Comments on: Posting this on a cloudy and dreary day, here’s a cloudy and dreary day shot, for this young photographer, I didn’t care about the weather. In fact, I didn’t care about a lot of things – I cringe at the mistakes that I made at the time, photographically, and technically (!). But this one is kind of moody and well, I’d love a chance to do this again and do it right :) But some things you can’t change. Witness the motive power on 230 (now 246) – never again in the lead position. Today’s 246 (currently nearing Hamilton) has a pair of SD’s enroute to the torch or the re-sale market.. and every single day this happened.. we took it for granted :)

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 14:06:57 +0000

Wow – I’m amazed how this photo has blown up – a love-in for the sd40-2 !
Thanks everyone.

By: Alexander Medora

Alexander Medora — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 02:33:40 +0000

I’m happy I rode these dirty beasts all over Ontario and BC… I even managed a ride on one of these purring monsters from Brandon to Winnipeg… drove ‘em a few times too.
I certainly wish I took more pics though.

By: awmooney

awmooney — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 20:10:00 +0000

Steve: Your comments about cringing and mistakes has drawn me back as I got thinking of my own super-blunders. I’ve had lots of years to make lots more mistakes. ) If you think you’ve messed up a bit; consider how I felt going out west in 1978 thru Montana, shooting the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific rolling out of Rocker, MT after following Milwaukee Road, using up a roll of 36 Kodak 25 ISO (ASA back then) and then realizing I had the camera set for Kodachrome 64. All that stuff lost. And sweating it out the rest of the trip hoping I did not mess up a few shots of a ROCK Island with 8 U-boats up front. (I didn’t) The very idea of composition didn’t not even cross my mind when racing after fast trains over the plains. There. Feel better now? LOL

By: awmooney

awmooney — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 19:52:38 +0000

Mistakes? Not with this shot. You captured the train, the mood, and the power, well, we all know what has become of it……and this is not all that old an image, either. Even the 9500s will soon be a loco of the past. Time marches on, ever so swiftly.

By: Marcus Stevens

Marcus Stevens — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 10:02:55 +0000

Nicely done
Love shooting in the fog
Miss the SD40s especially those B units

By: Daniel Odette

Daniel Odette — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 00:59:58 +0000

And yes, looks framed well to me. Knowing me, I’d probably go heavier on the processing and make it look horrible. Lol.

By: Daniel Odette

Daniel Odette — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 00:58:30 +0000

The last solid SD40-2 lashup I saw was in 2014 on CP 421. I am relieved I made every effort I could to get it, not so much the angle I was shooting from though. I knew from 2013 that the SD40-2 power was diminishing when the Expressway started having GE power on a somewhat frequent basis, however, I never thought it would come to such an abrupt end. On the MacTier, the seemingly quite common EMD lashups became very occasional when the oil started tapering off. I can imagine it will get a bit better when the economy picks up again, but based on Hunter’s comments and the recent SD40-2 graveyard pulls, I doubt we’ll see those lashups again in their original concept.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 23:41:09 +0000

Thanks. This is one of the good ones. It’s the others I cringe at….

but alas, at least I have a few from this period that are keepers

By: mile27

mile27 — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 21:45:21 +0000

Very nice, Stephen. Nothing wrong with this shot. Sure do miss that large fleet of SD’s that CP had.

By: CNSD60F

CNSD60F — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 21:10:09 +0000

But great shot, cowpath looks different with searchlights!