Ch-ch-ch-changes

I came across some bonus photos this morning that I had forgotten I had taken back in April. I'm happy to share them, as I think they all tell a bit of a story about where this city is at from a railway perspective. 

Before I get to the found photos, I will share this image I captured along Conroy Road in the spring, which I found to be a bit of a surprise. It's an old Ottawa Central sign indicating that the Walkley Yard is private property. 

Interesting that CN didn't bother to pull down the OCR sign when it resumed freight services in the city years ago. That OCR sign is easily 10 plus years old. Amazing that it's still there. The day that I took this shot, Walkley Yard was essentially empty. It's quite sad to see that, even by our simple standards here in Ottawa, there is almost nothing to shoot, even from a distance, in the yard. CN seems to control most of its activities in the city out of its yard in Coteau. The old OCR building at Walkley is clearly vacant and is on the market. 

I hesitate to mention the fact that CN has long wanted to get out of its obligations to move freight in and out of Ottawa, as it has applied to discontinue service here. I have heard about attempts to establish short line freight service here but I cannot even venture a guess as to how serious these attempts are or whether this is a realistic possibility at all. Just know that it has been mentioned to me. 

For now, we continue to wait and see what will become of the limited freight operations in this city. After all, CN can service the steel mill in L'Orignal out of Coteau, which leaves just a few scattered customers in the Ottawa area, including Nylene Canada in Arnprior. That service is still mandated by the government, as far as I know. I can't imagine CN wants to continue providing that far-flung service, even with the line out to Arnprior being owned by Nylene and the land the line sits on by the City of Ottawa. 

Now onto some surprise shots. I was driving myself a bit mad the other day, trying to find some daytime images I knew I had taken of trains leaving Via's Central Train Station on Tremblay Road. But I couldn't find them anywhere on my hard drive. It turns out, I had yet to download these images from my camera. So, I was happy to review them and I can now share them.

This shot was taken from the Belfast Road overpass of an eastbound corridor train making its way along the Alexandria Sub toward Montreal. The presence of F40s and LRC cars is sure to become more and more scarce in the coming months, so I suppose getting in a last few shots will be necessary. I do like getting shots from this overpass, although the power wires are a pain.

I also like framing shots from this vantage point, with the curve in the line and the signals on either side. Looking at this shot, it makes me realize just what an awkward fit the F40s are pulling LRC coaches, when compared to the original Bombardier LRC locomotives, which were the same height as the coaches. But the F40s have served Via spectacularly over the decades. 

This image below shows you just how many visual distractions can get in the way of a shot at the main railway station if you don't work your camera's zoom lens and position your shot between the many wires. 

You can see that the train to the right is a double-ender with a P42 facing east and an F40 facing west. I couldn't really get a decent shot of this train, because, had I moved further down the bridge, my shot would have been obscured by brush. So I figured I would take a shot with everything in the frame. I count five wires in this shot, not to mention the light standard.

Also back in April, I had an appointment on St. Laurent Boulevard so I ducked behind the Canada Museum of Science and Technology to see what the Bytown Railway Society had on its tracks outside. 

The maintenance of way equipment was out in the spring sunshine, including this CP plow and the 1919 vintage Central Vermont crane. I believe the CV crane has been put up for adoption by the BRS so it can find a home at a museum where it can be enjoyed. I made sure to get a shot of the builder's plate, which shows it was made in Bay City, Michigan.
 

It would be a shame to have this old piece of MoW equipment leave the city.

 

However, if you follow BRS on Facebook, you will know that the society is bringing an old E.B. Eddy steam locomotive back to the capital region from its current home at Exporail in Delson, Quebec. Of course, E.B. Eddy and the paper and matchstick industry was a major source of railway business in downtown Hull up until even the 1990s. Back in the final days of CP Rail's presence in Ottawa, the railway still served industry on the riverfront in Hull via the Prescott and Ellwood Subs and the former Prince of Wales Bridge. I recall watching these freight trains rumble through Carleton University when I was in residence there in 1996 and 1997. If only I got a few shots of them when they still operated! Oh well.

One final note to readers and fellow railfans. My blog has unfortunately been hammered with spam comments for the better part of a year. I am growing tired of keeping tabs on these spammers and bots. I have tried to regularly clean out these messages (there have been upwards of about 400 or so). I have not been able to stamp this out so I will be moderating comments for the next little while to hopefully ease this process.

I apologize for anyone that might disagree with this approach. I can say that I have never once deleted a comment from someone because of what they might have said. Everyone has been generally respectful since I launched this blog. The only comments I have ever deleted are spam. I am hoping this additional step will help stop the influx. We'll see.

