WelcomeToCatcliffeDemon

COCHRANE, IN ONTARIO, seems typical of many ‘modern’ North American frontier towns. If you’re big on night life and exciting things to do, this is probably one of those places that fit into the category of ’settlements to skip’.

That’s not to say that Cochrane has nothing going for it. Situated on the Trans-Canadian Highway (Highway 11), the town is a major station on the Ontario Northland system, and it sees all three of the line’s major passenger trains, ‘The Northlander’, the ‘Little Bear’ and the ‘Polar Bear Express’ excursion train (Cochrane has a long association with Polar Bears, its mascot being a bear called ‘Chimo’).

I visited Cochrane in April 2002 with a view to seeing the mixed freight and passenger ‘Little Bear’ (the excursion operating in the summer months only). With just a couple of trains a day, your options for photographing this railroad are minimal. It doesn’t help that the road network north of Cochrane is almost non-existent (hence the ‘Little Bear’ also carrying road vehicles), with the Ontario Northland’s northernmost terminus, Moosonee, being entirely inaccessible by road.

ONR GP38-2 No. ONR1801 and FP7au-CAT No. ONR2001 pull into Cochrane, Ontario, with the southbound ‘Little Bear’ train on April 13th, 2002.

The disappointing thing about waiting for a train such as this one, knowing full well in the back of your mind that this is your one chance to catch something in action that day, is that it is all over so quickly. The time between the ‘Little Bear’ arriving and the train having removed itself to the ONR Shops, could have been no more than half ‘n’ hour.

ONR FP7au-CAT No. ONR2001 shunts the southbound ‘Little Bear’ train at Cochrane, Ontario, on April 13th, 2002.

Still the effort was worth it to catch one of the Ontario Northland’s FP7au-CAT vehicles in action. These were, if I recall correctly, at the time were the last EMD F-units in proper scheduled passenger service (as opposed to on a tourist line) in the whole of North America.

ONR FP7au-CAT No. ONR2001 and GP38-2 N. ONR1801 shunt the southbound ‘Little Bear’ train at Cochrane, Ontario, on April 13th, 2002.

After shunting the freight cars into the yard for unloading, the two locomotives then backed the coaching stock into the shops for servicing. The ONR passenger station building can just be glimpsed in the background.

During my visit the Ontario Northland was undergoing a hostilish take-over by the Canadian National, which unfortunately put the employees on edge, meaning that my access to some of the hidden parts of the railroad (works etc) didn’t happen. Happily, the CN’s bid eventually failed and the railroad remains publically owned.

ONR FP7au-CAT No. ONR2001 and GP38-2 N. ONR1801 shunt the southbound ‘Little Bear’ train at Cochrane, Ontario, on April 13th, 2002.

It’s fascinating to note the height difference between the F-unit and the 2nd Generation GP38-2. Note also the passenger coaches, which looked very smart in their white, yellow and blue colour scheme.

Plenty of snow still on the ground for April. This is the ‘Northland’ after all.

ONR box car No. ONT7840 at Cochrane, Ontario, April 13th, 2002.

…and of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t photograph a few of the freight cars that could be found at the location, including this smartly repainted former Pickens Railroad box car.

Like the Rhätische Bahn mentioned previously, the Ontario Northland would repay a week’s railfanning - assuming that the weather is good. While the scenery is generally speaking non-descript, the attractive trains and copious amounts of snow more than make up for this deficiency. I’d like to visit again some day.