Nestled amongst the rugged woodland of the Canadian shield near South River, Ont., an impressive trestle guides CN's Newmarket Subdivision high above Beaver Creek and the valley below. This scenic location had long evaded me until someone shared a video (
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbNA-J3NVTI) on FaceBook of "the last ore train" passing through here sometime in the early 1990s. In the video, a rock face overlooking the trestle is visible in the background. Naturally, this piqued my interest and lead to some exploring on Google Maps. Lo and behold, I discovered the location, albeit barely visible, on a fuzzy satellite image. As luck would have it, I came across CN's Toronto to North Bay train no. 451 during my recent travels across Northern Ontario. With 451 running only a couple of times a week, and even fewer in decent light, photo opportunities are few and far between at this location. Having followed 451 up from Washago, I parted ways with them around Novar as I was prepared to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead. After trekking through the woods and ascending the rugged rock face, I am perched high atop a slab of billions-year old rock, as CN train no. 451 eases its way over the Beaver Creek trestle amongst a kaleidoscope of autumn colour. Another image checked off the list and vista conquered.
