This is a guest post by David McCormack. Thank you, David! Click on any of the photos to see them on Flickr. Today, after 20 years, the City of Ottawa has fully completed its OTrain experiment. It all started out as a small project (of $21 million to 26 million (Ottawa Citizen, 2001-10-13) depending on … Read more
I’ve been spending way too much time playing Train Station 2: Rail Strategy on my phone. It’s a lot of fun. I wanted to share a bit about it here. I’m not being compensated in any way for writing about it. I just like the game. I recorded a walkthrough video for it if you’d … Read more
These days, a lot of VIA Rail’s trains have been reduced in frequency or cancelled outright. The Canadian, the Ocean, the Maple Leaf, the Jasper-Prince Rupert train – all cancelled. Corridor service is reduced, and other longer distance trains like the Sudbury-White River and Montreal – Jonquière/Senneterre trains have been reduced in frequency as well. … Read more
In this time of social distancing, sheltering in place, and all the other new phrases associated with the coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic, what should photographers do? Things You Clearly Can’t Do One on one type photography is clearly not OK. A photographer should not be doing studio work with models, families, babies, business headshots and … Read more
The cover of “The Old Railway Station Book” really caught my eye. This is the stone station at Kensington, PEI, a station I have visited several times. I was hooked. This book by Michael Golay follows the train station from its humble beginnings at the dawn of railroading, through the heyday of train stations at … Read more
I seem to be photographing a fair number of aircraft these days. I thought I’d share a few here from a recent excursion. The helicopter above is a Hughes 369E, also known as a McDonnell Douglas MD 500E. It’s a small helicopter, 9.4m (30.8′) long with an 8.1m (26.4′) rotor diameter. This series of helicopters … Read more
I set out on the morning of Saturday, March 28 with great hopes for some sunrise train action. My plan was to visit the CN Redditt subdivision and the CP Keewatin subdivision on the east side of Winnipeg, maybe fly my drone, and capture some trains in that sweet early morning light. I’ve already spoiled … Read more
Photographer Mark Perry very kindly scanned seven slides from his collection that feature a fan trip in 1983, probably from the Winnipeg NMRA convention that I talked about in my previous post. The photographer isn’t marked on the slides. In fact, they have no markings other than the Kodak “July 1983” stamp, which I believe … Read more
The Greater Winnipeg Water District is a unique railway that has been serving the city of Winnipeg for many years. It was built to provide service along the aqueduct that brings fresh water from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg. The GWWD used to provide passenger service along the route using either passenger cars or Brill self-propelled … Read more
One recent evening, I went to the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg for an MRI. I have some neck pain and numbness, and my doctor ordered the MRI to see what’s going on. I was on “standby”, meaning they would fit me in between patients sometime between 5:45 PM and 9 PM. I was guaranteed … Read more