In my last post (The Ottawa Conundrum), I shared that I was becoming ambivalent about railways in Ottawa. There just isn't enough happening here to justify my blog. That isn't to say that I'm giving up my blog. By no means. I just thought I'd try to get some ideas about how to handle my local content in a way that is more interesting than posting the same photos of the same Via Rail corridor trains at the same spots over and over again. Also, I don't want the blog's local content to be solely focused on CN's one weekly freight train in the west end of the city. It's just not interesting to me.
So after some great feedback from my friends out there and some thought, I figured that Step 1 should include going out there into the city and finding new places to take interesting railway photos. After all, if I can't change the fact that all Via Rail corridor trains look the same now, I can at least switch up the backdrop and possibly tell a little more of the story of the areas where these trains operate in the city.
I've said this throughout my time blogging: I am not so much interested in the nuts and bolts, facts and figures. You can find this insight in other blogs and on other forums, where people far more knowledgeable than me are more than willing to share.
I am more interested in the history, the impact, the spirit, the feeling, the people and the stories of railroads. Yes, it's in my blood and family history, but the same can be said for just about the entire country. The railways very much built the Canada we know today. And they continue to play a vital role in our ongoing story. So I am trying to attack my Ottawa content with these perspectives in mind.
Here's a shot I got this past weekend after a failed attempt the week before. This is the Via Rail Smiths Falls Subdivision just past Milepost 3, before the tracks cross Woodroffe Avenue. A westbound corridor train is making its way past the Royale Equestrian Centre. I wanted to capture a shot of the horses and the train together, but the horses weren't cooperating last week. This week, one horse was standing peacefully in the corral but became shy when another horse ambled by. When the westbound came, neither of them was exactly front and centre, but I thought this was a good attempt.
If you've never spent time in Ottawa, you might be at a loss as to how this scene was captured in the middle of a city. The story of these farms and greenery in the middle of the city are very much the same story of how trains were relegated to the margins of Ottawa in the late 1950s. When the National Capital Commission's predecessor essentially removed all rails from downtown Ottawa, the Greenbelt was also created, which encircled the city at that time. The goal was to contain sprawl. While that certainly did not happen, the Greenbelt today is a jewel in a city this size, where wide swaths of forest and farmland intermix with subdivisions and other elements of Ottawa. This farm is nestled right next to the tracks in the western Greenbelt. This view is only made possible by a recreational trail maintained by the NCC.
As I mentioned above, the horses weren't cooperating the week before last, so I ventured east on the trackside trail to find another spot to capture a westbound Via Rail corridor train. This spot is at Milepost 3, where a dried-up shallow of spring runoff requires a small bridge. I set up shop on the trail and climbed to a shallow rise in the land next to the dried-up creek bed. I got this shot, which I thought was kind of cool. Again, this is not far from the equestrian centre. Ottawa has striking contrasts. In a city of more than 1 million people, to have vast stretches of rural topography like this is truly a blessing. For me, it still requires a bit of a bike ride, but the idea of earning a shot just makes the end result that much more satisfying.
And I should mention that the engine was bringing up the rear of the train, which makes this shot a bit deceptive. It was actually going the opposite way.
I also liked this shot, taken from the passenger seat of my car as we waited for an eastbound Via Rail corridor train to make its way past Fallowfield Road to the nearby Via Rail station. Again, I am finding more and more that taking shots of trains requires a more critical eye in Ottawa, where other elements need to be in an image. After all, I can get up close and personal with Via Rail trains any time I want, but these images don't really tell a story.
Whenever I see a passenger train, I wonder how many stories are on that train. Where are the people aboard coming from? Who are they meeting? Are they coming home? Visiting? Making their way through the city en route to somewhere else? I like the idea that trains hold dozens of stories aboard each train. I have often thought of writing a novel about all the people aboard one train. There's a reason why trains often seem to be the muse of choice for authors. The timelessness of this medium of mass transportation predates all other forms, save the horse and buggy.
Here's an image of something new. I can honestly say I have never seen a Via Rail high rail vehicle in my life. Given that Via Rail doesn't control much of its network, the need for these maintenance and inspection vehicles is probably pretty low. But in Eastern Ontario, Via Rail controls the Brockville Sub, the Smiths Falls Sub and the Alexandria Sub. That is a lot of infrastructure to maintain. In years past, most of the maintenance vehicles in this area seemed to belong to Rail Term, which did much of the maintenance on contract for Via. Now, possibly, Via has more of a hands-on approach to its rails in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.
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