortified) branchlines from Guelph until 1975 today's oil trains are not new and imagine them running on such rickety and well worn track as it was then! CN now services this branchline 6 to 7 days a week. If anyone has pictures of the Oil Trains along the Bruce Branches consider pulling one out to share :) Thank you.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/23/2019
Location:	Guelph
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 6 Favourites

Dashing through the snow with a broom hanging by the nose, one of the few standard cab GE's on the CN roster - CN 2126 is on the home stretch to Sarnia, Ontario.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	02/18/2019
Location:	Mandaumin
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 8 Favourites

Repainted in 2018, OSR 1401 leads the St. Thomas turn lifting some tanks at Putnam for Dowler-Karn in St. Thomas

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	01/21/2019
Location:	Putnam
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 18 Favourites

Burdakin Blue zooms past my camera as Sarnia's Plank Rd job switches "A" yard. Photo notes: 1/13 second handheld.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Grand Trunk Wester…
Date:	12/31/2018
Location:	Sarnia
Province:	Ontario

Comments | 9 Favourites

A nice three pack of, at the time, nice looking and clean SD75's leads train 148 down the hill at Copetown. The shack is for a 'switchtender' ? whose sole job was to monitor track conditions as there is an underground river/lake of some kind at this location. In the last few years some major underground water management system was installed in this location.. and there remains detectors here for sinkholes in case of a problem. Curious if one has ever happened..

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	4/16/2006
Location:	Copetown
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 10 Favourites

It's hard sometimes to think of the scale of what we photograph, but trains are actually quite large. This photo should put it into perspective, as 'house sized' QGRY 2301 passes a dwelling at the corners of Rose and Port St in Brantford, at 0800 back in 2015.<br><br>One can't mistake the correlation between the safety vest of SOR 598's conductor and the paint on QGRY 2301. A friend called G&W the "Safety Vest Railway" and I agree. Photo notes: Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 on my full frame D800.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Southern Ontario R…
Date:	04/29/2015
Location:	Brantford
Province:	Ontario

9 Comments | 10 Favourites

Well, as Kent Brockman in the Simpsons TV Show once capitulated during an alien invasion: "I for one, welcome our new railway overlords" and I guess I feel the same way. The Goderich-Exeter may be gone in Guelph and along most of the Guelph subdivision but with motive power like this, who's complaining? - Photographically speaking anyway. From a railway point of view, viewers from afar may be surprised to learn that the former Goderich-Exeter Guelph subdivision and associated spurs are essentially a CN Internal Shortline and still referred to as the "GEXR" by many. Why? Well, it's all the same employees in the cab! Other than CN 431 which is manned primarily by Toronto South crews on CN, all other assignments and customers on former GEXR Guelph sub are essentially guaranteed to the former GEXR guys who came over to CN. And these guys actually end up crewing 431 or 432 on occasion. It's their work, as far as the Union is concerned. That's about the easiest way I can explain it. And to hammer my point, witness this photo - L540 is heading east to Canwel in Acton, Ontario with two loads. Canwel could easily be done by a job that works the Halton subdivision... but they send a job from Kitchener for it. Similarly, and more suprisingly HCL Logistics located in London, Ontario at the former EMD plant also regularly gets rail service - out of Kitchener, NOT London for these exact same reasons. The internal shortline applies to Running Trades only - all other employees - MOW, Signals, RTC, Car Control, Carmen, Trainmasters, Management are not part of this agreement and may or may not be former GEXR employees. DI handles the Guelph Sub dispatching out of Montreal west of Kitchener.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	01/15/2019
Location:	Guelph
Province:	Ontario

9 Comments | 16 Favourites

Image 1/2 in this series of the "lens of time and optics" - so on Sunday I found myself at Blenheim Rd near the Village of Canning just east of Princeton, I had not photographed anything here for about 15 years. After shooting this train and processing photos a few days later, I realized I had set aside a similar shot from 15 years ago to post here in the not too distant future, so I took effort to find the frame and crop that is closest to <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36285 target=_blank> my photo of NS 327 </a> taken at the same spot. This reveals the cruel optics of time: No more NS, codeline is disintegrating, and the trees are getting taller and taller. The optical differences are, frankly, shooting using a D70 50mm f/1.8 fixed lens (cropped, 75mm equivalent) and now my D800 full frame, I shot this frame at 70mm and cropped it to be as close as possible. The rails are in exactly the same spot and the train is as close as I can get to the same as the NS shot. The building and codeline is damn close, but I chalk it to a slightly different vantage point and potential optical differences. The not so cruel optics of time? I Have a much higher quality camera now, and the smog is all but gone. Thank goodness for that!

