That time in Toronto

It's nice to be able to live again, without a cloud hanging over every aspect of my family's life. I am happy to share that our family is safely in our new home and our nightmare is pretty much over. That said, let's talk about trains. 

In early June, my family made a quick trip to Toronto to a Blue Jays game, which was a first for my two daughters. You can read about what we saw on the way to Toronto in this post. After we arrived, we stayed at the hotel attached to the Rogers Centre, so it was conveniently located near the downtown Metrolinx/Via tracks, which made for some great railfanning for me. Never mind the quick visit I was able to make to the Toronto Railway Museum, right across from the baseball stadium. I will leave those images for another post. 

Obviously, on a game day, my family was around the baseball stadium, which meant we were able to see plenty of GO Trains. I did even see one still being pulled by an old F59, but I was not quick enough to get an image of that one. But I did like this shot taken in front of the city's convention centre. The mix of old and new Metrolinx green is quite common on GO Trains still.

This shot below was taken from a pedestrian walkway above the tracks right beside the Rogers Centre. I like that this image captures the length of the train, the shadows mid-train and the signals. The lighting was tricky to work with, but a bit of colour correction helped define the train a little more clearly.

I wasn't able to devote a lot of time to train watching, as our goal was to fulfill a Christmas promise to take the girls to a game and let them choose one piece of team memorabilia at the team shop. However, given the steady stream of commuters to and from downtown, there was lots to shoot in a short period of time.

In addition to the GO Trains making their way to and from Union Station, I also managed to get a few shots of the UP Express, short for Union-Pearson Express. This is the three-car consist making its way past the convention centre. The UP Express has both three- and two-car consists plying the rails to and from the airport. The frequency of these trains was pretty steady as I was trackside. I know a few people who have made use of this service. They tell me it is a great experience. You can just see my daughter's hand in the bottom of the photo.

I have to admit that I hung out at my hotel room window way too much when I returned from the game. I found the steady flow of trains and the gentle rumble of the diesel engines oddly captivating. Here's a shot of a P42 with a Love the Way wrap leading a LRC consist past my window. The final car in this train was a refurbished HEP silver streamliner. The architecture of the hotel room meant I could not entirely crop out the part of the building that jutted out and obstructed my view. The grey cityscape really makes the yellow Via logo on the P42 stick out. It was fun to get shots of trains from up high. It's not something I've been able to do often.

Speaking of wraps. Here's a GO coach with a Desjardins message for riders.

Call this next shot a milestone shot, even if it was taken through a window at an impossible angle with some issues with glare. It's a moral victory for me because this is the first time I have ever captured the Canadian. You can see the multiple F40 units on point, as the consist backs into Union Station as a GO Train heads in the opposite direction with the control cab leading the way. The Canadian was on the track closest to my hotel, which made it hard to capture. It took me a moment to realize what this train was. I'm glad I was taking photos of it all the same. You can see some of the gargoyles from the Rogers Centre obstructing the view. Nothing to be done. Beggars can't be choosers.

I thought I'd finish with this shot. If you've ever been in Union Station and find yourself descending the ramp from the main hall to the area where people line up for their trains, you might notice this old plaque off the to the side. I find it interesting that the railway thought enough of its employees that it felt it had to erect a small monument saluting their service to our country during wartime. The plaque doesn't specify any war. It's quite a contrast to the railways of today, spanning continents and more focused on shareholder value than their employees sacrificing their lives for the cause of freedom. I'm not mentioning this as a critique, per se. Times change. It's just interesting to have a glimpse of where the CPR's corporate mentality was, once upon a time.

Those are my images trackside in downtown Toronto. It was fun to get a brief look at big city railroading. It made the awful baseball game we watched all the more palatable.

