In Part 1 of this written wintry winterlude, I was at Kingston's VIA station on two successive, successful Saturdays - January 31 and in this Part 2, February 7, 2026. On this day, I was in the non-southern shadow [wrong] side [of the tracks]. Photo-editing would have to burnish and brighten the images! A VIA Train Marshal was in the station, and later patrolled west toward the dumpsters. Maybe he was concerned about dumpster security, more likely whether I would be requiring a wellness check. Seeing I was a harmless railfan, he eased eastward toward the warm station and out of the -17 degrees Celsius [before wind-chill] weather. There were not many lulls for me, though I would have welcomed warming.
The trains I observed will be listed in this post with by time, direction, train number, locomotive numbers or VIA Venture Set #'s.
Snowbank-view:
No 62 sat on the south track for 30 minutes. I wondered if it, too, would be bustituted. Instead, while waiting atop an unsuspecting snowbank, I slowly realized it was a medical situation for a passenger on board. Frontenac Paramedic Services ambulance 4180 responded at 1320, accompanied by the station pickup truck, formerly used for checked baggage handling on the south track.
1320 WB CN No 305: 3224-2779 ex-Citirail-3135, DPU 3807.
No 62 still stopped on south track, seen ahead of 305's lead locomotive:
1355 WB VIA No 53: 915-4002-3334-3369-3307Ren scheme-6402Love the way:
1359 EB CN No 372: 3356, DPU 3382.
CN No 372 almost always includes a few cars of British Columbia lumber, in this case Dunkley (above). Mid-train DPU:
1405 WB VIA No 65: 6417-3338F-3343F-3367-3335-3340-3469-3458-3475-6408.
DPU, here's looking at u:
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No 62 finally departs eastward, nine minutes after ambulance arrival:
Heading east toward the John Counter Boulevard overpass:
1412 EB VIA No 40: Set 9 (held at Bath behind stopped No 62 for 30 minutes account trains on north track)
A father hoisting his young son onto his shoulders at the east end of the parking lot to see it venture east:
Van and shorter snowbank on platform (above). Surveying the scene from a soaring snowbank:
Another mostly-LRC consist with an HEP2 Business Class car, as described in Part 1.
It was time to head home, catch up with my calloused, crafty crafter, and warm up!
Running extra...
Old car, new refurb: He witnessed the premiere westbound Canadian in 1955, so it seemed fitting that on my Dad's birthday, February 19, VIA's final refurbished diner Louise deadheaded west on VIA No 61 (image courtesy Railstream, LLC) its life extended ready for many more trips to Western Canada.
Old unit, new scheme: one of GO's F59's received its new, limey paint scheme (posted to social media):
Watch for an upcoming post on VIA's Ventures' teething troubles. Furnished with nearly 500 (!) service incidents in just over two years of their service, I'm going to try to bring some veracity to the velocity of complaints from the innuendo-possessed about how the 'Ventures are @#$%^'. It's been an interesting read so far! Venturing on...
First past the post...
Gold, silver or bronze, 5th, 8th or 18th? It doesn't matter where they place, Canada's Olympians are representing our great country greatly. One such is Saskatchewan's Maia Schwinghammer, definitely the best name on our team! Also, have you ever heard of a skier from the Prairie provinces? It's just not true that if you stand on a chair, you can see the whole province! That's just a silly Saskatchewan syllogism!
Just thought this would give you a lift. Hey, it's all downhill from here!
