Taking the track less travelled

This week, as I had a day off following Easter, I decided to head out and get some train photos in Ottawa, which I haven't done in a little while. True to my evolving approach to railway photos, I thought of some new perspectives to showcase trains as part of the landscape. My first thought was to get a shot of a Venture trainset going over the Rideau River on the Beachburg Sub rail bridge.

I have taken photos at this bridge before, but not from the south side. I have taken multiple shots from the north side. In this case, since the sun created shadows on the north side, I decided to try and find a piece of shoreline on the south side to get a decent perspective.

I'll even mix in some observations. This train was heading west toward Fallowfield station with the control cab leading the way, meaning Via Rail has resumed its push-pull operations in the corridor with its Ventures after wyeing many sets in the winter so that the engine was always pulling. A few readers mentioned this change in operations to me, as they had heard from Via personnel that the trains were having trouble in the push configuration over the winter months. 

Anyway, back to my image. In this case, I pulled back from the bridge a fair way so I could get an overall view of the west shoreline. I couldn't pull back far enough to get both the eastern and western shores of the Rideau, but perhaps that is a thought for future visits. The waters on the Rideau were not at their peak, as much of the snowpack has already melted. This allowed me to venture out onto some rocks that are sometimes submerged in the spring. It all helped to frame this image.

Since I had time to catch an eastbound train from Toronto, my thoughts turned to another spot along the Smiths Falls Subdivision, which would allow me to get another unique perspective. Alas, the train had made up significant time between Brockville and Ottawa on home tracks, which meant I had to quickly make my way to Fallowfield Station and try to get something unique there. I am generally avoiding the station these days, as there isn't much I haven't tried there. So I tried to get a shot that was near the station but didn't necessarily scream "station stop" in the photo.

This was the best I could do. I got to the edge of the parking lot and backed away from the tracks as much as I could. I tried to get a shot that showcased the sky and the fallow farm field behind the train. It's not a groundbreaking shot by any means, but it was at least an attempt to avoid the extremely sharp wedge shots that are all too common at this station. I have been guilty of this in the past.

Then, I figured I would try to get a shot of people disembarking from the train, but at a distance, so as to respect their privacy. 

You can see a gentleman in the centre of the platform, waiting for a loved one to get off the train. It would have been nice to get a little closer to the people, but I also wanted to see if I could get a shot of the end of the train as well. It was an imperfect trade-off. I had to decide to either get closer and lose the end of the train, or, by get closer and getting the people, risking having to blank out their faces. I also ensured that I got low, as it tends to add a bit of an element of size. You get a better appreciation as to the size of trains when you shoot them from ground level.

Some new territory

In my quest to find new topics and pursuits to fill this blog, I've begun the process of looking to the past. I recently applied to get a membership card to the Library and Archives Canada, as it is only a bus ride away for me. I have been digging through the online search tools in an effort to find some rail history that interests me and might be of interest to you as well.

One of the topics I've always had in mind is old train stations, especially the ones that have been demolished. It seems as though every city, town and village once had a train station but many are no longer standing. But we still see roads in many communities that are called Railway Street, Terminal Avenue or Station Street. Yet, the actual stations are long gone. 

With that in mind, I have decided to dig up some historic documents to see if I can find out more about some of these old stations. The first one I intend to research is the station in my hometown of Corunna. I did find one document dated 1936 that apparently outlines the details of the station's establishment, decommissioning and removal. 

My hometown station has been a complete mystery to me ever since I found the slightest mention of it in a document a while ago. I have no idea where is was located, what it looked like or how long it was standing. I do know it was shut down when the Pere Marquette Railway discontinued passenger operations in the 1930s on what became known as the Sarnia Subdivision. It's amazing to me that there was regular passenger service at all on that line. I hope I can shed some light on that station. My hometown's history is not terribly well known, and its old train station is almost a ghost in any records that I have found.

I also want to find out more about Kanata's old train station, in Ottawa's west end. That station, which sat on Station Street, is also a complete mystery. I know it stood near modern day March Road along the Renfrew Subdivision. The road remains, but there is not a trace of any old station there. 

Those research efforts are to come. For now, here is an interesting photo I found on the Library and Archives Canada online archives of the old CN station in Windsor, Ont. (Update - See the comments section below. The Library and Archives seems to have mislabelled this image. A reader says it does not match any Windsor railway landmark. In fact, looking at it, I believe this image to be of the Sarnia railway station, which still stands).

There was no information associated with the photo other than that it was the CN station in Windsor. Judging by the heavyweight passenger cars and power lines in the background, the photo could have been taken at any time in the war years. 

So that is a bit of a teaser as to what's to come, hopefully. I really need to shake up the direction of my efforts, I feel, as modern railways in Ottawa just aren't enough to keep this interesting. If you have any topics you'd like to me to research, feel free to let me know. I can't guarantee I will find anything, but I'm willing to try.

