Summertime at the Station, August 2016

An unusually dry, also hot and humid August descended upon Kingston including the VIA station during my visit on August 3. Upon arrival with a piping hot Tim Hortons coffee, chicken salad on a croissant, and their tasty new savoury potato wedgies, er, wedges, of course the trains also arrived. Most passengers boarding VIA No 44 seemed strangely oblivious to the sultry, steamy steel snake slithering in on the south track (top photo) which slowly approached No 44's four car consist at 1635: 6436-3468Ren-3306Ren-3343-3318:

Soon, CN No 306, bound for Moncton behind CN 2556-2705 drew even before No 44's ditchlights were lit for departure.

Steel loads at a 45-degree angle in NKCR 3906-3866, TAEX tank cars, BCOL and ICG empty bulkhead flats, a few covered gons, carbon cars and cylindrical grain cars clanked by:

Until a final cut of former revenue cars in MoW scrap tie service on the tail end: ICG 245307 black gondola, CN 199278 former coal gon (below) and WC 63195 gon:

A one-hour lull produced a doubleheader -VIA No 66 at 1740: 6410-6432-3463Ren-3348Ren-3350-3327Ren, a 50/50 forward/backward-facing consist. 

Then at 1743, VIA No 55 pulled in with an all-green-and-grey Renaissance consist: 915-3465Ren-3310Ren-3307Ren-3332Ren

The level crossing east of the station is to become an overpass. During the lull, I made a video of John Counter Boulevard overpass berm construction. Brought to you by the letter B: bug-spattered, begrimed and brutish:

VIA No 46 arrived at 1805, with an interesting car in the consist. VIA 6411-3461Ren-3368 "greyish-blue stripe"-3319Ren-3358. Apparently this car had been assaulted by spray-can-toting taggers, and VIA had attempted to cover up the vandalism with some non-standard paint. Here's No 46 arriving - Youtube video. Check out the colours on VIA 3368:

Just over two miles west, I ascended the Bayridge Drive overpass to pick up my presciption for VIA No 69:

Paralleling Bath Road's four lanes:

Nine-seventeen nicely nails it:

Looking west, on the freshly-ballasted and tamped Kingston Sub just west of Mi 179, with Collins Bay at left and Bath Road in the middle of this view:

Some summertime sightings have been made elsewhere, such as Shannonville. Just east of Belleville along Airport Parkway on July 22, CN 2298-2626 hove into view at 1117 with CN train No 376, toting TBOX's, ballast cars, and "red-square" tank cars such as GATX 59648. Multiple units, meet multiple clouds:

At 1221, VIA 917 led train No 63 into Belleville, passing two foremen in their hi-rail trucks:

A visit to the tank-car receiving industry beside the vast, desolate savanna grasslands of Dussek Street, formerly OMG and now Soltex, revealed CBTX 725416-725735, ACFX 71236 and NATX 50835. Read the press release and you'll find my first-ever reading of the word "tackifier"!

And in between, on August 1, VIA J-train Nos 52/62 pulled by puffy clouds arriving Kingston:

Back on July 23, we found the perfect antidote for the oppressive humidity: a visit to Kingston Mills during which CN kept its trains away and out of the sun. In the cool canal shade, we observed five VIA trains in under three hours down by the old Mill Street. We were east of the 100th Meridian, where the Great Plains begin, subject of a 1992 Tragically Hip song, but just under a month away from the group's final concert to be held here in Kingston.

Running extra...

This is definitely unsafe, but with classic songs like Should I Stay or Should I Go? and Rock the Casbah it seems only fair that The Clash can get away with the occasional album cover on railway property. Favourite lyric from the latter song: /the jet pilots tuned to the cockpit radio blare/

Speaking of gratuitous graphics, Trackside Treasure Randy O'Brien produced this perfect potential personalized plate for my railfan vehicle: 

while Trackside Treasure blog partner Chris Mears shared this coupler couplet, which I combined with Randy's previous horn-hooky "heart"work: