A short night, but there were miles to go after I sleep, to begin part 2 of this week spent travelling aboard VIA.
DAY 3 Wednesday, March 7
VIA No 59 0400 dp Kingston
VIA No 48 2355 dp Toronto
No 59/49 partial consist: 6772-6867-Buckley Bay-5558-5616-3030 (my car) plus 3 cars.
Kingston - Westbound freight 9516-2567-2565-3737-79613.
Oshawa - CN 7028, 7227, 1228, 1242, 2582, 79560, 79798.
Toronto - GO 503, 705, 900, 725, 801, 707. CN 1316. VIA 6105-6109, 6772-6529-6603-15486 (the Canadian), ONR eastbound 1517-1508-ONR baggage 413, VIA 755-ONR coach 841-VIA 5500-VIA Edson.
A full day in Toronto, having arrived at 0735, the wafting aroma of waffles at Golden Griddle bringing me in for breakfast. Day 3 included visits to Spadina roundhouse and coach yard, George's Trains, the Eaton Centre, Uncommon Valor movie, then a Leafs-Devils game at Maple Leaf Gardens - the Leafs actually won, 8-4.
Returning on the Cavalier, 6777-CN 4105-6626-6861-Buckley Bay- 5558 (my car, should have looked for traces of that aluminum/yellow VIA experimental scheme!)-5616-3030-5713-Euclid-Chaleur Bay-Edmonton.
DAY 4 Thursday, March 8
VIA No 60 0952 dp Kingston
VIA No 33 1233 dp Dorval
VIA No 45 1825 dp Ottawa
VIA No 60 was an LRC consist led by 6916.
Brockville - CN 1310, 79462.
Cornwall - CN Centuries 2000-2041.
Coteau - CN 4353.
Returning from a quick, between-trains lunch at the Dorval McDonald's, a CP freight was westbound with CP 5532-QNS&L 210 and van 434411:
Dorval: 1230 WB freight CN 4240-3726-3122-3 tank cars-79556:
1230 WB: CN 5186-5156-5095-International Service caboose 78108. Also an MUCTC commuter train 1303-921-926-925-900. At this point, I ended a 6-year relationship. With my camera. My trusty Kodak Hawkeye decided to act up, resulting in some weird exposures on the platform at Dorval for its last photos ever.
Montreal-Ottawa train No 33 was also an LRC consist. 6921-3312-3340 (my car)-3 LRC cars. In Ottawa, I took OC Transpo to the Hobby House, where I bought a CP boxcar and magazines. Time ran short, and I had to hail a cab to make it back to Ottawa station in time for departure.
Ottawa station - Vice-|Regal cars 1 & 2, CN business car 5, VIA 5449, 5621, Fortune Bay.
Ottawa - CN 9509 (with green flags)-9554.
Smiths Falls - CP plows 400666, 400783, 401005, CP 1809-8795-7875, end cupola van 437128, westbound CP freight 5518-ANS&L 217-B&O GP38 4800.
Brockville - CP van 434631.
I celebrated catching the train by enjoying a cool Carlsberg and sub sandwich on the trip home. Upon arrival at Kingston, westbound VIA at 1931: 6779-6864-604-5497-5452-5650-116-3218-511-Carleton Manor-Grant Manor-Revelstoke Park.
Ticket from DAY 2:
DAY 6 Saturday, March 10
VIA No 651 0700 dp Kingston
VIA No 46 1730 dp Toronto
Train No 651 was an LRC consist.
Belleville - CN 1385, 79594, 79900, 79323.
I rode a TTC streetcar to the CNE for the Toronto model railway show, picking up ballast cars, posters and buttons. Then an hour of subway-riding to no particular destination before dinner at Harvey's and the 1730 departure of VIA train No 46.
Without overnighting, I was able to cover several hundred Corridor miles in less than a week at very little cost. A new camera was on the horizon as I finally bought a 35 mm SLR.
Running extra...
A new book on VIA Rail is on the horizon - Check here for details, and check back for updates.
Next weekend, watch for Trackside Treasure's spring cleaning sale - own a piece of an LRC.
This Running extra has more one-liners than Don Rickles, the hilarious 'Mr Warmth'.
A visit to the "classic" George's Trains in Toronto, the Hobby House in Ottawa, a weird ad on your transfer for the broadcasting stylings of Mr. Wally Crouter and so many track miles covered; sounds like a fantastic time!
ReplyDeleteThe results of your dying Hawkeye are interesting. Each device has an funny way of indicating that it's time has almost run out.
Thanks for posting this. It almost feels like being there with you.
Adam
http://walkerweb.ca
Thanks for your comments, Adam, and glad you've been enjoying my retro travels. That Wally Crouter transfer was from the Mount Pleasant streetcar. Those terminal Hawkeye photos lay entombed in the camera for years, long forgotten, until I thought I should expose them. I think the camera back was open at Dorval station, causing overexposure. For awhile, it was held closed with a rubber band.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of a future post..."Do you know what you're riding?" because years later, I'm realizing I was on a train with many-splendoured coach 4894 in Part 1, and on other occasions, I was riding in Crusader and Tempo equipment at Kingston, not aware of the historical significance of this. We either don't bother with the consist, or assume it's commonplace, which it may indeed be, at the time but not years later!
Eric
NIce post, your blog is most entertaining, it definately brings back a lot of memories for me. May be missing a "P" in your title.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any pics of the vice regal cars and Via business cars? They are hard to come by...
Thanks for reporting that typo, phoenix'ed. Do you mean Burrard and Bedford for the VIA business cars? I have seen all these cars, if so, but I can't really say I have any photos of them. What I do have is in this post:
ReplyDeletehttp://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2009/07/cn-business-cars.html
In terms of the Vice-Regal cars, check out this post:
http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2011/04/royal-train-september-1984.html
Hope this helps, thanks again, and good to have you aboard.
Eric