Winter surprises in frozen Ottawa (Part II)

Recently, I was able to get out and capture some winter images in the city's east end on a bitterly cold day in early February. In my last post, I shared some images of the Bytown Railway Society's equipment parked outside the Canada Museum of Science and Technology. 

While I was in the area, I paid a visit to the Ottawa Via Rail station to see if there was anything interesting to capture. The first thing I saw when I arrived was Via Rail's all yellow consist that's called Lumi. It was idling with the power facing east. That train was Montreal-bound. In the spirit of making railways interesting again, I tried to get what I consider to be a different shot.

I deliberately framed the end cab car against the Ottawa station sign and Via Rail banner. I didn't zoom in much because I also wanted to capture the snow and the distinctive platforms at the station. The train is in shadow, partly because of the position of the afternoon sun and the overhead canopies. I basically left the image untouched. I like the end result. I find many railway images are overly focused on the engines leading a train and not on some of the interesting details. I like the story this photo tells.

Here's another image of Lumi leaving the platform, heading east on the Alexandria Sub toward Montreal. I was waiting to capture a shot of the consist on the east side of the Belfast Road overpass (pictured), but the biting wind and long wait meant I had to change plans. This shot worked out okay, despite the fact that I was on the shadow side of the train. 

The platforms were pretty quiet on that Sunday afternoon. I tried a few shots on the overpass, but the wires make is close to impossible to get a good clean image of anything. I don't have the patience to use photo editing to remove the wires, so I tried to frame Lumi between the wires as best I could. 

Here was the other surprise of the afternoon. When I arrived at the station, there was Lumi facing east and another Venture set on the track closest to Terminal Avenue (south track) which eventually made its way west on the Beachburg Sub toward Toronto. When it left, I saw a single P42, 910,  parked near the station idling on its own. This was a revealing site.

As most know, Via Rail has not had a successful rollout of its Venture fleet. Its continuing struggles with CN over speed restrictions on CN tracks is well known by now. That process continues to play itself out in the courts. But an operational wrinkle has also begun to plague Via's operations in the corridor. You might recall that, recently, Via informed passengers that it was reducing train frequency between Ottawa-Montreal-Toronto. The railway didn't provide terribly clear reasons as to why its fleet, consisting mostly of Venture sets, is experiencing problems. Most people in the know understand that the Ventures are not performing as well as expected in winter conditions.

Here's an interesting explanation shared with me by my friend Kevin from Windsor, who is a contributor to this blog. Here's what he shared, after taking the train for a return trip between Windsor and Toronto:

"One flaw with the Charger/Venture sets that I haven't read about yet is that they apparently have operational issues in the snow when the locomotive isn't on the front end. The attendant who collected our tickets told us this. I paid extra on both trips to choose forward-facing seats but, on the return trip, we were seated backwards. Not good for my wife; she gets motion sick. 

 

I was very particular about choosing the seats and knew that I didn't screw up, so we asked to be switched. The attendant asked if we bought the tickets more than a month ago, which we did. She said that, when the snow got heavy, Via decided to replace the push-pull operations with pull only and keep the locomotive up front. She didn't explain in detail, but said it was a snow issue. So now, they have to wye the trains at endpoints, at least until the spring. 

 

And if you booked forward-facing seats before they changed plans, you have to ask to be re-seated. I would have thought that Via might have a feature in their reservation system that would just reissue seats automatically based on a mirror image when this happens, but clearly RESERVIA isn't that sophisticated." 

 

Thanks to Kevin for sharing this explanation. Kevin also shared that, when Via was running on its own rails between Chatham and Windsor, the train was often travelling much faster than it does on CN rails. Kevin said his train reached 160 km/h and the crossings along the route all worked normally. This is very much consistent with my own experience on Via Rail in November, when my train reached speeds of 163 km/h between Brockville and Ottawa when Via was on its own rails. Like Kevin mentioned, I did not see any crossing malfunctions either.

 

It's tough to hear about Via Rail's struggles, especially at a time when it seems as though there might be political will from the government to better support its operations. It's not surprising, though, that the government is not getting involved in the CN-Via legal battles nor is it doing much to support the passenger carrier other than to press it to do better, given its string of operational woes in the last year.

 

I sometimes wonder how much of Via's problems is due to benign political neglect and how much is due to management challenges. Either way, there doesn't seem to be any daylight ahead for Via, which reminds me of one of my favourite song lyrics:

 

I see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Someone please tell me it's not a train. 

