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About Paul O'Shell

Started my railroad career at CN in July 1969 and retired from the industry 49 years later on March 1, 2018. My area of expertise was railway Work Equipment. Reside in Kelowna, BC. I use a Nikon D850 full frame & Nikon D7200 (Nikkor 24-70mm, 24-120mm, 35mm, 18-140mm, 55-300mm, & 80-400mm) and scan with an Epson V550. Enjoy my contributions. Be safe. Lots more of my photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197431498@N07/albums

Paul O'Shell's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 489
Total gold: 5509
Number of comments recieved : 1030
Number of comments posted : 1009
Total views: 929782

Paul O'Shell has 1 image in the Time Machine

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Paul O'Shell's 489 photos on Railpictures.ca:

HBRY 5005 SD50 (ex-NREX, exx-UP 9835, exx-MP 5002) sits idle in the HBR yard in Thompson, MB beside VIA #693 which has backed into the station. Passengers have detrained and mill about enjoying the shortened stop on this warm and sunny August 1st afternoon. The trailing passenger car on #693 today is sleeper VIA 8202 Chateau Bienville. It is my home away from home for a couple of days. It won't be long before the call to board is made and the train will once again be on the slow and scenic move to its destination in Churchill, MB.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	Thompson
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 17 Favourites

VIA #692 (Churchill to Winnipeg) is backed into the station at Thompson, MB on this cool, overcast, and drizzly August 5, 2022 noon hour. The step boxes are on the platform inviting people to detrain, but there are only VIA on-board, maintenance personnel, and me outside to do our respective tasks. The solar panel above the Thompson town map board struggles to do its job at the moment. If I was to turn around 180 degrees (which I did), the lens would capture VIA #693 parked about a car length behind the last car of #692. As this was a several hour station stop, a number of passengers ventured into the town of Thompson when the weather broke.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	Thompson
Province:	Manitoba

6 Comments | 17 Favourites

It's 06:34, foggy, cool, and damp on the station platform at The Pas, MB. VIA #693 (Winnipeg to Churchill) arrived a few minutes earlier so it was time to detrain and capture what I could during this early morning stop. Only a handful of people were milling about at this hour, including a couple of passengers, VIA on-board & local maintenance personnel, a station security guard, and the new headend crew. After getting my photos, and enjoying the cool fresh air of this northern Manitoba community, I climbed back on board and headed to VIA 8515 Skyline to enjoy a hot, freshly prepared breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash-brown potatoes, and another full day of riding the rails towards the polar bear and beluga whale capital of the world. :-)

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

3 Comments | 15 Favourites

On my recent trip from Winnipeg to Churchill and return (July 31-August 6) I was able to detrain along the way, in several locations, and snap a few photos in mostly sunny conditions.
On the trip up to Churchill, Dauphin, MB was one of those spots that provided almost 30 minutes of platform time to mill about and gather a variety of pictures. The stations cornerstone, or in Dauphin's case the 'towerstone' reads CNR 1912. In addition to its VIA obligations, the station also houses the Dauphin Rail Museum.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	07/31/2022
Location:	Dauphin
Province:	Manitoba

2 Comments | 15 Favourites

The street address for the Churchill, Manitoba railway station is 1 Mantayo Seepee Meskanow.
Once arriving passengers have detrained and been picked up by their respective lodging shuttles, the onboard crew has finished their arrival chores, and the VIA maintenance personnel have the wayside HEP connected through the lead locomotive, it gets pretty quiet at this location.
For this photo, I am standing in the middle of the street without a vehicle in sight, so my less than stellar photographic skills are not interrupted once during my picture taking time on this particular morning.
The early sunrise and late sunset in Churchill offered lots of opportunity to capture a plethora of views of the station and other interesting sites in town during my three day stay.
The Canadian Government has recognized the station as a "Recognized Federal Heritage Building" since June 2000.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

5 Comments | 16 Favourites

Churchill, MB station is looking spectacular these days as evidenced by this shot I snapped last week after a two day ride on VIA Rail #693 from Winnipeg. While there is a small waiting area inside for passengers, and a single wicket for the VIA Rail agent during train arrival & departure times, the rest of the building, both main and upper floor are occupied by Parks Canada personal. The station interior has been completely renovated and even has an elevator to the second floor where Parks Canada has offices and a conference room. The main floor houses a Parks Canada welcome kiosk, and a museum exhibiting life, and wildlife in this far north area of Manitoba.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

