Summertime at the Station - August, 2024

On Friday, August 30 my good wife's good friend phoned to ask if she could drop by for a visit. I figured, well, here's three hours of chatting - good time to go trackside! I could not have known that the night's train traffic would be brought to a standstill. I headed out for the Kingston VIA station at 2000, returning home at 2300.

Around 2030 that evening, an incident occurred east of Kingston near Queens East at Mi 174 CN Kingston Subdivision, involving VIA No 54 (Venture Set 18, aka LUMI). Nothing was rolling eastbound or westbound through Kingston after 2020. 

As a result of the incident, five VIA trains were delayed. Based on 'transitdocs' train tracker data (below - screen capture map at midnight) on which the black background indicates train operating 1+ hour late, as well as VIA's own train status page, showing station stop OS's, I was able to come up with the following:

• VIA No 48: 3 mins late Napanee, 1 hr late Kingston, 2 hrs late Gananoque.
• VIA No 54: 10 mins late Napanee, 11 mins late Kingston, 2 hrs 30 mins late Brockville.
• VIA No 59: 40 mins late departing Ottawa, 48 mins late Brockville, 3 hrs late Kingston.
• VIA No 668: 30 mins late Oshawa, 30 mins late Kingston 2 hrs 45 mins late Cornwall.
• VIA No 669: on time Cornwall, 2 hr 14 mins late Kingston.

Arriving at the station after the obligatory Tim Hortons drive-thru visit, I often take an iPhone image of the expected trains from the in-station screen. Everything looked normal, that is, nearly every train was running late! We're good to go!

So early on, it seemed like just a normal night at Kingston station. In the large expanse of parking lot east of the station, two teens were riding around on their scooters. Sirens occasionally wailed on the Princess Street overpass just west of the station. VIA No 69 pulled in on the north track at 2010, and all six LRC cars looked full: 

910Love the way-3462-3460-3310Ren-3312R-3306R-3342.

Seven minutes later, VIA No 54 arrived on the south track, its unbanal banananess blaring LUMI, VIA's 18th Venture set! Locomotive 2218, cars ending in -18, cab car 2217. 

Departing, showing the put-me-together VIA logo's cleft palette between locomotive and first Business Class car:

Another eastbound was coming, although the signals at the east end of the station showed all red. Opposing traffic coming? VIA No 668 pulled in at 2047:

913L-3458-3326R-3324R-3309R.

I tried some iPhone night-time photography. I find the phone camera works well under two conditions: the subject isn't moving, and the photographer isn't moving. I used nearby light poles and sign posts to stabilize.

No 668 sat there, and sat there, and sat there. Nothing coming west, no change in the red signals. I walked to the west end of the train and noticed passengers on the south (Track 2) platform - on their phones, sitting, standing, talking, walking, smoking...various indications of idleness. This was my first 'hmmm...' moment -  something was amiss. As I walked back along the train, I noticed the cars' doors were open, and some passengers who had been sitting in their seats had disappeared from inside the train. This was my second indication. And it sat there...

Another snapshot of the pending trains on the in-station screen (below). The revised times seemed to be just pulled from thin air. I did overhear a ticket clerk on the phone, saying "Keep me posted".

First, I'd heard a bell from the west end of the platform. Then I knew two trains were going to be sitting in the station. At 2211, 2212 pulled in behind. By that, I mean at 10:11 p.m., Venture Set 13 pulled in as VIA No 48, stopping about 30 feet from the tail-end of No 668.

In the brightly-lit cab, I could see the head-end crew swapping seats for the remainder of the trip, whenever it was to begin. That was after bringing back two coffees from aboard No 668. Two views showing the proximity of the two perpetually-present peripatetic passenger trains:

Both trains were still there when I headed home at 2300. Before that, another pending train update (below) with the revised times leaning later and later. Apparently, VIA Nos 54 and 59 were on the move from the incident site shortly after I left. I don't know about delayed freight trains, but daylight-dodging denizens like CN No 148, 306, 377 et al were out there somewhere.

TRESPASSER FATALITIES

I have no indication of what the incident was at Queens East. Was it someone walking across or along the tracks and just not paying attention? All I can say with certainty, based on official sources, is that a trespasser stepped in front of the train at Mi 174 in front of VIA No 54 at 2024, and the incident was confirmed to be a fatality. Based on past experience, the complete blockage of both CN Kingston Subdivision main tracks and the extended delay to trains and passengers leads me to believe this was a trespasser fatality. I haven't had the misfortune on being on a VIA train involved in one, but I have been on a train behind one. Experience has shown that a non-fatal trespasser encounter (emergency and railway response) consumes about two hours, and a fatal encounter (emergency response, railway and coroner response) halts all traffic for about three hours.

VIA spokeswoman Mylene Belanger responded to reporters after such an incident, "Fatal collisions are often traumatic for the crew. As you may imagine, this is a very hard event for the engineer as he cannot stop the train as fast he would have hoped. [Freight] trains take up to two kilometres to fully stop, making it difficult for an engineer to avoid a collision."

Fifteen people have died at railway crossings across Canada in the past year, according to Operation Lifesaver. Even during the past week, Canada's Transportation Safety Board Rail Occurrence Database System lists three pedestrian fatalities. It's not always clear whether these are intentional or not. 

Locomotive engineers' traumatic experiences, and the impact of such events should already be well-known among the railway community. Fortunately, there has been an increased emphasis on the importance of mental health awareness in many workplaces, and the inevitability of such incidents usually results in the immediate replacement of the head-end crew. This is a major component of the hours of delay before resuming traffic after such an incident.

SUICIDE BY TRAIN

The psychosocial causes and impact of suicide by train are beyond the scope of this post. Notwithstanding the factors that lead to such incidents, one obvious outcome is the delay not only to the train involved, but all trains around. On the Friday night I was trackside, five VIA trains carrying hundreds, perhaps over a thousand passengers, and some freight trains were delayed. Imagine the extent of incident management that VIA and CN have to immediately engage in, not to mention unplanned changes to the passengers' travel plans and the effect of changes made on the fly. One person's actions affecting innumerable others.

On an average day, there are 12 suicides in Canada, for a yearly total of 4,500. Statistics posted by UQAM (pre-2009) showed an average of 43 suicides by train annually in Canada, of which only 5% involve a vehicle, although 43% of all rail accidents involve a vehicle. Rail suicide incidents are often close to where the victims live, and twice as many occur along open tracks compared to road crossings. While mental health issues are rare among accident victims, the majority of suicide victims have known mental health issues. Men account for 80% of suicides. Most accident victims are employed, while half of suicide victims are not. Suicide by train is counted within the 15% 'other' category of suicide reporting, at a far lower late than the three most prevalent categories comprising the 85%: suffocation, poisoning and firearms, comprising only 1.5% of all suicides.

