Dat Diminutive Dockside!

What do you do when you have a ship, a dock, and a track, and you have a need for a dwarfish shifter? You go dockside and find a Dockside! The real Docksides – four C-16 switchers built in 1912 by Baldwin for the B&O – derived their nickname from draying and dragging freight cars on the docksides of the port of Baltimore. They were built to navigate tight waterfront curves, doing the job deliberately until the early 1950s. Let's dress the stage with an industrial tank engine in Lynchburg, VA captioned 1948 from an online auction site photo:

Model Docksides, also called “Little Joes,” earned their fame in scale model railroading, following Varney’s original die-cast metal HO model. During a seven decades-long production period, hundreds of thousands of these undecorative diminutive switchers were produced in HO for discrete individual sale, as well as starter train sets and declivitously decanted onto layouts. As such, the Dockside dramatically influenced the draw of the scale in its formative years. Varney's took the dive into an initial 1941 introduction of a 1:87 die-cast metal kit of the Dockside, drawing in later renderings done in brass/metal by Pacific Fast Mail-Sakura and Gem Models, certainly describing an important arc in building the 0-4-0 tank engine’s stature during the early days of HO gauge. In the mid-1950s, other manufacturers dedicated themselves to the Dockside: AHM, IHC Hobby, Life-Like, Pemco, Revell, and Rivarossi, latterly Playart and Lima. 

My two (top photo) Rivarossi and Mantua 0-4-0T Docksides, not to be confused with the saddle-tank 0-4-0T, the teapot/cow-catcher red, white & blue Spirit of '76 version, the 0-6-0, the 0-4-0 Shifter....the list goes on. These basic 0-4-0T's came ready-to-run and featured an injection-molded shell mounted on a die-cast metal chassis. Wire-formed handrail installed along the boiler and the metal side rods themselves were the only separately applied details included. Modellers seem to have a soft spot for all versions!

I really like the Rivarossi one on the left, though it is non-working. It makes a good flatcar load from my Canadian Locomotive Co. plant, located on Kingston's waterfront. A train-show find. I like the heavier appearance of it, the full length wrap-around boiler, the painted cab windows and all-weather cab, and the overall paint and weathering. The lack of adequate blocking and securement should not worry the HO scale car inspector - this was a proof-of-concept only:

I could watch my Mantua version run ALL DAY and I'm not the only one. Sound and a decoder, anyone? Unencumbered by pony trucks, trailing trucks, or many axles at all, their amply energetic motor allowed the HO scale version to operate at many times the speed of the prototype. The latter was likely around 5 mph most of the time! Here's my version...a once-around of my Kingston's Hanley Spur layout - at speed! 

A somewhat-recent March discussion with blog partner Chris Mears about this diminutive Dockside, this petite power-plant got me searching for an early photo of the Dockside in use on my Cataraqui Northern Lines layout in my teen years (Engine, Engine Number 9 per the front round number plate). It was already on the roster by 1974, perhaps not by much! Here it is shifting a Penn Central boxcar, with B&M and [scratchbuilt by my Dad] P&LE gondola cars. A road freight with Del Monte (!) reefer, tank cars and BN boxcars passes the vintage cardboard background that is still in my collection:

The drive system/axles of both can been seen in this underside view. Note the lettering 'R R Italy' Rivarossi and rear-axle drive (top). My Mantua (bottom) has front-axle drive:

You can see the stencilled NYC lettering wearing off from being handled many, many times.

Other than a flatcar load, I don't anticipate Dockside operation on my HO scale Hanley Spur layout anytime soon. But it will always have a place in my personal pantheon of model railway motive power!

Running extra...

Border crossings are down, floor crossings are up! Political wags' tongues are wagging as the drip, drip, drip continues. My understanding is that it's a legitimate and long-standing parliamentary tradition and the right of Members of Parliament. Voting against party lines may lead to consequences such as losing a position (e.g., as minister or a portfolio critic) or being ejected from the party caucus, so whaddya gonna do? If you, fellow Canadians, feel strongly against it, feel free to sign this petition. Just don't ask me why the default address came up as 'Oman'. As in, "Oh man, not another floor crossing!"? Spoiler alert - the petition was launched by a Conservative MP! 