The Overpass Debate

Note: Due to my ongoing efforts to move, my time online to pursue blogging is severely limited. I will be taking the siding for a few weeks, to focus on housing matters. The situation has improved, as we have bought a new home (near the Beachburg Sub!) and are in the process of selling our house. This is a stressful time for me, as I have mentioned in the past, so I appreciate your patience during this pause. In the meantime, here's a post that's been in the can for a while. I will continue with my Ottawa to Sarnia series when I return. - Michael

One of the things my family did in the early days of the pandemic was search for new exotic playgrounds for my children to play at throughout the city. In the summer of 2020, I took my daughters to a park next to the Smiths Falls Subdivision in Barrhaven. That was when I saw my first real glimpse of the overpass that now takes Strandherd Road over the Smiths Falls Sub. For those in the city, you know that Strandherd is an extremely busy road that is being widened and cannot handle its current capacity. The overpass really began to take shape over that summer. It also got me to thinking a bit about Ottawa and our railway etiquette in the city.

First things first, as we were leaving the park, I heard the familiar sound of a Via Rail corridor train heading east toward Fallowfield Station. I had my iPhone with me so I fired off a few shots of the train through the trees. I like this shot below the best.

I don't know that I've shared too many shots from my iPhone on this blog over the years, but I was glad to have it at that moment as the train went by at a fair clip. The sun was hiding behind clouds and making for some funny shadows, which explains some of the weird lighting in the shot. I decided to leave it untouched. 

Here's a shot of the tail end of the train, which was a double-ender with a P42 bringing up the rear.

This was pretty much the best I could do. I was trotting across a soccer field and trying not to use my phone's zoom function, which pretty much guarantees you a highly pixelated shot. As I have mentioned many times on this blog, I have really grown to like railway photos that place a train in its surroundings. I am as interested in the landscape around the train as I am in the train. I think there's so much more to the story than capturing an engine at the head of a train. This is why I like shots where the train isn't dominating the majority of the frame. I think the surroundings tell as much of the story as the train does.

But as I looked over at the Strandherd overpass, I couldn't help but think back to the years before 2020, when many of the signals and crossing guards were malfunctioning in Barrhaven, which had local residents suggesting all their level crossings should be switched over to overpasses or underpasses. 

I chuckled at those debates, as I have lived in cities with far more level crossings, many of which accommodate both long freight and passenger trains. Ottawa drivers don't know how good they have it. There is a high frequency of Via Rail traffic going through their neighbourhoods, but the inconvenience of a short, quick passenger train going by is quite minimal when you compare that to the time it takes for a giant freight train passes by. We're talking about the difference between a few seconds of waiting and a few minutes.

Having seen the delays these freight trains cause first hand when I lived in Kitchener, I know how these many crossings back traffic up, yet I don't recall much of a conversation about what needed to be done. Drivers accepted railways as being part of their landscape and learned to adjust their days according to the possibility of a delay. 

2016 shot of a flyover being constructed over Greenbank Road in Barrhaven. 

 

Greenbank flyover in 2023
 

I know I've made this point before, but Ottawa drivers really don't know how to live with railways anymore. The days of transcontinental freights going through the city are long gone, as are the days of more frequent short line traffic, like when the Ottawa Central Railway was at its busiest. 

 

While it is true that the residents of Barrhaven have more transportation headaches than many other parts of the city (they are also situated under the flight path approach to the Ottawa International Airport), the limited intrusions caused by Via Rail's corridor traffic are laughable when compared to what other cities have to live with. And never mind the once-a-week freight traffic, which usually consists of a freight train of no more than five cars.

 

I remember years ago when someone was complaining about the Arnprior Turn causing headaches for people in the Valleystream neighbourhood, when the once-a-week freight train rattled their homes with what the blogger described as "tar sands" oil tank cars. I was less than impressed with this blogger's ignorance, to say the least.  

Ottawa has become a spoiled city, where people think railways and crossings are a nuisance to be eliminated. Yet, they don't often think of the vital role Via plays in this city, or the role the rails could one day play in a future commuter transportation system.

Yes, overpasses are safer and better in the long run. I'm not suggesting they aren't the way to go from a safety perspective. However, I fear that people in this city have no concept of how to live with trains. A  collision between a Via Rail corridor train and pickup truck at the Barnsdale Road (country road, with clear views) level crossing is a good example. Anyone who thinks they can outrun a passenger train at this crossing is clearly not aware of the speed of these trains.