The Canadian Psychiatric Association's Media Guidelines for Reporting on Suicide advocate against reporting excessive detail of suicides in the media. There has been documented contagion [copycat factor] when suicide details are broadcast, and the incidents' newsworthiness is often questionable. Living near several road overpasses over the CN Kingston Subdivision, I can attest to the fact that suicides by train go mostly unreported.

MOVING FORWARD

In our area, one initiative that's repeatedly and currently before Kingston city council calls for the city to pay millions of dollars for right-of-way fencing and other measures, thereby reducing trespasser access and enabling a CN and VIA whistling ban. Perhaps this includes self-harm barriers at the many road overpasses within city limits.

The night's rail traffic got flowing again, and I'm sure all involved, as well as those of you reading this post, hope it will never happen again.

 ANOTHER VIA STORY THIS WEEK...

A major media black-eye for VIA occurred on August 31, when passengers waiting at Quebec City for VIA No 39, which should have left at 1457 was still heading east as VIA No 622 marooned for several hours at Laurier-Station, QC on CN's Drummondville Subdivision. An expected three-hour trip became 14, with ten of those hours spent stationary. 

A Reddit post: '...this guy had a huge accident under the train trying to fix it and should have been at the hospital instead of being on the train trying to manage unruly passengers'. A video posted to social media showed a VIA engineer, in cab car 2309, grabbing a passenger's phone while he was recording the scene. The engineer had just effected a repair under the train, likely suffering a concussion, and was returning to the cab in the car-car. There being no outside door on the cab, he was subjected to passenger behaviour on his way through the car interior up the aisle to the cab door!

As if that wasn't bad enough, reports circulated that vodka and beer were served to passengers to placate them during the wait. A local fire department was reportedly called upon to assist in the transfer of passengers from No 622 to No 24 or 26 which then became a de facto No 39, expected to depart Quebec City at 2200. 

VIA had pizza and water delivered at 2030 for the stranded passengers, who had air-conditioning most of the time, wi-fi all of the time, and beverages and snacks until onboard stock ran out. Complaint: passengers on the trailing VIA No 24 only had pretzels! 

Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodrigues met with VIA Rail officials this past week. This will likely lead to an investigation into all facets of the incident: customer service, operations, and mechanical issues with Venture Set 10. VIA maintained that no buses were available to effect transport to destination on the single-track CN line, and it will be interesting to see if VIA's political masters publish the investigation results. Will the earth move under VIA's feet? Oh, and the hard-luck rescue train was halted at Saint-Eugene, QC waiting for safety bridge inspections after the 4.6 magnitude earthquake near Drummondville!

Here's how railfans would remedy this terrible situation. (I am not making this stuff up!):

• VIA should position rescue locomotives (and tool cars!) at hubs like Kingston and Quebec City, presumably paying crews on 'hot standby'. There's also the issue of just which tracks these rescue consists would spend the majority of their time sitting on, idling. 
• VIA should tack a P42 (we just have them sitting around!) onto every Siemens consist in the event the Venture locomotive breaks down.
• VIA operations centre should patch directly into the train's PA system to deliver operational updates every 15 minutes.
• VIA should keep all its older equipment on hand: F40's, P42's and LRC and HEP equipment until the Ventures' teething troubles are over.
• Don't do anything - the whole Venture fleet will be scrapped in the next 20 years! No, 10!!

YET ANOTHER VIA STORY THIS WEEK...

VIA Venture Set 12 operated as test train 331/334 on September 1/2, running from Toronto to Sarnia return, with Burton Manor and coach 8101 on the tail-end, no less. Photo (above) of No 331 posted to social media with the test run in progress. Two HEP cars along for the ride to assess pulling power. The long-awaited advent of Ventures venturing into Southwest Ontario revenue service may be at hand: VIA Nos 79 and 87 will have new fleet soon, likely meaning Nos 67, 68 and 72 and could be Venture-equipped as well, if cycling stays the same. 

Running extra...

The VIAriety in this post has stretched it out to the point that it resembles a Venture train pulling two ex-Canadian cars! VIA is just so newsworthy, and I'm not even touching trending topics from social media like baggage allowances, less liquor in Business Class, unreasonably high fares and such. There are certain behaviours that Canadians seem to own that I would classify as eating our young: sending our promising artists abroad to become famous before returning home, bitching about our hallowed institutions, and politely complaining about the weather and that moose on our front lawn.

Well if it's not VIA, or the aforementioned moose, it's politics. We have an unpopular JT for PM, a PP waiting in the wings, a JS stepping out of the confidence-and-supply agreement with JT, and a KH getting ready to debate DJT. Just for fun, make a list of former world leaders whose initials were JC! Fun! Hey, if you're old enough to remember the 1975 James Clavell novel, or young enough to Google:

VIA Trains - Rescued!

In a previous post, I highlighted VIA trains that I'd observed being rescued by CN and CP units. In this post, I'll profile many, many more VIA trains that were recorded as being rescued in a similar fashion, all across Canada! Presented without photos, or any commentary, I'll let these OS's speak for themselves. In the above linked post, I included all the rescue trains I'd photographed. (Top photo - taken on December 27, 1983 by Bill McArthur from the Dan Dell'Unto collection on Railpictures dot ca, shared with permission from Dan.)

The paucity of pre-1982 rescues probably pertains predominantly to the non-prevalent practice of jotting down and sharing of consists in print. In the next ensuing years, VIA's first-generation inherited power was getting older, and rail enthusiasts were sharing rescue consists. In late 1986, VIA began taking delivery of its new 6400's, which immeasurably helped locomotive reliability and allowed VIA to selectively sideline some of its sickly cab units. The progression through perilously paltry post-1990 recorded rescues pertains predominantly to CN and CP expecting VIA to often send out its own rescue locomotives except if otherwise dictated by extraordinary emergency exigencies! 

This is not intended to be an all-time or exhaustive compilation. VIA rescue train listings include the following if known: date, rescuing and rescued original locomotives, VIA train number, location observed or portion of run rescued, and any remarks. 

