Comments on: To follow up on Arnold’s great Ferguson Avenue photo of the CN Steel Train, here’s a photo of it running along the Hagersville Sub near Rymal on the Niagara escarpment, with a nice matching zebra-striped A-B-A set lead by CN 9173. [Editor's notes: CN for a time ran the Steel Train out of Hamilton with matching A-B-A sets of F7 units. While they were poor for switching, crews reportedly didn't mind as there was little switching done with the train. Occasionally a GP9 would be substituted for an ailing F.] Note: Geotagged location not exact.

By: Stuart Streit

Stuart Streit — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:16:07 +0000

Great shot Bill! Would you be able to recall if you were positioned north or south of Twenty side road? I grew up in the immediate area on Glover road and was only able to capture the F units once. Good news – pure A-B-A consist! Bad news – unanticipated big cloud formation/too slow shutter speed resulting in blurred image:(

By: cn5248

cn5248 — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 13:04:42 +0000

Great photo Bill! I believe this is about a mile south of the geotagged location, where the line approaches Nebo road. At this time, the train only ran south on this portion of the line, and the nortward loaded movement was routed through Brantford. Apparently, some Hamiltonians were worried about the possibility of a runaway with the heavy loaded cars. Eventually all moves were routed through Brantford and the line north of Caledonia was abandoned in 1993 (I believe downgraded to a spur about 1989).

By: awmooney

awmooney — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 13:01:24 +0000

Of course, very nice, Bill. I might add the recollection going thru my noggin at this time seems to trigger the idea of catching an A-B-A was not that easy. These units seem to crap out constantly and the substituted GPs were a very common occurrence. To tell you the truth, I had no idea these trains were running this route in June. I thought it was late July to early Sept for the A-B-A’s. Post more if you can, and show the young’uns what they missed. )