Pop-up Post: Four Days in September 2024, Day Four

Day four was the overcastest day of all. Oh sure, like Day Three, Sunday, September 29 ended up sunny, but that was at the very end of the afternoon, as the photos in this post show, after 1400 hours. I decided to head east to Gananoque Junction VIA station. Highballing along Highway 401, I headed north from Gan on Road 34 to the aptly-named Station Road. The station is at Mi 154 CN Kingston Sub. I would also explore some other crossings west of here toward Joyceville Road. 

On Sundays, the usual VIA No 60/50 is only a No 50. The towering tree east of the station and across the tracks is really impressive!

0937 EB VIA No 50: 912-5 HEP:

Seven minutes later, a freight horn from the east could be heard. It was CN No 305, running quite early this day.

0944 WB CN No 305: 2955-DPU 3247:

And the usual empty auto racks on the tail end (about 20). I didn't try out the Adirondack chairs on the platform, but I briefly heard the scanner report on Andre Gerry's scanner inside for 305: 312 axles, 51 mph.

I headed just east to Hiscocks Road, Mi 153.2 CN Kingston Sub,  in time for the first of three Ventures. Trying to get photos without the signal bungalows in the way!

1024 WB VIA No 643: Venture Set 5 2304-2205:

Also at Hiscocks Road, 30+ minutes later, the next CN freight was westbound. The former Leeds four-track interlocking signal gantry can be seen to the east, now down to just the two main tracks.

1057 WB CN No 271: 2339-2679, empty auto racks.

Our new motto here at Trackside Treasure, perhaps:

The next westbound just snuck up on me. One to three crossings east and west could be heard at some times. Just not this time.

1124 WB VIA No 43: Venture Set 13 2312-2212.

Nine minutes later, another meet was about to happen right in front of me. A little farther east would have been better, but hey...

1133 WB VIA No 63: 907-6 LRC met...

1133 EB VIA No 62/52: 905-6 LRC-900-4 HEP.

A quiet crossing at dead-end Best Chase Road, Mi 158.9 CN Kingston Sub, differed from most crossings east of Kingston, with a nice curve westbound just west of the crossing.

1200 EB CN No 276: 8013-8828, loaded auto racks:

Coming out of the curve, old-timey telegraph poles and all:

1225 WB VIA No 45: 908-6 LRC, operating 20 minutes late:

Another eastbound, regrettably from the north side.

1238 E CN No 372: 2831-DPU 2983, running quite late today.

Time for the afternoon VIA 'parade'.

1313 EB VIA No 40: 909-4 HEP.

1330 WB No 65: 914-6 LRC. I would have had closer-up photos, but my phone told me it was tired of taking train photos and that camera storage had been exceeded. Look at that beautiful verdant vegetation, though! North track...and a few deletions followed to make space!

North side shadow, south track train.

1342 WB VIA No 53: 6431-4 LRC.

Another crossing, another Venture. After seeing nothing at Findlay Station Road, Mi 160.2 CN Kingston Sub, I made my way to Kings interlocking at Mi 161.9 at Hitchcock Road.

1426 WB VIA No 47: Venture Set 8 2307-2208.

Then another meet happened...

...also 1426, though EB VIA No 64: 6441-6 LRC:

Trying to get some less gloomy shots of the Gan Junction station, I headed back in the afternoon sunlight. 

The track in the foreground was the former 'Susan Push' Thousand Islands Railway and later CN's Gananoque Spur (above). I have been to Gananoque Junction only once since 1994 when I photographed some work cars there, including this unique former CN auto transporter sitting in the same spot:

Unfortunately, the station does not present an informative window on visiting or investing in Gananoque. In fact, a few business cards for a local taxi service and a one-sheet map of the area, visible through a track-side window are all that guide arriving passengers to town. VIA's local schedule information posted on the road-side wall is hopelessly out of date, from June, 2015!

1550 WB VIA No 67: 6413-6 LRC, running 15 minutes late. 

Two passengers seemed to be waiting on the platform, perhaps for the late-running VIA No 42. I called it a day, though I'll try to return to get a shot of a Venture at the sunny west side of the station. Heck, they're going to be here for the next 30 years!

One more train, driving-away, drive-by photo from inside the van:

1600 EB CN No 106 (?) all intermodal.

The day's tally: 12 VIA; 4 CN. Ventures on VIA Nos 643, 43, 47. 

Over the Four Days in September, I observed 10 different Venture sets, the very image of VIA's rolling stock future in the Corridor. Currently using a rotation of 11 sets, with 20 of 22 sets received operational, and a further 10 yet to arrive. Here's the tally by Set number I observed in service (number of times observed):

• Set 2 (1)
• Set 5 (1)
• Set 8 (2)
• Set 9 (3)
• Set 11 (1)
• Set 13 (2)
• Set 16 (2)
• Set 17 (1)
• Set 19 (1)
• Set 10 (2)

The weather was good, only a very few specks of rain on Day Three and warm enough for shorts - that's good for late September! No Timbits were harmed in the making of these posts, though the same can't be said for Sausage & Egg McGriddles or the homemade baloney sandwiches my good wife sent me with!

Running extra...

VIA's woes continue to be the meal-ticket for the lunch-bucket brigade here at Trackside Treasure. A steady diet of bad planning, a buffet of bad news, and a cafeteria tray-full of operational challenges got cleared off the table to resume these Four Days in September pop-up posts. But rest assured! There's another helping on the way. Would you like seconds? The sad saga of stalled train 622 is next, and my post about CN-imposed crossing speed reduction delays is about to reach 1,000 views on train orders . com ... the first to reach the millenary mark since...you guessed it ... Joe's September 1 post on train 622!