Sometimes, common sense is just as useful as improved infrastructure.

Trackside ABCs in Ottawa

Last year, I declared 2023 to be the Year of Different. This year, I am declaring 2024 to be the Year of ABCs. No, I'm not talking about kindergarten stuff, I'm talking about our collective approach to rail photography. That is why I am challenging myself to:

Always Be Challenging (my approach) and;

Always Be Changing (my vantage points, framing, subjects or locations).

Last year, I decided that I would begin shooting the evening approach of Via Train 59 westbound around Hunt Club Road, since I am in the area for my daughter's dance class every week. But after a while, there are only so many times you can shoot the same train with a similar consist from the same spot, so I started challenging myself to try different approaches. The end result was that I was able to get some new photographs that tell a little more of the story of railways in Ottawa.

Let's face it. If you are going to be a railfan in Ottawa, or west Ottawa in my case, you need to be creative because you are going to shoot mostly Via Rail corridor trains. That's just life. Yes, there is CN's weekly Arnprior Turn that operates on Wednesdays. But if you work, as I do, this train will remain a ghost unless you get lucky enough to catch it occasionally.

So this year, this is how I began my pursuit of rail photos on my Wednesdays trackside. I am once again chasing Via Train 59, which makes its way west past Hunt Club Road around 6 p.m. This shot below I would only be able to get this time of year, since the foliage around this spot will soon obscure this train's approach to the Prince of Wales Drive flyover. I decided to try and get a shot of Via crossing the Rideau River, which runs parallel to Prince of Wales, just to its east.

Since I have already captured Train 59 on the Prince of Wales flyover, I wasn't terribly interested in doing it again, but I did fire off a quick few shots as it passed by. Not a terribly inspired shot (below), given some of my previous work at this location.

But the thought of getting a shot of Train 59 crossing over the Rideau River trestle began to intrigue me. The question was if I could find a spot along the river to get a shot of the bridge without encroaching onto private property. This is a tricky proposition in this part of Ottawa, as the Rideau River is largely hidden from view in a narrow valley and the vast majority of its banks are private property south of Mooney's Bay. So, I had my work cut out in looking for any city easements, trails or vantage points where I could get a shot of this bridge. Given the natural course the river takes, even trying to get a long distance shot from the sidewalk on the Hunt Club Road overpass is impossible, since the river curves and the dense foliage obscures any views of the trestle.

However, after some searches along the west bank of the river, I turned my attention to the east bank and did find a public easement with trails leading to the river. I followed one trail, which led me directly to the riverbank, right next to the trestle. And, happily, the trail is on the side of the bridge where the train is bathed in sunlight at 6 p.m.

So on March 27, I attempted my first shots of Train 59 crossing the Rideau River. This shot was taken quite a ways out into the riverbed, as the Rideau was running low and I was able to wade out into the sand and rocks to get an unobstructed view. Note the original Via livery on the P42, the updated livery on the first class car, a wrap on the second coach and an updated livery on the next coach. Catch Via's rainbow era while you can. It's going to disappear quickly.

I was reasonably happy with this first attempt. The daylight was a mixed bag, as the clouds prevented a washout of harsh evening sun, but the overall grey couldn't be helped.

This past Wednesday, I ventured out to the bridge again, thinking it might be better to get a shot with better lighting. As the sky was mainly sunny with a fair bit of clouds, I set up on the east riverbank again, although I had to change my spot as the river level had risen, which meant I had to live with the skeleton of a tree in the shot. 

I chose this shot, above, with the tree for a reason. You can make out the reflection of the train in the water, for one, and this was the last shot I took before the sun began to wash out the F40. You can see the usual mix of Via LRC cars that are used on this train, which had six cars. It usually runs between 4-6 cars. 

Here's another shot, below, where the tree is less of a factor but the train is a bit more obscured by the sun. I like this shot as well, since it gives you that golden hour glow that you can only get around sunrise or around sunset, although the sun was still pretty high in the sky when I took this shot.