It's time to change the approach to . . . everything

I've been trying to put into words what it is that I have been trying to do with my rail photography recently, but I think I've fallen short. That was until I read the comments to my last post when a few fellow railfans commented and the words came to mind. So thanks to Steve and J.D.

And here is how I came to clarify my new approach to rail photography. It started with a memory of what my counsellor told me many years ago when I was struggling with my mental health. His name was Woody and what he told me I never forgot. He said, "No one makes you feel anything. People act and you choose how you REact." It was a revelation to me at the time.

That made me think of how I am approaching my photography right now. I thought back to what my counsellor said and I applied it to my hobby. I have no control over what railways do, which is in line with another thing my counsellor told me. He said, "You have no control over anything but yourself." I am applying those lessons in my photography. Since I have no control over how the rail industry has changed, I can at least control how I approach my photos.

So here is my new approach, boiled down to something more pithy, thanks to recent comments from readers and old lessons from my counsellor.

Railways might be more standardized, boring and faceless these days. I don't know if anyone can argue this. I cannot change this.

If you can't change the trains, change everything else in your camera's frame. That means change your angles, your spot, your height, your lighting, your choice of background, your location, your time of day, your approach to the sky, your . . . well, everything. 

This photo above is perhaps not the ideal image to prove my point, but bear with me. In this frame, you can see the interior lights of my Venture coach and the reflection of the laptop screen of the young lady sitting in front of me. I tried to get images that would avoid the interior glare but this is the best I could do. In the image, you can see a string of GO coaches in the background and part of an old Via F40PH-2 in the foreground. The Via engine looks like it has just completed a run from Montreal or possibly Ottawa. It needs to go through the washing station, for sure. The buildings in the background tell you this is Toronto and the platforms tell you this is near Union Station. Put all those elements together, and you have some context about where this photo was taken. 

As for the computer screen in front of me, I do have a funny story to share about that. I couldn't help but notice via the reflection in the glass that the young lady in front of me was attempting to study for an exam or possibly upcoming test. However, she was also clearly messaging friends, which meant her attempts at studying were distracted at best, and I say that nicely. She was mostly messaging. At times on the ride, I wondered when she would give up the ghost with her studies. Whatever it was she was trading messages about was clearly her main focus.

Here's another image that I have come to enjoy. I took this shot at Via Rail's Windsor Station when I paid a very brief visit to the city in 2024. Here you don't see the front end power or much of the train, but you get to see a timeless scene of people boarding an eastbound train for Toronto at the station. I like that you can see the people in silhouette (sort of), a beautiful fall sky, the coaches and the station. It's a scene that could have been captured 20, 30, 40 or even 100 years ago. The trains and stations might look different but the scene is the same. Timeless. 

How many times do we stop to capture a bit of humanity in our images? After all, trains are still a very human endeavor.

Here's an example of angles. I have more photos of Via Rail corridor trains than anything else, so I have given a lot of thought in past years as to how I can capture images of them in different contexts. This is a shot of incoming Sarnia-Toronto Train 84 making its way into Stratford across Niles Street. I deliberately stepped back and made sure I got the people waiting at the crossing (on the left) as well as the cars waiting on the other side. You can also see the railway stop sign. There are many elements in this image, which made the task of framing the train a bit of a challenge, but I like the end result. So often, I find we obsess over getting the train or locomotive itself but lose sight of getting its surroundings. 

I would have liked to attempt this shot from the other side, but the harsh summer sun meant the shadow side of the train would have ruined the image of that train on the curve.

Here's one final image that I captured in February 2021 on the Canadian Pacific Winchester Sub at Bedell, Ontario. There was a maintenance of way crew working on the South Prescott Spur to Oxford Station, with a genuine CP caboose sitting on the spur, offering a warm place for crews to get out of the biting cold. I took a few shots of the caboose but I made sure to back up and get a shot of all the surroundings, so I could have a complete picture. The fencing in the foreground and the enormous pile of ties gives you can idea of the scale of the work being done here. I only wish I could have done a better job with the morning sky, as it did not turn out nearly as crisply as I would have liked. 

With these images, I hope I have made my new approach clear. It's time to change my approach to everything in my rail photography outside of the trains themselves. I've done this in fits and starts over the years, but I'm really trying to make it a major focus going forward. It doesn't mean I'm not taking standard photos anymore. I am. But at a time when everything tends to look the same, the one major thing about rail photography that provides endless variety is your background. And that is what I am trying to change in my images.

Part of the landscape

Railways are as much a part of Canada's landscape as they are of the country's history. The same can be said for a number of countries. This week, I am busy working on my house, which needs some TLC, but I had a moment Wednesday afternoon when I took my children out for a drive. We encountered a Via Rail corridor train making its final last few kilometres east from Fallowfield Station toward Ottawa Station.