The Indians say Aaya Ram Gaya Ram and Winston Churchill might have said, "We shall fight them on the benches...", because he apparently crossed the Mother of All Parliament's carpet it twice. (From an east to a 'West minister'?) Alberta Premier Danielle Smith did it. She may one day become one of the few floor crossers and border crossers. Speaking of misguided Albertans, one said he would be happy if Quebec separated because it would not take as long to reach Newfoundland.

I've mused before about completely changing direction and rearranging the blog furniture here. How about a political blog called The Silent Majority, or one on floor-crossing called Right This Way, Left That Way, or That's Very Genereux of You? A blog about Canada's oldest person - a 110 year-old left us this past week - called I Centenarian You An Email? One on pottery called Feet of Clay - I just watched a CBS News story on a 102 year-old hairy potter. One on Who Was Stephen Colbert's Latest Guest...oh, never mind.

First past the post...

Quote of the week goes to The Toronto Star's National columnist Althia Raj on CBC re: the lack of any real challenger to Pierre Poilievre's leadership: "The Conservative caucus is kind of like butter knives out", only spreading discontent.

50 Years Trackside ...1986-91 Settling Down

Welcome aboard this year-long retrospective series celebrating my Fifty Years Trackside - watching trains and taking numbers. This is the Third in a year-long series celebrating those fifty years - each month's post is a time capsule; a five-year slice of those five decades. In the previous post it was the mid-1980s.  This month, my trainwatching enters the 1990s.

My May, 1986 western trip was challenging personally. As my relationship with my future wife progressed, I was ready to pop The Question. During that trip to SteamExpo at Expo86 in Vancouver, my note-taking took a dive. Being at station stops from here to the Pacific, watching young couples saying 'goodbye' or 'hello' just added to the pressure with pangs of separation. 

We were married in May, 1987 and we made a railfanning stop in Smiths Falls on the way home from our honeymoon at Ottawa's Chateau Laurier. CP 4741-Chessie 3719-4509 prepare to head west:

Being an accommodating newlywed, Karen let me set up a 4x8 Manitoba-themed layout in our apartment's spare bedroom. The driving of the Last Spike of the Manitoba Western Railway brought together two local railway tycoons. Dave of Happy Valley Railway Management/CP Rail and Laurence of the Delaware & Hudson. The grand (!?) occasion was marked by the signing of commemorative certificates, heartfelt speeches and refreshments. All this for a simple 4x8! My Dad and brother celebrate, the latter going 'full Roger Doucet':

In the prototype world, there were two local derailments at the time - one along outer Montreal Street on August 26, 1986 and another at the Counter Street crossing on March 28, 1987. The first site was not very accessible, just east of the switch linking the original and 1974 curve alignments along the Great Cataraqui River. The second was a major inconvenience for the preparations to load 1 Canadian Signal Regiment for the Rendezvous 87 major army exercise at CFB Wainwright, Alberta. 

In the summer of 1987, it was time to get documenting again after a five-year hiatus. Rather than keeping notes in notepads, I went back to transferring the numbers and notes, cars and consists into the first of many scribblers that I still use. 

It was a transitional time for VIA - grinding the last miles out of its cab units leading VIA consists. Although GM and MLW cab units were in charge of most VIA trains in the late eighties, the F40PH-2's, VIA's first new locomotives since the LRC, were about to arrive. The first of the 6400's arrived on December 15/86, with 25 delivered by the following September, and the last of the series in 1989. CN was running first- and second-generation power, and Western Flexicoil-equipped Geeps arrived, awaiting their chop-nosing dates at Pointe St Charles shops in Montreal. Cabooses' years were numbered - they would disappear in a hurry in 1990 once permission was granted to the railways, years after End of Train Units emerged in the U.S. An eastbound freight flies past Kingston's VIA station on September 20, 1987 with covered and open auto racks (below). 