As always, I'm open to your suggestions and comments via the comments section or you can email me if you want.

hammond.michael77 AT gmail dot com

Michael 

 

 

 

A journey to Montreal in February

Now seemed like as good a time as any to share some photos of my trip to Montreal a few months ago, when I took my daughter to her first Montreal Canadiens game at the Bell Centre. Sadly, the Habs lost that day, but it ended up being a day full of wonderful memories as my daughter, now a big hockey fan, got her first taste of what Montreal is like when the hockey team is humming. 

We took the train, of course, as I do not have the desire, ever, to drive in downtown Montreal or on its highway system. I've been there and done that and I do not wish to ever do it again. Our train was one of Via's bright, shiny new Ventures. Before heading to our train, I took a quick Via family photo through the windows of Ottawa Station. The light wasn't great in the morning and the windows overlooking the platforms were dirty, but I did like the fact that I caught a few Ventures and a few F40PH-2s in one shot. No P42s, which would have completed the generational shot.

The cool thing about boarding our train was that it gives the motivated photographer the chance to get a few quick images on the platforms. There was a time when you could wander onto these platforms at any time and take shots, but now you need to be a passenger to be on the platforms, as it is mainly behind fencing. I did manage to get a few quick shots of two trains in the brilliant morning sunshine.

I like this shot because it captures four elements. You can see both the new Venture set pointing east and a Via Love The Way-wrapped F40PH-2 pointed west. You can also see the passengers making their way to their assigned car as well as the station Danger sign to the right, warning people to stay off the tracks. I love getting different railway shots these days, which include many elements besides just the trains themselves. When you have to take shots of Via Rail trains as much as I do, this improvisation becomes a regular part of the hobby.

If you look closely at the display in our car (We were car four on Train 624), you will see that we were humming along at 160 km/h at one point on the Alexandria Subdivision. Via Rail is having all sorts of trouble maintaining its on-time performance over its fight with Canadian National regarding Ventures slowing down at CN crossings, but we encountered no such problems while travelling along between Ottawa and Coteau. Our train somehow managed to keep its pace between 160 km/h and 120 km/h for much of the length of the Alexandria Sub. The delays began when we got to Coteau and we held for a two freight trains on the Kingston Sub. Curiously, the on-board crew didn't mention we were being held for a a freight train, which was clearly the case. 

I saw the CN yard power at Coteau and, being on the right side of the train, was preparing to get a shot of the geeps in some wonderful early morning sunshine, as our train crept along the tracks, waiting for the westbound freight. Right when we were in the right position, this happened. Denied by autoracks.

Those two freights we encountered at Coteau essentially killed our chances of arriving on time in Montreal, which is why I was glad I booked my daughter and I on an earlier train so we could make the hockey game in time, which we did.

I wasn't able to get any decent shots of either freight train around Coteau. Instead, all I could get were a few shots of the yard, including this line of freight cars off in the distance and this snow clearing equipment near the maintenance shed.

The morning sun did me no favours, but I thought this shot turned out reasonably well. It at least gives you a sense of the weather and the relatively quiet Sunday morning atmosphere in Coteau on Super Bowl Sunday, which is when we made our trip.

Closer to Montreal, the CN yard was relatively full but nothing was moving around and no power could be seen anywhere. Another minor disappointment.

We encountered another freight that slowed us down closer to the city. I was on the wrong side of the train and couldn't cross over to the other side to get a shot of the CP freight with a KCS unit on point. It would have been my first shot of the KCS unit. Another near miss.

 

Once we arrived in Montreal, we made sure to walk by the old Windsor Station on our way to the Bell Centre for the hockey game. The people in Habs sweaters were absolutely everywhere. My daughter and I had found our people. It was fun to see the festive atmosphere downtown, as the city's team was overachieving, relative to its youth and inexperience, and fighting for a playoff spot. Spoiler alert: Mission accomplished.

 

The day was a lot of fun and the Via personnel in Montreal's Central Station were absolutely wonderful to us. The baggage crew allowed us to stash our bags for the day for free, because they were enchanted with my daughter, who was wearing a Nick Suzuki sweater. People really like young girls who cheer for their city's team. My daughter was stopped more than once and given compliments, in both official languages, for her choice of jersey. It warmed a father's heart.

 

But still, I hadn't really gotten any really cool railway shots, which was a bit of a disappointment. On the way home, however, a bit of redemption.

 

The train stopped in Coteau to let off a few passengers, which allowed me to get my shot of the CN yard power after all. It's not a perfect shot, but it's something. All in all, a great day and a little bit of railfanning thrown in. It doesn't get any better than that.

