Illegitimus non Carborundum

In the spirit of full disclosure, which is part of my mission as a mental health public speaker, I will share that I am once again struggling with my life as it is, mainly due to an ongoing situation in my neighbourhood where my family is still being harassed and intimidated by a local resident. Long story short, our attempts to stop this behaviour through legal means have only met with mixed success and the threat remains. We had to report this individual recently, as he shows no signs of stopping. We are also desperately trying to get the Ottawa Police Service to take ownership of its litany of mistakes (my opinion, not theirs, obviously) in (mis)handling this situation.

That brings me to this blog and my continued efforts to find new and interesting things, or possibly old and interesting things, to share about my love of railways. The title of this post is a nod to the Latin motto of the now defunct Whitehorse Star newspaper, which recently closed its doors after 124 years. The scrappy newspaper's motto roughly translates to You mustn't allow the b@stards to bring you down. I love this scrappy attitude, which seems to be right out of the Klondike era Yukon.

In the spirit of that motto, I am trying not to allow anyone or anyone's failures to prevent me from living my life. It's hard right now, when I have my family's safety on my mind and the everpresent threat from this person, but through counselling, I have been able to deal with stress and anxiety in ways I couldn't a few years ago.

Part of my therapy, quite honestly, has involved going out on Wednesdays, after dropping off my girls at dance class, and sitting trackside. In the last few weeks, I've found some new spots to shoot the evening westbound Train 59 and the eastbound Train 43. It's all therapy and if we all learn something, even better, right?

Milepost 1.63 Smiths Falls Subdivision

I'll start at Milepost 1.63 of the Smiths Falls Subdivision, which is where the tracks cross Merivale Road, one of this area's more notoriously congested arterial routes. It's a throwback to 1960s urban planning when commercial development was grouped together in an endless pattern, with little thought to surrounding neighbourhoods or some sort of natural balance. There are Merivale Roads in every city and Ottawa certainly has its share of similar areas (Hazeldean Road in Kanata, southern Bank Street in Central Ottawa, Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Innes Road in the east end).

The Merivale level crossing marks the point where the commercial properties end and the residential areas re-emerge. It's a crossing that has a wide sidewalk on the west side of the road, with clear sight lines down the arrow straight stretch of track. Two weeks ago, I took a few pictures of Train 59, just to see if this crossing had anything interesting for visual purposes.

I framed the train to the left of this shot because I wanted to capture the symmetry of the power lines to the right. That overpass in the background is the Hunt Club Road overpass, where I have taken a number of railway pictures in the past few years.

Here's a shot (above) at the Merivale crossing itself. F40PH-2 6432 leads a four-car LRC consist east toward Fallowfield Station, which is situated just past the next level crossing at Woodroffe Avenue, to the west of this spot. You can see the petroleum storage tanks at Eastway Tank to the left of the crossing signals. To the right, you can see a residential neighbourhood. This spot really is the dividing line between commercial and residential areas in this part of the old Nepean.

I waited around for Train 43 eastbound, which is scheduled to come through this area around 6:48 each evening, if it isn't running late. Lucky for me, it was on time, which meant I could catch a shot of it running eastbound. Given the shadows cast by the buildings next to the track, I had to wait until the train emerged into a sunny pocket to get this shot. Note the last car in this six-car consist. One of these things is not like the other things.

Here's a closer shot nearer to the crossing. Note the shadows from the buildings on nearby Capital Drive. You can make out the new Via scheme, the old blue-and-yellow scheme and a wrap, if you look closely.

I'm not sure why an old HEP car was added onto the end of this train, but it made for a nice little surprise. I don't think we'll see too much more of this variety in the corridor. 

So that was my late April adventure at a new spot. I'm not sure I will return to this crossing, as I don't see many opportunities for new shots, but it's always fun to capture images of places in the city that I haven't documented before. This level crossing is at an interesting spot. It is worth a try, if you are a local train enthusiast and are looking for something new.

This past week, I returned to the Rideau River bridge, to get a new angle I hadn't tried yet. I will share those images in the weeks to come. 

These Wednesdays have been therapeutic for me, because they give me an evening away from my house and allow me to be free of household concerns and chores for a few hours. I'm sure I'll grow tired of taking shots of the same train at some point, but I have already identified two new vantage points I'd like to capture in the weeks to come, so I'm hoping to continue my efforts to find new ways to capture railway images in Ottawa.

Even if I don't come up with anything new, just being trackside seems to be enough for me right now. 

Via Rail's 40th anniversary special in Sarnia

My brother Marc recently took his son to see Via Rail Canada's 40th anniversary special. I'll let my brother take it from here - Michael

There was a low-key Via Rail visit in Sarnia this past August. Via had planned to make stops in various communities to showcase their service, which provided a great opportunity to re-familiarize myself with rail travel.

