Comments on: In all of these years of railfanning I have only had the opportunity of following trains on the Hagersville subdivision a few times. Since CN gave up the line in the late 1990′s most trains have traveled the north end of the line under the cover of darkness, now that CN is back again daylight moves are most common. I’m not totally sure why but the last couple of trains I have photographed along the line have only traveled at a painful 5-10 mph. I’m not sure if is due to the lack of an “end of train device” or due to the condition of the rails. Nevertheless it makes railfanning a lot easier. Here train 580 with a GP38 / SD75 combination are passing an old barn and some changing fall colours just southeast of Cainsville. I never realized the photo opportunities along this stretch of the line with some nice rolling hills and rural crossings. I will definitely try this again when I have more time and less cloud cover.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:07:18 +0000

@Stephen…all good sir. I understood

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 21:57:55 +0000

Roger. Then I meant to say operating as a transfer.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 20:02:05 +0000

There is no rule called transfer speed.

Transfer: An engine with or without cars operating on main track at speeds not exceeding 15 MPH

Train: An engine with or without cars intended to operate on main track at speeds in excess of 15 MPH or a track unit when so designated.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 19:10:30 +0000

If there is no working SBU they are deemed a “transfer” and must go transfer speed.

By: Joseph Bishop

Joseph Bishop — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 10:59:20 +0000

Boxcars go to Nicholson and Cates lumber in Caledonia for loading.

By: Marcus Stevens

Marcus Stevens — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 04:27:51 +0000

Thanks for all the information everyone, they definitely did not have an EOTD this day so that must have been the reason for the slow speed. They also had a CSX boxcar on the train, I can’t remember the last time I saw a boxcar on this line unless it also gets loaded with wallboard at Hagersville?

By: Joseph Bishop

Joseph Bishop — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 03:15:29 +0000

Also, it is highly rare that 580 goes beyond Hagersville. They only do that IF necessary. 580′s duties are to switch CGC, they run into Hagersville, run around their train and then return to switch.

They only do Garnet if 581 is unable to at night or they run out of time and need rescuing.

581 is still doing the Brantford-Paris-Garnet-Paris-Brantford turn each night.

By: Joseph Bishop

Joseph Bishop — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 03:12:33 +0000

The 10 per on the Hagersville was put in place as a blanket restriction for the entire line due to the heat that was being experienced over the summer.

It should be lifted now, so if they were going slow then that was for a certain stretch of track only. They’ve been making fine time between Hagersvile and Brantford over the last few weeks that I have noted them running.

580 also always uses and EOT on their runs these days, so there should be no issues surrounding that.

By: Jacob Patterson

Jacob Patterson — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:06:20 +0000

@Jamie: If they did it Red Green style they should have no problems.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 20:15:57 +0000

If they go above 10 the duct tape comes off.