Welcome aboard this year-long retrospective series celebrating my Fifty Years Trackside - watching trains and taking numbers. This is the Fifth of a year-long series celebrating those five decades - each month's post is a time capsule; a five-year slice of those fifty years. In the previous post, we entered the Nineties. This month, we wander trackside toward Y2K.
By 1996, I noted that Andrew had become "a good counter of cars on all trains, with good accuracy". Already, a second-generation documenter? I made a trip to the VIA station with Erika on May 27, 1996 - posing with VIA 6410 and a five-car westbound. The engineer threw her a pack of chocolate cookies. The stroller is for backup if she gets tired of walking!
A week later, I became aware for the first time of public access to CN's toll-free automated car-tracking service. With access to this number, I was able to find more information about any passing freight car: destination, load/empty status, and train number. (This revolutionized my documenting and trackside experience until the service's public access was suspended in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 - the interests of fastidious car-following rail enthusiasts had fallen by the wayside.) All that was needed was a quick trip to a payphone/phone booth (in my pre-cellphone era) and I made speedy Clark Kent move: a coin-less call to a toll-free number then emerging armed with train information. Convenient phones were the VIA station and Bath Road McDonald's to access the required touch-tone functionality. I was able to confirm origin, destination and blocking of any passing CN freight. I monitored favourite or sample cars daily to find out their usual traffic pattern over repeated trips.
These included cars I'd photographed or wanted to: CN's blue five-pack well car CN 640471, grain car CNWX 100276 (Model-Power prototype), CN auto rack 712209 and one-of-a-kind articulated covered hopper cars CN 398000 and CN 399000. Tracking these cars as they eventually approached Kingston led to some epic scrambles trackside to photograph them.
On August 22, 1996 I made a quick-turnaround same-day round-trip to Montreal. Erika and Andrew working on the layout in the fall of 1996:
In September 1996 , our family hit the refreshment table as we took in the launch of the Flexliner train parked on the CN Counter Street Team Track (below). Hey, check out that cardboard cutout train!
My Dad, Andrew and I returned to Morningstar Road and would continue to do so for several years after our first visit in 1995. During a three-hour visit on June 7, 1997 we caught three CN, two CP and four VIA trains.
Andrew and I made an early-morning walk-in visit to 'Benjamin's Cut' just west of Mi 184 CN Kingston Sub/County Road 6 on July 31, 1997.
We set up shop atop the rock-cut (above and top photo) north of the north main track. There was a brief burst of activity with CN westbounds No 369: 5714-5083-CNNA 5339-5077-5022 (below) with 109 cars (thanks for the car counts, Andrew!) and CN No 101: 5665-5058, then nothing.
It would have been ideal to catch an eastbound with better light. The mainline west of here is straight for a good two miles, before curving near Millhaven, with intermediate signals visible. We walked back to our van and drove west to catch Cando Contracting switcher 1003 switching covered hoppers along Jim Snow Drive at the Celanese plant, switching covered hoppers and tank cars for the plant.
Andrew and I made local trips that summer to our usual haunts: the Kingston station, our nearby and now-gone Country Style Donuts on Canatara Court, and the 'tie pile' north of Bath. Westbound LORAM railgrinding train deadheading west on the north track, August 17, 1997:
Andrew and I returned to Benjamin's Cut on September 1, 1997. CN No 306 came east through fog at 0635 (below), followed by No 390 at 0640 and CN No 308 at 0724. We had our breakfast atop the rock-cut and enjoyed the passing show.
At the station, November 29, 1997 with the family photographic tradition (?) of squinting into the sun (L.C. Gagnon photo):
Andrew and I enjoyed driving marooned CN crews we heard in trouble on the scanner. One such trip was on December 6, 1997 when CN No 363 called the RTC in emergency. Engineer Al asked Ray how he was getting back to the head-end after recoupling a break-apart. Ray said, "Hitch-hike, I guess!" We were out the door and as we often did, soon pulling up along the parallel shoulder of the road and yelling out, "Do you want a ride up to the head-end*?" (*using that key word 'head-end' would signify that we weren't axe-murderer desperados, just do-gooding railfans). Ray told us during the ride that he'd worked for CN for 32 years and didn't mind 'rail-buffs' at all.
On December 21, 1997, Corey Priest arranged a cab-ride visit to the Millhaven Celanese plant where he worked as a plant operator.
The infamous Ice Storm descended upon us from January 7-10, 1998. No trains were operated on CN's Kingston Sub from the evening of the 8th until the morning of the 10th. All VIA trains were cancelled east of Toronto. Radio traffic on the evening of the 10th between the RTC included trains being recrewed, patrolling foremen checking crossings and tracks for downed electric lines. The first train through was Extra 4031 West from Kings to Queens at 2030, heading down to finally switch CN's Cataraqui Spur.
