30 for 40: A lifetime of Via Rail memories (Part III)

This week marks the third and final installment of my favourite Via Rail memories from my lifetimes either riding the train or standing trackside. You can read the first post here and the second post here. I would love to hear some of your favourite Via Rail memories out there as well.

21. In the early 1990s, my sister went away to university in Waterloo. As is the case with many students, the train becomes the primary source of transportation when your hometown is more than a few hours away. One of the benefits to my sister being away from school was that she often would arrive home for visits in an Amtrak train, which was an exotic site, even in a border town like Sarnia. The reason why she would often come home in an Amtrak consist was that Via and Amtrak still operated their Toronto-Chicago service, which would involve Amtrak trains operating between Sarnia and Toronto with Via Rail crews aboard. I was lucky enough to capture one of those trains shortly before Amtrak ditched its F40s in favour of its ubiquitous and impossibly ugly fleet of P40s and P42s.

22. Staying with Amtrak, I once had the pleasure of boarding one of those Amtrak trains with Via crew in Sarnia when I boarded a train for Kitchener to visit my sister for the weekend when she was away at school. Cooler still, the train I was riding featured Amtrak Superliners. This was only possible shortly after the new St. Clair River railway tunnel was completed beneath Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia. Up until that point, the old tunnel could not accommodate Superliners, autoracks or double stack container cars. Not many people can claim to have taken the Superliners from Sarnia. The international service between Chicago and Toronto was terminated in 2004.

23. Once in a while, you capture magic. I am by no means an expert at photography. And to be honest, I don’t often go trackside to capture Via Rail corridor trains these days, because I have so many shots of them already. But on this day after a snowfall, I captured this image near Cedarview Road that ranks among my favourite railway photos.

24. When I was young, my grandparents would sometimes travel to their hometowns in Eastern Quebec (Le Bic and Padoue) via the formerly branded Chaleur. One weekend they had a surprise for me. It was a full-size Via Rail Chaleur poster with a stunning image of a Via blue and yellow F unit pulling a string of silver Budd coaches across a bridge somewhere in Eastern Quebec. Sadly, that poster has been lost to time. Does anyone remember a time when you could buy Via Rail branded posters? Am I dating myself right now?

25. I remember passing endless hours playing with those LRC cardboard trains that you can still get on a Via Rail train. Whenever someone in my family rode the train, they would usually bring home a small cardboard train for me. I was happy to hear that Via Rail still gives those away on the train. A nice touch.

26. Perhaps my greatest Via Rail memory was when I had my one and only encounter with the legendary Canadian at Banff station. It was the summer of 1986 and the train had just staggered into the station, being led by a CP Rail SD40-2. Obviously, the F units pulling the train had run into trouble somewhere between Vancouver and Alberta. My family was visiting our extended family at the time and someone (I’m not sure who) convinced the CP Rail engineer to let my brother and I climb on board that mammoth machine. The engineer, Rick, was nice enough to show us the basics of the engine, including what he called “the robot,” which made no sense to me at the time. Somewhere in my family archives are photos of that encounter, including a shot of my brother and me on the walkway of the SD40-2. There is also a shot of the full consist. I have been bugging my siblings to search for them, but no one has been able to locate them. I once had copies of these photos but those images have long been lost. Sigh.

27. I’m trying to remember how I ended up getting this shot, which was taken somewhere near the Moodie Drive crossing. There’s nothing spectacular about this image, but I have always liked it for some reason and have ranked it among my favourite Via Rail shots.

28. Once in a while, you see something odd at Ottawa Station. I always love it when I catch something odd. This consist might be one of my all-time favourites. I love the weird rainbow consists.

29. Many people didn’t like the Canada 150 wraps, but I thought it made for a fun year trackside. This was the first time I captured a wrap.

30. I am dating myself again, but I remember being able to go to the “snack car” when I was aboard a Via Rail train between Sarnia and Quebec City. It was when my family went to Quebec City in the summer of 1983. To a young railfan, being able to get up and walk through a moving train was the pinnacle of adventure.

So those are the Via Rail memories, both distant and recent, that stand out to me. Although the company often finds itself the target of criticism and funding constraints, I think we should all be very proud of this service. I only hope that, one day, its political masters will build the railway back up to the national carrier it should be.

Stay tuned for a bonus Part IV of this series, featuring a guest blogger.

2017's Via Rail highlights

It's been an interesting year of watching the rails for me, even if I haven't been out nearly as much as I have in past years. However, I think I made up for my lack of time spent trackside with the quality of some of my trackside experiences.

Here are a few of my favourite highlights from 2017.

1. Double enders - I began to see Via Rail Canada's double ender corridor trains a few times, which fellow railfans say is the wave of the future for the national passenger rail operator. With P42s on either end of these corridor trains, there is no need to wye engines and turn them around. It's a quick turnaround for a train when one journey is done and the return trip is imminent. This is a shot I took of a double ended train crossing Cedarview Road in March of this year.

And another from the Twin Elm Road crossing from March.

