Some pictures from our June 2011 trip around northern Ontario. Sadly, the Northerner (the Onatrio Northland’s Toronto to Cochrane day train) is scheduled to be replaced by buses at the end of September 2012.
“June 2011 circle trip around Northern Ontario with rides on the Algoma Central and Ontario Northland Railways”
From Northern Canada trip, posted by Tom Coughlin on 7/03/2011 (47 items)
- Monday Morning in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. The Agaya Canyon train pulls into the station…
- The formica panels between the windows in the coaches feature Hopi art, not Cree. Thi…
- Inside of a former CN Tempo coach–original seats restored to original condition.
- Inside a former Santa Fe Railway Budd-built coach. Very comfy seats.
- What not to put in your Microphor toilet.
- Inside the First Aid camp shack at Agaya Canyon. Note the lack of electrical applianc…
- Inside the First Aid shack at Agaya.
- Former Amtrak, former Denver and Rio Grande Ski Train F-40 engine. Somehow it makes i…
- Former ATSF coach, one of three that the ACRY owns. They’re kept in immaculate shape.
- In the Agaya First Aid shack. The picture of the queen goes back to at least 1960.
- At Agaya we changed to the train running through to Hearst. Here, at Hawk Junction, w…
- Toward the north end of the line, a few people getting off the train were met by wate…
- Two refrigerators wait for final delivery by water taxi.
- Folks heading off to a fishing camp in Oba.
- VIARAIL’s eastbound Canadian met us in Oba.
- Hearst is the northmost point on the Algoma Central Railway. From there we spent the …
- 4:30 am at the Hearst Esso station. This bus took us to Driftwood, where we transferr…
- Meg and Tom in the great dome #900 "Otter Rapids". This beauty was one of t…
- In the summertime, the only road into Moosonee, ON is the railroad. Last winter, they…
- The ONR freight office in Moosonee.
- Moose Factory Island is a short water taxi ride from Moosonee. $15 per person one way…
- The Cree Nation Ecolodge has less than 20 rooms and the best restaurant in the area.
- St. Thomas Anglican Church on Moose Factory Island.
- View of the Anglican cemetery from Mahekun’s Den B&B.
- The common guest kitchen area at Mahekun’s Den B&B. There was a pot of clarified …
- The lounge area at Mahekun’s Den
- Our room in Moose Factory.
- The Hudson’s Bay Co. headquarters at Moose Factory, one of the oldest English-speakin…
- Inside the "factory".
- Great old stuff from the Hudson’s Bay Co. outpost era. In reality, the locals weren’t…
- Our lodging in Moose Factory, Mahekun’s Den. Pretty much everything on the island has…
- Meg riding back to Moosonee.
- Hauling bags back to the train station where the great dome is parked.
- The Moosonee Station safe decorated with the Ontario Northand Railway’s official colo…
- Former Milwaukee Road Great Dome #57, now known as ONR #900 "Otter Rapids"….
- Four "chain cars" carrying automobiles at the front of the Polar Bear Expre…
- Tom and Meg suited up for the Timmins, ON Gold Mine tour.
- Our tour group heading into the mine.
- An underground railroad you can actually take a ride on.
- Elevator to the surface.
- Panning for gold.
- Ontario Northland Station in Cochrane, ON. The station features a 23 room hotel on th…
- Inside the Cochrane station. Ticket office is on the left, the hotel desk is on the r…
- The Polar Bear Express arrives at 9 pm, back from Moosonee.
- Waiting for departure time on "The Northlander", the Cochrane to Toronto tr…
- Canada Day in Toronto. It’s 11:30 pm and nearly all of the TTC trolleys are in servic…
Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher
Tom,
I am really impressed by the Facebook Photo Fetcher plugin for WordPress. Is the back-end of the plugin WordPress easy to manage? I ask because the actually gallery on your blog is neatly formatted and looks impressive!
Comment by Greg Hundermark — September 12, 2012 @ 6:17 pm
It does a really neat job, and takes advantage of Facebook’s easy-to-use system.
Comment by Tom — September 13, 2012 @ 10:28 pm
I’m jealous. This looks like a lot of fun. And who knew that private railroad cars still existed? I thought FDR had the last one.
Comment by Dave Correale — September 12, 2012 @ 7:15 pm
FDR had the Pullman car Magellan which was armor plated and had bulletproof glass. Truman used the MKT 403 a few times. Ike didn’t take the train, he flew. After Ike, we were into the jet age, and presidents flew around in Air Force One. While on Campaigns though, Carter, Reagan and Clinton all used private cars.
Comment by Tom — September 13, 2012 @ 10:27 pm
Not only do they run several paenssger trains, but they also offer and run a MIXED service too! The Polar Bear Express runs with a few boxcars and flatcars hauling vehicles in addition to the numerous paenssger cars and a dining car in the mix.Very impressed with this railway I’ve been riding for the past couple days!Also The Station Inn is wonderful trackside rooms which face the platform and not far from the yard here. Hearing the GP9 switching out paenssger cars for the past couple nights was awesome!Jon
Comment by Maylin — December 21, 2012 @ 7:04 pm
Hi Jon– When we rode last summer, The Polar Bear was running with flat cars and box cars to handle the baggage and autos of the passengers (no roads to Moosonee in the summertime so you have to put your car on a railroad flatcar to get it up to James Bay). Very sorry to see that the Cochrane-Toronto train is defunct as of the Fall.
Comment by Tom — December 29, 2012 @ 7:09 pm
I’m enjoying looking through these photo albums; it makes the blog post read more like a storyboard and I think that adds to the charm of the railroad adventures.
Comment by Rebecca M. — September 12, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
Thank you, Rebecca. I’ve enjoyed shooting and writing about trains for probably around 15 years. Used to like writing more than taking pictures, now, I’ve changed my mind.
Comment by Tom — September 13, 2012 @ 10:23 pm