6 Comments | 21 Favourites

It's 07:30 at Mac Yard on September 1, 2015, and while waiting for the Engineering guys to arrive for a day of training on their the new Knox Kershaw KYC550 Yard Cleaner http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=20733, I was able to walk over from the Work Equipment shop to Green Tower/West Control and snap CN 7255 basking in the warm morning sun while the crew was in the tower picking up instructions on the next cut of cars to be shuffled.
CN 7255 is ex-CN 4217 which can be seen in this July 1988 Seth B. photo http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=48491
My thanks to Seth B. for his time, effort, and handy work in cleaning up, straightening, and otherwise correcting my photo of CN 7255 to make it presentable.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	September 1, 2015
Location:	Concord
Province:	Ontario

2 Comments | 17 Favourites

Viewed from the opposite end to the photo submitted by First954 a few days ago, here is CN 79146 in Capreol on one of the shop tracks sporting a fresh coat of paint in the summer of 1976. It was not in the consist of the Capreol Auxiliary outfit at the time of this photo, but likely ended up there after being outfitted for service.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	Summer 1976
Location:	Capreol
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 13 Favourites

Further to Jacob Patterson's submission of a Don Jilson photo (http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=48327), and subsequent comments from various interested parties, I offer up this shot of combine CN 7210 (ex-CN 2830, exx-CNoR 1541) Class PE-73-B, 73 foot 6 inch Colonist Car, built by CC&F in 1919. I snapped this picture at Hearst, ON in the summer of 1976 while I was working in the area on a CN Regional tie renewal gang. I find it quite interesting that Brundle photo'd the same car 10 years later in 1986 at Egremont, AB.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	Summer 1976
Location:	Hearst
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 13 Favourites

Ready and waiting for the first big snowfall of winter 2007/2008 is QCM C2 113-002 3531, a Wellman model DE 600 locomotive crane, serial number 4385, built in 1959. Instead of the traditional lattice type boom used for hoisting, magnet, and clam bucket work, the unit is outfitted with a Rolba Snowblast snow blower attachment QCM 161-025 3540. I captured the combined machines sitting at the QCM shops in Port Cartier, QC during an October 30, 2007 visit to the railways office and shop complex.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Cartier
Date:	October 30, 2007
Location:	Port Cartier
Province:	Quebec

2 Comments | 11 Favourites

Further to the recent Bruce Lowe photo - Collection of the GHRA showing CN 50008 Bucyrus Erie 250 ton steam powered wrecking crane, serial number 36210, built in 1946, here is a glimpse of the same crane 37 years later at 56 years old in Kamloops, BC on August 1, 2002. In this photo the crane is now dieselized, has all new sheet metal wrapping the upper structure rotating deck, and is in the newest CN wrecking crane paint scheme.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	August 1, 2002
Location:	Kamloops
Province:	British Columbia

1 Comments | 8 Favourites

Further to my comment on Liam MacDougall's photo capturing a GO train at Danforth between Main Street and Victoria Park Avenue ( http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=42149 ), here is a glimpse of the CN Danforth Work Equipment Shop that once occupied the grounds where all the townhouses now sit. This photo was taken on the new shops official opening day of June 5, 1956. The new 'state of the art' facility replaced a much older and smaller facility on the same property. The old shop was built on a foundation that had the large rollup doors into the building at boxcar door/flatcar deck height. It became a small repair and storage facility when the new shop opened. After each season of rail replacement, tie replacement, ballast gangs, surfacing crews, and general Engineering projects, most equipment on the Great Lakes Region was returned to the Danforth shop to be repaired/overhauled for the next production season. Through the 1960's and 70's the yard tracks were home to the fleets of Engineering accommodation and work service cars including red fleet boarding cars, tool cars, coach cars, tanks cars, machinery flats, white fleet units, etc. They were all stored, stocked, and repaired here. With the ever increasing quantity, size and complexity of work equipment machinery, a new repair facility was constructed in Capreol, Ontario in the late 1970's to take some of the workload from the Danforth shops. The value of Toronto real estate made the railway property at the Danforth complex very appealing and the yard, Steel Bridge shop, and once modern Work Equipment shop would soon be gone to make way for the townhomes that are present there today.

