Comments on: Growing up my family spent a lot of weekends at a campground outside of Acton. Some of my favourite memories are of evenings spent at the campfire listing to distant trains battling the Niagara Escarpment as they headed westward, along with horn echoing through the hillsides. In later years after the camping ended o spent more time exploring CN’s Guelph subdivision around Acton, my day shift ending time often allowed me to chase Goderich Exeters train 431 as it daily battled the Escarpment. This spot for me was a hidden gem often overlooked by a lot of railfans, mainly due to the sun never being in the right location to illuminate everything properly. Cloudy days were preferred here. The sound of the six axle EMD’s fighting the grade was like no other, and they often lost the battle. Unfortunately time rolls on, and CN took back the operations from GEXR and this end of the subdivision was sold to Metrolinx, with CN becoming a tenant and all freight movements this side of Acton became nocturnal. Today CN still battles the Escarpment but under the cover of darkness. Here GEXR train 431 with my favourite “Tunnel Motor” in the lead is seen heading into Acton under dreary skies.

By: Ian Malenfant-Picard

Ian Malenfant-Picard — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 04:18:12 +0000

Great catch Marcus, i wish i could be there to hear those EMD 645s scream!

By: L. Parks

L. Parks — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:57:02 +0000

Reading your caption, the grades are well supplied. All that is needed to complete the 3054 is some tunnels. It would have felt like it was back in those mountain passes in California. Doing what it was built for.