Family Fantrip! CN Countdown 6218, July 1971

Laurie, Allison, Eric --- Mrs Parke, Marjorie, Eric, Allison, David at Belleville Station

"Shortly...saw smoke. It was the first trip pulling out, a half-hour late. Directed to a parking lot by a uniformed volunteer, we walked a short distance to the [Belleville] station. A striking view of train of billboard cars: refrigerator car painted with sylized apple and leaves, cattle car with stylized painting of steer with cuts of differing shades of red, orange and yellow, a tank car with lettering OCN(CH2)6 NCO painted in a spectrum of colours, and bright red caboose. We put Mother's folding chair in the shade, as she was not going on the trip with us."

 Colour slide views of business car Pacific (above) and an olive-and-green RPO west of the station:

An eastbound freight pulls into the yard, trainman on steps. Farm equipment back a couple of cars, and note the head-end traffic at left:

Returning from Anson Jct on its first trip of the day - the last run of the engineer before retiring.

"One pair of riders amused us, dressed as railwaymen, though they clearly were not. One wore the the uniform of a NYC conductor. Many men wore engineer caps, as did little Eric. Some women wore dresses, but many were attired as I was, in shorts or slacks. I wondered how a woman in a bright yellow dress would fare under the rain of soot which I knew was to follow!"

Business cars---The smoke deflectors were restored for this series of Belleville-Anson Jct trips.

"The train pulled in on schedule, around 10:00. People were hanging out the windows, many sighting through camera viewfinders, and the two baggage cars held men with tape recorder microphones stretched out the sides, safely barred to catch the sounds of the whistle, engine puffs and wheels clackety-clack. The train was not over-crowded, and we were quite comfortable in a double seat. I sat beside Eric, with back to the engine. Laurie and Allison sat opposite, but Laurie beat a path between the baggage car and his seat, keeping track of David in the baggage car, holding our battery-run tape recorder."

We are aboard for the second trip of the day --- Marjorie, Eric, Allison

"Laurie often took pictures from between the cars as well. Before we left he insisted on taking a picture of the engine. He took a long time getting back - I thought he'd get left behind - carrying five ice cream bars. Good old generous Dad, giving the kids a treat! Behind us were two young men, one with grey hair but a young face, the other dark-haired with sunglasses. They hung out of the window, often with their cameras, and hollered at each other from time to time, wrapped in engine noise."

On the way to Anson Junction

"People were waiting at good vantage points, some with movie cameras on tripods. I even saw one man ankle-deep in the middle of a stream 50 feet wide, holding his camera to get a long view of the train on a bridge. Some just waved. There was a string of parked cars at every road crossing. Kids were sitting on farm fences. Showers of soot came in the car. Eric drifted off the sleep in the last few miles. During the short break at Anson Junction,  the train stopped and backed onto a wye to run forward again."

Returning to Belleville ---After we return, we walk up to see the engine Eric, David, Allison, Marjorie.

"Mother was in good spirits when we rejoined her. While waiting at the station, they'd played several records by Johnny Cash on railroad themes. We were soon in the car, being whisked off to a good vantage point at Foxboro for the passing of the train on the next trip. Behind us drew in a car from OHIO. Many Americans had come for this last steam ride on the continent. We had a half-hour to eat lunch. We ate our sandwiches and drank our drinks together."

We go to Foxboro to see the train head north to Anson Junction on its third trip of the day.

Colour version (above and below). 

"Laurie and the kids went up the line a bit around a curve, to record and photograph the train passing. I wished it goodbye as it steamed past. I think Laurie would have liked to have watched its passing back to Belleville, but we headed for home instead. The car was silent except for the noisy VW motor, everyone but the driver asleep!"

Audio-Visual Designs postcard "Countdown 6218" was Canadian National's two-day celebration with excursions for the 4-8-4 prior to its retirement and display at Fort Erie, Ont. Retirement day, July 4, 1971 finds the Northern crossing the Moira River near Foxboro, Ont on one of its last trips.[Perhaps this was taken by the railfan standing ankle-deep in the middle of 'the stream']

The above is a typewritten account by my Mom that was taped in to the photo album containing these 126-format B&W photos my Dad took and captioned. The account and photos include my parents, brother, sister and grandmother. We were all there that day, having driven from Kingston to Belleville to witness and ride these last runs of famous fantrip steam engine 6218. Lightly edited, the account gives a version of events that day from a quasi-railfan perspective, because spending that much time trackside, no matter how unwillingly, can not help but make one at least a quasi-railfan, if not the engineer-cap-wearing, crest-festooned variety!

A previous post in this series included more details the Countdown 6218 Belleville fantrips. Watch for the next post in this series - those fascinating CN billboard freight cars. Thanks, Dad. And Mom!

Running extra...

Speaking of filming steam, check out this 1946 B&W video that includes some fantastic Portage la Prairie footage from about the 2:07 mark to about 3:00. I discovered a fuel dealer at the 2:15 mark, just east of Third St crossing, served by CP:

CN Countdown 6218, July 1971

Having experienced more than a few fantrips in my post-steam era young life, the importance was lost on me of the 'Countdown 6218' fantrips that operated in Quebec and Ontario, before 6218's subsequent preservation in Fort Erie, ON. Five other fantrip locomotives had operated more than 150 fantrips during the 11 years of CN's steam excursion program: 5107, 6153, 6167 and 6218.

These fantrips ranged across CN's eastern network, from the Grand Trunk Western, through Ontario and Quebec, into New England. Returning from Essex Junction, VT, 6218's train pauses on Montreal's South Shore in May, 1966 (L.C. Gagnon photo - above. - he also photographed 6218 during locomotive exchanges in 1964, posted on my brother's blog here.).  Railway enthusiast clubs that organized the trips, such as Toronto's Upper Canada Railway Society, had a regular mailing list, sending out brochures on upcoming trips:

Regular use of steam on CN had ended in April, 1960, but on July 10 of that year, 6167 operated an Upper Canada Railway Society fantrip to Niagara Falls. Susequently, 6167 operated in Ontario, 6153 in Quebec, and 6218 was the last CN steam locomotive overhauled at Stratford, making her debut in the fall of 1964. I was a few months old. Boiler extensions for 6218 continued to become shorter, and CN decided to operate the final excursions to usher out what appeared to be end of their steam fantrip era.

Countdown 6218 the name given to the program orchestrated by the Montreal-based St Lawrence Region Department of Public Relations. On June 26, a Montreal-Ottawa trip was operated, with another fantrip held between Montreal-Victoriaville the next day. The following weekend, July 3 and 4 would find Belleville the site of 6218's final runs.

Consists for the Belleville-Anson Junction 40-mile round trip comprised heavyweight commuter coaches from Montreal, along with 110-volt outlet-equipped baggage car 9241 for tape recording-making railfans in the pre-cassette era.  CN documents discovered at Belleville, pertaining to the Montreal-Belleville movement give some indication of the precision, attention to detail, and just plain class that CN operated with at the time, being very much in the public eye and wanting to put on a good show in the railway town of Belleville:

The trip from Montreal to Belleville was not uneventful. Just west of Kingston, 6218 encountered stoker trouble, as the Kingston Whig-Standard reported:

There were five trips made on the day we rode, July 3: departing 0800, 1045, 1330, 1715 and 2000. The 12-car train was wyed at Anson Junction before its return to Belleville. (Interestingly, the Montreal excursions included CC&F 1950-54 coaches refurbished at Pointe St Charles and Transcona Shops, plus dinette car 427.)The first run was adorned with a banner on 6218's pilot for the retirement of engineer Ralph Turner, as pictured in the September, 1971 TRAINS magazine:

On July 4, 0800 and 1045 trips were made before official ceremonies held at 1600. The cars used in 6218's Sunday very last blast west out of Belleville were baggage car, sleeping car Preston and out-of-retirement business car Pacific. Although wearing CN black and white, Pacific would reappear in 1973 in the striking green, gold-lettered, wafer-adorned CNR scheme. In both cases, she hosted a memorabilia shop for numerous fans who had travelled from all over the eastern US and Canada. During his remarks from the rear platform of a CN observation car, likely Bedford, parked opposite the three-car official train at Belleville, CN Vice-President Transportation and Maintenance Keith Hunt, representing NJ MacMillan, Chairman and President of CN, intimated that CN would investigate another restored steam locomotive for fantrip use! Two years later, CNR 6060 would do just that, operating its premiere fantrip on September 15, 1973, the beginning of a successful 7+ year excursion career in Ontario and Quebec that would see me riding behind her Vanderbilt tender at least three times, including my fifth-ever Trackside Treasure post about our September, 1979 ride north of Toronto.