On June 26, 1998 Dad, Andrew and I headed back to Morningstar Road for Quinte '98. There were 4 CN freights, 4 CP freights and 6 VIA trains. My Dad is finishing his notes on a receding 30-unit westbound CP intermodal behind 5589-5655:
On September 13, 1998 Dad, Andrew and I took in the Picton train show, a perennial destination, followed by a visit to CN's Belleville yard. CN No 366 departs...two daisy-pickers ramble around the right-of-way while operating trades-trained David keeps a steady eye on the running gear:
That summer, VIA eliminated conductor positions, meaning that there were two locomotive engineers in the cab, one of whom handled checked baggage. This necessitated the baggage car behind marshalled behind the power. All other on-board staff performed non-operating, customer service functions. Between 1996 and 2000, VIA Corridor consists were no longer steam-heated. The transition from steam generators to HEP (Head-End Power) rendered the last ex-CN blue & yellow cars obsolete. VIA began applying F40 wraps while LRC locomotives were on their 'last legs'. Stainless steel cars originally built for US railroads such as NYC, ACL, RF&P and Southern were purchased by VIA, updated and entered Corridor use. Cars and locomotives received an updated paint scheme including the Canada logo as a politically-inspired initiative. Consists were the most standardized they'd been since the pre-VIA CN era. Erika and Andrew beside baggage car VIA 8619 on VIA No 60 with its new Canada word mark lettering on January 23, 1999:
On August 1, 1998 Erika was a few days short of her fourth birthday and we spent the day together. First stop was the Canatara Drive Country Style donut shop at 0900. We drove to Rigney Street, home of our favourite groundhog, Mr. Snuffles to watch trains. Then the VIA station, No Frills, Bath and back home by 1530. A lot of nature appreciation walks took place while we weren't paying attention to the passing 10 CN freights and 7 VIA trains.
The kids and I made numerous trips trackside that summer. Andrew enjoyed going to what we called the 'tie pile' north of Bath. Actually it was a CN access road to the Bath Spur interlocking at Mi 190 Kingston Sub, far enough from County Road 7 to be safely away from traffic, but with a turnaround big enough for the section crew to drop off scrap ties there and to accommodate our minivan. The site had a long view of approaching trains to the east and west, and if we were lucky, a train up or down the spur to Lafarge cement of the Lennox Generating Station. We caught 3 freights and 3 VIA in three hours there on August 16. Erika came along four days later, when there were 6 VIA trains and 1 CN freight in the evening.
Picton's annual train show was on September 19, 1998. David joined us and afterwards we continued on to Belleville. Four CN freights and 2 VIA trains came through in 2 hours. The last freight was a monster, a 151-car Quebec-Toronto CN No 301. Many CN freights were now operating with well over 100 cars.
In January and March 1999, I made two more trips to Toronto by train for a CMLTO Board of Inquiry I was serving on. Up on VIA No 651, home on Nos 48 and 64. On February 27, Karen baked my Dad's birthday cake in the shape of the D&H herald. What better and more risky way could there be to photograph it before cutting it?
With Andrew turning 10 and Erika turning 5, it was a good era for trainwatching. We made trips to the Bath Spur tie pile, Belleville, Kingston Mills and Smiths Falls. I filled an entire scribbler with observations, 'Heard On Scanner' (HOS), 'Seen From House' (SFH) reports and car-tracing data between March 18 and October 31, 1999.
After the Quinte International Air Show at CFB Trenton on June 12, Dad, Andrew and I visited the Belleville yard, catching 4 CN freights. The so-stencilled 'Winnipeg Auxiliary' train was parked in a pocket track near the yard office on Station Street. Car-tracing showed it heading to Linton, Quebec as OCS train No 486, perhaps to clean up a derailment there. CN 5545 led auxiliary crane CN 50359 and seven support cars.
On Friday, July 2 I witnessed my first-and-only derailment-in-progress.
Stationary railfanning? Actually, bridge-fanning! At the end of July, 1999 the Cataraqui Spur trestle just south of Front Road nearest the DuPont plant was replaced over the span of several days. Two large McGregor road cranes arrived from Cornwall and parked at the plant. The bridge was out on Monday, July 26. By Wednesday, only one crane was on site as I headed to work in the morning, gone by the end of the day. CN No 590 came to switch the plant Thursday morning, with a tamper working onsite in the afternoon.
An August Civic Holiday visit to Kingston Mills on August 2 netted 4 CN freights and 8 VIA trains from 1400-1830.
Quinte '99 was on Wednesday evening, August 25. Dad treated us to Harvey's and Tim Hortons snacks. Dave was techie-scanner updater and car-tracer using cellphone. Andrew recorded video, performed car counts and was concierge for catering:
We observed 5 CN freights and 6 VIA trains over four hours. CN No 480 at 1720 was headed by CN 5713 leading 12 General Motors new C-C JT42CWR export units: 9 EWS for England, 2 HGK for Germany. Then CN flat cars 667036-667912 with trucks followed by 8 SNCFT GT18B units for Tunisia. CP 'Iron Highway' No 121 at 1738 (below) comprised two 20-platform units but only a paltry pair of trailers. Dave plaintively exclaimed, "My pension depends on that!" CP's Cobourg turn followed at 1800, westbound behind CP 8249-1116 with three CP covered hoppers.
