http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Sun, 21 Jun 2026 22:25:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=58949#comment-68802 awmooney Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:53:03 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/1981-05-12-Capreol-ON.-CN-van-56497.jpg#comment-68802 Your informative commentary is always appreciated, Ronald, even if you think you ramble on so. There are no wasted words. Your informative commentary is always appreciated, Ronald, even if you think you ramble on so. There are no wasted words.

]]> http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=58949#comment-68799 RonaldB Mon, 15 Jun 2026 03:19:48 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/1981-05-12-Capreol-ON.-CN-van-56497.jpg#comment-68799 Canadian Pacific had "fleet" of flangers, but the only ones I saw in my career were those we set off or picked up at Galt, travelling between the GRR/LE&N and the CP car shops in Toronto for annual servicing. Instead of flangers, snow plows were usually run also run to clean out the "flange", or snow pack between the rails, in my time on CP. Packed snow could actually affect operations as a snowy winter wore on. Two locations on the London Division where this was a problem, were the loop at Goderich and the westward (north) track of the Galt Sub between Streetsville & Guelph Jct. Before CTC was installed between Dixie & Guelph Jct, a current of traffic was in effect, westward trains used the north track & eastward trains, the south. Almost all westbounds were filled out to tonnage & climbed the hill at a crawl. As snow packed in between the rails,the incidence of trains stalling climbed until they ran the double track plow to clear out the flange. Once CTC was in place plenty of eastbounds ran on the north track & blew the snow away, instead of it packing. Arnold, I know this long essay isn't what you were looking for, but your photos have a bad habit of triggering my old memories. Canadian Pacific had “fleet” of flangers, but the only ones I saw in my career were those we set off or picked up at Galt, travelling between the GRR/LE&N and the CP car shops in Toronto for annual servicing.
Instead of flangers, snow plows were usually run also run to clean out the “flange”, or snow pack between the rails, in my time on CP.
Packed snow could actually affect operations as a snowy winter wore on. Two locations on the London Division where this was a problem, were the loop at Goderich and the westward (north) track of the Galt Sub between Streetsville & Guelph Jct. Before CTC was installed between Dixie & Guelph Jct, a current of traffic was in effect, westward trains used the north track & eastward trains, the south. Almost all westbounds were filled out to tonnage & climbed the hill at a crawl. As snow packed in between the rails,the incidence of trains stalling climbed until they ran the double track plow to clear out the flange. Once CTC was in place plenty of eastbounds ran on the north track & blew the snow away, instead of it packing.
Arnold, I know this long essay isn’t what you were looking for, but your photos have a bad habit of triggering my old memories.

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