In October, 1987 Karen came along on a trip to the Canadian Railway Museum at Delson/St-Constant, QC. Not so for a trip to the Halton County Radial Railway at Rockwood, ON. Another perennial favourite trip was the Toronto Railway Show in March, 1988. Usually a complete zoo [not the Toronto Metro one!], with a long line-up to get in, then having to ford a several attendee-deep crowd in front of every display or vendor table. From large venues like Exhibition Place and the Mississauga International Centre, the Toronto show would eventually contract to a much smaller one. 

Kingston was launching its own train show at the same time. Attending the meetings of a fledgling railfan club in the mid-1980s, at Royal Military College or St Lawrence College, the informal group later becoming the Kingston branch of the Canadian Railway Historical Association. 

We moved to our new (and current) house in August, 1988. It had a view of the CN Kingston Subdivision to the north, in season, and even read engine numbers with binoculars on a clear day! I even started a separate section in my sightings scribblers for such sights, abbreviated S.F.H. (Seen From House)! The view was obscured once leaves began budding on the trees, and eventually two new seniors' apartment buildings would be built in the gap. But on February 26, 1989 it was possible to see this CN westbound freight:

We visited Karen's parents at their home between Harrowsmith and Sydenham most weekends. On April 9, 1989 we checked out the dismantling of the moribund former CN Smiths Falls Subdivision there. This photo of me hoisting Karen onto my shoulders to dismantle a trackside sign (below) does not belie the fact that she was pregnant! Now it was time to paint that nursery a neutral yellow.

We made the first of several trips to Pennsylvania's pastoral Amish country, also stopping at the World Famous Horseshoe Curve on June 11, 1989 (below). This was in the pre-funicular days, and it was probably no fun for the pregnant lady to climb the nearly 200 steps to track level! We caught 14 movements in four hours: westbound Conrail coal trains and freights headed by two SD-40 helpers, as well as Amtrak passenger trains traversing the New York to Pittsburgh route, all on the remaining three of the original four Pennsylvania Railroad tracks on the Harrisburgh-Pittsburgh main line. 

Driving toward Harrisburg then Reading, we passed the Hollidaysburg car shops. Long lines of Contrail and predecessor road cars paralleled our route. There were gondola and hopper cars, N5 and transfer cabooses, a few Geeps and maintenance-of-way coaches. Sadly, since driving, not a single photograph was taken! Our son was born in October of 1989. 

In the early hours of January 15, 1990 my Dad and I made a point of doing our bit to document the massive cuts to VIA Rail, witnessing the last overnight Montreal/Toronto Cavaliers. Meanwhile, in the basement now expanding from the 4x8-footer, the fledgling Manitoba Western Railway layout eventually expanded to fill its full 23x10-foot basement layout room. A 1990 visit included my Dad unboxing his business car for a tour of the line.

Previous occupants had operated a home hair salon in the now-layout room. The walls were pink. The trim was pink. There was pink and silver wallpaper and rough-ins for sinks, etc. Just starting out, we bought just enough blue paint to cover the walls down to layout level! Door to layout room at left (above) and opposite side of the room (below) with the last gap and Last Spike not yet in place!

Trainwatching always seemed like a family-friendly activity to me. I'm not sure all other family members always felt the same way! Beyond spending time with kids trackside, collateral benefits included educational opportunities and nature studies trackside, and of course enjoying snacks or fast food together while waiting for the next train. Our new son's first trip to the Kingston station occurred when he was seven months old, on June 13, 1990. We caught four VIA trains and two freights in just over an hour! Posing with VIA No 63:

Steam still steamed, and Dad joined us when we travelled to Brockville on September 16, 1990. CPR 1201 was in town on an excursion, and this was one of our first multigenerational times trackside. We took our son on our first train ride together during a week-long trip to Pennsylvania in late-September, 1990. We rode behind Blue Mountain & Reading ex-GM&N 425 from South Hamburg to Temple (Reading) PA in ex-DL&W commuter coaches (below). By comparison, our daughter would not make her first train trip until she was 16!

