Comments on: With the previous day’s 330 rolling past the cleanup of a two-day old derailment, I don’t think CN will be asking to use this image to demonstrate operational excellence anytime soon. The story here – 555, operating with the triple set, put some boxcars on the ground in Parkdale Yard on Friday night. By the looks of it, the 0800 crew was dispatched with the double set on Sunday morning to help with the cleanup. When 300 got to Hamilton Sunday morning, the yard crew working in Stuart asked if they were really early or really late. The answer was that they never even left Sarnia on Saturday on account of not having a crew, and didn’t leave until early Sunday morning. Before this shot, a couple of follies compounded the situation – 330 was stopped completely in Parkdale Yard for a good 20 or 30 minutes, sitting in the approach to the crossing and completely fouling traffic on Parkdale Ave. Meanwhile, it looked like the cleanup crew had the boxcar in the image back on the rails and went to pull ahead, only to put it back on the ground with a bang.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 22:16:47 +0000

Thank you Paul! I’m still waiting for the reprinted version to come.

By: PacificPaul

PacificPaul — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 22:05:13 +0000

Congrats on making the CP 2020 calendar for September as well Jamie !!

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 20:22:00 +0000

Thanks Larry, same to you.

By: Larry Parks

Larry Parks — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 04:11:41 +0000

All the best to you this festive season Jamie.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 16:31:54 +0000

Will have to check with my RTC friends but will take your word for it

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 15:28:06 +0000

Happy to, Steve. Figured it was of interest to see.

Phil, they gave the guys in the yard power a TOP on Sunday too. Can’t say I know the ins and outs of this stuff, but two days in a row they were given TOPs.

By: ngineered4u

ngineered4u — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 05:18:31 +0000

@Mark.. yes you are correct. Track Warrants have to be given to a train or engine number, not by assignment. FYI TOPS are not issued to train crews. They are for foreman, track units, track protection forces. Track warrants are issued to trains.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 02:24:44 +0000

Glad someone was there to document it. Thanks for sharing James.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Tue, 24 Dec 2019 00:43:44 +0000

Thanks for the info Mark. And thanks, Phil.

I got a little more info on the scene here: The crew with the yard set came on at 0700 on this day as opposed to a typical 0800 start. And the cleanup of this box proved particularly difficult given it was located directly under some wires, prevent a crane from getting in. Contrary to what I said in the caption, they never actually had it back on the rails (though it did look more upright at one point than in this shot). They were just fruitlessly trying to pull it back on the rails but it was stuck so badly that they had no luck. Despite the wires, I was told a crane was due to arrive last night. Not sure how that all played out.

By: Mark MacCauley

Mark MacCauley — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 16:21:46 +0000

Interesting note, 555 tied down the power on the site of the derailment when it happened, I assume. The next day (Saturday) the 0800 yard job hopped on the power here at Parkdale. If I understand correctly,they then operated as “triple 7″ (777) to satisfy the requirments of a Track Occupancy Permit (TOP), which would not accept “0800 yard job” as a train ID.