Saturday Convention Activities

Saturday sees the convention attendees getting up and heading to Kap for a tour of the paper mill.  Great tour, however, they did ask that we restrict the amount of photos and not post photos from inside the mill to the web.  Therefore in order to abide by this request, I have only posted photos of the rail power and views from the public streets.

Blue skies and a nice sunrise are always a good start. Some foreign power arrived in the middle of the night.

Some MOW action outside of Hearst

Tembec paper mill main gate at Kapuskasing

Ex-ONR 1600, now a leased unit serving the mill

#168 sitting out in the weeds

Old Spruce Falls switcher #108 in the shops

Sunset in Hearst

Demonstrating the latest in railfan technology, Mike gets his drone ready for a demo flight in the parking lot of the motel

After a sunset flight over the Hearst mill, master drone operator Mike Robins readies his drone for landing.

Visit to the Hearst Sawmill museum and interesting discussion of history and transportation politics in the north with our hosts.

ONR Convention 2017 - Thursday

After arriving in Englehart yesterday, our plans were to railfan our way to Hearst, arriving just before the dinner with other convention attendees.  So were up early enough to catch the morning lineup, and meet with Peter Ross as he stopped by the station.  Our plan was to see what was moving in Englehart, and get to Cochrane in time to catch the 313 departing for Hearst.

Bill Woods, Bram Bailey and Peter Ross checking out the action in Englehart

Train 214 - departing 0900 for North Bay

The chase begins as 313 departs approximately 1130 for Hearst.  Some quick planning and were off.

Train 313 leaving Cochrane

While there are several great locations to catch 313, we plan our first for Poplar Rapids. Lots of growth at track level so Bram and I make our way through the brush to catch it close to water level.

#313 across the Poplar Rapids bridge

#313 crossing the Groundhog River bridge at Fauquier

#313 at Moonbeam

A little post production by Bram and we get a true flying saucer pacing the 313.  Those two green guys staring out the lower windows were railfanning as well.

New leased switcher at Tembec's Kapuskasing paper mill; ex-ONR 1600

#313 crossing the Kapuskasing River while switching

#313 departing Kapuskasing