Kingston's VIA station was always a good location for trainwatching with kids: long platforms ideal for toddling, walking or training-wheels bike-riding, plus on-site washrooms and food, benches, rain protection and ample free parking. Warm-hearted VIA engine crews would spot us cabside and throw us surplus packs of cookies or peanuts and cups of milk and juice. Andrew, in stroller or on foot, would engagingly play peek-a-boo. Here he is on April 27, 1990 with No 63 led by 6437-6411, pulling deadhead diner Princess and nine blue & yellow cars with SGU 15481 on the tail-end and those awful construction-style 'marker lamps':

We made a four-day trip to Pennsylvania in June, 1991 with Karen's parents. Visiting Steamtown, posing on L&NE caboose 580...

...and saying 'tanks' to one of the many former Canadian engines in the late-in-steam-era-assembled Steamtown collection:

We rode behind Strasburg steamers 89 and 90, the former running around our train at Leaman Place:

At Bird-in-Hand, PA along Route 340, a grab shot of an Amtrak westbound from Philadelphia led by 904 with three conventional coaches at speed:

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 fourth part as we steam ahead into a third decade -  the 1990s.

Running extra...

Snowmobiling the Eastern Ontario Railbed Loop on YouTube. Kevin Gammon, whose parents taught with my Dad, included some images from my posts on Eastern Ontario railway history in this 345 km journey across former railway rights-of-way. Fun to watch, dashing through the snow!

The Canadian Coast Guard dispatched medium icebreaker CCGS Des Groseilliers, named after Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1669) a close associate of Pierre-Esprit Radisson in explorations west of the Great Lakes. The ship entered service in 1982 and is more impressive than the usual buoy tender seen here, to break ice at the Bath cement dock, allowing CSL's MV Tamarack to dock and load cement, the first of the season. Reportedly, cement from this local plant is sold two years ahead of its production. Both videos by Aerosnapper!

First past the post...

A great turnout at Tuesday's Bytown Railway Society April meeting Zoom presentation "VIA Consists - The Early Years 1976-1981". Dave Stremes, Program Chair (above) kindly invited me to present and others commented that the spirit of Earl Roberts, 30-year editor of Branchline, neighbour to uberVIAphile Jakob Mueller's mother-in-law, and former Lachine resident, was definitely there. He was a contributor to each and every issue writing the “Consists” and “Motive Power” columns, and as longtime editor of the CTSG, and I'm sure he would have enjoyed the VIAntage consists I was pleased to share. It was also great to 'talk to' Phil Jago, Mark Walton, Ray Farand, David Jeanes and other BRS luminaries! 

CN Transportation Department then VIA Project Manager for Development Roger Spack has some stories to tell. Very sharp, and just as knowledgeable about the 1970s passenger scene as he is VIA's current Venture challenges. I like his optimism, "...in something like 12 years, or maybe 10 if we're good at it, we will have a revitalized VIA Rail system. We will have a high-speed corridor central route. We will have VIA Rail paying for all or almost all of its costs." The only downside is that comment is from Roger's 1996 Parliamentary Transport Committee appearance!

Three Days in March 2026 AND LRC Buffer Cars

In late March, I encouraged my wife to participate in one of her regular online crafting sessions. My support and enthusiasm was genuine. It had, little or nothing, well actually everything, to do with getting me trackside because nothing ruins a crafter's concentration like a chatty husband who really has little to no subject knowledge about crafting and who really should be trackside, for the benefit of all concerned. Adding to my enthusiasm was the fact that over the previous month, VIA had received news that due to structural integrity issues, LRC-equipped trains would require buffer cars at either end of the consist. Do you feel like you've seen this movie before, as I have? Indeed, the HEP fleet required buffer cars back in October, 2022 and since that fleet was also used outside the Corridor and had no replacement planned for at least a decade, exhaustive testing was performed. 