Thankful for everything, even the faceless grey hoppers

I once had a conversation with my former parish's priest when I was struggling mentally and he said something that changed my life. He asked me a few questions. Did you ever wonder what a miracle it was, he asked, that you walk into a room, flick a switch and light magically appears? Or when you go to the sink, you pull a faucet and clean water appears? He asked me a series of questions like these and it made me rethink my life entirely. His point was simple. He was telling me I was very fortunate to have all that I have in my life. Since that chat, I have come to recognize the blessings in my life at all times, which have made me much more successful in managing my mental wellness.

For our purposes here, I wanted to share a few photographs from my last few months, many of which I have yet to share on this blog. Many of these shots were taken in my journey to Sarnia by train and my journey home to Ottawa.

There's a saying that it's better to be lucky than be good. I'm lucky indeed. As we near Christmas, I'd like to share a few shots in the spirit of gratitude.

This first shot was taken around sunrise on a cold Nov. 24 morning in Sarnia before I left on Train 84 to head to Toronto and eventually back to Ottawa. This train was backing up in the yard when I arrived at the station, before heading west through the tunnel into Michigan. If you look closely, you can see Via Train 84 on the spur beside the station, before it backed onto the main track. The cloud bank over station made for a cooperative sky that cut down on the shadows. I decided to leave the photo as it was, with no correction. This is one of my favourite shots of the year.

 

Here's a quick shot I grabbed aboard my train home from Toronto. The sun was sinking fast and the light would soon vanish, making any further attempts at photographs moot, but I liked that I got two different GO Transit schemes in this shot, along with a bumper in the bottom of the frame. This looked like a layover yard, which was just a short distance east of Union Station in Toronto. I'm thankful that the train home was not heavily delayed anywhere, which as we all know from last week's fiasco in Brockville, is all too common.

 

Yes, I'm even thankful for the old P42s. This is the train that I took from Fallowfield to Toronto on my way to see family in Sarnia. The city was cover in a light film of ice from a messy evening of freezing rain and snow, so getting to escape that to spend the weekend in warmer climes was certainly a bonus. Also, the fact that I was on an older consist meant that there were no speed restrictions on this train. Granted, the delays from being held for freight trains is another story, but I'm trying to stick with my theme of gratitude.

 

This shot is from my July visit to Stratford, where I was lucky enough to catch a few Goderich Exeter Railway trains in the Stratford yard and on the GEXR Goderich Subdivision. I like this shot because I was able to capture a bit of smoke coming out of the old geeps, as the crew assembled its train in the yard before heading northwest down the Goderich Sub. I have many other photos to share from this trip, which I have yet to sort through for the purposes of a thematic post. 

 

 

Here's a shot from August when my family was in Waterloo for a music camp. I always try to make time to go up to St Jacobs to get some shots of the historic collection of locomotives and rolling stock in the Waterloo Central Railway yard. I like this shot because it captures the back end of an old heavyweight passenger car, a RDC Budd car as well as a repainted switcher. Then there are the axles in the foreground. This is the type of shot I am trying to capture more and more these days. I plan a post in the coming weeks to outline what I feel is the state of railfanning right now and how it has changed my perspectives on the hobby.

 

Looking for your thoughts

 

I'm thankful, as well, for blog reader Kevin from Windsor for alerting me to the fact that Firecrown Media has somehow decided to stop shipping its magazines to Canada, despite the fact that people have subscriptions. He told me he cancelled his subscription, as a result of this decision. I went online to see what was happening, as I have not received my latest issue of Classic Trains, which is a quarterly. It appears that the company that took over Kalmbach Media has indeed made this decision, although no one seems to have been notified. Needless to say, I have cancelled my subscription. Classic Trains was one of the few ties I retained to the United States after this spring's tariffs frenzy. Now, I have cut all ties.

 

I don't mean this as a slight against any blog readers from the States. I grew up on the U.S. border, have family in the U.S. and am an avid Detroit Tigers fan. Putting all politics aside, it's just a prudent measure for me to cut ties at this point. 

 

My question to my fellow railfans from Canada is which magazine should I subscribe to in this country to replace Classic Trains? I'm thinking Branchline, as I am a big fan of the Bytown Railway Society. Does anyone have any other suggestions? 

Details matter

I found myself passing by Fallowfield Station recently when I decided to stop in and see if something was imminent. Luckily, a westbound from Ottawa's main station was making its way to the station, so I took to the east platform to get a few shots. It turned out to be a double-ended consist of the silver streamliner (HEP) cars with two P42s. I figured it was worth a few shots, just to get some seasonal variation in the photographs I share here. You can see a hint of the snow plowed off the end of the platform.