This is the quick photo I took while we waited for the train to slowly pass the Woodroffe Avenue crossing on the outskirts of Barrhaven. This was the shot that was taken while we were stopped.

I've mentioned several times this year how much I am emphasizing railway photography that includes the landscape. I like this shot because you get a lot of landscape elements. You can see the traffic waiting, the trackside signals governing westbound trains approaching Fallowfield Station and a nice profile of the clear winter sky over Ottawa.

Yes, there is a Venture set in profile, which is supposed to be the purpose of the shot, but I don't mind that it isn't necessarily the dominant element in the photo. I would be lying if I said I set up this shot intentionally. The shot was taken with what there was available in that moment. Using the zoom on a smartphone might have given me a shot with more of the train in the frame, but it would likely also have turned out pixelated, as the camera function on older phones doesn't give you the same crisp shot that an actual camera offers.

The other element I like in this image is that you get to see a fair bit of the train in profile, which I find can be much more interesting at times than a train taken from a very sharp angle. At some point, we need to get away from the 3/4 wedge shot. There has to be more to this hobby than that fall-back option.

Here's another technique I love to see in the other railway blogs I visit regularly. I love it when we are able to get shots of trains from overhead. This shot of a Venture set, which I took last Nov. 24 in Toronto, is one of my favourite recent shots. There isn't all that much to it. You can see a bit of Rogers Centre and the Blue Jays logo in the upper left. There is also a fair bit of the cityscape all around the corridor of railway tracks just west of Union Station. You can also see the signals in the distance. I'm not sure why I like this photo so much, but I do. I like that it looks different than my more standard railway shots. There's elevation, cityscape and a logo. In short, there's a little bit of a story that you wouldn't get if you had zoomed in and focused exclusively on the train.

Here's one final example of what I mean. I will state again that this shot was not taken intentionally. I was in Markham and was near a set of double tracks. There was a parked intermodal train that was waiting another container train heading in the opposite direction. I did get some shots from an overpass, but I was looking for something a little more dramatic, which I was able to get after climbing down a small gully. I found an area where I was safely behind a fence. I took this shot of one train heading one way while another facing the opposite direction waits for the line to clear to it can continue on in its journey. I kept the brush in the shot, as it meant I could also keep more of the containers in the shot. It's not my best shot by any means, but I like that it was a departure from my early railway photography attempts (this was taken in 2013, which was barely a year after I started taking railway photos again).

I know I have made this point a number of times this year, but I can't stress enough how important it is for me to be pursuing my railway photos this way now. We are railfans at at a time of increasing standardization. Much of the rolling stock looks exactly the same. Long lines of grey hoppers and black tank cars with no visual identifiers or logos are now the norm. Most Via Rail consists are essentially carbon copy Venture sets. Motive power on most major railways is essentially the same, in that it all looks very similar. 

For me, I am trying to keep it interesting by changing the one thing that can always be changed, which is the background. By getting new elements in my images to surround the trains featured, I am keeping this hobby interesting. I'd be interested to know what you are doing to keep the hobby interesting.

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. 

One last kick at the can for the F59PH

Recently, I shared some photos and thoughts about GO Train service in Kitchener, where Metrolinx has enjoyed success with its Kitchener-Union Station service. I was camped out on an overpass this past summer to capture the morning run of Train 3962 eastbound for Union Station. That train was being led by 559, one of GO's old F59PH locomotives, a reliable warhorse that was built by the old Electro-Motive engine production facility in London, Ont. 

At the time, I couldn't help but wonder if the F59PH was into its final days with GO Transit, as very few still remain on the GO roster. Later in that same day, I was told that 559 had broken down between Kitchener and Guelph. 

Shortly after the Kitchener post went live, I got some interesting information from a blog reader, which I will share here in its entirety:

GO bought F59s from Los Angeles Metrolink and they are sitting in North Bay for rebuild so, by the looks of things, the last days in green of that loco type is some time away. I suspect the idea is to add to the power pool as newer engines get fitted with ECTS signalling, and also possibly 2MW battery packs to replace one Cummins on the MP54s. 

Shortly after that comment, I got further confirmation from another reader that, indeed, more F59PHs were on the way, which means that these old engines will be seen in and around the GTA for the time being. 

In November, I had a small layover in Toronto on my way to see family in Sarnia, so I camped out trackside near the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, when I found this GO Train heading eastbound toward Union Station, led by F59PH 561 in the old GO scheme. As I don't get a chance to shoot much but Via Rail trains in Ottawa, it was a treat to find a few GO Trains with different paint schemes. 

Besides the continuing presence of the F59PHs in revenue service, it was interesting to see a few of the old cab control cars in the middle of some GO Trains, as they had been refurbished and converted to regular passenger cars. A friend of mine was nice enough to meet me at Union. He was the one who pointed this out to me. 
 

Speaking of 559, it was back in revenue service when I was in Toronto in November. I caught it creeping eastward toward Union with a newer GO unit heading in the same direction a few tracks over.

In my last post, I made a point to explore the different approaches I have taken of late to rail photography. These photos would not be reflective of those new approaches. I was simply watching trains on my layover and taking shots fairly casually as I hung out with my friend. Still, any time you can get two trains in a shot, with different units, it's not the worst shot.

The London plant built 72 F59PH units from 1988 to 1994, along with 83 F59PHI locomotives for American customers. GO once rostered 49 of the original F59PH units, many of which have moved on to other railways or retired. 

The one thing that I don't know is if the F59s on their way to GO are the original models that we all know in Canada or the F59PHI models, which look different, especially near the cab. 

Personally, I kind of like the boxy look of the old GO 59s, as they remind me of the F40PH-2s that have served Via Rail well for decades. The Metrolink units have a sleeker nose and cab, but they seem a bit awkward aesthetically, in my opinion. Details, details...

I wanted to share on shot from the day when I caught these F59s that might be considered a little different from the usual 3/4 wedge shot. Although I was not trying to reinvent the wheel with the above two shots, I did try and get a shot of the train sheds at Union. The Skywalk overpass didn't do me any favours from this vantage point, but I did like that I caught a GO Train on one end of the sheds and a Via corridor train on the other end.

My chances to catch something from the platforms were limited, as crews don't want people wandering around the train sheds so I tried to sneak a few shots here and there.

I like this as a slice of life shot where passengers were waiting their turn to get on the escalators that would take them into the arrivals hall of the station. Sometimes, train shots can have the trains on the periphery and still tell a good railway story. I have a few other shots in and around Union that I took on my way back to Ottawa, but I will save them for another post. 

I have to say, I am happy that the F59s are going to continue to ply the rails for a while. The old boxy ones that have served GO well for decades are unsung heroes. Catch them while you can. 

Via Train 84: The forgotten stepchild of the corridor

After a recent trip home to see family in November, I took Via Rail's Train 84 east from Sarnia Station to Toronto on November 24. A great deal has changed since I last took this train. I would estimate it has been 26 years. 

And I have to say the experience was a little disappointing. I mean no disrespect to the excellent crew who took care of the passengers on the train. They are great ambassadors for the company and are not to blame. However, the general state of Via Rail's operations in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor are to blame, without a doubt. Does that mean it's all CN's fault? I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to assume this. On the other hand, one cannot blame Via Rail entirely, either. The state of Via's relationship with its landlord in the corridor, CN, has never been worse.

This has to do with CN imposing speed restrictions on Via's new Venture trains at grade crossings. CN contends that these 24-axle trainsets increase the risk of crossing gate failures by a large degree, while Via disputes this finding and has made more than one comment in legal filings to suggest CN's network infrastructure might be to blame. To be fair, Via Rail has been quite consistent that no safety issue exists. These opposing opinions have resulted in Venture sets being held back in the corridor, which has harmed on-time performance and increased congestion in the network. It's a mess to be sure and there's no end in sight.

Read Eric Gagnon's latest post about this in Trackside Treasure for a much more comprehensive breakdown of the issues.

This brings me to Train 84, the daily morning eastbound that departs Sarnia at 8:40 a.m. with stops (some on demand) in Wyoming, Strathroy, London, St. Marys, Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph, Bramalea, Brampton and Malton. The train travels on CN's Strathroy Subdivision, through CN rails in London before following the Guelph Sub most of the way into Toronto before its lays over at Union Station before becoming an Ottawa-bound train later in the day (this was my train home to Ottawa, which I will write about in a later post). 

This shot above shows Train 84 backing out of its layover spur next to Sarnia Station on the morning of Nov. 24. The good thing about Via Rail using the Venture sets is that their bidirectional capabilities do not necessitate a wye movement to turn the train around in the yard. The train can simply be left on the spur when the evening westbound arrives. The spur is under video surveillance, which I suppose helps CN Police thwart any would-be vandals.

Rather than getting into a blow-by-blow of the entire trip, I will mention some of the highlights and low lights. The initial move out of Sarnia Yard was mostly smooth sailing, so to speak, as the train was able to move fairly quickly on the Strathroy Subdivision. This stretch of the CN network is well maintained and is able to accommodate freights at higher speeds, given that it is a crucial link between Toronto and Chicago.

On the morning of Nov. 24, our train encountered no freights on the sub and the station stops in Wyoming and Strathroy were skipped, as no passengers were there to get on board. At this point, the train was likely at five-percent capacity. It was quiet and peaceful.

 

Hello, Goodbye: Wyoming station early in the morning on Nov. 24. No one's home.

