L'Occasional L'Orignal - Stand By Me!

Wow...it had been quite some time since we last visited Bill's L'Orignal Lines and there were some changes in evidence...three, in particular.

Bill has been playing around with the placement of buildings in the Glen and he's now mapped out the house and road locations which help to give a feel for how things will appear the next time we visit.

I also noticed some new additions of rolling stock to the fleet...in fact, all yard tracks in staging seem filled with overflow cars populating the secondary main behind the backdrop. Bill tells us he will be retiring a few cars in short order. Bill, you may consider "cycling" traffic on and off the layout. This will give operators the "feel" that there are new cars from "afar" visiting the area, thus mentally increasing the size of your layout.

Alas, a third change is a brand new furnace in the staging area to keep we operators warm and toasty in the wintertime...not to mention the other members of Bill's family, of course!

"Stand By Me" filmed by Hollywood crew!

While I enjoyed many opportunities to operate last evening, I was having fun with my camera on the "railfan circuit" of eastern Ontario. I drove out to the river crossing on the outskirts of the Glen to find a Hollywood production crew filming a remake of the classic contemporary film, "Stand By Me" ...a film noted for its famous railroad bridge scene.

I was told by the filmmakers that I couldn't shoot any pics of the boys foolin' around on the bridge, so I waited 'til after the scene was shot. I was given permission to walk out onto the tracks and shoot an image through the bridge which you see here. For those unaware, the OC locomotive in "Darth Vader" likeness belongs to a local rail company called the "Ontario Central". Thanks to the production crew for setting up such a dramatic shot for a humble railfan!

I decided to hang around the area for a while longer where I captured the "set-up" shot from another angle you see here. Unbeknownst to me, the Hawksbury local had arrived Hawksbury and began its switching chores, so I was able to capture its van on the back of its train on the railroad bridge above. Two trains in one shot...why a perfect setting for a railfan with horshehoes up his arse!

After capturing those Hollywood shots, I decided to drive up to Hawksbury to see if I could shoot the local in action. Boy, was I ecstatic to find the crew had taken a lengthy lunchbreak at the local Tim Horton's affording me the chance to shoot the train in a "reverse move" , one asked for by the Hollywood crew on the tracks below to create greater interest to the set of scenes they were filming...and the local crew was ever so obliging. You can barely pick out the orange Sclair car in the cut below the bridge. It is the car immediately behind the black OC "star" locomotive! (see earlier images)

After I captured this shot, the CN crew pulled their train back into the siding to begin their work in Hawksbury...a town with multiple industrial sidings.

Wow! Talk about horseshoes...they were golden on this day! Another orange and white Sclair car was spotted beside one of the local industries in town adding a splash of colour to the scene...a dramatic element for sure.

We'll have to notify the local crew of their burnt out headlights atop their locomotive...you know...those shortlines have to lease whatever they can get their hands on...and, in this case...it's an aging CN diesel locomotive in the sargeant striped scheme!

Here we see the local piercing two industries in Hawksbury East as it travels along a rather lengthy siding in town. The siding is long enough for the longest trains that venture up this way and offers the crew "runaround capabilities" as there are both numerous trailing and facing sidings in the area. Once all switching is done in Hawksbury East and West, the crew will then take cars destined for the large IVACO plant the seven or so kilometres to the west where they will spend time exchanging scrap and billet loads for finished coil products...but that's for another day of railfanning!

Hey boys...while shooting in Hawksbury East I spotted a yellow VW Microbus we may be interested in purchasing for our railfanning trips in the summer. Man, those things can go anywhere, and I've heard they never die! A great railfanning compartment for the lads, I believe!

I spoke to the owner and he said he had heard about this entity called the Friday Night Group...but his recollections were that we were a shady assortment of characters!

He also confirmed that a man named Meek had relations in the local area...but you had to watch out for his kin...or they'd be out on your property acting in a covert manner holding cameras with large lenses claiming they were shooting trains...but the locals feel there is some deeper meaning.

He told me that three "suspect" individuals were spotted in these parts recently, all with varying degrees of hair on the top of their heads...one in a green shirt, another in cream and one in a blue top! By the description he gave, I had an inkling...so I showed him this photograph and he immediately replied "Those are the culprits!"

Well it took me some time to convince him of the fact that these "three stooges" were actually good guys just out to have some honest fun snapping pictures of trains and that their names were Jim, Fred and Stanley!

But..and this is a big "but"...no matter how much "verbal gymnastics" I was able to muster...I could not, would not...and shall not...convince this local dude that the next fella from the group was also a good guy!

Apparently, witnesses trackside told him that this "fourth member" of the bunch was spotted along the tracks somewhere near the IVACO plant telling the train crew..."Yes!"...telling the train crew "How" they should do their job in switching out the large plant!!!

"Well!...I responded to this fellow..."Did he wear glasses?" "Yes." "Did he have a mischievous grin on his face?" "Yes." "Did he happen to be wearing a very light blue - almost white shirt?" "Why, yes." "Is this the man?"...as I displayed this next picture. "That's the character all right!" "Oh...he's harmless," I replied..."Why, that's skipper Bob. He's up into his sixties now, you know...so he should be given all rights to tell us all how it's done!"

We both laughed our heads off and I promised the local eastern Ontarian that he'd certainly be seeing more of this clandestine group trackside in Hawksbury and L'Orignal on the odd "occasion" they make it down a railfanning!

Cheers, Mike

Postscript: Trevor just e-mailed me from Toronto warning against the FNG members purchasing said VW Microbus due to the fact it has no windows in the back. My response was..."Hmmm...yeah, you're right, Trevor...no windows for the lads. Well, our four stooges can sit back there and Bill and I can have window seats up front!!! " (big grin)