2. Wraps! - Of course, the Via project to wrap many of its engines and LRC coaches in Canada 150 wraps was a welcome site for those of us who don't get to watch much railway action other than Via Rail. I spent a good portion earlier this year hanging out at the local Via stations and along its local trackage searching for these specially marked units and coaches. This is one of my favourite shots, taken of P42 920 pulling in to Fallowfield Station. I caught this unit a few times.

And here are a few more wraps shots, including this one of one of the many wrapped coaches.

And here is another shot of a double ender with a wrapped engine and coach from April. The Via corridor trains have really taken on a rainbow appearance of late, with the wrapped coaches, the coaches in the original paint scheme and the coaches in the renaissance green scheme.

Here's a good wrap shot taken along the 401 in Kingston in May.

So for the first half of the year, much of my trackside experiences were pretty much like this, since I didn't have the opportunity to catch anything else.

Speaking of Via, I did manage to duck out in early January and capture some shots of the CP Smiths Falls yard. And, although it was exceedingly quiet, I did manage to capture a Toronto-bound Via Rail train rounding the curve into the yard.

I also managed to drop by the Central Station on Tremblay Road to catch some shots. The Belfast Road overpass is once again accessible to railfans, with the O-Train Confederation Line construction finished near the overpass. I used this access to catch this shot of Via Renaissance equipment being pulled east by a F40PH-2.

Then there was a lucky break when I was in the neighbourhood near the station in January and caught these two generations of Via power side by side from the TrainYards retail plaza side of the station.

Those are my Via highlights from the year. I will be sure to try and get out there soon and catch some more Via action. I still haven't caught any of the F40 wraps. I guess that's as good a place as any to start for the coming year.

150 Thoughts

When this year started, I was looking forward to the numerous festivities that coincided with Canada’s 150^th birthday. I have to say in all honesty that this year hasn’t quite lived up to my expectations. For one, the weather in this part of the country has been pretty awful. The weather on Canada Day in Ottawa was the worst I can remember (and this coming from someone who once walked home from the fireworks show in the evening in shorts when the temperature was 9C).

So what went wrong exactly? Well, aside from the weather, I think that the year just didn’t live up to the hype. A number of official events were organized around Ottawa and were well received, but I didn’t get the sense that people were in the mood for much celebrating. I could be wrong, but I just didn’t feel much excitement.

There were some great moments this year, to be fair. And I will start with the railways. First off, Via Rail made railfanning fun again with their massive wrap effort. I have not had this much fun shooting Via Rail corridor consists in ages.

Make railfanning fun again! Westbound Via corridor train through Kingston in May with two sharp Canada 150 wraps. Photo courtesy of my wife, who was taking shots from the passenger seat of our car on Highway 401.

Both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific rostered specials for Canada’s 150^th, but I didn’t get to see either one of them.

The CN special arrived in Ottawa in May on a horribly grey, drizzly day. The train was chartered by the Big City Mayors Caucus, which is a group that falls under the Federation of Canadian Municipalities lobby group. The CN train included a few green and gold business coaches, but the train pretty much came and went unnoticed. There was no media coverage of the train. The only real attention it garnered was from local railfans who braved the elements and got some shots of this ghost train through the mist. The only reason I knew it was coming was because there was an  advertisement in the newspaper that someone at work handed to me, as an example of a type of advertisement I would be working on for a marketing campaign.

This video is from Ottawa railfan Blake Trafford's channel on YouTube. If you haven't checked him out, go see his work on YouTube.

The Canadian Pacific’s 150 train was a much bigger effort and created quite a splash when it arrived in Ottawa. However, I read a fair number of comments in social media from people who were disappointed by the event at the Ottawa train station on Tremblay Road. Many suggested the event wasn’t terribly well organized. From the photos I saw, the train looked great. Many of the coaches I saw on last year’s Holiday Train were in the 150 consist.

An example of the type of coaches that were part of the Canada 150 train this summer. This is a shot from last year's Canadian Pacific Holiday Train in Finch, Ont.

I was, sadly, out of town when the CP train made its way to Ottawa in a roundabout way (from Montreal to Smith Falls on the Winchester Sub and into Ottawa on Via Rail’s Smith Falls Sub). The trade-off wasn’t so bad, though, since I did more railfanning in London than I have in years. Five posts of London material later, I still have more photos to share, but they will have to wait for a while.

Even the week following the CP 150 train's arrival in Ottawa, a few of my fellow railfans told me that CP was keeping its train in Walkley Yard and urged me to go and get some shots, but I was working that week and had no opportunity to get out there. The train was, understandably, heavily guarded anyway. Lucky, local railfan Keith B. graciously shared a photo from his meet with the train before it left the city on Aug. 29, which I have been saving for this post.

CP's 150 special heading out of Ottawa on the Beachburg Sub. What I love about this photo is it could have been taken in the 1960s. Timeless.

By the way, Keith is active on Pinterest. Do yourself a favour and spend some time there. There are great Ottawa railfanning photos there.

The other major disappointment for me is that my Canada 150 history posts have taken far more time than I had ever thought they would, so many of them will not see the light of day for a while. I did manage to finish several of them this year, but I had originally envisioned to do 10 posts or more. In case anyone was wondering about this series of posts, they will become part of an ongoing series that will continue indefinitely. As always, if there is anything you want to see me look into, just leave a message on this post and I will add it to the list.

