A flurry-filled finale of the weekend found me at the Sunday snowglobe scenery of Kingston station on December 11. Our daughter's baby shower was underway, and as I'd already had one shower that day, I didn't need another, instead heading to Tim Hortons then here. Shiver along with me as we encounter five VIA's and a solo CN freight.
1402 WB: VIA No 53 6429-3475-33xx-3347(R)enaissance-3327R pulled in to the station shortly after my arrival. A typical four-car LRC consist. I'd encounter none of the buffer car consists that I've been so closely following since October. The snow wouldn't let up for the rest of the afternoon, so here it is during 53's departure westbound:
1403 EB: VIA No 64 6416 Love the way - 3463-3470-3365(F)uture-3341-3312R-3352F. No 64 arrived just as 53 departed. I haven't yet tired of those "Love the way/La voie qu'on aime" graphics that emerged out of VIA's "40 Ans/Years" wraps in 2019. Also, road grime emerged out of the remaining "Canada 150" decals, still showing on the oversize yellow VIA on 3352. More about that Ford Expedition later:
1445 WB: VIA No 47 911-3478-3301R-3366F/40 Years-3344F. White above and white below (above) in the photo taken from the newly-extended parking lot. Only VIA 901, 902, 915 and 917 did not receive the silver-banana wraps, first applied for Canada 150, back in the year that the VIA People Moving People book was originally intended to emerge in print!
After a slight territorial disagreement between our van and a fellow attendee's much large pickup truck at the Rail Fair Kingston train show back in October, I was driving a Ford Expedition. My van was reposing at the body shop, and this Expedition was the loudest vehicle I've ever driven that was not known to need exhaust repairs. Running boards provided in lieu of stepladder.
1451 EB: VIA No 42 6414-3451-3336-3340-3305R-914. The only no-wye-required train of the afternoon, previously a pandemic staple. These photos are taken at the extreme east end of the newly-extended and now-huge parking lot. I wanted to get a photo of the still-active but vehicle-free Counter Street crossing, suppanted by the new John Counter Boulevard overpass, now in service for two years. The gates still lower, the bells ding and the trains whistle. At one point, a Kubota clearing the platforms used it, via a circuitous walking path, to reach the platform on Track 2.
Bringing up the rear, a snow-covered sentinel:
1555 WB: VIA No 67 6412-3477-3461-3304R-3331R-3335-3360F. I was back at the station building for 67's arrival, with the platform cleared mere seconds before the above photo was taken. The baggage cart is largely for show and for sitting-on. A station staffer photo-bombed my photo of the Business Class attendant shovelling out the vestibule, the snowplow and his spotter. Meals are often brought on-board at Kingston as required. Loyal Trackside Treasure reader and VIA car preservationist and owner Lesley Bernard found out the following:
No meals are catered in Kingston. Meals are created in Toronto and Montreal, though there are intermediate staging points for meals including Ottawa, London, Kingston and maybe others. In the case of Kingston, 12 extra meals for each meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) come out daily from Toronto on train 60 and are dropped at Kingston, where there is a cooler to store them. If a passing train is running short of meal choices, meals can be replenished while stopped at Kingston. [Although there are] three metal boxes into which meals are loaded and carried to the train. It's awkward when they are short a box and have to carry out meals [visible to passengers].
No pantographs yet, so this must be for automobiles:
Passengers disembarking then embarking, though I heard no barking:
Final car 3360 wears 'the future is on board/ l'avenir est a bord' lettering:
I'm actually more of a fair-weather photographer, and I was able to catch VIA Nos 45 and 40 in a ten-minute span on the following sun-bathed Tuesday.
1235 WB: No 45 900-8122-4005"(D)&H-scheme"-4115D-4116-8129D-Craig Manor:
Nameplate lettering all but unreadable!
1245 EB: No 40 908-4000D-4008D-4108-4105D-4100-4122:
Running extra...
I'm a GP again. That's not GP as in GP-9, nor even General Practitioner, that's as in GrandParent. Best job in the world - all the fun, none of the responsibility. Really just pure joy.
CMA's Country Christmas on ABC brought to light a new artist - Molly Tuttle - recently named the InternationalBluegrass Music Association's Guitarist of the Year. Living with alopecia from the age of three, it's hats off to Molly for her virtuosity, not letting challenges get in her way. Molly, her band Golden Highway and host Carly Pearce performed an awesome Christmas medley. It just might be enough to get me in the mood for my Christmas shopping.
Christmas from Temple Square on PBS featured Megan Hilty, and Neal McDonough, who also starred in Band of Brothers as Lieutenant Buck Compton.The opening two carols, 'Long Ago, Prophets Knew' and the Sussex Carol set the festive tone.
2 comments:
Some nice framing with the Kingston station signs and some of the other elements. I do like the shot of the freight. The speed of the train is clearly shown in that shot. Having now experienced a full day at Kingston station myself, I can appreciate the effort!
Thanks, Michael. I am incredibly biased, but that's based on experience at Kingston and elsewhere, but it's the best spot in this area and probably anywhere on the CN Kingston Sub for railfanning, IMHO!
Eric
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