Pre-1982

• Jan/77 - CP FP7A 4031 rescued No 45 Eng VIA 6791 at Smiths Falls, to Toronto.
• May 13/80 - CP 5825 led No 2 into Calgary with 1962‐CP 8516
• Jan 5/81 - CP 5519 rescued the Canadian 6535-6569, observed at Ottawa 10 hours late.
• Sep/81 - CP 1811 rescued the eastbound Canadian 6798-6627, observed at Ottawa.

1982

• Jan 4/82 - CN 4587 from Kitchener rescued No 668 CN Eng 3103 after auto collision.
• Mar 25/82 - CN 4415 rescued No 660 Stratford to Toronto 6135‐6100‐6005‐6006‐6209.
• May 4/82 - CN 5041 rescued 6917-seven LRC cars-6918, observed at Kingston.

• May 25/82 - CN 2529 rescued No 1/55 6539-6625-CN3115, observed at Kingston.
• July 1982 - CN 3668 rescued No 63, observed at Kingston.
• Aug 5/82 - CN 9583 rescued No 1/55 6900-6625-6863, observed at Kingston.
• Aug 13/82 - CN 3716 rescued No 45 just west of Ottawa.
• Aug 21/82 - CP 8526 led No 197 VIA 6125 after collision with livestock between South Edmonton and Calgary.
• Sep 16/82 - CN 2043 rescued the LRC consist of No 33 east of Ottawa, continuing to Toronto as No 45.
• Thanksgiving/82 - GMD-1’s 1901-1902 led No 22’s LRC consist between Montreal and Ste Foy, QC.
• Nov/82 - CN 3735 rescued No 37 VIA 6900-SGU-four blue & yellow cars from Coteau to Ottawa.
• Dec 27/82 - VIA 6767 rescued No 83 VIA 6900-LRC consist Toronto-Sarnia. 
• Dec 27/82 - CN 3769 rescued No 19 VIA 6760 east of Drummondville, QC.

1983

• Apr 7/83 - CN 25xx from CN No 318 added to VIA No 45’s LRC consist at Kingston.
• Sep 11/83 - CP 8732 rescued No 1 VIA 6523 Sudbury- Winnipeg.
• Dec 27/83 - CN 4120 rescued eastbound train led by VIA 6911 through Hamilton West (top photo).

1984

• Jan 9/84 - CN 4100 rescued No 46.
• Jan 27/84 - CP 5552 rescued No 2 VIA 6502 into Toronto.
• Mar 11/84 - CN 2322 rescued No 74, 6 cars 6528 bad‐order.
• Mar 18/84 - CP 5563 led No 2 into Winnipeg.
• Aug 8/84 - CP 5502 rescued No 2 VIA 6505, Sicamous, BC to Calgary.
• Aug 17/84 - CN 3223 led No 68.
• Sep 18/84 - CN 3115 was leading No 43. Rescued by CN SW1200RS 1307 after failing west of Ottawa.
• Nov 7/84 - CN 3121 led No 46 after VIA 6901 had headlight problems.
• Dec 6/84 - VIA 6763 rescued failed VIA 6929 on No 46.

1985

• Jan 10/85 - CN 4401 rescued No 37 CN 4361, between Coteau and Ottawa.
• Jan 13/85 - CN 1305 rescued No 44 VIA 6786 after an engine room fire.
• Feb 13/85 - CN 4417 rescued No 36 VIA 6779.
• Feb 14/85 - CN 3643 rescued No 37 CN 3118 at Lachine.
• Feb 15/85 - CN 3737 rescued CN 3123 at Coteau.
• Mar 9/85 - CN 1242 and a sister unit rescued No 56, leading Oshawa, ON to Montreal.
• Mar 10/85 - CP 4500 rescued the Canadian, leading into Toronto.
• Apr 22/85 - CN 3119 rescued No 37 and its failed CN 4362.
• May/85 - CP 3037 led the Canadian VIA 6305-6309 into Vancouver.
• May 31/85 - CN 3726 rescued No 31’s freshly-rebuilt VIA 6314 at Coteau.
• Jun 8/85 - VIA 6763 rescued No 45 VIA 6902 at Ottawa.
• Aug 4/85 - CP 5903 rescued No 4 VIA 6309, leading east from Coquitlam, BC.
• Aug 8/85 - CP 4713 rescued No 2 VIA 6788 west of Ottawa.
• Sep 1/85 - CN 4302 rescued No 45 VIA 6922, returning the train from Wass to Otttawa station. 
• Sep 16/85 - CP 8783 rescued No 2 VIA 6790. 
• Sep 19/85 CP 1823 rescued No 2 VIA 6502.
• Sep 20/85 - CN 1300 led No 44 Brockville-Ottawa, then No 38 Ottawa-Montreal, since no VIA unit was available at Brockville, having been previously borrowed to power a westbound to Toronto.
• Oct 11/85 - CN 4484 rescued No 37 VIA 6924 from Maxville to Ottawa, arriving three hours late. On CP’s Brockville Sub, 6924 died a second time. This time, CP 8679 rescued the train, returned the consist to Smiths Falls, then led the now-empty cars to Toronto.
• Oct 12/85 - CN 4496 rescued No 46 VIA 6771 at Brockville.
• Dec 10/85 - CP 4215 rescued No 2 VIA 6557. 
• Dec 13/85 - CP 8750 rescued No 2.
• Dec 19/85 - CN 4365 from Ottawa’s Walkley Yard rescued No 43.

1986 

• Jan/86 - CP 8785 rescued No 1, replacing damaged VIA 6774 west of Ottawa.
• Jan 14/86 - No 40 VIA 6905 had frozen brakes at Brockville. CN 2580 led the emptied consist on January 15 as a passenger extra between Ottawa and Montreal.
• Feb 2/86 - CP 1828 rescued No 2 west of Ottawa.
• Feb 21/86 - CP 1819 rescued No 2 at Ottawa.
• Mar 28/86 - CN 3124 from London rescued No 74 CN Eng 9316 Glencoe‐Toronto.
• Mar-Apr/86 - Rescue units on VIA trains at Ottawa: Mar 19 CP 4201; Mar 23 CN 3735; Apr 1 CN 3100; Apr 5 CN 4394; Apr 18 CN 4530.
• May 2/86 - CP (Expo) 5614‐CP 6032 rescued No 2 east from Vancouver.
• Jun 15/86 - CN SD50AF 9900 rescued No 14 in Moncton NB.
• Mid‐1986 - CP pulldown units 1200‐1246 rescued Havelock‐Toronto RDC 6127 near CP's Toronto yard.
• Jun 23/86 - CN 5082 rescued No 78 Eng 6516.
• Jul 27/86 - CP 8758 rescued the westbound Atlantic’s two VIA MLW units and 14 cars.
• Aug 4/86 - CP 4202 rescued No 2 into Ottawa.
• Aug/86 - Rescue units on VIA trains at Thunder Bay, ON: Aug 8 CP 5629; Aug 9 CP 5015; Aug 10 CP 1832.
• Aug 10/86 - CP 4231 rescued No 2 into Ottawa.
• Sep 21/86 - CN 5128 rescued VIA 6911, Alexandria, ON to Ottawa.
• Sep 22/86 - CP 3132 rescued No 10 6550‐6623 into Toronto.
• Nov‐86 - Rescue units on VIA trains at Thunder Bay, ON: Nov 14 CP 5951; Nov 21 CP 8792; Nov 24 CP 8766; Nov 25 CP 5525.
• Dec 28/86 - VIA 6530 rescued No 46 at Ottawa after 6400 died, while leading 6918 and 5 LRC cars out of Ottawa.