The next time I come out to this spot, I think I'm going to work in front of that tree, although getting too close to the trestle means you are shooting at a more intense angle and that is not what I'm going for exactly. Still, it might be fun to experiment with this point of view.

I should point out that, closer to 7 p.m., another Via Rail corridor train makes its way east in the same area. This is Train 44, which is usually slated to arrive at around 6:43 p.m. at the downtown station, although it often comes in closer to 7 p.m. In late March, on the evening when I shot Train 59 near Prince of Wales, I decided to see if I could also capture Train 44 before my daughter's dance class ended. 

I got this shot of Train 44 near the now dismantled Bentley Avenue industrial spur. The former Ottawa Sun building is to the left. I was reasonably pleased with this shot, although as the train was late, I'm not sure I'm going to stick around each week to catch it, as it's cutting it close to pick up my daughters at their class.

A few observations I made as I was experimenting with this new spot near the Rideau River. The Beachburg Subdivision from Ottawa's Central Station and Federal Junction is maintained quite well, to my untrained eye. The tracks seem to be freshly ballasted and the signalling is all modern. Of course, this is hardly a keen observation, as this stretch of track is part of a very busy Via Rail corridor. 

However, having mainly taken in the stretch of Beachburg that CN maintains west of Federal Junction, it was a bit of a shock to see a stretch of a modern railway right of way in Ottawa. Via has a maintenance of way area along this subdivision just east of the Rideau River. It is observable from public property, although it is behind a fence. The area has a fair bit of rail, ballast and other supplies. I didn't know there was a maintenance spot in this location, but now that I do, I might take a photograph or two if there is anything of interest.

So, here is my challenge to you. Take the ABC challenge this year and think of new things to do to change your approach to rail photography. Don't settle for the same images from the same angle at the same spot.

Next post, I'll share another new spot I found to get a different railway image. Always be changing!

Wednesdays at the Overpass (Part II)

In the last post, I explored some different ways of shooting the same train at the same spot, since I often meet westbound Via Rail Train 59 around Hunt Club Road on Wednesday evenings. Let's be honest. If you are going to take up rail photography in Ottawa, you have to be prepared to catch lots of Via Rail corridor trains and think of creative ways to mix up your images. I often see photos taken at Fallowfield Station on various social media channels and I have to say, the shots all look pretty much the same. I am as guilty of this as anybody, which is why I don't go to Fallowfield much these days, unless it's in search of Via's new Siemens trains or something unique. 

The last post covered my shots taken from the spring through to the end of July. In August and into the fall, the elements around the tracks began to change, which at least gives you something else to play with other than your angle. 

August 9

In August, I returned to a spot just east of the tracks at the edge of a plaza on Antares Drive. This time, I tried to get a shot of the train before it proceeded under the overpass. This time around, P42 911 in the Love the Way wrap is leading the charge west toward Fallowfield. The sunlight on this evening was a little harsh, as the cloud cover was almost nonexistent. But I like the lines of the overpass. Also, note the switch stand in the left of the frame. That switch stand was soon to be removed.

August 23

Okay, so this is not the Hunt Club overpass, but this flyover over Prince of Wales Drive is very close to the overpass. I chose this spot on this evening, since it allowed to assume a perch in the shade. This flyover, made of stone, is just past the point where the Beachburg Sub crosses the Rideau River. I have considered trying to get a shot of the train crossing the river, but I haven't yet found a vantage point to capture this image. Something to work on for this year. Still, I love this spot. The only downside is there are a fair number of hydro wires to work around. You can see the tip of one in the top right corner.

Sept. 14

The following week, I decided that I would try to capture an image of the train beneath the overpass, as it made its way past the concrete pillars. This experiment almost didn't work because, as you are following the train past the stationary pillars in front of it, your camera will sometimes focus in the pillars and not the train. That obstacle, combined with the harsh sunlight at this spot in the evening, made for a few wasted frames. I did manage a few frames where the F40 came into view fairly well, so I think it was worth a try. I'm not sure I would try this shot again in this spot, without a better game plan.