The first detail I noticed was how dirty the train was. The lead P42 920 clearly needed to go through the wash stand, but I suppose it's a tough assignment to keep these trains clean shortly after the first snowfall of the season, combined with the subsequent melt and the rainfall in the various regions where these trains operate. 

 

 

The second detail popped out immediately. Do you see it? Unlike the lead P42, the trailing engine still has a bit of its as-delivered blue paint shining through the wrap. It was a bit odd to see this, as it looked out of place. I have seen many wraps, but most have the plow of the front repainted.

 

Speaking of paint schemes, you can see the original lettering peaking through the wrap on this dirty trailing power. I'm guessing such minor details don't matter much right now, as I'm sure these units aren't long for this world. The Venture takeover will soon mean many of these older locomotives will retire from revenue service or head to another railway. 

 

This is a shot I took this summer of a genset locomotive that handles the plant switching duties at the Nova Corunna refinery. The detail I liked in this photo was the line of towers and power lines. Anyone who has been in the Sarnia area knows how much energy is needed for these refineries to operate. This is also an area where an immense amount of energy is managed through cogeneration, solar, battery storage and other means. And the power supply just keeps increasing. I could have zoomed in on the locomotive, but I also liked that I captured some of the refinery and the massive pipes in the bottom right of the image. This would be great information to use if I had a model railway setup right now.

 

 

Here's one last image from this summer that has a lot of details, like the photo from the Nova refinery. I wasn't really enthused about catching another Via Rail Venture consist while in Stratford, so I set up across the yard on a side street. The details in this photo are what make it more interesting than a standard railway photo. These are the details I wanted to catch: the station undergoing renovations; the rail yard; the grain elevator and the crossbucks. I left a piece of the tree in the shot intentionally, mostly because it was protecting my shot from a complete washout due to the sun.

 

The harsh sunlight required a fair bit of colour and lighting correction, but I think it was worth the effort. As I have mentioned quite a few times, I have been aiming of late for images that are more than just the standard wedge shot. I think setting a scene where a train is operating makes for a much better image.

 

The details are what fascinate me now as much as the trains themselves. 

Via Rail: All dressed up and nowhere to go

Does it seem strange (ironic? unlucky? typical?) that, within days of the federal government reaffirming its support for a Via Rail high-speed rail corridor in Ontario and Quebec, the passenger railway was hit with new regulations by CN? The new rules were brought in due to fears that its new Siemens Venture trains run the risk of not activating CN's grade crossing guards and signals. I won't get into the finer details of this new wrinkle for Via. Eric Gagnon of Trackside Treasure broke the story and did an excellent job of describing the problem. Check out his post on this issue here. 

As Eric points out, Via does not have a lot of great choices in the short term, as its Ventures alone run the risk of not activating signals at grade crossings (this is an oversimplification). The choices the railway faced were bad no matter what, so Via decided in the interim to slow its speed in the corridor to allow for these new trains to cross all grade crossings safely by properly activating the crossing guards and signals. 

It should be pointed out, and Eric did of course, that Via's legacy equipment, like its LRC and HEP cars, led by F40s and P42s, are not affected by this new rule. They have no operational issues with CN grade crossing equipment.

The reduction in Venture speed, however, means delays across the corridor, since Via Rail depends on its tenancy on CN rails for much of its routes. In the Ottawa area, Via enjoys much greater autonomy as it controls its schedule on the Smiths Falls and Brockville Subs between Ottawa and Brockville, via Smiths Falls. Also, Via largely runs unopposed most of the time on the Alexandria Sub from Ottawa into Quebec. In Southern Ontario, Via has more leeway between Chatham and Windsor as well as on the old Goderich Exeter Railway between London and Guelph, since CN does not use its Guelph Subdivision with the same regularity as it does its busier routes. 

For much of its operations in Quebec and Ontario, however, Via Rail depends on CN rails, many of which are its main routes.

Last week, I witnessed some of these challenges in real life as I was waiting to catch westbound Via Train 59, which usually passes through Nepean at 6 p.m. Instead, I saw an eastbound corridor train, Via Train 42, coming through the Merivale Road crossing nearly an hour late at a time when the westbound 59 usually has the all clear signal all the way to Fallowfield Station. The light was getting pretty dim, so I didn't stick around for Train 59, which might have been holding at the siding at Wass, closer to the Tremblay Road station in Riverside Park. 

Speaking of Wass, I noticed when I caught Train 59 in September on Hunt Club Road that Via has erected a sign on the right hand side of the track alerting crews that the Wass siding is ahead, although not before the train passes through Federal Junction, taking it onto the Beachburg Sub. 