Review: Riding the rails where the Ventures roam

This past week, I took my daughter to Montreal, as part of a late birthday gift. She is a big hockey fan so we went to have a tour of the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. We then followed that up with a trip to the team store, where she got her first Habs jersey. A fun day in a city that I love.

For the purposes of this blog, the trip was also a great opportunity to take the train. In this instance, it was my first chance to ride Via Rail's new Siemens Ventures train. 

This was the scene at Ottawa's main train station as our Venture was parked a few tracks over from a more traditional F40-LRC consist that was headed for Toronto. Our train was Via Train 24. My first impressions of the new Ventures coaches were that the centre aisle was wider than what you'd find on an LRC or silver HEP car. The interior is very white. The area for people with disabilities was spacious, much more so than the spaces you'd find on more traditional Via equipment. There was no shortage of space.

I've been reading some interesting commentary online about the new Via equipment being relatively scarce outside the Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City route. There was also the Via "announcement" that its entire corridor now features the new Siemens trains, which is a bit of a stretch, to be sure. For my daughter and I, taking the train between Ottawa and Montreal meant we rode on a Siemens Venture set both ways. This seems to be the route where much of this equipment is being tested.

These digital signs were spread out along the car, which told you (roughly) where you were on your journey and how fast the train was moving. The Alexandria Subdivision is almost exclusively Via territory, save for the occasional CN freight train. On our way to Montreal, just east of Ottawa, our train managed to maintain a steady speed of 151 km/h for a long stretch, which was pretty impressive. As we got closer to Alexandria, the pace slackened a bit. Our train was given priority over a westbound train as well as a CN freight train closer to Coteau. As we neared Montreal, we yielded the main line for a westbound train, which caused us to pull in to Montreal's station a few minutes late, but nothing noticeable.

The train sheds at Montreal's Central Station were filled with new Siemens trains, but it's hard to get photos there, as it's so dark. The platforms at this station are as high as the coach doors, so there is no stepping down to the platform, as you have to do in Toronto. However, Toronto's train sheds are much brighter after the installation of much-needed windows there. It's a very different experience once you get off the train in Montreal.

The ride itself was incredibly quiet and smooth. Earlier this summer, I was on the last car of an all HEP consist on the way to Toronto. The difference in ride is not even close. The new Siemens coaches are a massive upgrade in terms of ride quality. I will say, however, the seats themselves felt a little stiff to me, although they weren't uncomfortable by any means. The leg room was more than enough and it was definitely a step up from the older coaches.

I mention the quiet. As someone with a hearing impairment, I have to wear hearing aids. I could hear all the announcements on the Ventures. I should clarify. It's not sound that is my problem, it's sound clarity. The acoustics of the Venture's sound systems are a massive improvement. Many details were well thought out in these new trains.

My daughter insisted on a platform shot, so I happily obliged. It's not easy getting anything decent on the Montreal platform, but I like this shot. My daughter and I had a wonderful day in Montreal. They locals treat you well when you're wearing the team colours!

The experience at Montreal station was pleasant as well. The Via personnel were very kind to us. We had to check one bag as we could not bring it on the Bell Centre tour. The gentleman at the baggage desk allowed us to check it for free, as he was enchanted with my daughter. I will have more to share about the Montreal station and my railway observations on this trip. Those will be for future posts.

Capture Via's rainbow era while you can

On Jan. 12, I found myself trackside at Via Rail's Tremblay Road station east of downtown Ottawa. I didn't really have a goal in mind, other than to see what was coming and going. I was hoping to maybe catch a glance at the new Siemens Charger trainsets, but none were in operation that day. 

As is the case in Ottawa, Via Rail is often the only railway to observe some days. My first stop was the Belfast Road overpass, which gives you a great view of the station yard to the west and the Alexandria Subdivision to the east. Of course, the view of the station is obscured by a number of hydro wires, but you can work around them with some creative camera positioning and zoom. If you are hoping to catch a westbound train coming from Montreal, the Belfast Road overpass is an ideal spot to shoot facing east, as long as the east sidewalk is cleared, which is not the case in the winter. On the day I was there, a corridor train from Montreal was making its way to the station, but I could only capture it from the west sidewalk, through the traffic. Not an easy task.

Led by P42 918 in a wrap, this train featured a full consist of silver streamliner cars, complete with the requisite buffer cars that sandwich the operational coaches, thanks to a mandate from federal safety officials. 

The buffer car behind the engine was 8103 long distance coach in the traditional Via blue and yellow colours. This was originally a CP coach, and is designated by Via as an HEP1 coach. 