From the collection of Keith Hunt, via his daughter Lynn (Hunt) Beach, here are the clearance (above) and train order (below) for 6218's last run. These were handed from Mr Hunt to engineer Carmen Guest, who then ascended to 6218's cab, reversing the three-car train to Belleville East and rearing up for a roaring runpast through the yard into the afternoon sun and the sunset of this venerable locomotive's service career.

Kingston's Liz Reid kindly shared a Bill Reid photo taken on the Countdown weekend - they were there, too! Can you find the billboard consist? Hint - it's not the RS18 with its headlight on.

A list of UCRS steam, diesel and transit fantrips appeared in the June, 1983 UCRS Newsletter. Accounts of the last runs at Belleville appeared in the July, 1971 UCRS Newsletter and the July-Aug 1996 BRS Branchline.

This is the first of a three-part series. Watch for subsequent posts on a family account of the Countdown 6218 fantrip as well as the unique billboard cars that CN displayed on that eventful weekend.

Randy O'Brien of Niagara Falls sent a link to some photos of himself with two subsequent generations visiting 6218 - now preserved at the Fort Erie Railway Museum.

Running extra...

Well, it's not smoke from a steam locomotive, it's a GE in the springtime sun! CN No 376 with 8903-2522 and DPU IC 2700 smokily approaches Mi 178 Kingston Sub on April 11*

*Remember Leanin' Tree Christmas Cards? How about leanin' pole - the current state of CN's vintage S&C infrastructure on the Kingston Sub.

Springtime in Millhaven

It started out as a springtime shopping trip to Napanee. It turned into a trainwatching tour on the way back to Kingston. Not so much trains-zipping-by-type-trainwatching more like 21st-century-local-industrial-activity-and-car-loading-type-trainwatching.

CANDO Contracting performs switching services on CN's Millhaven Spur. CN and later CANDO switched cars at the spur's plastics plant until it closed and has since been completely demolished. Now CANDO serves the newer Coco Paving asphalt operation across Jim Snow Drive, south of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, and has recently participated in loading monorails for export to Saudi Arabia! What?? Read on...OBRY GP-9 1000 (top photo) has recently been supplanted by SW1200RSm 1004 (ex-CP 8118)  in its new paint scheme:

Barebones operations facilities - ZIM container, porta-potty and someone ditched the office chair! The storage location is just north of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard (green star in satellite photo above). Ernestown's wind park looms in the background - one of five wind turbines:

Extreme close-up with wheel chock and plug-in:

South across Taylor-Kidd Boulevard, two tracks full of asphalt tanks have been set-out by CANDO:

To the west, looking east from north-south County Road 4, the Gibson Gas facility is in service with PROCOR hoppers and the Trackmobile visible around the roadside berm:

Non-telephoto shot:

The Trackmobile can push empties up to the service track at Millhaven for lifting by CN:

Extreme closeup:

Adam Walker-inspired context signal box shot...back at the Millhaven Spur, a temporary ramp is in place at the south end of the former siding, just north of Taylor-Kidd Boulevard. A 'New Jersey' has been pushed into place to prevent unauthorized use by any other companies than Bombardier loading monorails, local skateboarders or BMX bikers!

Formerly a storage track, this spur is used to roll in transport trailers with shrink-wrapped monorail cars for Saudi Arabia that are backed aboard Trailer Train flatcars for furtherance to port. Just to the left is the Bombardier (formerly Urban Transit Development Corporation) facility and test tracks, which surprisingly have never been rail-served.

 Malcolm Peakman shared a March photo of the crews from RailTRAN securing the precious loads.

Paul Hunter shared a photo of another pair of the cars being handled by CN No 518 also in March...all the way down the Cataraqui Spur after lifting at Millhaven, then back up to the Kingston Sub!

Now if I'm really lucky, one of these shopping trips will result in spotting the Trackmobile moving north from Gibson Gas, CANDO wrestling asphalt tanks, or Bombardier monorail, streetcars or other mass transit goodies in action!

Running extra...

What do a giant steel apple, a hissing steam engine, and a stubby 7 year-old kid have in common? Stay tuned for a three-part series in which that question will be answered!

Oh Oh! Speaking of steam, Rapido Trains has just announced the release of its first steam locomotive. It looks nothing like a CPR D-10! But it's OO scale.

In HO scale, I still hearken back to the release of Cox trains Big Pine lumber set: