Summertime at the Station, July 2024 - Part 1

On Saturday, July 27 I spent the day trackside at various locations mostly east of Kingston. My good wife was enjoying a day-long remote crafting event, and there was no remote way I would not be found practising my craft revisiting some railfanning locations along CN's Kingston Subdivision all day long. I headed cross-town to Joyceville Road at Mi.163, passing a draft of cyclists on Middle Road. They soon passed me at the Joyceville Road crossing as part of their morning-ride loop. 

This crossing is just above Highway 401, and the cyclists would complete their loop and head back over the 401 to Kingston again via Joyceville Road. Here, they bump over the crossing at speed, sounding like a flock of dragonflies (below). This long lull was a logical time to engage in NOTROPHY (NOTRainphotOgraPHY) but I did my best not to. Well, except maybe this once, because things started off slowly - nothing moving for two hours and there would be no CN freights for over four hours! I knew when the VIA trains would soon be rolling through, and I had already met VIA No 41 on my drive east.

I'll present each train seen with time, direction, engine and/or car numbers.

0930 EB VIA No 60/50 6437-4 LRC-4111-4116-918-3 LRC-4119. This J-train arrived after I had a wellness check from fellow Kingston railfan Paul Hunter who was heading to the Smiths Falls Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario (RMEO). He seemed to know the way, and did not ask, "Wherefore art thou, RMEO?"

0940 WB VIA No 61 6432-10 LRC-6429 coming out of the morning sun. The advent of Ventures seems to have freed up LRC cars resulting in some 6-, 8-, and 10-car trains.

1036 WB VIA No 643 2308-2209 (Set 9). Though invisible in my pictures, arriving at each crossing I find a good photo location facing both directions, taking into account lighting, obstructions (many!), potential traffic and sight lines. I then mark an 'X' in the gravel or otherwise place a piece of roadside litter on the spot (Timmies cup, crumpled pop can) so it's easy to find when the next train is approaching, cars are stopping and the bells are dinging as the gates drop!

1109 EB VIA No 62/52 912-7 LRC-900-4 HEP. I'd relocated to John F. Scott Road near Highway 15 at Codes Corners, Mi 168 CN Kingston Sub. The morning's second J-train had 8106 on the tail-end:

1148 WB VIA No 63 2315-2215 (Set 16). The sight lines to the east are good here, especially to show a long freight train. A signal bungalow, a downgrade to Kingston Mills, and the Highway 15 overpass all combine to limit photo angles to the west.

1209 EB CN No 372 3338-3069 (WC Heritage Unit) mid-DPU. The Wisconsin Central-painted unit was a nice surprise. The usual, large tail-end block of loaded auto racks from Oshawa was not a surprise!

1223 WB VIA No 45 6451-4 LRC. I then drove eight rail miles west to the VIA station to catch the next VIA, due to be an eastbound Venture set.

1254 EB VIA No 40 2206-2305 (Set 6) and top photo, with CN No 305 approaching under the John Counter Boulevard overpass:

1256 WB CN No 305 3944-8960 mid-DPU, passing before No 40 headed east:

1310 WB CN No 271 2292-8808 with its usual train of empty auto racks: 

1345 WB VIA No 65  915-3452-3323Ren-3343Future-3318. The heat was peaking so I didn't even stayed put, peeking out from under the van liftgate in my shaded lawn chair. A second lawn chair held all the requisite supplies, railfanning tools and snacks, plus my bare feet. Those dogs were barking!

1359 WB VIA No 53  914-3462-3459-3356F-3316F-3364F/40 Years-3369-3311R-3342:

1409 EB VIA No 64 6459-3477-3478-3359F-3300R-3329 F/40-3358-3357F-3360F. This is the $10 bill unit, formerly 6403:

1449 WB VIA No 47 2316-2216 (Set 17), the last of four Ventures I'd see:

1500 EB VIA No 42 903-4000D(&H)-4105D-4115D-4107-910, suitably smoking just after this shot. Then I was headed west another four miles to Collins Bay.

1615 EB CN No 306 2326-2656 mid-DPU. I had heard the whistle for Coronation Boulevard, two miles west, so had time to cross Bath Road to get this pastoral floral foreground foto. Watch for an upcoming pop-up post featuring the freight cars in the day's four fine freights.

1650 WB VIA No 67 6458-6 LRC, running 45 minutes late. Deemed not photo worthy due to intervening foliage.

1712 WB VIA No 645 918-4 HEP running 30 minutes late. Also sadly unphotographed.

1732 EB VIA No 66 6438-6 LRC. The heat was too much for me to venture more than three feet from my van. Time for a Mary Brown's Batter's Box with my crafty wife home in the cool air! Fifteen VIA's and three freights for the day.

Running extra...

A ripping yarn! I just finished reading Great Uncle Harry - A Tale of War and Empire by Monty Python's Flying Circus alumnus Michael Palin. Actually, I would read anything by him. (Well, except his book about travelling through Iraq because it seems like a sandy and desolate place.) But this story about his great uncle from the days of empire takes him from a vicarage in old Blighty through India to World War I. Wearing his 'Enzed lemon-squeezer' bush hat (on the cover - below) at the debacle of Gallipoli through to the killing field that was the Somme, I first found this book at Indigo but got to read it for free from our local library. Michael has a natural inquisitiveness, a self-effacing humility, and travels to places to experience things that I never will.

One of the first passages in the book, as well as the last, resonated with me for different reasons. Describing the last-born phenomenon ('baby of the family' as some call us), Michael quotes from an article he recently read in Psychologies  magazine:

Lastborns are the most likely to make breakthroughs in creativity and science - they are the innovators. They are the most likely to test the limits. They are charming, and if it's taken too far they can be manipulative because they are used to being cute to get things done for them. The downside of that is that they can give up too easily later on in life because there is no one stepping in to fix whatever's wrong. They can also be very confused about whether they should grow up.

Michael's interest in finding about this relative of his, a man of mystery as far as he knew, led him down several paths via surprising sources in his research besides his great-uncle's diaries. When is the story fully told? Why let the perfect be the enemy of the good? Any good book creator knows when to roll the presses, and leave further discoveries to be conveyed some other way than on paper. As Michael explains it, 

Ultimately, I felt I had to call a halt and go ahead without uncovering every single detail. But one thing I've learnt in this whole detective process is that the past is never as locked as it seems. There is always information hidden away somewhere, and none of it is insignificant. This book is not the end of a story, but part of a constantly evolving process of finding out more about how we live and how we die. And in Harry's case, giving those who've disappeared a voice, and a story to tell.