1987

• Jan 21/87 - CP 4216 rescued No 2 Eng 6783 at Ottawa.
• Jan 20/87 - VIA 6911 rescued Amtrak Maple Leaf Toronto‐New York.
• Jan 23/87 Guilford GP38 205 rescued Amtrak Adirondack New York‐Montreal.
• Feb 9/87 - Thunder Bay ON CP 3135‐6401‐6621‐15454‐6 cars.
• Feb 17/87 - CP 5756 rescued No 10 6507‐6631 into Toronto.
• Mar 19/87 - CP 4212 rescued No 2 Eng 6770 Ottawa‐Montreal.
• Mar 25/87 - CP 4220 rescued No 33 Eng 6913 Montreal‐Ottawa.
• Jun 16/87 - VIA 6781 rescued No 11 VIA 6412 at Moncton, replacing CN 17xx that had led from Halifax. 
• Jul 22/87 - CP 4223 added to No 2 at Ottawa.
• Jul 23/87 - CN 3213 rescued No 33 Eng 6918 into Ottawa.
• Aug 2/87 - CP 4563 rescued the Atlantic VIA 6412 into Saint John, NB replaced there by CN 5261 which led west to Montreal.
• Aug 15/87 - CP 4205 rescued No 2 Eng 6525 into Ottawa.
• Aug 16/87 - CP 5519 rescued No 2 Eng 6768 replaced by CN 3568 Ottawa‐Montreal.
• Aug 22/87 - CN 9594 rescued No 46 6918‐4 LRC cars‐6925 Kingston‐Ottawa.
• Sep 18/87 - CP 4250 rescued No 2 Eng 6779 6779 derailed at Carleton Place ON.
• Sep 22/87 - CN 3540 rescued No 46 6771‐5 B&Y cars after 6771 replaced an LRC locomotive.
• Oct 4/87 - CN 3509 rescued No 46 Eng 6900 due to broken windshield Belleville ON‐Ottawa.
• Nov 17/87 - CP 4222 rescued No 2 Eng 6550 Sudbury‐Montreal.
• Nov 22/87 - CP 1809 rescued No 45 Smiths Falls ON‐Toronto.
• Dec 16/87 - CN 4105 rescued No 62 Eng 6925 east of Toronto.

1988

• Feb 2/88 - CP 3080 rescued No 1 at Calgary 6403‐15443‐7 cars.
• Feb 2/88 - CN 4247 rescued No 3 into Edmonton 6504‐6505, CN 5276 replaced 4247‐6505 at Edm.
• Feb 5/88 - CN 9172 assisted No 4 at Biggar SK 6569 (idling)‐6652.
• Feb 23/88 - CP 8633 rescued No 2 Sudbury‐Ottawa due to defective speedometer on 6789.
• Feb 23/88 - CN 3529 rescued No 9 into Toronto 65xx‐66xx‐SGU‐8 cars.
• Feb 24/88 - CN 3529 rescued No 10 6429‐6624‐15423‐9 cars.
• Mar 10/88 - CN 1391 rescued Nos 48/89 Eng 6768.
• Mar 12/88 - CN 9531 rescued No 3 into Edmonton along with 6611‐15488 to Jasper.
• Mar 20/88 - CN S13u 8703 rescued VIA Atlantic Windsor Jct‐Halifax NS.
• Mar 23/88 - CP 3046 rescued No 1 6406‐6602 (ailing) Kamloops‐Vancouver, CP van on tailend, brakes cut out on Park car.
• Apr 13/88 - CP 4554 rescued No 2 at Renfrew ON ailing 6777, CN 3124 took over Ottawa‐Montreal.
• May 29/88 - CP 5783‐5756 rescued No 1 into Winnipeg trailing two SGU's.
• Jun 23/88 - CP 4209 rescued No 2 Eng 6530 into Ottawa, replaced there by CN 4380.
• Jun 24/88 - CP 1819 rescued No 1 Eng 6786 at Pembroke ON.
• Jun 29/88 - VIA 6918 rescued No 49 with ailing 6514 Ottawa to Brockville, 6418 and two cars returned to Ottawa as No 48 with three units: 6418‐6918‐6514.
• Aug 8/88 - CP 3047 rescued No 2 Eng 6788 into Ottawa.

1989

• Jan 22/89 - CP 3079 rescued No 2 Eng 6783 into Ottawa.
• Feb 14/89 - CN 5092‐6604 on No 3.
• Mar 5/89 - CN 9444 rescued ailing 6540 on No 2, CN Sudbury to North Bay ON CP North Bay‐Ottawa‐Montreal.
• May 1/89 - CP 6033 rescued No 10 into Toronto 6420‐6610‐6634.
• May 9/89 - No 41 at Smiths Falls ON CN 4008‐6413‐3 LRC cars, CN 4008 had rescued ailing 6919 on May 8, returning west.
• May 19/89 - CN 3543 rescued No 47 into Ottawa.
• Jun 12/89 - CP 3101 rescued No 2 Eng 6415 into Ottawa.
• Aug 16/89 - CP SD40‐2F 9003 rescued No 1 into Vancouver.
• Aug 25/89 - CP 5970 rescued No 1 VIA 6408-6620, observed at Field, BC.
• Sep 23/89 - CP SD40‐2F 9010 rescued No 1 into Vancouver.
• Nov 19/89 - CP 5562 rescued No 2 Eng 6425 into Ottawa.
• Dec 25/89 - CP SD40‐2F 9019 rescued No 1 into Vancouver.