Here's a shot from 2016 of a westbound Via Rail LRC consist overtaking a slower moving CN freight train on the Kingston Sub near Highway 401 through Kingston. Via Rail has always had to make do with its status among CN's freight traffic on this trackage. There was a time when a few of its long distance trains could make use of CN's Northern Transcontinental route through Algonquin Park and onto the Beachburg Sub through the Upper Ottawa Valley, but those days are long gone. With everything heavily concentrated on this right-of-way, Via Rail is at the mercy of CN, which has had an impact on its on-time performance since its very founding. 

So, in theory, re-establishing a route from Ottawa through Tweed, Marmora and Havelock sounds great, as this right-of-way still exists up to Havelock, and much of the path to the east would be salvageable, albeit at a cost. This line once connected Toronto and Ottawa via Peterborough, but has long since been severed and exists now as the more leisurely moving Kawartha Lakes Railway into Havelock and north into Nephton. This line has been the subject of political interest for more than a decade.

You might recall efforts to re-establish rail service between Peterborough and Toronto during the Stephen Harper years in power. First, there was talk of Via RDC service. At some point, the talk shifted to the possibility of a GO Train link, not unlike what you see in Kitchener today. But nothing has come of it. 

Given the complexity and cost of a high-speed rail line along the Kawartha Lakes Railway route and the former CP trackage to the east, I would put the chances of this happening as very low, especially given the fact that we are likely headed for a change in government in the coming year. The arguably profligate spenders at the wheel now will likely give way to a government of restraint, as is the normal case in this country. We tend to go back and forth and it seems the pendulum is swinging back toward fiscal conservatism.

So where does this week's headache leave Via? To me, it seems it leaves the railway pretty much where it's always been, which is in limbo. Try as its leadership might, it's an operation that just cannot seem to catch a break and it just can't seem to be able to realize its dreams. I'm trying to be fair here, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the railway's missteps along the way, and there have been a few. But that is for another time.

 

It's a shame, really, since there seems to be a lot of factors that, in theory, are all aligning in Via Rail's favour. Canada is a geographically enormous country, so a fast, efficient railway network makes sense, especially at a time when fuel prices are high, airlines are anything but stable, and people are rethinking their travel habits. The addition of the new Siemens equipment should play a factor in making Via more reliable and less prone to mechanical failure. 

Finally, it seems as though much of the world is embracing rail as the greenest, most efficient mode of transportation. So, you would think we could make it work in a country like ours. But it seems as though Via is now at a point where it's all dressed up with new equipment, but the same problems it's always had continue to haunt it.

So you'll more than likely be late if you are taking the train in the corridor these days, but at least you'll look good getting there.

Wednesdays at the Overpass (Part I)

Last year, I spent many evenings watching Via Rail's westbound Train 59 pass by the Hunt Club Road area, since I was there every Wednesday evening as my daughters were at a nearby dance class. The school does not allow parents to watch, which is actually a good thing for me, as it gives me the time to run errands and sit trackside each week. While taking photos of the same passenger train each week in the same way seemed like a waste of time, I decided early on that I was going to try and get as many different shots as I could. Over the course of the year, I did manage to capture some interesting angles and some differences in the train's consist. These meets also allowed me to take shots of the efforts to dismantle an old industrial spur along Bentley Avenue, just to the west of the Smiths Falls Subdivision.

Train 59 departs from Ottawa's main train station on Tremblay Road every weeknight at 5:49 p.m. It meanders its way west along the Beachburg Subdivision through the city and crosses the Rideau River where it then proceeds over a stone flyover over Prince of Wales Drive before it heads through Federal Junction, where it enters the Smiths Falls Subdivision and begins to veer southwest. 

The train passes by Federal and Hunt Club Road around 6 p.m., as it enters a stretch of track where the less severe speed restrictions allow it to open up a bit. Train 59, which is led by a P42 or F40, usually has four to six cars. They are often the old HEP silver coaches, although it does sometimes have LRC coaches. Train 59 makes stops in Fallowfield, Smiths Falls, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville, Trenton Junction (conditional), Cobourg, Oshawa (conditional) and Guildwood (Scarborough, conditional), before arriving in Toronto at 10:33 p.m. 

April 17

My first week where I caught the train was April 17. In this case, I decided to camp out on the east side of the tracks at the back of a parking lot off Antares Drive. The benefits of this spot include capturing the sky behind the train, although it can be a double-edged sword with the shadows. I tried this spot a few times with mixed results. In this shot, F40PH-2 6436 leads four of the old silver coaches under the overpass on a grey April evening. I do like that this spot gives you a great backdrop of the overpass. That long stretch of steel girders above the train makes for an interesting backdrop. Given the tough light, I didn't mind the shadows in the image. You can also see pieces of old rail in the foreground.