The last buffer car in this train is Via Rail 8318 Manor-class sleeping car, which was also a Canadian Pacific car prior to Via. The nameplate on the side of the car did not carry a name, but research showed that 8318 is officially listed as Craig Manor. This car was also still carrying its original blue and yellow Via Rail colours dating back to the late 1970s. I mention these cars in particular because I really do think we are living in a rainbow era of Via, where many different paint schemes and wraps are vying for a railfan's attention. I wonder if a day will come when we look back fondly at this point in Via's history.

Once this train had tied up, I made my way to the station to take a peak at the schedule. Given the number of people in the station, I assumed more trains were coming or going. While there, the Ottawa Valley NTrak railway club was showing off its prowess in a combined display. I took a quick peak at this model train setup, in between all the fascinated kids. I took a shot at what I assumed was an approximation of CN's Super Continental. Love those old F units!

While I was there, I decided to get a shot of the main entrance to the station. This is kind of an iconic place for me, as it was how I arrived in Ottawa to return to university or the final place I saw before heading home to visit family in the Sarnia area. The Ottawa train station is a very difficult building to capture an image of, given there aren't many good vantage points in the area where you can get the entire building in a shot. But the entrance gives you an idea of the architectural design of the station, which has won awards. Once inside the building, you can certainly appreciate the floor-to-ceiling windows, as it is a very warm, welcoming place.

Before calling it a day, another westbound made its way to the station, this time being led by another P42 (902) in its original Via paint scheme. I tried to get the train as it rounded the curve, for the sake of getting a different shot. I like this one below the best.

Once again, you can see the two buffer HEP1 cars sandwiching the cars in revenue service. This at least adds a little bit of colour to the corridor, allowing those along the rails to see cars (like the Manor sleepers) that don't often grace the rails between Windsor and Quebec City. In this case, the first buffer was HEP1 Business Class car 4000 in the updated business class grey and yellow scheme.

The rear buffer car appears to be Via Rail 8307 Blair Manor sleeping car, once again in the original Via blue and yellow scheme from the late 1970s. It was fun to see some of these cars that very rarely made it through Ottawa before the mandated buffer car order came down from federal safety regulators. I wonder how long this policy will be in place, given the outcome of the tests being done on these cars. I suppose it's a reminder to capture some rail history trackside while you can.

While I was capturing the incoming consist from Montreal, I noticed an eastbound corridor train making its start for Montreal. This consist was a little more standard with an F40 leading a typical LRC consist.

My original goal with this post was to provide a little bit of trackside commentary on winter railroading in Ottawa but I realized that the photos I took tell the story of the many faces of Via Rail right now. There are many different colour schemes at play these days, including the newest scheme in the Siemens trainsets. This seems to be the direction that all of Via's equipment is heading in, or at least the equipment that will remain in use in the years to come. A look at the HEP1 4000 Business Class buffer seems to be a decent match for the newest Via equipment.

But it's interesting that you can see the original Via blue and yellow colours on both the HEP1 and LRC cars, not to mention the various updates and wraps from the Canada 150 and Via 40 years. Then there's the Love the Way wraps, which carried over in recent years. I'm not even mentioning the slightly iridescent scheme on the Renaissance equipment. Put it all together and you have a lot of interesting design elements worth capturing while you can. What seems mundane today might seem fascinating in the years to come. So go ahead and take that additional shot. You'll be happy you did.

Guest Photos: Freight Train meets Via on the Alexandria Sub

A good friend of the blog, Keith Boardman, has really been my eyes and ears in the east end of Ottawa. To be honest, those who are looking to capture some rare CN freight trains in Ottawa are much better off focusing on the Alexandria Subdivision rather than the weekly run up to Arnprior. Sadly, since I work from home and do not have the time to go out into the east end much, I don't have many photographs of anything beyond Belfast Road. That's where Keith has come in over the years with news, photos and tips from the east end. 

Keith has come through in a big way many times. He recently shared an interesting collection of photographs from the east end when a CN freight train returning from Coteau met a Via corridor train on the Alexandria Subdivision.

This is my favourite shot, below, of CN's freight returning from picking up cars at Coteau. It is waiting on the siding for a Via Rail passenger train. As the Alexandria Sub is Via's trackage, this is one of the few places in Canada where passenger trains get the priority of movement. You can see the signal lights, the plows up sign to the left and the ditch lights of the CN geep. Lots of cool elements in this picture, not counting the snow and the outline of the rails amid the white.

And here's the reason the freight was waiting in the hole. A speeding Via Rail corridor train with a F40PH-2 in the lead is heading east and kicking up some snow as its speeds past.