In this case, the remaining lifespan of the 45+ year-old LRC fleet was considerably shorter. As in, months remaining. Notwithstanding that dead-train-walking horizon, the incomplete implementation of the Venture fleet would perhaps mandate a life extension for the LRCs. Back in September I noticed several cars not operating, and VIA sources hinted at structural inspections that were borne out by mechanical delay reports from that time due to inspections. The Venture fleet was purchased to replace the Legacy fleet seat-for-seat, and the LRC fleet is to be out of service by the end of January, 2027.

Here is the March 20 VIA bulletin:

The bulletin clearly sets out that buffer cars be unoccupied. So if is an end car and it is unoccupied, I'm calling it a buffer car! Who knows how long these trains will be so lengthened?

So, I had added increased impetus and an impending incentive to study the actual trains that VIA gave itself a week to buffer. The challenge for those of us rambling down the rabbit hole is that a buffered train using similar cars as buffers just looks like a longer train. But there are ways of telling! I decided the best way was to peer through the windows! Additionally, one car had a note taped on the vestibule door window, some had all their shades pulled. All first and last cars of a consist that I could were confirmed empty, denoted with a 'B'.

My three days' trackside were spent somewhat mundanely in one location - Kingston's VIA station. The sole purpose for this was the need to view the LRC trains up close and stationary! I decided not to publish photos of all trains in this post, but I will list all consists. Not surprisingly, VIA trains outnumbered CN trains 2 to 1. Yet CN maintains their mainline is SO busy that VIA is an annoyance. It is not that busy, the trains are longer and fewer than in decades past. With precision scheduled railroading, and all but intermodal trains passing through Toronto MacMillan Yard, train schedules are fairly evenly spaced throughout each day.

CONFIRMING BUFFERED LRC CONSISTS

In mid-March, I noticed VIA consists gradually changing:

• Mar.14 - No 65 had a polyglot consist: 4004-3334-3368-3307-4001-3325-3366-3308.

• Mar.16 - No 64 had a polyglot consist: 3340-3335-3351-4009-4000-3367-3343-3338 and No 65 had a polyglot consist:3307-3368-3334-4004-4001-3325-3366-3308 (previous  65 remarshalled). Two HEP2 Business Class cars marshalled together.

• Mar.17 - modification to Corridor rotation: No 67-79-72-66 now operating with 6 instead of 8 LRC cars while Nos 65-->75-->70-->64 keeps its polyglot consist. Was the move to 6 cars a preparatory step for addition of a buffer car on each end?

• Mar.23 - Buffer cars are very slowly being implemented, two days into the change period: No 61, 65 no buffer cars yet. No 67 had 3354, 3478 previously retired. No 64 had buffer cars.

• Mar.25 - No 643: 907-3306-3318-3359-3311-3475-3470-903 buffered consist. 

• Mar.26 - No 65 buffered 9-car polyglot consist: 6409-3305B-3307-3368-3467-4001-3325-3366-3308-3465B-6433; No 66 buffered 8-car consist: 915-3478B-3456-3463-3358-3337-3355-3370-3354B-913; No 67 buffered 8-car consist: 6416-33xxR-33xx-33xx-3363-3313-3469-3461-34xx-64xx. [B=Buffer car]

• Mar.27 I was successful in visually confirming buffered LRC sets : No 643: 920-3304B-3473-3365-3341-3352-3462B-6453; No 65: 6402-3464B-3338-3343-3367-4000-3466-3335-3340-3472B-901 [9 cars].

• Mar.28 still unbuffered LRC No 53: 6401-3471-3361-3324-3353-910, buffered overnight: now Mar.29 No 50: 918-3452B-3353-3324-3361-3471-3301B-6414.

• Mar.29 confirmed buffered LRC No 43: 6411-3455B-3458-3357-3336-3350-3459B; Confirmed buffered No 40: 910-3468B-3461-3469-3329-3363-3313-3333-3302B-6406 (complete consist of No 67 on Mar.26).