1990-1999

• Apr 13/91 - CN 3536 rescued westbound Atlantic into Saint John NB, CP 1857 took over at Saint John.
• May 11/91 - CN SW1200RSm led 4 LRC cars from Windsor to Toronto after 6445 derailed in Windsor ON.
• Mar 25/92 - CN 9444 led No 133 6506‐6306‐2 cars from Jonquiere to Montreal QC due to brake problems. Train routed via CN Taschereau Yard due to Mount Royal Tunnel clearance.
• Nov 27/93 Recently‐remanufactured CN SD40u led No 1 Engs 6445‐6402 into Edmonton, 6445 was ailing.
• Jan 11/94 - CN 9654 rescued No 76 with ailing 6411.
• Dec 10/95 - CN 2508 rescued VIA No 1 Engs 6454-6452 on CN's Yale Sub.
• Feb 11/96 - VIA 6454 led southbound Northlander replacing normally‐assigned ONR FP7A‐205‐4 ONR cars.
• Jan 5/99 - CNNA 9551 led VIA 6409, observed at Kingston, ON.

2000+

• Jan 15/03 - CN GP9RM 7003 led 10‐car Ocean Quebec‐Halifax, then Halifax‐Montreal on Jan. 17 after ailing 64xx removed, second unit was 6416.
• Jun 22/06 - CN 2661 led 64xx and VIA No 70's eight HEP cars from Brantford to the Toronto Maintenance Centre.
• Sep 21/13 - CN 4806 led No 14 VIA 6434 between Moncton and Halifax.
• Dec 27/23 - CN 2337 led VIA No 14 east from Moncton after multiple issues with the train in Quebec the day before.
• Mar 8/25 - CN 402's power 8315-3022 went with a VIA crew from Quebec, from Riviere du Loup to rescue VIA No 15 engine 6433 in a snowstorm westbound at Rimouski.

Running extra...

I have an neighbour who has foregone his old Ford Windstar minivan from the 1990s and is now driving a brand-new Ford Bronco! He is 86.

I have a neighbour who interestingly cuts his large, pie-shaped lawn in an outward spiral. When complete, it looks as if aliens visited and left a crop circle on the lawn!

I have a neighbour who has a large number of cats, and to satisfy city solid-waste requirements, precisely weighs out the two bags of litter, and tape-labels them with their weight - at or just under the maximum out for pickup!

I have a neighbour who has two little dogs named Molly and Ollie. One even has a middle name!

I have a neighbour who, when he talks to you, pushes up on his own upper denture up to four times in one conversation!

What's This? Another Editorial?

Any day of the week, you and I can catch up on what JD Lowe is modelling and thinking in my right sidebar - in Trackside Treasure's 2024 feature blog '30 Squares'. Two days after JD wrote a perceptive piece on Model Railroader's 90th anniversary that really caught my eye and got me thinking, his post inspired me to erect an esoteric editorial energetically effecting eclectic edification, giving you some pensive pauses or at least a target at which to throw your rotten vegetables and other biodegradable bytes.

It must be the front-porch time I spend watching the buzzards turn lazy circles in the sky over those neighbours who take one hour and 40 minutes to cut their lawn twice-over, lulling my brain into mulling such trending topics. When I do editorialize, it's me stepping out from behind the curtain where I spin the wheels and jiggle the levers to document Canadian railway doings (in 887 posts over the past 16 years) here. It allows me a moment to inhale, exhale and have a word or two with you, before the next train.)

• 2023 - thoughts on train shows
• 2023 - pensive about the pandemic
• 2022 - planting my modelling flag
• 2022 - printed a few things
• 2020 - thoughts on sharing online
• 2020 - freedom modelling thoughts 
• 2020 - silence of the memes
• 2019 - what about Facebook? And guess who one of the commenters was! None other than JD! "I like to think I'll give up when I've run out of things I want to write about." [except he hasn't, and he doesn't!]

Now...back to JD's excellent blog post and a few excerpts from it. [Go read it. Screen shot - above] Pausing parenthetically prior to proceeding, JD's thinking/writing are in double quotes, article excerpts to which he refers are italicized within single quotes, and my editorial comments are in square brackets. JD begins by discussing the contrasts between the 50th Anniversary issue of Model Railroader (MR) and its 90th Anniversary issue published this year:

"I didn’t know that Ted Gioia would write an interesting SubStack article called The Death of the Magazine that would put MR front and centre in my mind.

"Even in 50 [MR's 50th Anniversary edition], MR’s editor at the time, Russ Larson, could see the unviability of print magazines on the horizon and made some interesting remarks on how model railroad magazine publishing might evolve in the future:

'There are two reasons why I believe the print medium will eventually become obsolete. The first is economic. The paper, printing, and delivery of a print magazine is between 35 percent and 50 percent of the cost of producing the product. When a means is found to get the information to the consumer more economically, the days of the print medium are numbered. The second reason is that, compared to television, video games, and computers, the print medium is rather dull. Reading is a great way to convey a lot of information quickly. Young people don’t read as well as my generation. A new vehicle for conveying information and entertainment is needed to make magazines and books interesting to young people who are growing up with color tv [!], computers [!!], and video games.'

In Larson’s prediction the media was still a one way affair, from publisher to reader. There’s nothing about what the reader might do with the information they were receiving on those electronic devices..."

In 1984, the magazine would publish maybe a handful of letters to the editor each month. That was the extent of reader engagement. Today, most of that reader engagement is sent to MR in the form of emails. Now, within minutes of posting online or blogging, one can anticipate reader comments within minutes. 

Actually, Model Railroader's 50th Anniversary edition is one of the Twelve Issues I Kept. In my 2017 post, here's how I summarized the stuffed-like-a-Christmas-turkey special issue:

January 1984 MR - Golden Anniversary Special. An impressive 266 pages! Another tour - this time a 'restored' Milwaukee Hiawatha 4-4-2 hit the road visiting MR staples - Carrabassett & Dead River, Cat Mountain & Santa Fe, Jerome & Southhwestern with oompah bands, forced perspective and painted structure proclaiming, "Miracle Chair Co if it's a good chair, it's a Miracle!". Stats on the hobby: average modeller 40 year-old college grad, making $30,000 a year and spending a paltry $590 on the hobby per year. State of the art proto loco was the SD50. AHC ad: Atlas FP7 for $19.95. Athearn ad: Dupont Alathon ACF Center Flow $3.50. An industry panel predicted electronic magazines, fewer words, more images, and in the late 1980's American homes will be able to access 'remote data banks' using computers. Fun! Nice article on Al Kalmbach and the genesis, history and editors of MR.

Did you catch that? Home access to 'remote data banks' using computers? [Well, that's how you're reading this right now!] Turns out that panel of prognosticators prophesied precisely. I think back to suffering through all those pages and pages of mail-order train-store advertising that used to choke the first half of Model Railroader. That was producing revenue for the magazine, but by the time I finally got to the opening editorial and the first article, it had been a long slog. Print wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

JD continues bringing that prediction into the present: "Today there appears to be no need for magazines in any form. Today’s reader of model railroading information is very different from yesterday’s. As well as being a reader they can also be a forum poster, commenter, blogger, video watcher, YouTube creator, influencer, manufacturer’s shill, and so on. Those magazine-related tasks that Larson suggested, like editing text and creating graphics, as well as sophisticated things like video production, can easily be done without the services of publishers."

Those magazine-related tasks are what enable us to blog, to vlog and to post in various social media. In fact it's the best part of blogging for me. I can publish what, when, and how I feel like it, with attention paid by me to my writing rather than by some editor. I post photos I want to share. I cover the topics I am interested in, not what fits with the publication schedule of upcoming issues. 

And let's not paint all magazines with the same brush, and ink. Fellow blogger and word-and-thought-wizard Chris Mears made his own magazine. It's something like a blog with the creator also being the editor, photographer, and modeller. Sure as the next crop of static grass on someone's HO hillside comes up in the spring, his One will become Two. Palette and pastiche.

"Gioia suggests what magazines provided was great writers, which in model railroading terms could be translated to mean access to great model railroaders. However, in today’s world Gioia goes on to suggest that even that is no longer necessary given easy access to platforms that allow those writers, or model railroaders, to publish directly to an audience. Given that’s the current situation he asserts all magazines will soon die off."

In the Death of a Magazine article, Gioia portrays how magazines spiral in to die:

JD ably wrestles with the idea of model railroading print media being replaced, or at least generationally and transitionally augmented, by pixels. [Really, go read it.]

When I go to the magazine section of my local Shoppers Drug Mart or Indigo, I find racks and stacks of glossy magazines staring back at me, but it's always just me. Nobody else is there, jostling me to reach one to look at. I could probably just stand there for several minutes and it would be no different. 

While at Shoppers recently before heading trackside, I bought an issue of MR. Somewhat out of nostalgia -  since I planted my modelling flag in the 1980s, I don't need to learn about DCC, 3D printing or applying prototypical cracks to my HO scale roads. It was then I realized that I only read the magazine in one of three contexts - during commercials while watching TV, while waiting for trains trackside, and the copy I keep in the van for when my wife is in a store shopping! Flip, floppy, flip. That might account for a total of three hours a month. You know, three hours, what my laptop tells me is my average daily screen time! Type, tippy, tap! As soon as I'm able to organize my thoughts, type out the words, format the post and hit 'PUBLISH' the results are instantaneous. 

We've heard the death knell being sounded for model railroading for over a decade now, often from some of those MR readers and their generation. The reply back from the manufacturers shills, and there are many in Canada who are in the business, is that this we are blessed to be living in the Golden Age of Model Railroading. But not Model Railroader. (MR is the only model railroading magazine I've mentioned so far in this post because it's most often the one peripatetically pilloried in the panoply of the model railroad press - the one that's most often seen to be spiralling. Railroad Model Craftsman has improved its quality exponentially, so it can be done in today's market.) If all the words and photos being posted to our 'remote data banks' every day were added up and their mass calculated, it would be hundreds or thousands times that of one monthly issue of a magazine. Inevitably though, one or several of you [and me!] will say that you prefer having the magazine as a tactile thing you can pick up and read with your own two hands.

Every excellent editorial ends with a call to action. I wish I had one. 

I will leave it you, valued Trackside Treasure reader, to conjure up your petition to your own self. 

Yo! Read on! However you do it, you do you, yo!

Running extra...

Meritocracy. Autocracy. Democracy. Only one of the three was on display in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. I watched all four nights, just as I had the RNC (Really No Change) earlier in Milwaukee. I watched Tim Walz steady Minnesota during the unfortunate George Floyd fallout. I can't believe in today's enlightened era that a [disgraced] ex-President has to make fun of another candidate's name, laugh, stepkids. What is this, Grade 4? God Bless America.

Maybe Beyonce' didn't make a DNC appearance, but the gracefully-aging Dixie Chicks did, though sweet baby septuagenarian James Taylor got squeezed out by superfluous speechifyin'. That's OK, I much prefer 70-something Billy Joel's 100th, currently being rebroadcast on CBS. This is the third viewing for me, mainly because of CBS's contractual obligation violation when they snipped the last two minutes off during the debut broadcast. "Hey Gene, what's this button do?"

Speaking of on-and-off, CN and CP are in and out of strike position as I type this. This has given the media a chance to get out all their file footage. I'm waiting for a brace of RS-18's to make an appearance. Come on, CBC, you can do it! Heck, Google and LinkedIn perpetrated this preposterous photographic picturesquestionableness:

Postscript: Sixteenth Anniversary Contest

Thanks to all those who have celebrated yet another blogging anniversary with me and the entire workforce here at Trackside Treasure [okay, me!]. I was pleased and honoured to receive multiple congratulatory emails, messages and good wishes as Trackside Treasure historically highballs onward into our seventeenth year. Here are three select answers for each question I posed in Trackside Treasure's Sixteenth Anniversary Contest:

 WHAT WOULD BE AN ALTERNATE NAME FOR VIA'S VENTURE 'LUMI'?

• Alternate name for LUMI? Turbo 2.0!!
• If I was running VIA, the new trains would be named Adventure.
• The Banana Boat.

2. WHAT WOULD BE AN ALTERNATE PAINT  SCHEME FOR VIA'S VENTURE 'LUMI'?

• The old Turbo scheme would fit the Siemens sets nicely.Your favourite kind of soup!
• The paint would be yellow bodies with a blue window band and a blue VIA logo at the end of the stripe. I would keep the black front and cab windows and get rid of the Via Rail Canada lettering on the coaches. Can you tell that I miss the Turbo?
• Honestly, I don't know. I don't "hate" the Turbo Interpretive scheme. Personally as much as I love throwback schemes on locos, I think VIA is better charting their own path as the main Venture/Charger Scheme does.

3. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KIND OF SOUP?

