Twenty-four hours before this photo was taken, I was sitting in the waiting room of the Toyota Dealership in North Bay. Twiddling my thumbs anxiously as Toyota assessed the damage that a three-inch steel spike left in my tire the night prior - stranding me in town for the night. Things were looking grim. Discouraged by sinking hundreds of dollars into the whole blow out ordeal, I questioned if it was worth continuing on. But that voice inside of my head reminded me that this was, likely, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to go for it. So, I pressed onwards. Following the road north to Englehart, it was a cloudless, blue-sky day. The next morning was much the same as I woke up at sunrise and followed 'Ontario's Development Road' to Cochrane where Canadian National was operating a detour stack train over ONR's Kapuskasing Subdivision. Normally relegated to four-axle power, it came as quite a surprise to area-railfans when CN started operating their big stack trains over the rickety Hearst to Cochrane line. A last resort, as a derailment in Haileybury, put ONR's Temagami Subdivision out of commission for a number of days. If there was one shot along the Kap Sub that I wanted - aside from the station at Cochrane - it was at the former National Transcontinental Railway section house at Driftwood. So, I put on my snowshoes (a must as the snow is 3 to 4 feet deep in most places) and trekked into the woods. Moments later, a headlight appeared on the horizon, followed by the most surreal sight of double-stacked containers. Here she comes! Rattling snow off of the steam-era NTR section house, CN 2649 rolls along ONR's Kapuskasing Subdivision with detoured stack train no. 188 at Driftwood, ON. In 17 miles, 188 will reach the southern terminus of the Kapuskasing Sub at Cochrane, and change crews at the beautifully constructed depot. After my chagrin in North Bay, I'll consider this photo a consolation prize.
