Comments on: Its becoming increasingly rare to see 451 in these parts in anything resembling daylight. Here a late-runner is caught approaching the south switch at Martins in the “blue hour” just before dawn led by CN 2921 with 2920 trailing. Unfortunately the road plows hadn’t been out yet so no snowbanks to bust, but at least there was enough accumulation to make for a nice trail.

By: PRR5406

PRR5406 — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 13:50:48 +0000

Nice shot for a Diesel.

By: BradKetchen

BradKetchen — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 15:14:31 +0000

Right. I know the history of the line. The Newmarket sub branches off just North of me here in Toronto and I used to see 595 (it was that in the 80′s) roll through Gravenhurst when we cottaged up there. It’s too bad that the McGuinty Liberals killed off the Northlander and that led me to the question of the future of the Newmarket sub. Thanks for the info and always nice to see your shots from up there Wayne.

By: Wayne D. Shaw

Wayne D. Shaw — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:55:27 +0000

For clarity, I should have added that 451/450 traffic switches from/to the Bala Sub at Washago for the portion of the journey south to Mac Yard. The Newmarket Sub between Allandale (south Barrie) through Orillia and across the Atherly Narrows up to Longford Mills was ripped up in the mid 90s.

By: Wayne D. Shaw

Wayne D. Shaw — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:39:26 +0000

Well its not like they haven’t thought of that before. My 2008 Canadian Trackside Guide has the notation “CN intends to discontinue service on the Newmarket Subdivision from mi.26.8 – 233.4″ in the Guide to Canadian Railways section. In the summer of 2010 there were a bunch of forest fires in NW Quebec and CN ran a few train from Rouyn-Noranda over the ONR to North Bay then down the Newmarket to keep service running. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it but shortly thereafter they started sinking money into track maintenance/upgrades. Maybe they figured it was a good thing keeping that route as an option.
The line sees daily service in each direction with CN 451 Macmillan Yard (Vaughan) > North Bay and 450 North Bay > Mac Yard, but the past 3 weeks or so they’ve dropped the Sunday service leaving only 6 days/week, setting out local traffic in Huntsville which is handled Monday through Friday by CN 595. Monday, Wednesday and Friday 595 generally sticks around Huntsville area servicing Panolam at Martins, KWH Pipe in town (now listed as something different I can never remember) and Kimberly-Clarke a couple of miles north. Tuesdays and Thursdays they add traffic for Stepan Chemical in Longford mills (down the old Newmarket spur south of Washago) to the mix.

By: BradKetchen

BradKetchen — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:18:55 +0000

Very nice. How much traffic is on the Newmarket rails? I’m surprised CN hasn’t ripped them up.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 06:26:22 +0000

Beautiful shot!