• Moxie's Broccoli Cheddar Soup - alas no longer a regular item (Quiznos is a close second). 
• Beer and Cheddar.
• My favorite soup is chili.
• Bonus answer [because I've never tried it] Favorite soup? Salsa.

Here are some additional comments generously engendered by my energetically engineered anniversary fete festival:

David Gagnon - You've developed and promoted a large network of fans and railroaders through all of your work over the years. You've also done a great persistent job of investigating and publicizing some of VIA's 'quiet' activities. And, of course, your historical posts using your lifetime of railway photography and documentation are a great resource for all of us to use and enjoy. Here's to another 16 (or more) years!

Stephen Gardiner -  "What would you have done differently if you ran VIA? " I would have had these configured with domes. Domes on the corridor would be the ultimate...doing it once was so fun, doing it every trip...and no, not panorama cars, proper domes, up high, looking over the train!! I got to do it once with Ride the Rapido, I want to do it every time I go up and down the Corridor on VIA. My Kingdom for whoever gets Siemens to design a dome and retrofit them mid set as a lounge/buffet.

Mark Hudson  from Georgetown, KY! - Congratulations on celebrating sixteen years of Trackside Treasure!  Yes, some of us south of the Canadian border enjoy seeing and reading your excellent coverage of railroading in the Great White North! My Sunday treat is to read seven blogs concerning various railroad topics.  Your blog is at the Top of the List!

Mark is also [drumroll..] the chosen winner of Trackside Treasure's Sixteenth Anniversary Contest Winner [cymbal crash!] and joins the plethoric pantheon of Trackside Treasure anniversary contest winners Boyko, Coe, Fulsom, Hall, Hammond, Hayman, Lisakowski, Martyniuk, May, Moore, Mueller, Palmer and Staiger. The potentially-coveted Trackside Treasure prize pack is on its way to Mark in Georgetown. Not Georgetown, Ontario mind you...this is Georgetown, Kentucky! 

Mark responds, "I am humbled at being the Trackside Treasure 16th anniversary winner!  I will celebrate with a 3-Way (chili, spaghetti, and cheese) at my favorite chili restaurant!  Thanks and keep the blogs coming!"

I'm proud to honour the international, potentially worldwide, reach that the internet gives Trackside Treasure to make connections that have become such a part of my blogging and books. And they keep happening!

UPDATE: Mark Sampson has received his Trackside Treasure annibursary. Just to show how aware he is when it comes to the history of VIA's Canadian, I was using up some earlier Canadian postage on the mailing. I affixed postage stamps showing Sir Isaac Brock and Sir William Osler. Mark noticed. Both men have ex-CP Manor cars named in their honour! 

Bravo, Mark!

Running extra...

Three finds in the fundraising section of the Isabel Turner Branch of the Kingston-Frontenac Public Library, all of which keep me in firmly in my armchair-traveller armchair! So far, I consumed all of Sticky Buns, and am still battling the Wind. Biking across a continent east-to-west may not be the best route, based on prevailing winds. I left the one on biking across South Africa on the shelf, however. Some other armchair-traveller was definitely on a roll!

UberVIAphile Tim Hayman has published a Tim's Train Travels blog post on the bulk of his trip west on the Canadian across Ontario and Western Canada. A must-read for anyone looking for a balanced report on VIA's flagship train.

Another unique voyage - American lake vessel Mark W Barker made its first trip into Lake Ontario carrying a load of salt from Cleveland to Ogdensburg. Jones Act and all that, protecting merchant marine jobs, from U.S. port to U.S. port. An unusual visitor!

Trackside Treasure's Sixteenth Anniversary

To celebrate the Sweet Sixteenth anniversary of my little corner of cyberspace, I need to first turn to my blog partners whose newsy blogs you'll read to the right. Steve Boyko, George Dutka/Don James/Peter Mumby, David Gagnon, Stephen Gardiner, Michael Hammond, Bernard Kempinski, Matthieu Lachance, JD Lowe, Chris Mears, Derek Pittman and Marc Simpson. 

THANK YOU!

I celebrate their cerebral contributions, I appreciate their additional additions, I promote their prolific posts! also value commenters' comments and suggesters' suggestions (as long as the latter realize I can't just whip up a post on their pet topic, like the 19th-century history of pet beavers being carried on Canadian passenger trains!).

ALWAYS THE CONTEST...

Once a year, Trackside Treasure sponsors its anniversary contest. This year, in the wake of VIA just naming its 18th Siemens Venture set 'LUMI', a lot of readers and enthusiasts have been suggesting other names and paint schemes beyond the YELLOW with black stripe (below - Trackside Treasure collection).

What would you have done differently if you ran VIA? You can participate and win in one of three ways. You must enter at least one answer. If you enter two or three, that's fine - it shows you are highly-motivated and likely an over-achiever!

• Tell me an alternate name for this yellow train set!
• Tell me an alternate paint scheme, perhaps a VIA throwback?
• Tell me your favourite kind of soup!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Simply answer by email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca, or as a comment to this post. It's just that easy! Entries closed at noon Eastern Time, Wednesday August 21, 2024. A winner will be randomly selected from any and all entries, and memorable entries will be published in a postscript! If I feel like it, I'll forward the entries to VIA Rail Canada. Now, rush to your device to enter! The prize will be the oft-desired Trackside Treasure anniversary prize pack!

RULES:.There always have to be contest rules - I always like to throw some in to make the lawyers earn their rather steep retainer. Contest not valid in places in Canada ending in 'z'. Do not drink or operate heavy equipment unless of course your job involves either one. Either way that's a hell of a job you've got there. No purchase necessary to win, although bribes are not only allowed but encouraged! Does not come with an accompanying free parking spot anywhere for a year. Discretion assured and legal representation provided pro bono not by Sonny Bono but instead by Sonny LaMatina. Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and sponsor’s and administrator’s decisions which are final and binding in all matters related to the promotion in which winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein and upon being a generally good person with a kind heart, nice hair and a love of small, furry creatures. Except squirrels (I cannot stand squirrels).

<POUR PARTAGER LA PISTE>

Seriously though, if that's possible at this point, I believe in giving back. Oddly enough, one reason I started blogging was because when I began in 2008, blogging was pitched as a money-maker! Turns out it's only lucrative with a huge fan base, tons of posts daily and hosting advertisements. Um, no thanks. So I started blogging my own way, pleased to have no editor or rules. There are inevitably nitpickers, but if I don't want them here picking nits, I can and do keep them out. If it weren't for Trackside Treasure, there would be no loyal Trackside Treasure readers. There would be none of the amazing connections I've made with like-minded readers, and the amazing opportunities and interactions with you that I continue to enjoy. There would be none of the eight books I've created that enabled me to share information with other enthusiasts offline. There would also not be my Saks Smart-Casual walk-in shoe cupboard, my armoire full of Prada shades, nor my membership in the Harrods Cologne of the Month club.

