Comments on: After spending hours switching in North Hamilton the Kinnear yard job TH31 is seen passing between the buildings at Main and Gage on the former TH&B Belt Line. It has been a few years since I’ve shot here, the last time the motive power was a trio of GP9′s and this time a trio of GP38-2′s making for a nice contrast.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 12:46:39 +0000

No, it was not me.

By: cnnutbar

cnnutbar — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 12:43:50 +0000

Great shot Stephen.I drove by Kinnear Yard on Thursday around 1:30 and noticed a trio of rail-fans at the entrance to the Hamilton Brick Co. on Lawrence Rd.—at that time CP246 was sitting in the yard.Was that you ?

By: BradKetchen

BradKetchen — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 10:50:14 +0000

Same here..the three units. I notice a lot of jobs these days that were handled by a couple of SW1200RS’s back in the day, now with 3 1700 hp +. It’s a good sign then that railroading is alive and well with the extra HP for more tonnage. Are they always the same three Geep 38′s on the Kinnear job (give or take)? Havelock run too, always 3 38′s. CN however ‘switches’ their units around constantly.

By: mile27

mile27 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:33:37 +0000

Sweet scene. Nicely done, Stephen.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:08:41 +0000

Correct – CP’s “Train Area Marshalling” or “TrAM” system is responsible for this. Outlined in a bit more detail here

https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/rail/2010/r10t0213/r10t0213.html

When required, it forces the use of the pushers, or if not available, the crews might be told to remarshall or leave something behind to become compliant in Kinnear or Welland. But the pushers weren’t really a thing until around late 2013 / early 2014. Prior to that they simply doubled the hill and left part the train at the Jct.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:04:48 +0000

Haha was typing my response and put my phone down halfway and see Steve mentioned Aberdeen and pushing duties in the meantime.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:01:57 +0000

At night*

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:01:35 +0000

It’s mostly because of Aberdeen and all the coils and pellet loads, and when they’re pulling loads of scrap out of AIM in the north end. Aberdeen is all at might so we never see the main reason it’s a triple set. They also do pushing duties for northbound freights that meet certain criteria.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 19:54:22 +0000

Well, if I may…

I witnessed during Stelco’s last peak (2010 or so) CP hauling 60 loaded slab cars from Stelco back to Kinnear. I had my young daughter at the time, and I took her to Belview park. I knew the train was coming but she and I were getting our ya ya’s out playing when we heard the deafening noise. I grabbed my camera and shot this

http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=8778

A symphony of noise – full notch 8, as they pulled out of the grade coming out of the Grimsby sub underpass.

What did the TH&B usually haul and how many cars would they have on an average train on the Belt Line back to Kinnear? That I cannot answer. CP also uses the three units as essentially a permanent roustabout job doing whatever they tell them to do, and the mainline pushing still is a thing, as well as the nightly Aberdeen transfer.

By: Stuart Streit

Stuart Streit — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 19:42:36 +0000

Still can’t understand why CP thinks they need THREE units to do industrial switching? Didn’t TH&B make do with one or two SW’s?