Although recently reliving and rail-ly enjoying my Real Rails 2025 retrospective, it's now time to turn trackside taking up the trail after Day Three of my Four Days in September. I had spent my second-last day of four trackside north of Bath, Ernestown and Kingston station. My fourth day was a bit of a crossing casserole, a geographic goulash, a ferroequinological feast - again at Kingston station, hoping to catch two unusual Siemens Venture sets, and a noontime break for some retro research.
0846 WB CN No 149: (top photo) 2924-2860.
0851 EB CN No 322: 3192.
0902 EB VIA No 60/50: Sets 24XL-Set 21.
Mid-train DPU 3362:
VIA had announced a 'direct pilot project' which would see four trains a day not stopping at Kingston station. Heresy! Though VIA claimed CN infrastructure constraints were the downfall of the project which was cancelled, my belief is that local, provincial and federal political pressure was more likely. Four days before the pilot project launch, VIA issued a statement to media:
"This pilot is designed to test demand for faster, more efficient downtown-to-downtown travel, with some trips expected to arrive 30-40 minutes earlier than today's schedule. Direct trains are being tested to see how we can shorten travel times between major cities while still meeting the needs of all the communities we serve. Adding extra stops isn't as simple as it seems. Schedules are carefully coordinated, and unscheduled waits can quickly erase the benefits of a faster service. By testing faster travel times between Canada's two largest cities, we aim to position the train as the smarter alternative to flying or driving. Although this pilot project is an exciting opportunity, we recognize this change may inconvenience some customers who rely on intermediate stops. That's why we will carefully evaluate the pilot based on ridership, on-time performance, customer feedback, and community impacts. It is too early to determine whether the program will continue beyond this pilot phase."
So here I was in place to document the non-stop train(s) swooshing by - and it wasn't going to happen. The passengers who were notified and rebooked on later trains did not return for this arrival. Only two passengers would be on the platform to board No 60 and No 61 as they sun-shiningly slithered into the station!
0925 WB VIA No 61: 903-3452-3471-3311R(en)-3338F(uture)-3305R-4105D(&H). Supposed to be another non-stop, it also stopped unspectacularly.
DING. Will that buff out?
I took a two-hour break to do some historical research and retail therapy downtown. Bridging both was the need to screw my reading glasses back together, after they inexplicably detached themselves. Ever try to fix your glasses while not wearing your glasses? A caffeinated pick-me-up at the Downtown Starbucks was not to be - the location had closed the day before! Dollarama Coke would have to do for a midday caffeine infusion. The afternoon would see lots of into-the-sun photography, and photo-editing has been used to reclaim a lot of these ensuing shadowy shots!
1219 WB VIA No 63: Set 27 running 37 minutes late and beginning five trains in an hour!
I had an audience - surreptitiously photographed over my shoulder during 305's passage. One SUV went lights-on and the policeman waved energetically at arriving No 40 before leaving!
HTTX 93367 with heavy-equipment dimensional load:
mid-train DPU 3051:
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1307 EB VIA No 40: Set 5. I had a tough time keeping up with all the rapid-fire arrivals and the documenting thereof!
1353 WB VIA No 53. Another unusual Venture event I was on hand to record - the DXS/XS-J in service for the first week. It did run two days, and seven days as envisioned the following week, but NOT on this first expected day, unfortunately! Merely Set 10...
...and meeting No 64: 918-3464-3465-3333-3334-3366F40-3371-3323-6414.
Day Four Total: 5 CN, 10 VIA.
1451 WB VIA No 47: Set 28. My creativity and get-up-and-go were lacking by this point. So many Ventures! The day is coming - though implementation stumbles keep delaying it - when every VIA train through Kingston will be a Venture. Despite the LRC and even HEP consists operating on these four days, the number of Ventures was still a remarkable reminder, a harboured harbinger, an important portent and dare I say, an ominous omen of omnipresence, of that day. I call it The Ghost of VIA Future!
1547 EB VIA No 644: One of the last four P42's (VIA 901, 902, 915 and 917) in the as-delivered scheme 915-3456-3301R-3337-3343F-920.
Thanks for being aboard for this four-day extraVIAganza! Watch for an upcoming pop-up post on the freight cars I prototypically photograph perennially!
Running extra...
If you are in VANCOUVER ON NOVEMBER 22 (I know, not much notice, that's why I'm shouting!) there will be a 70th Anniversary of the Canadian event at 'Pacific Central Station'. More here.
First past the post...
While in Dollarama on Princess Street on Day Four, not only did a helpful cashier point me to the eyeglass-repair kits (I couldn't see that they were right in front of me?) she also patiently helped a wheelchair-bound customer pack, hoist and hang his purchases on the chair, converse with him genuinely, and earn praise from the next two customers. All in a day's work? Not necessarily so. Her good deeds were commendable and commended!
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