Wintertime at the Station, Jan-Feb 2026 - Freight Cars

UNPX/Procor 320004

In my two trips in Part 1 and Part 2  previously posted, I profiled the prolific plethora of passenger and freight trains I observed at Kingston's VIA station on two successive, shivering Saturdays. Since I'm a  freight car fan, I'm always watchful for the interesting ones - in what are becoming increasingly boring single-commodity freight trains or manifest freights comprising lease-fleet cars. I had some success. The cars I photographed are minimally-captioned and shown in chronological order, with the train number listed for the first on each train.

CN 598186

CN No 372 is one of my favourites - the January 31 version (above) and February 7 version (below):

WFRX 383996 and ITFX/ITLX coil cars

BNSF Swoosh covered hopper 422648

BN covered hopper 461534

CN136667 'heritage fleet' gondola with scrap tie load

February 7's CN No 305:

AEX 5118covered hopper minimally-lettered  'organic corn'

COER 804870 all aluminum assonance

CN flats with imported rail from Halifax heading to Transcona

CN No 276:

CN No 271:

'Patchwork' repanelled auto rack

Running extra...

Ever heard the expression, "I'd give my eye teeth for that..."? Well, one of the American Hughes brothers did just that when intercepting former Kingston Frontenac Sam Bennett's stick during the Olympic gold medal game. He seemed happy to have made the sacrifice. It's not always just blood, sweat and tears. This photo makes it look like the injured Sidney 'Sid the Kid' Crosby took it all in from a comfortable spot on the ice.

First past the post...

Analyst Kevin Bieksa put forward defensemen Cale Makar's name for the tournament MVP, while Elliotte Friedman stuck with the easy choice, Connor "Wind Him Up and Watch Him Skate" McDavid.