April 26

Shortly after that first shot of the year, I returned to the same spot on Antares Drive, to see if I could get a better image under sunny skies. I did like the blue and the clouds I got in this shot, but the shadows cast by the evening sun meant I was on the wrong side of the tracks to get a decent, clear shot. As the train got closer to my vantage point, the darker the shadows became, which was a disappointment, so I stuck with some shots where the train is a little further back. In this case, F40PH-2 6407 was leading a string of four silver coaches in different Via liveries. This was a typical look for this train, as it often sported the old silver coaches over the course of last year.

May 3

In May, I started off by taking a shot from the top of the Hunt Club overpass, looking north. This is a spot where you can get a pretty dramatic shot of trains from straight on, or from a side perspective. In this case, I went with a straight-on shot. 6407 was again leading the way, with six HEP cars in tow this time. In this shot, you can see the first hints of spring as the trackside brush and foliage are turning green. This perspective also allows you a chance to get some smoke in a shot, which is always a fun added element that shows some drama. Often, the trains are gearing up as they emerge from the turnout from Federal Junction. The one drawback is the guy wire that cuts through the middle of the train. I have worked around this wire in other shots, but in this case, I didn't. It doesn't kill the shot, but it is an annoyance.

May 10

The next week, I tried another shot from the overpass, but a little to the west, so I could get a better profile of the train. The natural light was steadily improving with each week, as was the weather. Still, the wire did present an obstacle. In a few shots, I simply zoomed past the wire, but I found that the image was too close to the rails and didn't offer any other elements. So I decided to share this shot, which has the wire prominently showing in the foreground. Sadly, the natural light was making it a bit too prominent. However, by keeping the shot a bit wider, I managed to get the high voltage power lines in the background, as well as the HLS Linen Service facility to the right of the tracks. You can just make out a piece of the signal tower near the curve in the track. As the year went on, I tried to get that signal in shots, but it was challenging. This time around, it's again 6407 leading six silver coaches. A typical look for this train.

May 17

The following week, I worked around the wire and went for a more traditional (at least for me) shot of the train up close. I used to take these shots a lot more when I restarted pursuing rail photography about 12 years ago. I don't take these types of shots much anymore, but once in a while, they're fun. In this case, you can see what the trade-off is when you use your zoom function to get past that overhead wire. The image of 6411 is taken from the same perspective as the week before, but you don't get much of an appreciation for the city around the tracks. The shadows were pretty fierce at that moment, which is why I chose to stay on the west side of the overpass. I will say that, the crew of Train 59 would sometimes give me a wave when I was on the overpass. They must have caught on at some point that there was always a guy taking photos on Wednesdays. I always appreciate this courtesy from train crews.

May 24

I would love to say this next shot was the result of some deliberate idea or planning, but the truth is, I was a late getting onto the overpass when I heard the rumble of the F40 gearing up. I knew I had only a few seconds to get something. On the east side of the Hunt Club overpass, there is a break in the brush where you can get a quick shot of a train, if that is what you are after. I won't say this is what I was looking for, but I did like the outcome. Sometimes, I find the best railway photos are the shots where the train is not the dominant part of the image. The shadows were once again quite difficult to work with, so I had to touch up the image a bit to soften the shadows. I actually like this shot. It was a spontaneous effort to get something. The perspective, trees and brush all make it unique among the many shots I took of Train 59 last year.

July 12

In June, various other life events prevented me from getting shots. When July rolled around, I picked up my chase again. On a bright evening in early July, I decided to get back to track level. However, instead of setting up on the east side of the tracks off Antares Drive, I tried the west side of the tracks. This was a challenging spot to work with, because you have to get through a fair bit of undergrowth to get to the fence. Also, when you emerge beneath the overpass, it's apparent that someone is living beneath the west side of the overpass, so I tried to keep a respectful distance and not bother this person. I did get some shots of the train before it emerged into the shadows beneath the overpass, but I wanted to share a shot of this F40 beneath the overpass. You can see the consist has shrunk to four cars.

July 19

The following week, I took up my next challenge of getting the train coming around the bend, just past Federal Junction. This required a fair bit of preparation and staging, since the train rounds the bend pretty quickly, so you have to be ready. In this case, this was the first time I saw Train 59 being pulled by a P42. I like how this shot turned out and it's a good example of how a great railway shot doesn't need to have much train in it. In this case, the train is a small part of the image, but I like that it's rounding that bend and picking up speed. You have to look closely, but you can see the red signal hiding behind the trees to the right of the track. I have another version of this shot, cropped a fair bit but I like the long line of the track in this image. And you will see there is no wire in the shot. I set up my camera beneath it. No small feat getting all these elements in one image without that pesky line in the middle.