 

I have to admit that I didn't feel any noticeable reductions in speed as Train 84 encountered the level crossings on the Strathroy Sub. I credit the engineer for making the ride fairly consistent. I know this speed restriction mandate is a pain for Via crews on lines like the Strathroy Sub, as there are many country roads crossing the tracks.

 

Our train began to slow east of Strathroy where our train proceeded to enter busier CN territory near London. As you might expect, we were briefly stopped at a junction west of London, although I can't be sure it was the Melrose connection with the CP Windsor Subdivision or the Komoka Junction with the Chatham Sub. The area was the subject of a fair amount of maintenance of way crews. Possibly they needed to give the all clear before we crossed. Either way, the train's speed gradually slowed as we neared London.

 

A bit of a surprise. I saw an Essex Terminal Railway engine in London as our train made its way through the city toward the station. I have to say, I miss the old yellow, green and black ETR scheme. This one is okay, but not nearly as distinctive. ETR is cycling its engines to Lambton Diesel Specialists in Sarnia for maintenance and work. Since these units can no longer be routed via CSX's old line in Chatham, the easiest connection is from Windsor to London and then down the CN Strathroy Sub. 

 

ETR engine awaits its move to Sarnia by laying over in London. 

This is where Train 84 began to suffer from elements that are out of its control. After our station stop in London, the train had to pass onto the CN Guelph Subdivision toward St. Marys. Long story short, this stretch of the CN network between London and Kitchener is in rough shape. Our train made its way through the countryside at a fairly constant 46 km/h, which everyone can see as the train's display panels show you its speed in real time. 

 

This is not at all acceptable for a passenger train today. It's unfair to compare this train to the Sarnia-Toronto train I rode more than 20 years ago in my university years, but I can distinctly remember the train being able to move much more quickly back then. Did the Goderich Exeter Railway take better care of this track when it controlled the Guelph Sub on a long-term lease from CN? I can't say. That's just my impression. The trains didn't seem as slow when I was in university.

 

I've been told that CN would likely be glad to hand over the tracks from London to Kitchener, so it can rid itself of the maintenance burden on this lightly used rail line. Already, the Metrolinx-controlled tracks east of Kitchener show how much better things can be when a motivated owner is in charge. I can't imagine that Via Rail would like to take on the burden of owning the tracks between London and Kitchener, given it only uses this line twice a day for the Sarnia-Toronto trains. This means the line will continue to be operated and maintained by CN, which has very little reason to upgrade these tracks for fast passenger operations. CN's local freight service can operate at slower speeds given there is so little traffic on this line.  

 

What surprised me was was the number of passengers that got on from St. Marys to Guelph, despite the speed restrictions on this line. This train does much of its business east of London. 

 

All aboard in St Marys. This little town had lots of people who "love the way."

 

St. Marys is a good example of a small town that relies on Via Rail service, although the service is spotty. I fear for these small towns, as they are often the first to lose service when bigger issues are at play and threaten margins. 

 

I missed the old stone GTR station in St. Marys but caught the caboose.

 

There was no opposing traffic for our train to contend with on the Guelph Sub, thankfully, as our speed was already pretty slow. By the time we arrived in Kitchener, the train was already behind schedule, but not by a wide margin. Thankfully, the tracks east of Kitchener are maintained well by Metrolinx, which is expanding its rail service to Kitchener and points east in the coming years. This meant our train could actually stretch its legs and move at a more reasonable speed.

 

Kitchener's CN operations getting started for the day with lots of grain and covered hopper cars ready to serve agricultural customers in southern Ontario.

 

As we got closer to Toronto, our train was stopped for quite some time in Brampton as we had to wait for a meet with a GO Train because CN had a freight train blocking an interlocking east of the station. This delay, combined with the speed restrictions east of London, not to mention the delay in Komoka/Melrose, made for a slower-than-usual ride. This has to be frustrating to passengers and crews alike, as this train's scheduled 1:38 p.m. arrival in Toronto is already a pretty generous schedule. I can't imagine many people in Sarnia and London would take this train for its timetable. You take this train if you have to.

 

Passengers in London, in particular, have better options, as the eastbound trains that take a different route (Dundas Subdivision) through Woodstock, Brantford and Aldershot (Hamilton) are much quicker. I took a train west from Toronto to London on this route on my way down to see family and it was a much quicker ride, even with the occasional slowdown.

 

From a business point of view, this has to be troubling. If you cannot offer a fairly timely service, people will be less likely to take the train.

 

Finally in Toronto: Our train was more than a half hour late, which wasn't 

so bad considering the obstacles it faced. The Via Rail engineers are likely exhausted.

 

When we arrived in Toronto, I felt exhausted, given my car was quite loud, with screaming babies and a boisterous group in St. Marys. I'm not complaining. It was nice to see a full train, but I have to wonder how long Via Rail can count on its passengers' patience as it sorts out its Venture dispute with CN. Neither side appears willing to budge while the federal Transport Minister does not appear eager to step into this mess.