Sept. 20

The following week, I decided to try a wider shot from a vantage point quite a bit west of the spots I had tried before. The problem on this evening was the sun was washing out the train in most shots, especially since the consist was made up of silver HEP cars. I stuck with it since I figured I could work with some shadows. Even this shot is somewhat unsatisfying. I left this shot unedited, just to show you how difficult the sun can be at times. The sky is washed out and the only thing really saving the shot is the shadows from the nearby brush. You will notice that the spur serving Bentley Avenue is in the process of being dismantled in the foreground.

Sept. 27

I've used this angle before but my goal on this evening was to capture some of the changing colours in the leaves trackside. You can even see the signals peaking out from beyond the turnout at Federal Junction. I always like it when I can capture those signals in a shot, which is not always possible. On this evening, I made sure to set up a fair bit west so I could capture the bend on the track. I tried to get a shot of the train coming around the bend, but my focus was distracted for a moment and I didn't get the train on the curve.

Oct. 11

October was a bit of a lost month for me, due to many factors, so I wasn't really thinking of anything creative when I took this shot, although I like the colours trackside. The evening light at this hour was beginning to dim significantly, which made for less glare, but the trackside colours hadn't really changed the way I wanted to them to change, since the warm summer seemed to delay the colours in the Ottawa region. The P42's headlights also didn't help.

Oct. 18

Note the difference in daylight from the last shot. This was my first attempt at getting a vertical shot at the overpass, although I was in a familiar spot, looking toward Federal Junction, on the north side of the overpass. This shot is blurred, as I was only armed with my iPhone on this evening. I don't think I was planning on getting any shots that evening, but I decided to do something at the last minute. I don't mind a blurred shot, as it conveys speed and drama when done right. I'm not sure I achieved that with this shot, but it's different than the shots I had captured earlier that summer, so there's at least that.

Nov. 1

This was the end of the line for my experiment with Train 59. This shot does not really convey how dark it was on this evening. There was a storm cloud making the daylight disappear rapidly, in addition to it being November. I didn't do much in the way of experimenting on this final meet. I figured a shot in the evening twilight would be enough to make this shot stand out. Sadly, many of the shots didn't come out as sharp as I would have liked, so I chose this one, which was reasonably crisp, even though it has the guy wire in the way.

Now that the time change has come and gone, I have more daylight to play with, which means I am starting to think of new areas in this part of the city to get some train shots. I'm not sure I will be able to get new shots, but I'm willing to give it a try. As I said, you have to take what you can get in Ottawa, since there are few options. At the very least, you can change the background, even if you can't change the trains.

Happy 21st Birthday, Fallowfield Station (Part I)

Here's a quick trivia question. How many Canadian cities have more than one active passenger railway station? This is easy for many railfans. Montreal has its Central Station downtown as well as Dorval Station to the west. Toronto has Union Station as well as Guildwood Station in Scarborough. And, for the last 21 years, Ottawa has had its Central Station on Tremblay Road, which is east of the downtown, as well as Fallowfield Station in the southwest neighbourhood of Barrhaven.

The story of this suburban station is an interesting one, and it requires a little bit of local and national history to understand how it came to be. After all, it's a rare feat for any city to open a second railway station in the 21st century, never mind an urban centre like Ottawa, which had a population around 800,000 when Fallowfield was opened in 2002.

 

I began taking shots at Fallowfield Station in 2012. This is a shot of Fallowfield Station at dusk in 2013 as a P42 leads an eastbound corridor consist into the station before finishing its run at Via's main station on Tremblay Road.

So how does a station get built in an urban centre in what was then known as Ottawa-Carleton? Well, that is your first clue. Up until 2001, the City of Ottawa as we now know it was an urban centre that housed 11 separate municipalities, including the old City of Ottawa, Gloucester to its east, Nepean to its west, as well as Kanata, Vanier, Rockcliffe Park and some other townships and smaller municipalities. 