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Illinois Central
Date:	01/27/2019
Location:	Canning
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 9 Favourites

The lens of time and optics can reveal interesting facets in your photographic journey, 15 years ago I spent a beautiful sunny spring day with a friend photographing trains, got a few keepers and a few misses, but at Blenheim Rd I waited here for NS 327 to pass by with a pair of standard cab EMD units. In the optics of time, there's considerable haze in the distance owing to the increased pollution we put up with. And of course, NS trains in Ontario are basically gone. The village of Canning is in the far left corner. Compare to the modern day <a href=http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=36286> photo of M331 here</a>

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Norfolk Southern
Date:	3/5/2005
Location:	Canning
Province:	Ontario

1 Comments | 13 Favourites

Hate to say it, but I enjoy this place too much. A nice park, wide open view (with trees that continue to get taller and taller over the years, slowly making it harder to shoot this bridge from end to end) and a town rich in railway history. While St. Thomas is a shadow of its former self, there's still great memories being made. Witness OSR's matching F units across a CNR bridge that hosted Wabash/N&W F units for decades - they belong here. They were also made not too far from St. Thomas at GMDD London. OSR Keeps it looking good, and the next act might be three matching F units across this bridge. Never say never! It just might happen in the not too distant future. Thanks again to OSR staff and crew who remarked that it should have looked great over the bridge. I agree!

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	01/21/2019
Location:	St. Thomas
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 19 Favourites

The 0700 yard job is lifting National Steel Car, and in tow, are what may be the first new CN grain hoppers coming out of the plant. These will replace the current fleet of colourful cylindrical hoppers.. get 'em while you can, because this is the future of our grain trains on CN.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	01/23/2019
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

6 Comments | 5 Favourites

My annual trip to see action on the St. Thomas sub, which for the last few years has featured a pair of F units. You just can't go wrong with OSR. I was hopeful for some snow action, but there was almost none to be had save for a few road plow drifts. I have to take a day off work for this annual trip, and each year i'd get something different. Now we have a matching pair of FP9A's. You know what? I think the OSR colours really show nicely in winter, despite the plain nose of 1401/6508 it really pops. I also enjoy how the tilling of the farmers fields forms a nice pattern in the snow. With thanks to the boys for the friendliness and the show, I promised I'd post something today, there's much more to come, I had a great and productive day. :) This is approaching Ferguson line not too far from St. Thomas city limits.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Ontario Southland
Date:	01/21/2019
Location:	Middlesex
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 15 Favourites

This mural has always fascinated me and I wanted to get a photo of a train going by it, all I needed was a train at the right time! Little did I realise I already had the shot. Connaut Fish and Chips, Gage and Main in the large, diagonal intersection of the former TH&B Belt Line. Never had the food here - prefer hutches - is this any good? :)

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	05/24/2014
Location:	Hamilton
Province:	Ontario

7 Comments | 10 Favourites

The Guelph Subdivision can easily be described as a roller coaster. 1956 built GP9RM 4028 works hard to keep up to track speed, engine exhaust heat meets cold winter air distorting the view of 37 cars and customer behind the motive power. The customer is apparently two customers, Shakespeare Mills Inc. and Quality Fertilizers Inc., both are active. From Kitchener to Highway 7, the Guelph sub seems like a turkey trail (25 mph) but after HWY 7 and in the straight to Stratford, they are a rocket and chasing is impossible - you only get one chance<br><br> I wish I did this shot in the GEXR days, but it's too late. With thanks to friend (and one time mod of this site!) <a href=http://railpictures.ca/author/KyleStefanovic target=_blank>Kyle Stefanovic</a> for the inspiration.

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	01/13/2019
Location:	Shakespeare
Province:	Ontario

6 Comments | 22 Favourites

I'm glad I spent a couple years getting all I could on GEXR before the lease expired - took no chances really, get your shots while you can is the motto de jour. Here's a neat shot, the Agro-Mart facility in Belton Ontario, has an almost complete loop-track set to take unit trains of Fertiliser. 516 is shoving with 17 cars into the loop track to lift 17 empties, then will set off the empties on the main, shove the 17 loads into the loop track by the loading pits, run around the train and return to Stratford. The last unit potash trains for this facility were CN powered approx 2003, after which they resorted to sending unit trains from the west to mac yard and sending blocks of cars from mac on GEXR 431. The switch to this facility is right in the middle of the plant at Kellys hence the signals.
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Agro-Mart gets service two days a week from CN 568 these days and is busy right now. I'll make it out there for that some day :)

Name:	Stephen C. Host
Railway:	Goderich-Exeter
Date:	11/6/2016
Location:	Belton
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 13 Favourites

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