On a personal note, I was disappointed with the fact that life has become busy for me this year to the point where my blog has taken a back seat to more pressing matters. I’m sure some people have noticed some longer gaps between posts. I’m grateful no one has called me out on this.

As I mentioned when I started this blog, my aim was to post material each week and I have tried to maintain that pace. I have found that pace hard to keep at times this year, mostly because of the pace of my own life and the utter dearth of railfanning that I often encounter in Ottawa. I have made the most of trips out of the city but I am aware that many people want to hear and read about Ottawa area railways. In the coming weeks and months, I am going to try to get out and take some shots around Ottawa.

I have learned, through maintaining this blog, to avoid making promises. I hope that the blog has remained relevant and engaging this year and will continue to serve as a forum and spot for local railfans and the many other scattered around Canada and elsewhere.

I will continue to try and keep the Beachburg Sub moving, but I’m hoping for your continued patience in the comings weeks and months.

Thanks,
Michael H.

A little fun on the 401

When my family recently travelled down to the Sarnia area for the Mother's Day weekend, I once again played one of my favourite games. Whenever we travel Highway 401, I bring along a camera to see if we can get some shots of trains at speed. I've done this many times, with varying results. At the very least, it's a good way to pass the time on what is always a very long ride.

Here's what we got this time around.

When we were passing through Kingston Friday morning at around 110 km/h, a westbound Via Rail train from Montreal overtook us. My wife snapped a pretty cool shot of wrapped P42 912, a renaissance-painted Business Class coach and a wrapped coach.

This stretch of CN's Kingston Subdivision is a gold mine for railfanning, even if you're in a car. A little further west of this spot, the subdivision crosses under the 401 near Montreal Street (I think), which is where we caught a glimpse of this freight heading east. I was a little disappointed with our timing. Had we travelled a little slower, we would have met this one at a better spot along the highway. Oh well.

Not the best shot, but it still works for me. There's just one unit pulling some centre beam lumber cars and a few gondolas and some covered hoppers (out of frame). Maybe a local? I suspect my friend Eric Gagnon might be able to comment on this.

One the way home to Ottawa, we didn't have the same kind of luck, but I did manage to snag a shot of some GO Trains idling near the 401 east of Toronto. You can see some of the glare from the window, which I was not able to photoshop out completely.

And, as we usually do, we came across an endless container train. We usually see a few of these when we travel the highway, although we often catch them mid-train. Still, a good collection of trailers to see, if that's your thing.

Here are two final shots, which illustrate how tough this game can be, although I have to hand it to my wife for being a gamer. Here's a shot she got from the passenger seat, shooting across the driver's seat and across the westbound 401. The first shot is completely untouched.

Another wrap! Here's my attempt to work with one of the shots.

You get the idea. It's sometimes a game of diminishing returns, but it makes the drive much more fun, for me at least.

Sometimes, it pays to miss a deadline

I was busy preparing another rail history post for this week when I realized that the idea I was working on was much larger than I had anticipated. This presented a small predicament. While I have enjoyed digging in to this latest historic post, it left me wondering what I might want to share in its place this week.

Well, credit two rambunctious kids for this week's post. I love my daughters, but they were getting a little crazy by the end of the Easter long weekend. My wife was giving me that look like she needed a break so I packed my kids in the car and took them to Fallowfield Station. My goal was to catch Train 42 from Toronto. I singled out this train for two reasons. One, it's a double ender, which means it has a P42 on each end of the consist. Two, I have seen recently that it has consistently featured a wrapped P42. I had a camera freeze up the last time I tried to catch the wrapped P42. This was the best shot I got at the Twin Elm crossing back in early March. Can you see the Canada 150 wrapped P42 at the back?

I wanted to make up for that camera malfunction and was pleased when I saw Train 42 approaching Fallowfield Road. This is what I saw. Made me smile. It also made me realize this might be the first time I have ever looked forward to seeing a P42. Ever.

I rolled down the windows and let my daughters hear and see the train from the safety of the car. I stepped out to get a better shot. Here's my favourite shot of the meet.

Via 918 leads the way. I've noticed Train 42 is typically a five-car consist with a GE unit on either end. This one in particular had a repainted Business Class car, a Canada 150 wrap, an older LRC coach in the old colours and two renaissance-painted LRC cars. The consist was trailed by P42 902, which was in the renaissance scheme.

Here's the shot of the wrapped car. Hello, Halifax, Stratford, White River and Montreal. Note the train's reflection in the puddles in the ditch. A nice surprise when I was reviewing the images.

Here's one final shot from the platform. You can see P42 902 with the trailing lights glowing orange. Or so it appears in this photo.

Actually, here's a bonus shot of the trailing P42, showing signs of wear near the rear. Those new wraps sure are hiding a lot of nicks! The units that have not been wrapped look positively beat up by comparison.

As mentioned, this week's post is a bit of a impromptu post, since my original idea was not ready, but I am really excited by the next post. It includes a bit of everything. Stay tuned.