Nepean, for our purposes, is the most important of the former municipalities, since it encompassed a huge chunk of land to the west of the old City of Ottawa. Given its massive suburban neighbourhoods and communities, the issue of transit in this geographically large former city was critical. In the 1990s, the city council for Nepean put great emphasis on transit as one of its priorities. There were also strong voices for better regional transit at the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, which was the senior level of local government that handled issues that transcended the boundaries of the old municipalities.

One area that required transit solutions was the burgeoning community of Barrhaven, which is now a city in and of itself, with a population north of 50,000 alone. Despite the efforts of Nepean city councillors and regional councillors, nothing was done with the idea for a west-end train station until a former Nepean city councillor and regional councillor broke into federal politics.

Former Nepean Councillor David Pratt, who would go on to become a minister in the Paul Martin government, was the champion who revived the idea of building the Fallowfield train station in 2000, when the government had set aside $400 million for Via Rail infrastructure improvements. It's important to note that, at this time, Via Rail had many friends in the federal government, including Transportation Minister David Collenette. Collenette would be Via's last true blue friend in government, as he was a big proponent of railways as a solution to many modern environmental and infrastructure challenges.

Surprisingly, from Mr. Pratt's proposal in 2000, the idea to build a suburban train station did not take long to become a reality. With the political will in place, the project gained traction and started quickly. The project was officially unveiled in June 2001.

Already, there were elements in place, such as an OC Transpo Park and Ride parking lot for commuters at the corner of Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road, on the northern edge of Barrhaven. At this point, the bus-specific Transitway system of bus lanes had not been completed to Barrhaven, but was on its way. 

In November of 2002, construction of the $1.2-million station was completed and regular service as a stop began. The train station is the first stop on all westbound Toronto trains and the last stop on all eastbound trains terminating at the Tremblay Road station. 

This is a scanned image from the Ottawa Citizen of former Transportation Minister David Collenette (left) and former Via Rail Canada Chairman Jean Pelletier (right) on the first day of operations at the Fallowfield train station in November 2002.

The opening of the station was imperfect, as Via Rail had a multibillion-dollar wish list of items it needed to modernize its fleet and operations at the time. However, the $400-million government funding did not go nearly far enough in addressing any of those operational goals, which tended to overshadow the opening of the suburban station.

There were plans leading up to the opening of the station for Via to establish overnight service to Toronto, which never happened. There were also plans to shorten the travel time between Ottawa and Toronto, but this never really happened, although it can hardly be expected that shortening time would be a guarantee when Via is a tenant of CN on much of the rails between Ottawa and Toronto. 

Via now controls its own rails on the Smiths Falls Subdivision to Smiths Falls and the Brockville Subdivison (ex-CP) to Brockville. From there, it is a tenant on CN rails all the way to Toronto and beyond. This means it is at the mercy of CN dispatchers, who often give priority to their own freight trains. There is also the matter of Metrolinx GO Trains in and around Union Station, as well.

The opening of the Fallowfield station happened not long after Via had discontinued service in Prescott, Trenton and Maxville in Eastern and Central Ontario. In many respects, it was a time of mixed messages and uncertain fortunes for Canada's national passenger railway. Even then, its fleet of F40PH-2 locomotives and HEP cars seemed old. Its LRC coaches had long since been imperfectly coupled onto the F40s, since the original Baombardier-built LRC locomotives had proven unreliable in the corridor. The railway's experiment with British renaissance cars was not yet on the horizon, although we all know how that turned out. 

Much like today, Via was an operation in flux, in search of a more secure future with better equipment. But, as a Crown corporation subject to political whims of the government of the day, planning is never easy for this railway. It certainly wasn't easy then either, despite the backers it had in its corner.

In the next post, I want to tackle some questions about the station. Why was it called Fallowfield Station? Why not Barrhaven? Why was it built where it now stands? Why not closer to the more populated parts of Barrhaven? Can you ride the train between the Tremblay Station and get off at Fallowfield? 

Indeed, there is more than meets the eye when you're talking about this station.

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.

