Kingston-Toronto Return Trip, March 2016

A Kingston to Toronto trip aboard VIA Rail began on March 6. I was waiting for VIA No 47, but first to appear was VIA No 65 at 1433: 6416-3463Ren-3321R-3334-3318-3303R. Then CN began the Festival of Freight. CN No 376  was eastbound 12 minutes later, with 2921 leading and 2920 as DPU:  

Ten minutes after that, it was CN No 369 behind 8841-2001 with DPU 2338.

The timing was right! I knew about approaching eastbound CN No 730 - the third unit potash train from Alwinsal SK to Saint John NB this season which put in an appearance at 1500. View it on Youtube from the headend with 3001-2893 and tailend! VIA gave it a 'C':

Four sets of reporting marks made up the all-Canpotex train i.e. CEFX 302702, PTEX 21525, CNPX 3347, 7030 and 150260 and CITX 151828:

A near-consecutive set of newer cars had it made in the shade: CNPX 150260, 150255, 150256, 150257, 150258, 150259, 150263 with larger Canpotex lettering:

A tail-end DPU, CN 2903, is unusual for the Kingston Sub. Apparently the waiting passengers thought so, too. They are not really that interested in Distributed Power, they're looking down the track waiting for the approaching lights of VIA No 47:

My train, VIA No 47 arrived nearly 20 minutes late as a result: 913 with dual Business Class cars 3472 (not in service) and my car 3464 plus four 33xx-series coaches. This consist was 50/50 seating. Not much to photograph on the way to Toronto except for the emptiness that is Belleville yard. Millhaven was plugged with tank cars, including PROX 39831 from Gibson Gas, four cement cars in the Bath Spur wye, CN No 369 in emergency with a post-DPU separation near Marysville, CN 7000-7025 at Belleville, one car at the P&H elevator at Trenton Junction, meeting CN No 306 at Cobourg, a rail gang in the north service track at Clarke, and GO 616 with a consist at Oshawa. The Hogtown skyline beckoned beyond:

And on March 9, prior to boarding VIA No 48 but after a brief transit trip aboard the TTC on subways and CLRV, there was another skyline view, looking east at Bathurst Street: 

The buds of spring sprouted on this 20 degree Celsius-day:

Intermodal: Bombardier Flexity articulated streetcar (no wonder TTC streetcars went to Proof-of-Payment!) and GO below: 

GO 563 led ten cars east with 558 on the tailend at 1713:

There was one reason to be at the end of the Skywalk bridge...the tantalizing prospect of seeing one of GO's new Bombardier Thunder Bay-built 300-series cab cars. Then...it happened. GO 310 was on the end of a ten-car consist behind GO 622:

The price-reduced Union-Pearson Express 1012-3003 was just departing west:

Followed by not one, but two VIA trainsets arriving from Mimico after UP had gotten out of the way:

First was 918-4002-4108-4105-4112 (above) then 6415-3462-3305 and two more 3300's. Shimmering shades of Spadina...

Japanese-Canadian. UP 3004-1010:

What's better than a GO 300-series cab car? How about a whole dang trainset in the Metrolinx scheme? Salient satisfaction sprung as my spring sojourn sizzled:

It just kept getting better - an eastbound doubleheader behind GO 657-660 meeting the all-Metrolinx consist: 307-2855-2844-2xxx-24xx-2418-2560-2402-2856-2442-2843-615:

And Metrolinx meeting Metrolinx! That's 2455 greeting its gregarious gator-green gangmates:

Running extra...

Though the new 50/50 VIA seating may make end-of-run operations 'easier', I'm not a fan of riding backwards nor of getting-to-know-you-European-compartment-style. However, I am a big fan of the new, bigger Business Class china coffee cups!

Happy Easter to Trackside Treasure readers! I enjoyed FOX TV's The Passion featuring Tyler Perry, Trisha Yearwood, Seal and Chris Daughtry as Judas. The modern-era betrayal scene, grittingly and grindingly believable, in a garden in the shadow of New Orleans' Crescent City Bridge, instantly brought the greatest story ever told to the present-day.