February 2006

Sometimes the whole world seems black and white.

This was the case on a day last September when a few of us ventured off on a different kind of photo mission. Witness and record the evening and nighttime activities in and around the station at Pearson. No Kodachrome allowed. That’s how to make a simple day of train watching into something special – and interesting. Sure, a couple of us old guys had some passing experience with black and white film but most of us were already into coloured slides when we got into railfanning. Hey! Remember those? And so it was, with some anxiety, and a well warn copy of Photography for Dummies, we set off into the night.

Well, not really. There’s plenty of daylight left after work, even at this time of year, so the station and PSN tower were still basking in the late, warm sun when we arrived.

Suffice to say, I didn’t use black and white film for these pictures. I used a 5 MP Pentax Optio 50 digital camera with a x3 optical zoom. They didn’t have those way back in 1975. Besides, black and white photography demands a good understanding of light, shadow, contrast and texture. Something I have no experience in. So just pretend and enjoy.

We piled out of the car around 1900. The western sky was still bright. The station lights were on and a young couple was getting ready to meet the Dayliner from the city. A kid with a camera was focusing on the track to the south. Perhaps he was just eager to see grandma off the train or maybe he was a budding railfan waiting for headlights on the horizon. Hope so.

Neighbour John, and life long HO specialist turned large scale novice, has installed headlights and tail lights in nearly all my dicast trucks and cars. These little features really bring a scene to life. Thanks John.

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The last rays of the setting sun still lit up the towering grain terminal at Pearson long after the rest of the world was in shadow. All the silos are full now. Long lines of grain hoppers are moving in and out, loading up, and heading out to parts unknown.

Time for something at Tim Hortons.

Yes, the “Canada” hopper is the wrong type but there are no four bay cylindrical hoppers on the large scale market, or even in the planning stages. I’ll buy a few of Aristocrafts up coming three bay models though when they finally show up on the shelves. In the meantime this LGB product finds work and guests love it all the same.

By the time we’d finished it was pretty dark down on Home Street. Some streetlights and yellowing windows didn’t offer much in the way of elimination in this older, industrial part of town but it was ‘small town safe’ and so we weren’t threatened by the night.

We could just make out the operator in Pearson tower busying himself with whatever he did on these nights. The RDC had come and gone. There was a CN extra due through any time now and the Winter Valley’s Pearson turn was being put together. It would be heading for home around the same time as we would.

The ‘vette is clearly out of it’s time and place. I just found a black and white ’58 Chevy for this 70’s street corner. The taillights and signals are going in now so I’ll soon replace it. In the mean time it sits there in all it’s shiny, mid nineties glory, flashing an endless left turn.

Would it be safe to stumble along the track towards the station? Yes. The inside main would see all the action tonight and so this short station siding would be clear until morning. It was real quiet out here. Hmmmm. Perhaps that was a frog somewhere.

It’s business as usual down at the station and as we get nearer we can hear the agent on the phone and some one else moving things around in the freight office. There will be nothing going through here after ‘the turn’ is assembled and gone so they only have a few hours left before they shut it all down for the night. The lights will come on again, with a new shift, at around six.

The phone chatter continues, bracketed by squelch and silence, until a crossing signal is sounded on the far side of town. We took up positions somewhere other than the center of track number one, a little to the right, and waited. Lights soon eliminate the rails and CN grain extra 2529 moves towards us almost silently, tipping a little left and a little right along the way. The track is old and light. The engine is new – and very heavy.

In reality, I don’t put many miles on the –9. It’s really way to big, and to new, for this layout, but I just couldn’t resist this picture. In 1975 the biggest power in these parts were SD40-2’s so the Aristocraft product gets carried from show to show just to provide the public with that ‘wow’ factor.

The air is getting cooler but a thermos of Tim’s takes the chill off the night. Soon the object of our trip is in the neighbourhood. First the crossing signal at the edge of town and then again at Home Street. Building lights reflect off the broad white stripe as 5006 slows to a crawl and stops just off the end of the platform. 8106, an old reliable GP9, is adding a little insurance tonight. The crew bails out.

Once again, the camera sits right on the edge of the street. A blurry parking meter nearly obscures the road number and safety sign warns of repairs being done to the platform. The windows of the station provide just enough light to show off the big white WV logo. It’s more than 30 years old now.

This trip was clearly worth it.

Thanks for being a part of our short trip to Pearson. Next time the world will be a big, colourful place once again.

Now your pretty much up to date. Until the next time we’ll see you all at www.mylargescale.com