To give back and to celebrate last year's Trackside Treasure Crystal Anniversary, I proudly announced The Trackside Treasure Annibursary. Each August anniversary forthwith, I will bestow upon a fellow blogger, enthusiast, reader or preservationist a modest bursary to fuel their initiative, interest and ingenuity in blogging or other activity. The bursary can perhaps be used to pay for expenses incurred in sharing information, research costs, travel for research or if the honoree so chooses, even donated in their name to a Canadian rail preservation effort. The honoree and/or Trackside Treasure will be free to publicize this award as they so choose. 

TIME TO CUT TO THE CUT CRYSTAL

The Trackside Treasure Annibursary comes with a curvaceous crystal trophy inscribed with the recipient's name and year as well as the fancy French motto that describes all railway bloggers and researchers and loosely translates as "To Share The Track". No-one controls cyberspace alone, we need to share: knowledge, enthusiasm and information. That is our lofty goal to which all railway bloggers and researchers ascribe. (Oh, and the trophy is only a jpeg file, so don't look for a soapstone carving, gold-plated trophy or any achingly-weighty tchotchke in your mail, nor some huge brown paper-wrapped package you have to pick up at the post office, or arriving at your door with accompanied by an armed escort.)

           The 2024 recipient and second recipient ever is...Mark Sampson!

Mark and I started messaging way back in 2015. Like me, Mark enjoys the interesting historical highlights that make VIA a very manageable niche, dare I say micro-niche in the panoply of Canadian railways. Mark  is currently VIA's Customer Delivery Manager, Western Services. Among his duties are the training of Service Managers - three-week courses with an emphasis on emergency response and a plethora of other passenger train-related topics. He welcomed my good wife and I aboard the Canadian for our trip west in June, 2019.

Mark has been involved in the early stages of determining structural issues in HEP cars in 2018-19 that led to the unpopular buffer-car era. Stainless steel HEP cars were being refurbished during the pandemic. Twenty per cent of the Canadian fleet was sent to MMC and TMC for work. Mark penned a refuse-bag note in Churchill-wrapped diner Emerald's window in May, 2020 as the diner was passing through Kingston on the way east to Montreal. It reads, "Hi Eric"!

The last VIA No 2 arrived in Toronto on March 13, 2020 as the pandemic set in and most VIA trains were suspended. Due to the pandemic, in April of that year Mark was going in one day per week. In July 2020 management staff were working at 85% pay, facing lay-off in  December 2020, then April 2021 back to work! 

Mark has a penchant for the 1981-1983 VIA/Canadian era. As an ode to the Canadian's heritage, and with the eye of a curator, Mark emplaced excellent educational and historical display cabinets in four Skylines showing various eras of his favourite train's heritage. He created the displays in March, 2023 just in time for the extra Skyline being added for the longer summer trains in May of that year. 

Two passenger photos of Mark's displays as posted to social media: 

VIA 8500 CP-era display (above - Dec. 2023) 

and VIA 8507 early-VIA display (below - Jan. 2024):

VIA 8517 Silver & Blue display (below - Jul. 2024) kindly shared by Tim Hayman

VIA 8509(?) CN passenger display (below - Apr. 2025) kindly shared by Matt Soknacki

On his first trip as a VIA car attendant, Mark Sampson stands in front of Chateau Bienville, the first car of the Budd Canadian order for Canadian Pacific ( below - Mark Sampson photo). Mark told his own story as a contributor to my fourth book on VIA Rail:

Growing  up  loving  trains  isn’t  common,  a passion for anything in life can come from anywhere at anytime, nourished by someone and developed by those around us.   One train that still needed  my  attention  - The  Canadian.  By far my favourite train as a boy, it was something that  eluded  me.  The  pictures  in  my  scrapbook,  the posters on the wall, and the HO models just weren’t enough.  I needed to be in those dome cars for myself.  At eight years old I took my first trip on The Canadian, and at sixteen my parents and I reached the western terminus.  A little boy from Mile 2 of the Dundas Sub had now made his way to Vancouver by train. Fast-forward  to  spring  2012. Climbing aboard sleeping car 122 in Toronto seemed surreal, yet so familiar.   Had it really been 16 years?  Could I really be working for VIA?  Could  I really  be  working onboard the train that had immortalized the country and vice-versa? 

May 2012 - I am oficially a VIA Rail employee.  With several large bags in tow, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I take off for Winnipeg. New  friends  and  colleagues  I  met made  my  life  at  VIA  magical.      The  ‘new  guy’  from Ontario  fit  right  in,  and  all  that  train  information  I had read and collected over the years proved worthy.  Six weeks into my first year, I was selected to be an Activity Co-ordinator onboard.  Part of this job would mean  doing  presentations  about  the  history  of  the railway  and  The  Canadian.  It doesn’t  get any better than that.

He's at VIA for the long-haul. Keep up the great work, Mark.

Congratulations, and give yourself a thumbs-up!

UPDATE: Mark has received his Trackside Treasure annibursary. Just to show how aware he is when it comes to the history of VIA's Canadian, I was using up some earlier Canadian postage on the mailing. I affixed postage stamps showing Sir Isaac Brock and William Osler. Mark noticed. Both men have ex-CP Manor cars named in their honour! Bravo, Mark!

Running extra...

Let's let Mark answer the #1 question that prospective passengers pose before boarding the Canadian:

Tipping should be based on the service you receive.  If you feel the porter was good, feel free to leave a tip. You're not obligated to tip!  Same with the staff in the dining car. The train as a whole does not put the tips in a pot at the end and divide equally amongst all the crew. If my steak is cold but my server was well educated about the menu - why does the chef benefit? Keep in mind you’ll have one porter and dining car crew from Toronto to Winnipeg and another from Winnipeg to Vancouver. So don’t blow all your tip money on the first group!

I've got a tip - stay in school, kids!! Other frequently asked questions by those about to embark on the Canadian include 'What should I bring?', suggestions for hotel stops at either end of the journey, possibility of layovers, whether food is available, and 'What is the temperature like on board?'.

Thanks for joining me aboard this cavernous, cornucopia corner of cyberspace for 16 years!

--Eric