A busy day on the mainline in Kingston: Part II

As I mentioned in Part I, I had the chance to spend the better part of a day trackside at Kingston's Via Rail station, as my family was in the Limestone City for a music conference downtown. After dropping off my children for their musical activities, I spent much of my time watching the steady flow of rail action at Kingston station, which resulted in five Via Rail trains in the morning, including the 60/50 J-Train eastbound along with the 62/52 J-Train eastbound, along with a westbound later on. So, for those keeping score, that's five trains in just a few hours. Still, I was waiting for a freight train, as that was what I was there to see. As many railfans south of Ottawa know, much of the CN freight movements happen earlier in the morning before the onslaught of passenger trains between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto in the mid morning to afternoon.

My afternoon began with the arrival of another westbound Via Rail corridor train, being led by an F40 in the blue-ish scheme. Once again, staff was on the platform ready to greet the crew in the engine.

For much of the day, it was cloudy, which was actually a real plus for me, as the sun was making shots from my side of the platform tricky, given the sharp shadows, as you can see in this shot. I did take this shot of the corridor train boarding passengers with 6432 reflecting the brief moment of sun through the many clouds. As it was a windy day, the blue skies didn't last long. And for once, I was thankful for the return of the clouds.

That was because the next train through was an eastbound mixed freight, just minutes after the Via Rail westbound left. The train was led by ES44AC 2993. I mentioned that the sun was mostly gone by this point, but it was still wreaking havoc with shadows as the train came closer to the station.

Given that that train was being led by a single engine, I was pretty sure I was going to see a mid-train DPU. I was right. The DPU snuck up on me, so I wasn't able to get a great shot, but I did like this shot of the unit sandwiched between an ADM covered hopper and a RailBox boxcar. It was one of the former Citi units that CN has regularly used on this main line.

As always, I was on the hunt for interesting pieces of rolling stock to shoot, possibly with fallen flags on the side. Sadly, there wasn't much to shoot, so I at least got a going away shot of the DPU 3977 in better sunlight. This shot also reveals the size and length of the RailBox car. This type of boxcar reminds me of the auto parts boxcars I used to see regularly on the CSX trains that passed through my hometown, back when CSX shuttled oversized cars from Chatham to Sarnia.

I thought getting an overall shot of the train was a good idea. I took a few going away shots toward the station, but those shots weren't as interesting as this shot, given the colour and assortment of rolling stock.

After that afternoon mixed freight passed, I stuck around to see what else there was to see, as I still had time to kill before picking up my daughters and heading home to Ottawa. Not surprisingly, the afternoon was filled with more Via Rail corridor trains, including this westbnound, led by F40 6416 at 4:17 p.m. This as on my third trip to the station. The intermittent sun peaking through the clouds cast a glare on this train, which washed out most of my shots. This one I was able to touch up a bit. It was a tricky day at times for photos.

I was still holding out hope for another freight, but the Via Rail corridor train parade continued, with an eastbound about 10 minutes afterward, led by wrapped P42 913.

The LRC cars were pretty standard, but it was nice to see this outlier, a reminder of Via's branding efforts from a few years ago, which started with Canada 150 and then continued on during Via's 40th anniversary.

A lot has been written about the early days of Via's operations, when it wasn't uncommon to see Via cars mixed with old CN cars. Even more colourful were the early Amtrak years, when any number of its predecessor passenger carriers would find their way onto early Amtrak trains. I don't know if we'll look back on this era of Via as the rainbow years. There certainly is a wide variety of different paint schemes and wraps to shoot, if that is your thing.

My day in Kingston ended with this westbound, led by P42 905 just after 5:30 p.m. I was a bit disappointed that the new Siemens train didn't make an appearance, as it has been in use periodically on a few Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto trains (33 and 26 for example), but no such luck on this day.

But as I wrapped by day of railfanning, I was happy to see 10 trains, even if the ratio of Via to freight (9:1) was a bit slanted for my tastes. Overall, it was fun to watch a busy rail operation in action throughout the day. The frequency of trains, combined with the various scenes on the platform, made the day a good first effort in Kingston. I can't wait to go back.