I'll keep tabs on the buffer car situation and post updates here.

Mar.30 - Buffered LRC consists now in service (ensuing substitutions in brackets):

6-car:

918-3452B-3353-3324-3361-3471-3301B-6414

907-3306B-3318-3359-3311-3475-3470B-903 (3466 replaced 3475 by Apr.12)

920-3304B-3473-3365-3341-3352-3462B-6453 (3351F replaced 3352 by Apr.13?)

6411-3455B-3458-3357-3336-3350-3459B-900

*

8-car:

910-3468B-3461-3469-3329-3363-3313-3333-3302B-6406 (3356 replaced 3333 by Apr.12; 3460 and 3464B replaced 3461 and 3468B by Apr.12)

915-3478B-3456-3463-3358-3337-3355-3370-3354B-913

*

9-car:

6402-3464B-3338-3343-3367-4000-3466-3335-3340-3472B-901 (4004 replaced 3466 on Apr. 2; 3342 replaced 3338 by Apr.12)

6409-3305B-3307-3368-3467-4001-3325-3366-3308-3465B-6433 (3307 replaced by 3312 and 3308 replaced by 3316 by Apr.14)

HEP:

4005-4007-4112-4114-4119 No 61 Apr.1, then 4119 replaced by 4113 Apr.5, then 4005 replaced by 4002 Apr. 9; 4007 replaced by 4009 Apr.10.

All the above buffer cars in use as of now were in the most recent group of LRC cars retired by January, 2026. Now, on to the trains I observed and photographed, and of course the consists...

The trains I observed will be listed in this post with by time, direction, train number, locomotive numbers or VIA Venture Set #'s. If unphotographed, "U".

DAY ONE - Friday, March 27, 2026

0845 EB CN No 368: 8346, DPU 3134 (above).

0917 EB VIA No 60/50: Venture Sets 13/17 as seen from the John Counter Boulevard overpass.

CN 9449 was not recovering. I recognized that locomotive number currently assigned as a Belleville yard engine along with CN 4958, ex-BNSF 2262 recently repainted. I deduced a rare daylight switch was underway. Upon arrival at the plant at 1008, I found the long train blocking the east plant entrance and briefly Front Road. The crew was not happy about the volume of cars they had to handle, both 'blacks' (tank cars inbound with hexamethylene diamond) and 'whites' (covered hoppers inbound with adipic acid) and even three cars of outbound pellet product. Having to return to catch more VIA trains at the station, I left around 1035. After three hours of switching challenges, the crew headed up the Cataraqui Spur to the mainline switch. I raced over to Tanner Drive to catch their ascent up the rolling topography paralleling Bath Road, just making it in time at 1143. Despite dire predictions about how many cars the Geeps, one ailing, there were 21 cars for Belleville and not 35 as predicted. Here's my YouTube video.

1044 WB VIA No 643: 920-3304B(uffer)-3473-3365F(uture)-3341-3352F-3462B-6453 Unphotographed.

1112 EB VIA No 62/52: Sets 9/8.

1157 WB CN No 271: 8862-2561 empty auto racks.

1233 WB VIA No 45: Set 28, U.

1248 WB VIA No 43: Set 23, running 77 minutes late after mechanical difficulties near Ottawa, U.

1255 EB VIA No 40: Set 3, U.

1336 WB VIA No 65: 6402L(one the way)-3464B-3338F-3343F-3367-4000-3466-3335-3340-3472B-901. I call this a polyglot consist, with one HEP2 Business Class car mid-train.

1406 WB VIA No 53: 6401-3471-3361F-3324R(en scheme)-3353F40(years)-910, U. Received two buffer cars overnight at Toronto.

