Pop-Up Post: CN Nos P276 with VIA Venture Set 30, CN Nos 305, 368 - June 2025

 

On Saturday, June 7 the railfan telegraph was active! VIA's thirtieth Siemens Venture set with leader 2229/cab car 2329, reportedly visible at the Siemens plant since April 21, was due on CN's Kingston Sub between Toronto and Montreal. Departing Siemens on June 2, Set 30 was led by UP 6944 and trailing EXO 1401 for Montreal, the first observation was a mere 50 miles north of the Sacramento. Initial and subsequent reports:

• June 2 - Colfax, CA at 1700.
• June 3 - across Nevada.
• June 4 - Kearney, NE at 1500 local time.
• June 5 - across Iowa: Boone at 0115 and Mt Vernon 0600 and Clinton 0900; Rochelle, IL at 1040 CDT; Blue Island, IL 1615; Homewood 1900; now with CN leader 3245; 
• June 6 - P276 departed Markham 0900; planned Battle Creek 1515; Charlotte, MI 1545; Flint 1750; Port Huron 1925-2040; Sarnia 2050-2130; London 2240; Ingersoll 2305; held at Malport overnight.
• June 7 - Snider 0930; tied up in Belleville yard 1200-1700; Kingston 1800 (more below), MMC by 2100.

Having tracked the delivery of Set 30 all the way from California there came a glimmer of hope that the delivery would pass through Kingston in daylight - the second in a row, and before that the last daylight delivery was in December, 2023! I've worked out a schedule template for these deliveries, at least from Chicago. There is so much unpredictability west of there, and even Toronto and Belleville can pose delays. Usually reliable times to Kingston:

• Homewood, IL (24 hours)
• Battle Creek, MI (17-24 hours)
• Lansing, MI 15 hours
• Sarnia (10-12 hours)
• London (6-10 hours)
• Toronto (4 hours)
• Belleville (45 minutes)

The first estimate for P276 to reach Kingston was about noon, after departing Toronto at 0930. Reported through Oshawa and entering Belleville yard then potentially lined eastward out of the yard. So I headed trackside. Reaching Collins Bay, I heard a whistle to the east. That always poses the risk of a westbound freight blocking the special movement if the former is on the south track! Slowly, ever so slowly, No 305 wangled its way west out of the right-of-way's ubiquitous underbrush at 1240, previously recorded in Brockville. I providentially photographed some photos for this pop-up post's potential posterity!

No 305 creeps up to Mi. 180 at Collins Bay

I see Quebec aluminum behind the power. IC 978714

POGX (ex-CN) 622225

BCOL 864298

CN No 368 eastward at 1248 led by ex-Citirail 3951

The thought immediately occurred to me: P276 nowhere nearby. Another thought: dimensional movement on CN No 305 worth waiting around for. That would account for both trains having to meet on straight track and at low speed.

Passing very slowly

Spent pot-lining containers on SOXX 20350

DPU 3048

UP 700099 showing fading and graffiti

CGLX 2349 often seen heading to Northern Quebec (loaded in Wisconsin?)

And...368 was gone. Back to 305...SOXX 526506

Scrap tie cars: IC 385529 and IC 245177

BN/WC 33145 and BLC 65414

The cause for the slowdown. Dimensional load - Liebherr crane on HTTX 93140

Carbon black covered hoppers: ECQX 47005 and AOKX 605973

Irving lumber on ATW 273409

DPU on No 305: ex-Citirail 2750

Rusty DOWX 68779

Why did the railfan cross the road? To get to the other side and go home! At this location, along Kingston's Railfan Walking Trail it's always a toss-up - photograph from the north shoulder closest to the tracks, or risk three lanes of traffic while photographing directly from the trail. I opted for the north shoulder both times on this day! 

Reportedly and unfortunately, P276 was held at Belleville, tied down on track BY12 but crew called for 1700. So there was still a chance! Supper was on the plate and sure, I enjoyed a few bites, but with the chance of a Venture Set 30 delivery (Youtube video and screenshots below) as the train arrived through Manitoba fire smoke at 1800, supper would wait. With this PSR (Precision Scheduled Railfanning) the next few bites were still warm by the time I got home!

CN 3245 leads Set 30

SCV-42 locomotive 2229

Cab-car 2329 and EXO 1401

EXO 1401 on the tail-end

P276 made it to Montreal in three hours. Track speed at least 50 mph.

P276 arrives at MMC (above).  Jim McPherson, Jesse McLaughlin, Terry Allan, Joshua Schmidt, Malcolm Peakman and Paul Hunter all sent OS's. It takes a Village to Vatch a Venture! With only two deliveries left, nearly the full fleet has been delivered!

Running extra...

Wine not? On the way to the Glenora Ferry, 33 Vines is for sale, including an ex-CN Hawker-Siddeley caboose for $1.3 million. That's equivalent to approximately 8,666 HO scale ones plus tax & shipping.

Goalie-videographer-bon vivant/lover of life Travis Ridgen has just saved another slice of onboard travel in this video as he and his mother travel Toronto-Winnipeg before he continues on to Vancouver. Travis mentions four days in Prince Rupert, so I'm definitely looking forward to a rich repository of Rupert retrospective in future videos! (I'm sounding a little Howie Meeker there.)

First past the post...

All of those fellow railfans I named above added a lot to the pursuit and eventual photographic apprehension of P276. The messages from all across the country and beyond resulted in a continental cornucopic confluence of contributions. Thanks to all!

One More Day at Portage, 1985

In Part 1, I photographically portrayed two of my three prodigious days trolling for trains trackside in the remarkable railfan mecca of Portage la Prairie, MB. In Part 2, we thrill to the third day's trains before I head west, young man, to the beckoning West Coast ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert!

