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General railway discussions

An interesting article on Quebec iron ore trains read on Press Reader through the TPL.
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There was a collision between a CN train and an EXO train, Montreal's commuter service, a couple of weeks ago(Nov 21st) on the Mascouche line. I'm surprised this wasn't posted on here, or perhaps it was but elsewhere?

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A picture of the western end of the railways lands from sometime in the '70s was posted to the FB group Friends of Vintage Toronto.

The poster asked a question which I cannot answer, but I suspect @crs1026 or @smallspy may be able to; or perhaps someone else.

First the pic:

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Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi...m.2326588830879835&idorvanity=215755025296570

Then the poster's question:

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For clarity, the above is referring to the small structure located past/above the Bathurst Bridge in this photo.
 
There's ancient history, and there is modern history.

Originally that track allowed yard movements between Bathurst Street (when it was a freight yard) and the Inglis plant and the considerable yard and industrial trackage west of Strachan in the Liberty Village area. In those days the main line was controlled by towers (Cabins D and E as well as CP Tecumseth St) and the "Western Lead" just let yard traffic run back and forth without getting in the way of movements at Cabin D. Trains departing Bathurst Street Yard could join the Oakville main line at Cabin E

The more recent history is that when the Bathurst Street junction was rebuilt with the flyover and a GO layover yard, and Cabin E deactivated, the lead was retained as it was the only direct route between the GO layover yard and the Oakville Sub - a convenience for GO equipment moves. There have since been changes in the trackage leading to the Weston and Galt Subs that took some of that connectivity away, but by then the track was wired into the signalling so it was easier to leave it there than to tear it out.
The track has been in and out of service in the past few years. I was always surprised to see it used, mostly at rush hour when things weren't going smoothly and there was a backlog of equipment moves needing to reach Willowbrook.

I have to admit, it's a most improbable bit of design that seems to have hung in there as a workaround to the overall design..

- Paul
 
In the past, I have see trains from Willowbrook use it to bypass the main tracks to the south by using the fly over or under as well sit there till time slot for it opens at Union. Have see LS west trains from time to time use it to get to the Exhibition station.

Haven't looked at it in the past year or so to see what is taking place there do to time.

Even the fly over and under sees some odd movement outbound as well inbound including UPX.
 
The current edition of Report on Business magazine (ROB) published by the G&M has an interesting article on Tracey Robinson, the newish CEO of CN Rail. Well worth a read for both her insights, and for recent changes within CN operations. The article is not paywalled so have a read: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/bus...on-cn-rail-rob-magazine-newcomer-of-the-year/

Good piece, thanks for posting.

I like her turning of conventional MBA thinking on its head.

Shorter trains, not longer, more employees, not fewer; growth that matches capacity.

The early results show that this has improved efficiency.
 
Figured I'd drop a link to a YouTube playlist in here. Practical Engineering has been doing some videos specific to railways. It starts off with the basics, but I found a recent one about welded rail quite interesting and insightful.


There was a collision between a CN train and an EXO train, Montreal's commuter service, a couple of weeks ago(Nov 21st) on the Mascouche line. I'm surprised this wasn't posted on here, or perhaps it was but elsewhere?

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Looking forward to the TSB report on that. Unfortunately those come months after the occurrence, but they're worth the deep dive in a lot of cases.
 
Looking forward to the TSB report on that. Unfortunately those come months after the occurrence, but they're worth the deep dive in a lot of cascases
I will wander onto the TSB reports page every now and again. I find them interesting in a macabre sort of way.
Same here! And that they are 😅

Word is the crew received a restricting signal to enter the block the EXO train was stopped in. If so they actually did have permission to be in that block, but only under the provisions of restricted speed, that being "must be able to stop within one-half the range of vision of equipment" Fancy-shmancy wording for; "GO SLOW ENOUGH SO THAT YOU DON'T RUN INTO ANOTHER FREAKING TRAIN!!!" something this crew had a wee bit of a problem with... 🤦‍♂️
 

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