Postscript: Ninth Anniversary Contest

A galaxy of loyal Trackside Treasure readers have successfully eclipsed each year's anniversary contest by brightly blocking in the correct solutions each of the past several years: Hall, Fulsom, Mueller, Hayman, Hammond, Boyko and Coe. This year, we add another star to the Trackside Treasure fan firmanent: Martyniuk. But first, what did I do on my summer vacation? I was trackside with VIA, VIA and VIA (top photo) at Kingston station.

I staged a front patio Free-Mo meet by connecting three summers' worth of layouts together and operating a short executive train across them. Watch the absurdly brief video!Dignitaries arrived in a n HO-scale Winnipeg Transit bus, escorted by RCMP cruisers then travelled in three business cars led by Geep BNML2 as the hibiscus hovered, the dipladenia divided and the mourning doves dove downwards:

I spent an extremely enjoyable afternoon with fellow VIAphile and book author Chris Greenlaw and his insightfully acerbic dad, Tom. Same setting as above, talking trains of the model and prototype varieties! Read more on the visit in my VIA Rail book blog post!

Chris picked up his copy of Trackside with VIA: Research and Recollections as did Saskatchewan's Mark Fidelak, travelling from peaceful prairie to pastoral East Coast:

Copies of my latest book on VIA Rail have also winged their way to both coasts - Central Hobbies in Vancouver and Maritime Hobbies now have shipments in stock. Business Class boarded passengers at Kingston:

Silvery stainless steel subway slithered west under silver-clouded cerulean skies:

And I revelled in the royal roustabout from the west - CP Canada 150 train, videoing it voraciously.

But back to the contest. Bryan Martyniuk of Thunder Bay participated perfectly in the Trackside Treasure ninth anniversary contest: photo challenge - both trains had red noses, CN logos, and road numbers containing '150'. The multiple choice challenge correctly-chosen letters spelled CANADA, and the word scramble challenge successfully supplied Sir John Eh and One Fifty. Bryan will be adding Trackside Treasure - The First 35 Years to his railway library. Thanks to all the participants, with honourable mentions to canny Steve Boyko and Jakob Mueller, both are previous winners. Thanks also for those who sent good wishes for this auspicious anniversarial occasion! Now on to the tenth we go!

Canadian Pacific's Canada 150 Train

On Saturday, August 12 a flurry of interest and activity preceded the eastward passage of CP's Canada 150 train. From Calgary to Toronto via intermediate stops in Van City, The Queen City, The Gateway to the West, The Lakehead, The Hammer and latterly Hogtown, this 17-car varnish version was topic of much online chatter. Knowing that Friday was Toronto and Sunday was Montreal, wouldn't it be neat to see this special commemmorative train pass through our area? Thanks to several timely emails and Facebook posts, my wife and I ventured west and then north to the tiny burgh of Roblin (the CP Belleville Sub passes just south of the Roblin road sign!) Eschewing a stop at the Napanee Giant Tiger to snag some savings (return trip) or any snacks (also return trip, thank you Ronald!) we got into position early.

Nearby was a random ETU sending out squawks. So there would be little warning. Stationed aside Lennox & Addington Road 41 (formerly Highway 41) we watched a steady stream of camping trailers, Sea-Doos, redneck pickups and double-takers pass by. An approach-lit signal to the east beckoned. Then, there it was. The unmistakable rumble chant of a train to the west. Into position! I with my Nikon video and my wife with the iPad hitting the photo button as many times as she could, we bring you Canada 150 Roblin-style! We have documented this thing completely. You can tell my wife's photo due to the Canada T-shirt-wearing dude. Mine are video captures that each show several cars in the consist. You can also watch my full video here.

What the F, you might say? Well, CP 1401-4107-1900-4106 led, all formerly CN then VIA units. CP 4106-4107 were ex-Ohio Central, while 1401-1900 were acquired via the nebulous Nebkota in 1998, then fully overhauled by NRE. That's all I will say for lineage. The CP Royal Canadian Pacific consist has been covered extensively online already in Canadian Rail, completely by Cor Van Steenis, or check your BRS Canadian Trackside Guide for more information. While I've seen a hundred well-lit nose-on photos of this train trundling across the country, being a rolling stock guy, I felt the need to have each and every car snapped and presented for posterity, and for your viewing pleasure. Captions are presented between pairs of photos of each car:

Baggage car 95

Mount Royal

Killarney

Banffshire

Covered in Canadians' wishes for Canada's 150th, 102 is a 'post-it note' car!

OK, officially they're not post-its, they're 'pixels'!

The performance car, the drawbridge-like stage of which hosted Dean Brody, Dallas Arcand and Kelly Prescott.

Major Rogers

Royal Wentworth - greeting a CP crew member or trainmaster.

Craigellachie - diner

Mount Stephen

Assiniboine

N R Crump

Strathcona

Van Horne

104

CP2, one of two cars acquired from CN...

..the other being Sandford Fleming

Heading east at a leisurely 40 mph, bearing the mundane train symbol CP 40-B. Blah!

Crew change in Smiths Falls - David McCormack shared this photo on Facebook of an F-P42 meeting. Enthusiasts gathered there, and later in Montreal where CP 1900 was removed for shop work at St Luc or farther west. Interestingly the train hit a tree, delaying it for 35 minutes on CP's Winchester Subdivision to the east. The train is to layover back at Smiths Falls yard between Montreal and Ottawa shows. I predict a crawling constabulary cornucopia of CP Police! 

The nice thing about Roblin was that there was absolutely no hoopla - just a pastoral passing of a once-in-a-lifetime train. Well, if you don't count the westward movement in a few days!!

Running extra...

This post popped up in the midst of the Trackside Treasure ninth anniversary celebration. It truly is a celebration upon a celebration here on this blog! Much is happening. Trips to Belleville:

 The people on the bus.....get bigger and bigger. Scary!

I didn't mind this Railbox at all. Likely in ingot service with several brothers on CN train No 369. (above) There was also time for a VIA No 52 onboard delivery of Trackside with VIA - Research & Recollections to faithful Trackside Treasure reader and contributor Mark Fidelak, also making a cross-Canada trek though on different rails than the Canada 150 train!