A busy day on the mainline in Kingston: Part I

In November, my wife was attending a music conference and my daughters were participating in the music class portion, which gave me a free day to railfan in Kingston. This was worth the early morning wake-up and nearly two-hour drive from Ottawa. Having seen countless photos and historic commentary about the Kingston Subdivision from the Trackside Treasure blog, I was eager to get some of my own images from this rail hotspot. I have caught the occasional freight while driving through Kingston on Highway 401, but this opportunity was far different. This time, I didn't have to rely on lucky timing. I could sit at the Kingston Via Rail station and wait. Oh, the luxuries of living along a main line!

The day was punctuated with trips to downtown Kingston to drop off my daughters at various activities and then more time spent trackside at the station.Here are the first three trains I saw.

P42 917 leads an eastbound J-Train, with a F40 mid-consist for the moment. This was shortly before 11 a.m. The daily trains travelling east toward Brockville are Via Trains 60 and 50. Once they arrive at Brockville, they separate, with one proceeding east on the Kingston Sub toward Montreal while the other branches off onto the Via Rail Brockville Sub (ex-CP) toward Smiths Falls and from there, the Via Rail Smiths Falls Sub (ex-CN) into Ottawa. It's not often you get to see a Via Rail train this long, excluding the Canadian, which I have yet to encounter in person.

Not long after 60/50 arrived, it had company, as a westbound made its way to the platform, under the watch of the local Via staff on the platform. P42 916 was leading what I assume was Train 51 toward Toronto. If you're keeping count, that's three trains in one meet.

I made sure to get a shot of Train 51 with the entire Kingston station in a frame. It seemed silly to post about the station and not actually take a photograph of the structure itself. Kingston's station dates back to 1974, which predates the birth of Via Rail by a few years. It replaced the famous 1855 Outer Station on Montreal Street, which dated back to the Grand Trunk Railway. Of course, you likely know all this history if you visit Trackside Treasure. It's not my goal to get into an extensive history of this station other than to mention it. I found it funny that there is a line on the Wikipedia entry about this station that states: "The current 1974 mainline station has no notable historic or architectural value." Seems kinda harsh for Wikipedia, no?

Here's the next train I saw. which brought my total up to four. Actaully, it is five, as this was another J-Train, which was destined to separate at Brockville. This consist was led by F40 6436, with the French wrap showing on my side. The mid-train power was P42 911, also with the French slogan wrap showing on my side.

This is Train 62/52. As is the custom with these trains, one heads to Montreal from Brockville while the other heads northeast to Smiths Falls and Ottawa. Since I was on the platform, I decided to take some extra shots of this consist, as I have been trying of late to find images that show detail, rather than just the straight consist. As the P42 went by, I noticed a vestige of its original paint scheme still visible beneath the wrap. It's the old Government of Canada logo. I'm glad Via has done away with this bureaucratic government logo. I am assuming it was forced on them. 

I also took a quick shot of Via coach 8126 acting as a buffer car, is as the case with the old streamlined coaches these days. All the shades were down. It's interesting to see how many paint schemes Via has going on its entire rolling stock roster these days. The original silver and blue is my favourite scheme, but Via has for some time opted for different shades of blue and black on its silver fleet. It's also nice to see the Canada logo taken off the centre of the coaches. I found this to be visually distracting.

One final shot of the J-Train. I took a shot between two coaches to illustrate my point about how much the Via livery has changed over the years. The newer scheme is much more in the blue-green or teal hue. I still think that government logo is out of place on the grooved silver surface. From a business point-of-view, I don't think it's terribly appealing to remind your customers that you are subsidized by the federal government. 

Some have suggested the newer Via scheme is reminiscent of the old C&O passenger scheme, which is something I can appreciate, being a fan of Chessie System and its predecessors. However, I will always prefer the original Via blue and yellow. I'm sure there are marketing reasons to adopt newer schemes, but I maintain the right to be old (40+ anyway) and set in my ways in this case.

That covers my first few meets at the station with five different Via Rail corridor trains. In the next post, I will share images of the lone CN freight train I saw, along with more interesting Via corridor action. I will admit that I was hoping to see more than a single CN freight train, but the sheer volume of activity on my visit to Kingston station more than made up for the lack of freight trains.