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With nice photos already posted and the stories told I assume everyone is familiar with the ONR "movie train" by now, as it was in Port Colborne for a few days as the site of a TV shoot. After filming was done the train rolled out of the Port late in the day on Saturday the 23rd of July and ended up tying down at the entrance to the small GIO yard in Thorold South.  
Plans were to get rolling back northward on Sunday, but apparently a CN pilot could not be located so as a result it spent the whole day Sunday shut down and locked up. Many railroad photographers came and went, and as well a lot of walkers/cyclists who use the path adjacent to the rail line stopped and took cell phone shots as they had never seen a train parked here before. (Neither had I) The crew spent most of Sunday sightseeing around Niagara after overnighting at a hotel in Fort Erie, of all places.  
Come Monday morning, all was quiet until the crew arrived around 0630 and the engine was fired up; backed off the yard lead and moved onto the main in anticipation of heading out. However, the CN pilot still had not been located. So, they waited, and waited....finally I heard via the scanner that the train was to move up to the connection with CN. This was at 1015. Upon arriving at the connection with CN Grimsby sub at mile 9:45 (site of former Merritton station), CN's 421 was going by; and the road traffic was lined up a long way back on Glendale Av. Because of that, we did not see if a pilot climbed aboard the ONR special at the connector; but we did know the train entered the CN line after 421 cleared, and was off.
It was an entertaining morning. The train consisted of ONR 1802, 3 coaches (I think one a diner) and auxiliary car #221 ( a former AMTK unit) on the rear. The photo here is of the train just crossing Dock Rd as it pulls away. Off to my left about 200 ft is the Welland Canal.
Copyright Notice: This image ©A.W.Mooney all rights reserved.



Caption: With nice photos already posted and the stories told I assume everyone is familiar with the ONR "movie train" by now, as it was in Port Colborne for a few days as the site of a TV shoot. After filming was done the train rolled out of the Port late in the day on Saturday the 23rd of July and ended up tying down at the entrance to the small GIO yard in Thorold South. Plans were to get rolling back northward on Sunday, but apparently a CN pilot could not be located so as a result it spent the whole day Sunday shut down and locked up. Many railroad photographers came and went, and as well a lot of walkers/cyclists who use the path adjacent to the rail line stopped and took cell phone shots as they had never seen a train parked here before. (Neither had I) The crew spent most of Sunday sightseeing around Niagara after overnighting at a hotel in Fort Erie, of all places. Come Monday morning, all was quiet until the crew arrived around 0630 and the engine was fired up; backed off the yard lead and moved onto the main in anticipation of heading out. However, the CN pilot still had not been located. So, they waited, and waited....finally I heard via the scanner that the train was to move up to the connection with CN. This was at 1015. Upon arriving at the connection with CN Grimsby sub at mile 9:45 (site of former Merritton station), CN's 421 was going by; and the road traffic was lined up a long way back on Glendale Av. Because of that, we did not see if a pilot climbed aboard the ONR special at the connector; but we did know the train entered the CN line after 421 cleared, and was off. It was an entertaining morning. The train consisted of ONR 1802, 3 coaches (I think one a diner) and auxiliary car #221 ( a former AMTK unit) on the rear. The photo here is of the train just crossing Dock Rd as it pulls away. Off to my left about 200 ft is the Welland Canal.

Photographer:
A.W.Mooney [2133] (more) (contact)
Date: 07/25/2022 (search)
Railway: Ontario Northland (search)
Reporting Marks: ONR 1802 (search)
Train Symbol: "movie extra" (search)
Subdivision/SNS: GIO Canal sub. (search)
City/Town: Thorold South (search)
Province: Ontario (search)
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7 Comments
  1. Nice capture Arnold! We had a ‘movie extra’ here on the Rock back in 1971 when CN assisted Gordon Pinsent for exterior and interior shots of a passenger train scene for ‘The Rowdyman’.

  2. So there’s the rest of the story.. Thanks Arnold, great coverage by the Niagara Goons!!

    If someone told me in 2021 that an ONR train would come down to the Niagara Region i’d probably pretend to slap em in the face or something saying it’s just a railfan fantasy. Alas, here we are.

  3. Thanks, Guys.
    Ken: Ol’ Pinsent is still alive and kicking, I understand. I’m sure it was he who chaired a TV show many years ago about Fred McKenna. The good old days.

  4. The CN pilot caught the train at Merriton !

  5. Thanks. I would have assumed that, but was not able to see.

  6. The next question is did the ONR folks use an ONR pilot to get to/from port colborne? they basically operated their own little train down there when they were filming… moving at needs of the film crew

    and they also used ONR Channel 1 to do the work.

  7. I talked to the ONR engineer, he was from Englehart and except with a pilot while on CN, the ONR crew was in control of the train!

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