People make assumptions around railway spurs and branchlines. Often that assumption is that they are not used because they are overgrown with weeds. The Portlands Spur is no exception when it comes to the rather ridiculous assumptions I've seen, such as construction workers placing fences on the track. Evident here, even the police are guilty of these assumptions, as this one officer removes the caution tape from the track ROW at the request of CN 543's conductor. And no, this is not the only location that caution tape could have been placed to keep people out. Luckily for 543's crew, the officer was close by. Being time constrained to be back at Oakville by 5am, dealing with Toronto's 'problems' is not something the crew had time for. 543 had split out from the Union Station Rail Corridor just a few minutes ago, and is waiting to enter Keating Yard. When it does, it will split off from its train, and run light to the Ashbridge's Bay Sewage plant to pick up empty Chlorine tankers. Surrounding 543 is the Gardiner Expressway in the air, Lakeshore Boulevard to the left, and the Don Roadway in the foreground. I can only imagine that with the lack of crossing protection, it must have been a nightmare for CN and CP crews who used to work the Portlands during the day. In fact, even at 1am, a driver decided to dart in front of 543 as it began to move. The 'Bondo unit' as I like to call it was on 543 the last time I got pictures of 543 here, as well as the trailing unit, 4138, which gained celebrity status in the movie "The Wrong Guy." Oakville, send a GMD1 down...