Becancour-Toronto monster freight CN No 301 spent three hours in Belleville, lifting 1500 tons of west traffic and setting out 3 bad-order cars. Passing us at 1810 with 183 cars behind CN 5557-CNNA 2451-4117-5548(last unit added at Belleville) they had lifted 2 cars in Brockville and 27 more in Belleville. Though this train routinely ran 130 cars, this bunker caused the conductor to express concern to the RTC about its length and weight before departing Belleville!
On September 19, 1999, Dad, Andrew and I took in the Picton train show, seeing 2 CN freights and 1 VIA train at Belleville afterwards.
On November 6, 1999 we said 'goodbye' to Karen's parents as they left Kingston aboard VIA for Toronto thence Saskatoon and eventually Prince Albert, SK. They boarded the middle car of three at 0715: 6408-4106-4122-4110.
Ledcor was trenching fibre-optic cable along CN's Kingston sub with up to 30 pieces of equipment including hi-rail equipment and backhoes throughout October and November under Foreman Desrochers and Steve Smith. This was after CN put the initial cables through around 1985.
CN's longer trains were causing break-apart and hog-lawed crews. On November 25, No 367 was in emergency two miles west of here. Two airbuses separated between two long-drawbar centre beam bulkhead flat cars 120 cars back on their 8,700-foot train.
On December 12, 1999 we drove out to Amherstview to meet the stepfather of Andrew's friend Jeff. (Interestingly, Jeff himself would become a CN foreman, beginning his career in northern BC before moving on to Toronto where he was in charge of all area Rule 42 foremen!) Foreman Dwayne Gifford was a Rule 42 foreman for a crew picking up sections of relay welded rail cut to 40-foot lengths. Driving a black Dodge Dakota hi-rail pickup, along with a CN welding hirail a large International boom truck pulling a CN gondola. The rail was billed to Regina (?IPSCO).
With the leaves gone, I was able to collect some unusual Seen From House sightings:
- Feb 2/00 Bilevels on the tail-end of No 364 (2 GO, 1 Sounder).
- Feb 7/00 KCS 66xx on a five-unit No 379.
- Feb 12/00 Ex-CP 5394 on No 103.
- Feb 26/00 DWP 5905 on a 129-car No 369.
Problematic freight trains going into emergency at year-end:
- Dec 18/99 No 306 at Mi 182 - broken knuckle.
- Dec 26/99 No 366 at Mi 179 - parted airhoses 6-7 cars from tail-end.
- Dec 26/99 No 318 at Mi 157.
- Jan 3/00 No 306 at Mi 179 - air leak.
- Jan 27/00 No 301 at Perth - blocking both main tracks.
- Jan 29/00 No 318 at Mi 182 - parted airhoses.
CN RTC Tim Ball was the maestro of CN's calamity orchestra at the time, often providing sardonic responses and clear exasperation at CN's daily mini-meltdowns. CN is doing their annual rail replacement on curves at Amherst View on April 24, 2000. Andrew and I are atop the boom as sections of CWR and hefted into place:
Under-represented on Trackside Treasure, here is my Mom, about to become a senior citizen, proudly receiving her Queen's BA in Linguistics in May, 1998:
Thanks for being aboard this year-long train of thought as we retrace, remember, and yes, wallow in nostalgia these fifty years trackside. Watch for an upcoming Sixth part as we enter the new millennium.
Running extra...
This is the most unsettling video I've watched in some time. Forget about those news reports where viewers are warned "Just a warning that this report contains disturbing images". This then-and-now YouTube video of the cast of Saving Private Ryan really is otherworldly. It's nice to see Bryan Cranston's lower arm spontaneously re-grow at the 3:05 mark! I guess in the movie biz that's called a wrist-shot?
Oh, how about one more? The cast of Band of Brothers gets the same treatment. Some look remarkably the same, others look undeniably different! There's also version of the classic A Bridge Too Far, but it's full of too many angels for my liking. During the filming of A Bridge, the real Lt. Col. Frost visited the set and corrected Hopkins, telling him that British officers do not run while being shot at—they walk, to show utter contempt for danger. Remember Frost's fox-hunting horn used to rally his scattered troops of 2 Para? It's now safely ensconced in the British Airborne Assault Archives.
Watch for an upcoming post on VIA's implementation of LRC buffer cars on LRC consists this past March. First detected last September, structural issues were remediated and the fleet will soldier on for the next nine months. Unlike CN, VIA has performed and shared its Risk Assessments:
First past the post:
Rapido Trains Inc.'s 'The Next Generation' boxcar arrived by courier for my elder grandson a couple of weeks ago. When I told him this, and he asked me more than once, "What's a boxcar?". (We sometimes forget that decades-different frames-of-reference are indeed different!) This past weekend, we unboxed it. Thanks to Jason Shron and his company for generously giving this opportunity to young and new modellers, as well as clubs who receive a six-pack. In an industry in which so many curse the darkness, Rapido has lit at least one candle to kindle flames of interest in model railroading. Just for fun, in the midst of a coupler change, here is the newly-arrived RPDX ex-BCOL combination-door Trenton Works boxcar with my kitbash attempt that has been languishing undecalled for CN for decades:
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