 

I went into this trip from Sarnia to Toronto with a certain excitement as it was a chance to revel in the nostalgia of taking the train in the late 1990s. How times have changed! Via Rail is struggling in every respect. It has not done a great job explaining to its passengers why its brand new trains are performing worse than its aging LRC and HEP fleets. Meanwhile, CN appears to be in no hurry to accommodate Via Rail in any way.

 

I suppose in a perfect world, Via Rail would have its own tracks that were free of freight trains that more often than not are prioritized higher than passenger trains. Of course, this is impossible. For every train that is rerouted to a theoretical Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal route via the Kawartha Lakes Railway and a potentially reactivated line east of Havelock, you lose all the passengers along Lake Ontario from Port Hope to Cornwall. This is just not feasible. You have to serve the cities on the lake.

 

And, although Via controls rails between Chatham and Windsor, Brockville and Ottawa as well as Ottawa and Coteau, Quebec, it is still very much at the mercy of CN. And there is no solution. 

 

And sadly, trains like Train 84 are the hardest hit. 

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. 

Some random photos from summer and fall

This summer and early this fall, I have been able to collect a fair number of random railway photos that don't quite fit in with any particular theme or topic of a post. As I have done in the past, I usually give myself some time to store up a few and explore them in detail in a random post.

I suppose if there's a theme or topic that unites these photos, it's as follows. When you blog about railways and live in Ottawa, you need to be ready to take a railway photo anywhere and everywhere you can. To go one step further, you also need to constantly think of new places and new vantages points to take photos, so you can present some shots that aren't constantly covering the same ground. 

That's because Ottawa has very little to offer, obviously. 

I see this often online where railfans will take a shot of the same train at the same location at the same time of day. For them, it's fulfilling and worthwhile. That's not my thing anymore. I need to mix up the landscape and the background, not to mention the points of view, to keep things interesting. I think that's why a fair bit of my photography is now taken with landscape in mind.

I'll start with a shot that was shared with me by my sister. She and her husband were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in late September. They found their way to Alaska, where they took a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route passenger excursion from Skagway, Alaska. 

 

Here's a shot of a few of the vintage 19th century vintage* coaches ready to welcome passengers for an excursion from Skagway to Carcross, Yukon, where the line currently ends. The railway, now owned by a company that includes Carnival Cruise Lines, operates in Alaska, northern British Columbia and Yukon. In recent years, there were talks about restoring service all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon's capital, but that has not materialized. Part of that discussion includes the line taking on freight service again, as mining interests still work along the route, although much of this traffic is handled via trucks. 

 

* - I neglected to mention in my original text that these vintage coaches are mainly newer builds made to look like 19th century equipment, although some are indeed very old and there are even some originals still in the railway's possession. Read the comments below for more.

 

It would be interesting to see this 3-foot-gauge operation back in action all the way to Whitehorse again, complete with freight operations, but this would require a fair bit of investment on the part of governments. I'm not sure there's a business case to be made right now.

 

A few days ago, I was on my way home from an appointment in Orleans, in Ottawa's east end, when I decided to avoid the westbound construction on the Queensway by taking some other city arterial routes back home. That path brought me by Ottawa's main train station on Tremblay Road. It was quiet when I arrived, save for this P42 and HEP consist pointed eastward, although the train was a double-ender. I am guessing this was a Montreal-bound train, as I have boarded eastbound trains on this track before. 

 

I didn't need to take another shot of a P42 and HEP consist, as I have hundreds of similar shots, but the thought occurred to me as I watched the train idle: How much longer will I see these trains? Even the engines with a face only a mother could love won't be around forever. The Venture sets are everywhere now and the legacy rolling stock is fasting becoming scarce. It's always worth a shot. 

 

In the summer, my family visited Sarnia and found our way to the Bluewater Bridge, which connects to Port Huron, Michigan over the St. Clair River. Beneath the bridge in Port Huron, near the Thomas Edison Inn, you will find this baggage/passenger car that once belonged to the Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Rail Road. The railway connected Port Huron to Detroit beginning in the mid-1800s and became part of the Grand Trunk Western in 1928. 

 

Thomas Edison, a world-famous inventor born in Ohio, spent much of his earlier years in Port Huron, which is why the hotel is named in his honour. Edison also worked for the Grand Trunk, beginning as a young man when he told items, including newspapers and candy, to travellers bound for Detroit.  

 

Edison would later work as a telegraph operator for the Grand Trunk in Stratford, Ontario. You can read about his connection to railways in this earlier post. You can also see the historic Port Huron Railway Station behind the passenger car. 