July 26

To finish off this first part, I'll share the other time I tried something from the west part of the Hunt Club overpass. My idea this time was to get a shot that was less of a wedge shot and more of a side view. Given the person living on this side of the overpass, I camped out well out of this person's area and tried to find a perspective that lessened the impact of the sun. This going away shot gives you the perspective of the entire train, being pulled by a P42. The LRC coaches are a mix of liveries, not to mention a wrap. The train is passing by the now dismantled industrial spur next to Bentley Avenue, which you see just to the right of the second last car. The building to the left of the train is the former Ottawa Sun headquarters, where I worked for a few years. I wasn't sure if this shot worked out as well as I had planned. The train was a bit blurry in the earlier shots, which was a bit disappointing. But I liked the fact that I captured a perspective I hadn't considered before.

I kept taking shots of this train until November, when the light simply didn't permit any further shots. It was a fun experiment, which I might take up again this year, although I'm not sure what I might attempt this year. I might just go to watch the train. I know there is an Ottawa-bound train that comes east shortly after Train 59, so I might try and get shots of that train instead this year. Since my daughters' dance class is a bit longer than it was last year, I have a bit more time on my hands, so I will try to make the most of it.

Making the most of it

I don't need to tell any of you that 2020 has been a write-off in many respects. For me, it's been a challenge at times, particularly with this blog. Last week, I shared some photos of a nearly empty, quiet railyard in Stratford, since there was nothing happening when I arrived. Later the same day, I made a return visit, just in case. This is what I saw when I returned.

Nothing special right? Well, no quite. First of all, that string of hoppers was not there earlier in the day when I surveyed the yard, so it was obvious to me that a local spotted the cars at some point during the day, when I wasn't around. So that was disappointing. Those cars might have been headed for the salt mine in Goderich or an agricultural spur somewhere on the GEXR Goderich Sub. I'm not sure of the customer base on the CN Guelph Sub. I am just guessing it was headed for Goderich since I was at the same place last year and saw two orange GEXR geeps towing a string of covered hoppers toward the Goderich Sub.

Anyway, you will see that the two signals are showing red. What made that significant was that the signal on the left is a searchlight signal, which is dark unless something is imminent. That was my clue that something was coming. Exciting right? Well, not exciting exactly, since it was clear to me by the people on the station platform that the train that was coming was a Via Rail corridor train heading west for Sarnia. Not exactly was I came to see, but I decided to make the most of this grain elevator backdrop.

This shot, above, was my favourite. I have a few others where P42 906 is closer, but I much prefer this shot, since is incorporates more of the hopper cars and grain elevator. You will notice on the extreme right that I did purposely try to keep the flatcar in the shot as well. I figured, if I couldn't catch a freight train, I might as well keep as many of the freight cars in my shot as possible. I also like what the weeds add to the scene. To me, it screams secondary route, small town. That's the type of image I love to catch.

Here's a shot of the corridor train from a closer vantage point. I included it just for comparison's sake. I've noticed on a lot of railfan sites that these type of shots are usually the preferred image. I have been moving away from these images for quite a while. This is not to say that my way is any better. It's just a personal preference. I find I am much more interested in the overall scene, rather than how much of my frame is filled with the actual train. Still, I like how this shot at least keeps the grain elevator in the shot.

Here's one more shot of the train at the station, with an idle F40 on the tail end. This father and son were checking out the railway action along with me. At one point, they walked off the platform to check the signals, which were just beyond the end of the asphalt. This is a big difference I notice in smaller cities and towns. There is a much more liberal attitude toward railway property. I don't agree with this. I also saw another local resident cutting across a large piece of CN property that was clearly being used as a storage area for various pieces of construction and MoW equipment. I suppose if the railway has no active presence in the town, people don't worry so much about being caught. I still think it is always a bad idea to trespass on railway property. 

The worst example I ever saw of this attitude was when I saw multiple people crossing through CN's Dundas Subdivision yard in London, Ont. to take a shortcut. Given the railway's active staff in the yard and the frequency of trains on this busy route, I can't think of many things that are as reckless as this.

Anyway, before I left Stratford and headed home to Ottawa, I did manage to sneak in one last trip to this rail yard the next evening to catch the same Via Rail corridor train en route to Sarnia. I managed to try something a little different and was pleased with the end result. That will have to wait for another post.