September 20, 1985

My aunt and uncle headed east in their Dodge camper van at noon. I had their car and the rest of the day to train watch before catching No 1 westward from Portage station in the evening. 

1300 W CN 5316-5176 to Rivers Sub with Jordan spreader CN 50937 on the head-end and International Service  caboose 78112 on the tail-end, captured west of Portage from along the Trans-Canada Highway (top photo and below):

1402 E: Coming back east into Portage at the 18th St NW crossing at 1402, this eastbound Rivers Sub hotshot rolled past, led by CN 5265-5237 and trailed by caboose 79217:

1430 W CP 5798 guides 98 grain empties (cylindrical on the head-end, boxcars behind) at the switch for the CN-CP connecting track at West Tower, continuing on the CP Carberry Sub with van 434550:

For this many empties, one unit will do:

1505 W CP 5796-4202 to Minnedosa Sub possibly with potash empties and with van 434341 accelerated after stopping in Portage, leading to skid marks on the country roads past the Campbell's soup plant when I tried to stay ahead for another photo!

Friendly van crew on CP 434341:

1538 W CN 5009-5529 97 cars manifest 79589 (unphotographed).
1555 W CP 5696-5933 manifest followed by van 434502, at the CP station:

1616 E CP 5779-4739 434133-434448 (unphotographed).
1655 E CN 5408-5419 brand-new power posing with my aunt and uncle's car:

1703 E CN 5214 81 grain loads and caboose79615 (unphotographed).
1752 E CP 6037-5611-6014 manifest with 434425 (unphotographed).
1911 W CN 5088-5055 and caboose 79850 have a clear signal to the setting sun. The head-end cars picked up on the Portage CN-CP interchange are just past the switch to the United Grain Growers elevator lead:

1921 E CP 6042-5727-5929-5912-xx25 from Carberry Sub 434710 at 8th Street NW crossing (below).

These three trains unphotographed in darkness: 

2115 W CN 9631-5076-5043 79763.

2240 W VIA No 3 6306-6604 7 cars - the Super Continental.

2250 E CN 5563-4330 79229.

My aunt and uncle's assistant Lynn and her husband Mark had driven me to the station. VIA No 1 was about two-and-a-half hours late, so I talked to the CN operator while waiting in the station for the train to arrive from Winnipeg. Then it was off to Vancouver-Prince Rupert-Regina grain elevator photography, through Winnipeg on September 30 and into Toronto on October 2

Running extra...

On June 3, for the first time, VIA attempted to meet CN's imposed minimum train-length requirement for its new Siemens Venture trainsets by augmenting a test set with the addition of two cars. Total transit length is eight: VIA train No 631operated from Montreal-Ottawa return, with one each Economy Class* and Business Class** cars from Set 7 added to Set 12. Consist: Cab car 2311-Economy Class cars 2811-2911-2906*- Business Class cars 2706**-2711-2611- locomotive 2211.

Despite VIA's position against operating 'doublavay' Venture J-trains and/or augmenting trainsets, VIA has now tested both. If the latter test is successful, it could be a stop-gap measure as VIA continues to wait for a court ruling to remove CN's requirement (in process in Ontario then Quebec since late-2024), or a Transport Canada decision (data submitted by CN in January, 2025).

This augmentation has seemed to me like an obvious option once the October, 2024 speed reductions became oppressively omnipresent at over 300 crossings in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, yet it has taken nearly eight months for VIA to test this option.

With 29 trainsets on the property, and three out-of-service, 15 of the remaining 26 trainsets are in daily rotation, with another 11 sets undergoing maintenance or out-of-rotation. VIA has not moved beyond having 15 sets in daily use. Therefore, 11 sets are not in daily use. If only three of these gave up four cars each for the augmented consists, that would make six 32-axle stop-gap trainsets!

In the meantime, VIA's Venture-equipped Corridor trains continue to operate 15-60 minutes late due to CN's actions and VIA's inactions, and passengers are finding other travel options that actually suit their plans and meet posted schedules. In a press release today, VIA released on its Q1 numbers: on-time performance dropped sharply to 30% down from 72% last year, due primarily to restrictions imposed by a third-party infrastructure owner, and ridership declined by 2.7% marking the first drop since the pandemic recovery began.

Elbows...down! A recent perusal of Rapido Train Zinc Newsletter #206 produced not a single Canadian model in New Announcements or updates. Or anywhere, really. Not counting a lone photo of CN/IC cabs with air-conditioners roof-mounted, it's all American: electric E44's, Chicago 'el' cars (and OK, nominally a few H16-44 Canadian schemes in the above list). From a recent video, "International and Canadian are a very small part of sales."

Coupled to an update on tariffs (still absorbed by the company) and clarity on US "rairroads" (gee, I hate that affected-American pronunciation!) being orderable from their Buffalo warehouse, I think this issue marks the complete Americanization of the company. (This really should have been a separate post!) Fun facts on Rapido's new Buffalo building (click for larger images):

The good news is, all the major Canadian prototypes have already been produced by the proudly-Canadian company over the past 20 years! Needed VIA units, RDC's, Royal Hudsons, CN and CP cabooses and ballast cars, RS-23's, RDC-4's, more steam icons, CN S-13's a' la Spadina, Buffalo boxcars, U33CS's...oh, never mind. 

First past the post...

Though rainy in this post, Manitoba is on fire and Manitobans are making a difference. Also the Red Cross, Canadian Forces, even VIA Rail helping evacuees from remote Northern towns and Indigenous communities. The very worst bringing out the very best in people.