Trackside Treasure Third Anniversary

Three years ago I looked ahead, as through a scratched Skyline window, and decided to begin this blog as a way of sharing information and photos I'd accumulated while railfanning across Canada for the last three decades plus. Was anyone else interested? If so, would a blog be a good way to share? With the answers being maybe and maybe, Trackside Treasure went live on August 19, 2008. Three years later, my blog is still very much alive - no mean feat where blogs and bloggers often flame out before their time.
This blog opened doors to a new way to enjoy Canada's railways with others, to share information and experiences, and to communicate back and forth with Trackside Treasure's readers. As always, I acknowledge the excellent blogs and websites created by my sidebar blog partners: Adam, Chris L., Chris M., Chris V., Dave, Jason, John, Matt, Robert, Scott and Steve. These guys help keep my blog fresh and ever-changing, and I trust you enjoy reading their informative posts like I do. Trackside Treasure has also served as portal to a parallel blog all about my new VIA book.
This blog became a pathway to a new platform, albeit one with which I had no experience at the time, but one that seemed easy-to-use. Planning and writing posts, scanning and editing photos, and attempting to improve the design of my blog get easier as time goes on. Polls, seasonal memorabilia sales, special guest contributors, rotating slide shows and of course anniversaries pop up periodically. On average, 80 visits are made to Trackside Treasure each day, mainly from Canada and US but also by readers worldwide. So far, I've posted or prepared 142 blog posts, and 522 comments have been posted.
Looking ahead, I can only see continued enjoyment from Trackside Treasure, and hope that loyal readers like you feel the same way. I've got lots to post, as the number of potential posts always exceeds my relatively relaxed posting schedule. While some posts occasionally contain railway modelling and miscellany, rest assured that the meat-and-potatoes of this blog will always be classic Canadian diesel-era railfanning and prototype information. It's a very small, ethereal corner of cyberspace, but I try to keep my corner neat, orderly and most importantly, interesting.
And now, since you've read this far, it's time to roll out the annual Trackside Treasure contest. Throughout this post are five photos of Canadian railway stations I've taken while travelling on VIA. Only two of the stations still see arrivals and departures of VIA trains, but they all remain beacons to a transportation system that still serves our country reliably.

The first reader to successfully identify all five stations, either in a comment at the end of this post (hey, give it a shot) or as an email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca (if you aren't too sure) will receive the Trackside Treasure Third Anniversary Contest Prize Pack. If it's too difficult to ID all five (doubtful, what with my well-informed readership) the entry with the highest number of correct guesses within one week of the contest launch wins. Good luck to all, I'm glad you stopped by, and thanks for celebrating this third anniversary!

Running extra...

Walker Express blog partner Adam Walker was in the right place at the right time to catch a nice over-under, set up at Plug Hat Road on August 12, with trains on both the CN York Sub (engines CN 2527-IC 1002 and QGRY 2005) and CP Belleville Sub (CP 5763-5773). Nicely done, Adam!