Via also made this a community-minded event, by holding a ceremony in partnership with Sarnia’s RAIL (Rail Advocacy in Lambton), a grassroots lobby group, whose purpose is to increase and improve the level of train and bus service in Sarnia-Lambton. Via’s staff donated and planted seven trees in Centennial Park, where CN’s lightly-used Point Edward Spur runs through, servicing Sarnia’s harbour and docks. (The last time Via ventured onto this spur was when the Grey Cup Centennial train visited Sarnia in 2015 - Michael).

The RAIL group is credited for several improvements in the area. They brought attention to the neglected train station (since restored), and had passenger service reinstated at the Wyoming passenger station.

Via’s staff hosted tours in Centennial Park on a rainy summer day. Friendly staff greeted guests, showing off the dome car, a coach car, and a lounge car (Via's Glenfraser).

Engine 6454 idled for our event, sporting the 40th livery. This train usually operates the Halifax run, according to the engineer. Waterfront condos are seen in the background, along Sarnia’s Front Street.

The staff kept kids busy with the cardboard Via trains I remember getting as a kid in the 1980s. There was an entertainer for them too, making balloon animals and telling jokes. He was a real hit with the kids. In the dome car, a young staffer answered questions and took pictures.

I am used to traveling by air, so it was a bit of a surprise to see how dated the coaches are inside. They are clean and in a good state of repair, so it’s not a criticism. I can imagine this is a very nice way to travel, taking in the scenery. Certainly more room than an airline seat.

Sarnia’s Historical Society took advantage of this gathering to show off Bullet Nosed Betty, on static display at Centennial Park. 6069 has been under restoration for several years by a dedicated group of volunteers. The gates were open, and guests were allowed to check out the inside. This was the first time in ages that the inside of this steam locomotive was accessible to the public.

My son loves checking out trains, so this was a thrill. A rainy day was not stopping him!

A CN retiree was on hand to talk about 6069. He was one of the last engineers to operate this old workhorse.

He was very kind to my son, and let him wear his hat. He gave us a tour, showing us the basics of steam operation.

Thanks to VIA for bringing this tour to Sarnia. It was well attended by kids and adults alike, with politicians mingling in. Note Sarnia Bay and the Government Docks in the background (top left). This spur terminates at the waterfront.

Thanks to my brother for the recap. It sounded like a fun event. Certainly it might prove useful in helping RAIL secure another passenger train for Sarnia, which now has only one arrival and departure a day. -Michael

A photo mystery solved

The other day, my brother emailed me to tell me he took his son to the train yard in Sarnia for a few minutes as he was running errands. My nephew, not even three years old yet, is already a big train fan and is into Thomas the Tank Engine. My brother was kind enough to take a few shots of the trains he and his son were watching (I will share those in a future post). I mention this because it started me thinking of my father. My dad often used to take photos of trains for me. I have some great 1990s shots of the Goderich Exeter Railway, thanks to my dad.

I think, deep down, my dad is like me in that he likes the big machines. That is why I wasn't surprised when my brother emailed me this photo he found in the family archives recently. I had never seen this photo before. In fact, I didn't even know it existed until my brother sent it to me. Initially, my only solid conclusion about this photo was that my dad took it. I was glad to add this image to my collection, but it made me wonder where this was taken and when.

 

 

This is what I initially managed to figure out about this photo.

 

1. This is an Algoma Central Railway train, since CN took over the railway in 2001 as part of the Wisconsin Central purchase. That would mean this photo was taken post-2001.

 

2. The units leading this train, including CN 5714, are SD75Is, judging by other photos I found of 5714. However, the 2011 shot I found shows 5714 has been repainted at some point since this photo was taken.

 

3. The dome car following the locomotives is ex-Western Pacific 813, Silver Palace. This was one of the Budd-built streamliners of a similar vintage to Via's silver and blue cars. The car was purchased in 1999 by ACR's parent company. This site suggests the car, now called Spirit of Superior, retained its California Zephyr paint scheme until at least 2004, which clouds the timeframe a bit. Looking at the information available online, this car doesn't seem to have a number, as it is usually referred to by its former number.

 

4. Given that these units are pulling a dome car, it's a safe guess to say this train is the Agawa Canyon Tour train. I figured it was taken at the end of the line, at the canyon.

 

5. You can see two passengers reading a tourist sign in front of the engines, which would suggest it was taken in the canyon.

 

Earlier this week, I was able to solve the mystery behind this photo when my Dad confirmed to me that he did indeed ride the Agawa Canyon tourist train in the early 2000s, although he wasn't able to pinpoint exactly when.

 

Also, later on in the week, my sister sent along some photos she took when her family rode the same train on Aug. 15 this summer. Note the similarities between the two photos.

 

 

The only question that remains is when was the first photo taken. I place the timeline between 2001-2005. It depends on when the old Zephyr cars were repainted in ACR colours. Anyone out there know the answer?