After the corridor train is past, the freight gets the all-clear signal. The next shot Keith took that I really like was this shot, below, which gives you a rare glimpse of a freight train in the Ottawa area that has more than three tank cars, like the weekly Arnprior Turn. It's a going away shot, but the different colours of the box cars are the stars of this image, in my opinion. The NS boxcar is almost completely covered in graffiti. You can also see a TTX Railbox car and a mysterious white boxcar, which does not appear to have any clear markings. Also not sure about the light blue boxcar in the left of the shot

Keith also sent me pictures of another meet he caught. I shared them earlier this year but thought I'd share them again with the fulls story from Keith. Here is what he told me about this meet:

From Keith's Dec. 2021 email:

I was passing through Carlsbad Springs at 8:28 this morning and the signals came on as I was about to cross Piperville Road. I know there's a westbound Via that goes through around 8:05 give or take, but didn't think it would be running that late. A Railterm truck was parked on the side near the crossing and a worker was out of it, so I assumed he was testing the crossing equipment. 

It seemed he wasn't, so I looked down the track towards the siding,and I could see a light, with ditch lights coming through the fog. Turned out it was the blue and white leased unit (now a CN unit), with a second power unit in tow. I couldn't get a very good pic as the Railterm truck was immediately to the left of my view of the approaching consist. 

I like Keith's spirit. Despite the visual obstruction with the Railterm crew trackside, he managed a few shots of the Coteau train. Here's one more shot he was able to improvise.

I have some other shots Keith took, including a few he captured of the Arnprior Turn in the west end. Keith clearly gets out more than I do. 

I will leave these other images for future posts, which I intend to share in the coming weeks. I might increase my frequency of posts to every 10 days, as I have a massive backlog of topics to cover, not to mention a year-end post with some highlights. 

Stay tuned for two very hard-won shots of some antique freight cars I saw in Ogdensburg, New York. Also, I have shots from Kingston from Novemeber, which I intend to break into two posts. I have two posts worth of shots from Waterloo, Ontario, from a summer trip I took there. I also have a few shots from a summer trip to Gananoque, Ontario. It's been a relatively fruitful year for this blog, although my biweekly pace has helped me considerably. 

My thanks to Keith for these shots and the ones I have yet to share. Stay tuned for more from Keith.

Something New! A chance meet with a freight train in Carlsbad Springs

Happy New Year everyone. I know it's likely a little late to be wishing people this, but this being the first post of 2022, you'll have to indulge me. This is the time of year when I usually force myself to head out and get some winter photos to share. Now that my children are home learning virtually, I find myself with almost no time to even think about trackside adventures. And since my wife works weekends, it's not looking good for railway photography in the short term.

Luckily, a good friend of the blog, Keith, had a surprise in store for me in late December. Keith Boardman is a fellow railfan.As an added bonus, Keith has been this blog's unofficial east Ottawa correspondent since our early days. I will readily admit that I have not been able to chronicle anything of note on the Alexandria Subdivision beyond Belfast Road. That's mainly due to the fast that I live in west Ottawa and I am busy enough with work and family that catching any rare freight train in east Ottawa is a challenge. Also, for those not familiar with Ottawa's geography, Ottawa is one of the biggest cities in Canada, geographically speaking. It's actually the result of an amalgamation of 11 former municipalities that once formed the old Carleton County (later the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton). So it's a big city that requires a lot of driving, just to get to places like Carlsbad Springs.

Keith had a chance meet with a CN freight recently, but I'll let him explain it in his own words. Read on:

I was passing through Carlsbad Springs at 8:28 this morning (December 20) and the signals came on as I was about to cross Piperville Road. I know there's a westbound Via that goes through around 8:05 give or take, but didn't think it would be running that late. A Railterm truck was parked on the side near the crossing and a worker was out of it, so I assumed he was testing the crossing equipment. 

 

It seemed he wasn't, so I looked down the track towards the siding,and I could see a light, with ditch lights coming through the fog. Turned out it was the blue and white leased unit, with a second power unit in tow. I couldn't get a very good pic as the Railterm truck was immediately to the left of my view of the approaching consist. 

 

Thanks to Keith for this unexpected surprise.

You can see from his second photo that this consist included a beat up old CN geep that was still barely sporting the sergeant stripes. I was wondering why CN was still using a leased unit in the area. A few readers suggested that the railway is short on four axle units, which would be the only thing that could be used on the Renfrew Spur. Also, I can't imagine the railway would want to waste of more modern six-axle unit on its Ottawa operations, which don't seem to be much of a priority.