Southern Comfort (Part I)

After Christmas, my family made its way to Florida for a family vacation. I made sure to carve out some time to sit trackside and capture some images of railway action outside my customary haunts in Ottawa. On Dec. 29, when my family was relaxing poolside, I made my way to the Lakeland Amtrak station to get some shots of Amtrak's long distance train, the Silver Star. This train connects Miami with New York alongside its sister train, the Silver Meteor. The Star serves Lakeland twice daily, once on its way northbound and once on its way south to Miami.

I arrived a little early because I was curious about the Lakeland Amtrak station, which has an unconventional design, but is still quite pleasing to the eye. It's not a terribly old station, but it has some nice classic touches, like the arched windows. Here's a shot from Lakeland's Main Street. For those interested in Lakeland's geography, it is located roughly halfway between Orlando (to its east) and Tampa (to its west).

I couldn't help but think of some comparisons between Amtrak and Via Rail Canada, while I stood on the platform, waiting for the northbound Star to make its way to the platform. My first observation was how impossibly long the platform was (look carefully at the image below and you will see just how far into the distance those arches recede).

My first thought was how many more long distance trains Amtrak has in its schedule compared to Via Rail. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison by any means, since Amtrak relies much more heavily on regional subsidies for many of its longer distance regional trains, but the fact remains that its long-distance trains that fall under the Amtrak National umbrella outnumber Via's Canadian and Ocean by a wide margin.

Here's a shot of the Star crossing Massachusetts Avenue in Lakeland's downtown. The consist of this train might appear odd to some, but it does make sense. The train was led by two P42s, as all Amtraks seem to be. The P42s are arranged elephant style. I have read in a few places (including Trains Magazine) that this arrangement is used when a train breaks up into two pieces, like the Empire Builder does on its western fringes. In this case, the Star doesn't do this, but I have also read that the engines are often arranged this way, rather than back-to-back, as a redundancy in case one of the units breaks down. The other will then be able to take over without having to wye somewhere.

I was not able to get a great angle, since I was so close to the tracks, but I did manage to get a shot of some of the Amfleet equipment. This design seems to be timeless. I don't know if there was ever a time when Amtrak didn't have some generation of this type of coach in its fleet. I was reading not too long ago that this design was a carryover from the old Penn Central Metroliners, which Amtrak inherited when it took over much of the American passenger railway services in the 1970s. Apparently, despite the initial problems with the rough ride, Amtrak liked the fuselage style design of the cars and stuck with it.

The end of these trains are always lined with newer equipment, with wider windows. You can even see the baggage car, which is at the end of the train. If you look closely, you can faintly see the light from the Amtrak station agent's scooter, which is used to carry bags to the back of the train.

Here's a new baggage car, much newer than the baggage car I saw the last time I caught this train in Kissimmee, Florida a few years back. I am told that Amtrak leaves the baggage car at the back of the train on the northbound Star because it means one less car to turn when the train is readied to head back south to Florida. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but it does make for an interesting consist when this car is on the end. Notice, too, how the traditional Amtrak striping has been applied to this car. I'm often baffled by Amtrak's various paint liveries. There's always some form of red, white and blue but look at the difference between this car and the coaches.

Now look at the blue and grey livery of its P42s. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but neither does the various shades of green, turquoise and yellow that Via Rail uses. I was actually hoping to catch one of Amtrak's heritage painted units, but this was all that was on display that day. 

One last going-away shot and that was a wrap for this brief trackside meet with a long-distance passenger train. If you click the link above to the post where I met this train in Kissimmee, you'll notice quite a difference in its length.

I tried to catch this train one more time, but there must have been some serious congestion on CSX's Florida lines because the train was ridiculously late the next time I was at the station and I ended up giving up. The A Line, which this train uses for the stretch through Lakeland, is lightly used by most indications, but the lines further south, which include CSX's S line (former Seaboard) has heavier traffic. In any case, this was my only meet with the Star. I did manage to make it out to a railway museum at Plant City and saw some interesting stuff. I will share that soon.

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.

Ten ways to revitalize Via Rail Canada (Part II)

Via Rail Canada's decision to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday with specially wrapped cars and locomotives has created a great deal of excitement. Using this as inspiration, I have come up with some ways to revitalize Via Rail. You can read the first installment of this post here. Here are ideas six through ten.