Name:	CNR photo, Paul O'S…
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	June 5, 1956
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 18 Favourites

Further to John Pittman's submission of a John Parnell photo depicting a CP track motor car, here is the CN version of the same car. CN 131-52 is a Woodings Railcar model CBI 2-man inspection track motor car. I captured it while on an inspection trip to CN's P-811 concrete tie laying gang on the Caramat Sub west of Hornepayne, ON on June 19, 1985. The Woodings Railcar CBI (2-man inspection car), and the slightly larger CBL (4-man section car) were direct competitors to the Fairmont MT-19 (2-man inspection car) and MT-14 (4-man section car) models. By the late 1980's and into the early 1990's, track motor cars were becoming the exception and not the rule as more and more hi-rail vehicles were introduced to Engineering Track, S&C, B&B, Welding, and other groups within CN Operations.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	6/19/1985
Location:	west of Hornepayne
Province:	Ontario

12 Comments | 24 Favourites

The first VIA #2 'The Canadian' to travel east from Vancouver to Toronto after removal of the recent railway blockades is seen sitting at CN Hornepayne, ON mile 0.0 Caramat Sub. on a very chilly -17C March 9, 2020 at 23:30 hrs. Had #2 been on time I would have snapped this photo around 18:00 hrs. but running 5+ hours late, this was the only opportunity to capture, maybe for the last time, this once hustling and bustling passenger station, crew change point, division office building. A February 19, 2020 application by CN to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to demolish the structure has been submitted and the formal process has begun. I last photographed Hornepayne station on December 18, 2001 as seen here http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=20428 and was surprised to see it still standing 19 years later. I plan to make the east to west journey on VIA #1 'The Canadian' in a few months and will hopefully, at that time, be able to capture, in daylight, what's left of the Hornepayne station.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	03/09/2020
Location:	Hornepayne
Province:	Ontario

4 Comments | 12 Favourites

Just inside door 16 and over the pit in Building H at CP's Weston shop is CP 414225, an American Hoist & Derrick model 830 DE locomotive crane, serial number L-3663, built new for CP in June of 1965. The crane is in for some operator maintenance training and and a complete under car body inspection including gear cases, traction transmissions, and traction motors. In the shop on the same track behind the crane are snow plow CP 401034 and Jordan spreader CP 402877. It's a busy time in the shop readying all this work equipment for winter.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	10/20/2015
Location:	Winnipeg
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 9 Favourites

Here is the operators view from the control stand area through the open front door of Jordan spreader CP 402877. The new hydraulic controls have yet to be put to work in this newly refurbished 1953 built unit as the finishing touches are being made inside Building H at CP's Weston Shop complex. In one month less a day this machine will be off loaded at Banff, AB then moved to Lake Louise, AB for its winter assignment.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	10/20/2015
Location:	Winnipeg
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 7 Favourites

CP 402877 is a Jordan Type A, broken wing, mid-height plow spreader, serial number 864, built in 1953. It is pictured here inside CP's Weston Shops in Winnipeg, MB on October 20, 2015. This unit has just undergone conversion and upgrading from an air powered spreader to full hydraulic controls and operation and is waiting to be stenciled, tested, and loaded onto a Work Equipment ramp car for transport to Banff, AB where it will be unloaded on November 19, 2015, then moved to Lake Louise, AB for its winter assignment.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	October 20, 2015
Location:	Winnipeg
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 10 Favourites

October 20, 2015 finds snow plow CP 401034 inside Weston shops in Winnipeg, MB waiting assessment to determine its future at CP. On the same track behind the plow was Jordan spreader CP 402877 which had just been upgraded to hydraulic controls from the original air controlled plow and wings. On the same track in from of the plow over an inspection pit was CP 414225, an American 825 DE locomotive crane receiving a detailed inspection and servicing. A great day at the shop if you're interests lean towards Work Equipment. :-)

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	October 20, 2015
Location:	Winnipeg
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 7 Favourites

On September 20, 2016 while at Agincourt Yard assisting CP Work Equipment in preparing Ohio crane CP 414222 for shipment from Toronto to Winnipeg I captured plow CP 401028. At the time, the plow was coupled to Jordan spreader CP 402894 and parked on a stub track near the locomotive service facility. A year earlier on October 20, 2015 I was at CP Weston shops in Winnipeg where they had several plows inside being evaluated for potential repairs. I'm not sure if a plow refurb program was ever undertaken. I do know that several Jordan spreaders were refurbished and upgraded to have hydraulic controls instead of air cylinders.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	September 20, 2016
Location:	Toronto
Province:	Ontario

3 Comments | 6 Favourites

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	December 1988
Location:	Charny
Province:	Quebec

2 Comments | 13 Favourites

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