 

 

This last image isn't exactly random as it's an image of Via Rail Train 84 headed eastbound toward Stratford Station en route to Toronto. I was lucky enough to catch this train while in Stratford this July, but I wanted to share this image, taken amid a sea of visial distractions. I liked the curvature of the tracks and the trees as a brackdrop. I will share my other photos of this meet later on, but I thought I would put this one out there to see what people thought. It was a bit of an experiment. I'm not sure about the concrete and metal poles framing the train. I like that there's a stop sign in there as well as some crossing signals. It shows you how the Guelph Subdivison snakes its way through the city in and around the station. In this image the consist is crossing Downie Street and making its way to Niles Street, which is the last street eastbound before it hits the station.

 

A bit of bric à brac from the last few months.  

Making (and breaking) the case for non-stop service

I found the coverage of Via Rail's recent announcement of non-stop service between Montreal and Toronto quite interesting, but not in the way you might think. In case you don't know, Via Rail was planning to make four trains between the two cities non-stop, which would mean no service for Dorval, Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville and Cobourg, to name the more important stops in Eastern Ontario and west of Montreal in Quebec. The trains chosen for this pilot were Trains 60, 61, 68 and 69.

What went missing in the coverage was that Train 50 from Toronto to Ottawa would skip stops in Belleville and Kingston, as a near non-stop train. There was no word on what the status of this train was, from the coverage I read. 

As you can tell from my wording, Via Rail has decided to halt the pilot project, which was due to start on Sept. 29. The railway cited operational constraints from CN, its landlord on most of the rails between the two cities. This comes just days after Via made its announcement seemingly out of the blue.  

As always, there are two sides to this story. Via Rail claims that this new service would allow travellers to arrive 30 to 40 minutes sooner. The railway says it chose the trains for this pilot project based on the lowest ridership counts at the smaller stations between the cities. In other words, the trains with the lowest demand in Kingston, Cornwall and Brockville for example, were chosen for the non-stop service. 

I find it interesting that Via Rail was going to try this experiment now, as it has taken a beating publicly for its abysmal on-time performance in recent years, which is a function of the speed restrictions CN has placed on Via's Venture train sets. For more detailed information on this ongoing saga, head on over to Trackside Treasure. No one has done a better job of explaining this story than Eric Gagnon.

I guess my point is, Venture trains have been consistently late for years now, so I wonder what difference 30-40 minutes will make given the restrictions Via Rail faces on CN-owned tracks? Also, is 30-40 minutes enough of a time savings to justify this service? If the train arrives in 3 1/2 hours as opposed to 4, I can't say that would be enough to sway me if I was on the fence about taking the train. It still does not compare to a flight, which still gets you to your destination faster, even after you factor in the security, screening, pre-boarding, baggage claim etc. 

 

 

The mayor of Kingston Bryan Patterson raised some interesting points, to support the case for continued full service for his city. He said Via Rail didn't consult any of the communities along the line to give them a warning that these service cuts would be happening. And make no mistake, although Via Rail maintains that these communities would all still be well served by the remaining intercity trains that call on these stations, the coverage was overwhelmingly negative. Service cuts by any other name are cuts, in the eyes of civic leaders.

 

The local media was unequivocal in describing the move as cuts and you can't blame leaders in smaller communities and cities to say anything otherwise. Via Rail making a decision like this with no consultation to the cities it serves is poor communications. 

 

Patterson also pointed out that Via Rail is also turning its back on the 1 million people who live between Toronto and Montreal, many of whom count on these trains. I would think at the very least, Kingston's stops would be left untouched, as Kingston has a high student population at university or college. As we all know, students have always made up a large chunk of Via's fares in the corridor. I took the train many times in my university years.  

 

The mayor also pointed out that taking away more options from these towns and cities means Via Rail will attract fewer customers. It's a fair point. 

 

As someone who has worked in communications for 25 years, I don't agree with the hasty approach here. Had I been in the room, I would have suggested that Via Rail perhaps choose one train pair (60 and 61, for example) and give itself 6 months to a year to prepare a proper promotional campaign outlining this service. Also, it would give the railway time to speak to the leaders of the communities who would be missing out on future service.

 

The rollout of this announcement was hastily planned out; the response was not at all what the railway was likely expecting. In theory, non-stop service between major cities makes sense and provides Via with a compelling product for customers. But the way this was handled was unfortunate from a communications point of view. When customers already booked on these non-stop train pairs were being forced to transfer their spots onto the next available train, it's a bad look.

 

It also doesn't necessarily engender trust in this railway at a time when Via Rail's reputation is already in tatters thanks to the Venture set debacle with CN. The railway has already endured a lot of wounds since the Venture fleet was brought into service.

 

But its communications strategy is producing unnecessary self-inflicted wounds. It makes me wonder how a company comes back from what Via Rail has been through in the last several years.  