6. Stable funding

This is the elephant in the room for Via Rail and sadly, there isn't much the railway can do about it. No matter what it does right or what it does well, there are a number of elements that affect its operations that are beyond Via's controls. The biggest problem the railway faces is the political whims of government. Over the years, Via has had its supporters in Ottawa, like former Transport Minister David Collenette, and its critics like former Conservative Transport Minister Chuck Strahl. Mr. Strahl was perhaps the biggest threat Via has faced in recent years. Given he was from Western Canada, his skepticism for Via subsidies is hardly surprising, as the railway is no doubt viewed very differently between Eastern and Western Canada. To be fair, the Conservatives did commit substantial dollars to some capital projects that have helped Via, but the issue the railway always faces is the stability of its subsidy. This lack of certainty often leads to the company having to make tough decisions. This has greatly hurt the railway's presence outside of the Quebec City-Windsor corridor over the decades. As I have often said, we need to decide what we want out of Via Rail Canada. Those who suggest a passenger railway can earn money are dreaming. But those who suggest that this is a good reason to cast Via adrift are really missing the point of this railway. A country as vast as Canada needs transportation connections of all kinds, given the distance between our communities. There will always be a role for passenger rail, but we need to decide once and for all what that role will be.

7. Market the time advantages of rail travel in the corridor

Corridor consist makes its way west toward Ottawa Station along the Alexandria Sub in 2013

One aspect of Via Rail's marketing has never made sense to me. Don't get me wrong. I have always thought Via's overall marketing efforts have been solid and stylish. They do an excellent job of marketing the train as a stress-free way to travel. Over the years, they have used slogans like "People Moving People" and "A more civilized way to travel." But Via has never done a very good job explaining to travelers how train travel times compare so favourably to air travel times in the corridor.

What I mean is how much time and money does a traveler spend flying between cities? And consider for a moment how much goes into flying. How much do you pay to ride a cab or Uber out to your airport? How much do you have to pay to park at the airport? How much do you have to pay to park at a lot near the airport and ride a shuttle bus to the terminal? How many security checks do you have to undergo to fly? How long does it take to get through security? How early do you have to be at the airport before you can board your airplane? How long do you have to wait to board. How long does it take to get off the plane, get your baggage and get to where you need to be?

The whole point is, when you put together the entire travel day, a train trip is much more comparable to a plane trip than you might think at first blush. Rail travel will never compete with the airlines when it comes to actual travel time. But  I never understood why Via hasn't really pointed out how many hassles you avoid by taking the train.

8. Explore more international links

Amtrak train from Toronto waits at Sarnia Station before heading west to Chicago, early 1990s

Given the state of the Canada/US border, I very much doubt there is any appetite to re-examine some international connections, like the old Toronto-Chicago train that Via once operated with Amtrak. Of course, Via and Amtrak still operate trains between Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and points south. But I wonder what it might do if Via offered more connections to large American cities like New York, for example. I know the Vancouver-Seattle service operated by Amtrak has found a comfortable niche, but I'm curious if there would be further demand for this type of service if it was put back on the table. From a marketing point of view, being able to offer New York, Boston or Chicago as destinations in your timetable would certainly attract more attention. However, I don't think this is a viable option to pursue right now. It's a shame too, because Amtrak trackage between Ann Arbour, Michigan and Chicago now has stretches where trains can operate at 110 mph. That helps cut down travel down considerably.

9. Reroute the Canadian

Via operates through Rogers Pass in 1982

This is one option that may have been closer than we think, particularly when there was talk of routing Via's Canadian along the Canadian Pacific Superior Line in northern Ontario, rather than the more northerly CN line. But imagine Via being able to once again serve Banff and Calgary. I am not an expert on rails through the Rockies, but just about everyone seems to agree that Canadian Pacific's tracks are more scenic than the CN route. I can't imagine the Rocky Mountaineer would be thrilled with this move, since it would likely be seen as direct competition for its own tour train in this region.

10. Explore regional stations in large cities

Via already has regional railway station in its larger urban areas, such as the Guildwood Station in Scarborough and the Georgetown Station west of Toronto. Then there's the Fallowfield Station in west Ottawa and the Dorval station west of Montreal. I know from experience that the Fallowfield Station has been a hit in Ottawa since it opened more than 15 years ago. It doesn't seem to add anything to the Via schedules. I wonder if more can't be done to serve larger urban areas with quick station stops in suburban stations. Fallowfield station stops, for example, are usually no more than five minutes. It would certainly add a level of convenience for travelers who don't want to go to the downtown stations.

These are just a few examples of ideas that might help Via Rail, in my opinion. As I said, I think the company does a great job considering its circumstances. I hope it will find its champion in government again and build some momentum. Until it does, it's fun to dream, isn't it?