1414 EB VIA No 64: 6433-3465B-3308-3366F40-3325-4001-3467-3368-3307R-3305RB-6409, U.

1421 WB CN No 305: 3950, DPU 3159, U.

1448 WB VIA No 47: 907-3306B-3318-3359F-3311R-3475-3470B-903. The female engineer ran back to microwave her lunch in the Business Class car then back up to the head-end. No more grilling lunch on the coal scoop held in the firebox! A sign of the times, aped to 3470's vestibule door:

1605 EB CN No 372: 3070-8312, DPU 3172.

1609 WB VIA No 67: 913-3354B-3370-3355F-3337-3358-3463-3456-3478B-915, U.

DAY TWO - Saturday, March 28, 2026

After pickleball...

1233 WB VIA No 45: consist same as Day One's VIA No 53, U.

1249 EB CN No 372: 3868, DPU 3224 (above).

1259 EB VIA No 40: Set 21 with VIA special constable.

1340 WB CN No 731: 3829-3125-8359-3434, DPU 8342 empty potash cars, lots of 'em.

1355 WB VIA No 65: consist same as Day One's VIA No 64, U.

1405 WB CN No 121: 3366-2849-2670-5695-5606, intermodal.

White temperature-controlled boxes lettered ZIMonitor, Hapag-Lloyd, Gold Star Line:

1409 WB VIA No 53: Set 14, running 15 minutes late, U.

1437 EB VIA No 64: consist same as Day One's VIA No 65. These folks were waiting for late VIA No 47, three generations:

1523 WB VIA No 47: Consist same as Day One's VIA No 47. Arriving for the station stop, CN No 271 came up on the south track.

1523 WB CN No 271: 2330-2653, empty auto racks:

1556 WB CN No 305: 2960-3086, DPU 3904, U.

1610 WB VIA No 67: Set 20, U.

DAY THREE - Sunday, March 29, 2026

0926 EB CN No 368: 2960, DPU 3086. Friendly wave from the engineer.

L-U-L-L

1116 EB VIA No 62/52: Set 29/31, U.

1125 WB CN No 121: 2786, DPU 3102, U.

1145 EB CN No 372: 2837-4716-4958 snow on walkway (below)

1150 WB VIA No 63: Set 32, U.

1155 WB VIA No 43/643: 6411-3455B-3458-3357-3336-3350-3459B/4119-4114D(&H scheme)-4112D-4002D-4005D. Delayed for unknown reasons, No 643 was held at Ottawa for an hour and J'd with 643. This is the last pure HEP2 consist still operating in the Corridor.

1215 EB CN No 276: 5644-8006, U.

1250 VIA No 40: 910-3468B-3461-3469-3329F40-3363-3313-3333-3302BR-6406, U.

1420 WB VIA No 64: Consist same as Day Two's VIA No 65, U.

1500 WB VIA No 47: Set 9, U. Delay with Venture car's lift so manual-crank lift brought from station.

1549 WB CN No 271: 3261-3033, empty auto racks (bottom photo)

1610 WB VIA No 67: Consist same as Day One's VIA No 67, U.

Happy Easter to Trackside Treasure's loyal readership

--Eric

Running extra...

In just under a week, I'll be making a Zoom presentation to the Bytown Railway Society's April meeting. (This new auto-correct never lets me type 'Bytown'. It always changes it to 'Baytown' then I have to go back and change it! Baytown is in Texas, and everything is big in Texas and this, too, is a BIG pain!) Notwithstanding that, Bytown's  Branchline is always excellent trackside reading treasure! I'm dedicating the presentation to my aunt and uncle who corresponded with the late Earl Roberts and thereby became longtime Branchline subscribers. My brother kindly gifted me subscriptions for many ensuing years, and now I obtain back copies at train shows from the ever-smiling Paul Bown and friends (and recently a few from blog partner Steve Boyko)!

First past the post...

When my son arrived to drop off our older grandson for a couple of hours, 20 Timbits also arrived! Quite a bit of battery-powered scooter riding in the expansive paved station parking lot in a cool wind, punctuated by a warming-up trip to Toys R Us. He was like a kid in a...well, you know the rest. He emerged with some Matchbox and Hot Wheels for himself, his brother, his cousin and "Grandpa's layout".