 

 

This leaves me with one last thought. Many of these smaller communities in the corridor are very quick to complain when the prospect of Via Rail service cuts are floated. However, just how strong is the customer demand in some of these communities? I'm sure Via Rail took a hard look at its numbers and reassured itself that losing a few extra customers on these non-stop trains would be balanced out by the increased demand from travellers in Montreal and Toronto who might be more keen to take a faster train.

 

That is the logic, although as an infrequent train traveller, I have my doubts that there would be a substantial benefit from such a small reduction in travel time. 

 

But just how soft are the numbers? If I was a politician in one of these affected towns, I'd be very careful about being too vociferous in my complaints. I'm sure Via's attitude is use it or lose it. We've already seen many smaller towns in the corridor who have lost Via service in past years due to lack of customer demand. 

 

Then there's the issue of the investments that have been made in the new train stations in Belleville and other towns in the corridor. When you strip away this much service, what becomes of these stations? I have already seen many examples of Via Rail stations that have essentially become white elephants in many towns across Ontario. They are far too big relative to their use. Many have been repurposed for other uses, like the stations in Stratford, St. Marys and Smiths Falls.

 

I suppose the point of all this is Via Rail, once it emerges from the Venture set fiasco with CN, needs to reflect on what kind of passenger railway it wants to be. This past week's circus leaves it unclear to me what that answer is. 

Updated: Summer observations in Ottawa

I know it's technically not summer yet, but I thought I would share a few early observations as we head into the summer season here. So far, the weather has been decidedly springlike, with higher temperatures seemingly scattered amid a fairly predictable parade of pleasant weather, albeit a bit dry. 

It's hard to come up with any type of railway news in Ottawa these days, as CN continues it minimal presence, mostly serving Ottawa from Coteau. I've been by the Walkley rail yard a few times in the spring and it's mainly empty. The old OCR/CN building is empty and appears to be on the market. I can't imagine any business wanting to be there, but who knows.

The city's transit authority, OC Transpo, has been advising people that there will be delays on Line 1 of the commuter train system (the former Confederation Line). This is due to the ongoing construction to extend the east-west line from its current endpoints to Corkstown Road in the west end and Blair Road in east-end Orleans.

I was on West Hunt Club Road in my travels recently when I saw this piece of maintenance of way equipment being brought into the city on a flatbed truck. I've asked some people if they know what it is and no one has yet been able to pin down what it does, but I do believe it's likely going to be used on the O-Train expansion.

Maybe someone a little more knowledgeable than me can fill me in on what this does. I do see an ST-1 marking on the back. Also, I can't help but laugh at the notion that anything being delivered to Ottawa for rail purposes has to come in on a truck. It's amazing to me. I have seen examples of rail cars being delivered to the National Research Council or LRT equipment being brought in for the light rail network, but on trucks.

It makes me wonder. There are two ways freight could conceivably make its way to this city by rail and in each case, the rail lines are owned by Via Rail. Whether it would come in on the Smiths Falls Sub or the Alexandria Sub, I wonder how difficult it is to make arrangements to use these lines. I have no evidence to suspect that Via would give CN a hard time bringing in special freight shipments, but it does make you wonder just how difficult and cumbersome it is to book carload freight shipments to the city. Likely, it's just more cost effective by truck.

Speaking of Via Rail, I was taking my daughter to an appointment recently and we just so happened to be beside the Smiths Falls Subdivision on West Hunt Club Road. I managed to slip out of the office and catch an eastbound Via Rail corridor train, but not before I checked out what had become of the old severed industrial spur that once served the industrial park on Bentley Drive.

Short answer: Nothing has been done. The old rails and switch stand remain where they have been for well over a year (right/centre of the image). I'm not sure why nothing has been done to salvage this rail and switch stand. The next question might be who owns the rail. This spur was obviously once used by CN and Ottawa Central, but this rail line is owned by Via, so possibly it's not worth the effort to pick up the rails and move them elsewhere. The remaining lengths of spur behind the fence is still clearly in place.

After taking these photos and walking along the Hunt Club Road overpass, a Venture set came down the line toward me.

 

I don't often do tight shots of engines anymore, as they offer almost no context to the image, but I snapped a quick shot as 2220 led this consist under the overpass.

I suppose the biggest challenge ahead for me might be to catch a few modified Venture sets with *older other coaches attached, to comply with CN Rail's axle count minimum threshold. You have likely read elsewhere that Via has begun cobbling together these mixes, to ensure that its newer Siemens trains are not held to the CN speed restrictions at grade crossings. As others have already pointed out, Via had this option in hand when the safety feud with CN erupted, but the passenger railway has only now begun to implement this change on some trains. I haven't yet seen any of unusual combinations, but I intend to try. 

Those are a few of my limited observations from the last little while here in Ottawa. I haven't had much chance to spend any time trackside in recent weeks, but I plan to make up for it when my family goes travelling this summer. 

* - Please see comments below for an explanation of my correction to this post