Friday, April 29, 2016

Spring Cleaning Lot Sale

Check out these unique items! A useful group of public and employee timetables, prototype paper items and railway-related books that are surplus to my collection. The items in each photo are being sold AS A LOT. I can't break up lots - these items have to go! Shipping will be actual Canada Post postage. The first email indicating interest in each lot at mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca makes the item yours! Please refer to each lot by the LOT# in your email. Happy shopping! Click each photo for a better view...items already sold are marked ****SOLD****

****SOLD****LOT 1 $10: VIA Paper 1985-2015 eight brochures including Silver & Blue Guest Directory 20 pages bilingual, June 1985 System Timetable, 1986 Atlantic Canada services timetable.
****SOLD****LOT 2 $30: Rail Canada Volume 5 BCR and RDC 1983, 144 pages including colour section; CP in Posters 1995, 188 pages colour posters suitable for framing; School on Wheels 1985, 65 pages, B&W illustrated.
****SOLD****LOT 3 $10: CP 100th Anniversary Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 1981, 20 pages colour illustrations; 1980 First 100 Years Annual Report.
****SOLD****LOT 4 $15: Seven VIA Rail Pocket Timetables, Corridor and System 2001-2015, all with colour covers.
 ****SOLD****LOT 5 $15: Six VIA Rail Full Size SystemTimetables 1993-1997, all with colour covers.
****SOLD****LOT 6 $20: Employees Timetables: CP Eastern Region 1986;  CN Mountain Region 1981; CN St Lawrence Region 1983, 1987, 1988 all three are bilingual; CN Southwestern Region 1976.
LOT 7 $20: TRAINS Magazine November 1985 45th Anniversary Canada Issue; BRS Branchline March 1987 issue; CN Lines Vol 15 No 1; CP Steam Diagram Book 1945 Railfare reprint 1985, 72 pages illustrated.
****SOLD****LOT 8 $20: MacMillan Yard manuals, 1989 115 pages and 1983 12 pages; Turbo Instructions undated likely 1980s 12 pages bilingual;  Maine Central Railroad April 1966  Employees Timetable 36 pages.
****SOLD****LOT 9 $20: CN Clearance (1983) and Form 19 (1986) Pads complete with cover and carbons, each approx one-half inch thick.
****SOLD****LOT 10 $30: CN Passenger Equipment. two-inch plastic binder reprint 1967-1973 with complete listing, schematic diagrams, car rosters, appendices and photos.
LOT 11 $30: TRAINS, CN rolling stock French language brochure, 1992 22 pages colour illustrated; Scenic Rail Guide to Central & Atlantic Canada 1983 First Edition; CNR We Serve the Nation 1950 48 pages two-tone illustrated with foldout system map; Locomotives from London by Peter Cox, 1968 49 pages illustrated; Towards CN 1972 50th Anniversary Exhibition Guide 53 pages bilingual.
LOT 12 $10: Classic Trains Summer 2010 issue including CP Style article, CP Rail empty Drinking Water can 1970s.
Thanks for checking out my sale!

Friday, April 22, 2016

CGTX Pitch Tankcars

Hawker-Siddeley built unplacarded pitch AAR T104 tankcars in the CGTX 184xx-185xx-series operated by Canadian General Transit (later GATX Rail Canada). These cars are equipped with heating pipes:
Originating in Hamilton, pitch (for aluminum and electrode graphite industries) is shipped to Shawinigan, Arvida, Trois Rivieres and Becancour, QC. VFT, the company producing pitch in Hamilton also produces creosote, which until a few years, was used by CP and shipped in CP Service tank cars. VFT is located off Strathearne Avenue in Hamilton. (according to Lance Brown, Conductor Railink-Southern Ontario)




CGTX 18472 (top); CGTX 18466 (two views, above) and CGTX 18477 were on a stopped CN No 368 west of Kingston, ON on June 24, 2012. Of course these cars looked better with their original reporting marks stencil style, no yellow conspicuity striping and the blue and white CGTX logo as seen in the top photo!

My observations including date, reporting marks, CN train on and remarks:
Apr 3/99 CGTX 18498-18512 on No 366
May 1/99 CGTX 18515 on No 366
Jan 14/01 CGTX 18521-18506 to Shawinigan, QC on No 364
Mar 10/01 CGTX 18504-18508-18520 on No 364
Aug 30/01 CGTX 18506-18508 No 363
Sep 14/04 CGTX 18428 and three others No 369
Jun 11/05 CGTX 18513 No 368
Mar 25/06 CGTX 18439-18456 No 369
Jul 19/08 CGTX 18504-18513-18471-18476 on No 369
Nov 9/08 CGTX 18480 No 369
Jun 24/12 CGTX 18480-18477-18472-18461-18466 (photos)
Sep 28/13 CGTX 18468 and two others CN No 369

Lots o' links:
Running extra:

The Trackside Photographer is a new and intriguing blog by Edd Fuller that includes everything along the railway right-of-way except trains! Check it out in the UCOR section of the right sidebar and watch for upcoming posts!

This is my jam! Jocelyn Alice singing Jackpot 60 minute loop!

Tea and jam! Queen Elizabeth's 90th anniversary celebration included Happy Birthday and God Save the Queen by the Band of the Household Division outside Windsor Castle (below). Trackside Treasure wishes the Queen a happy birthday and warm reflections on a long and remarkable reign.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Dining Car Menus

In August 1968, our family travelled from Montreal to Vancouver on CN. My brother, me, my sister and my Mom are seated in the diner, in a photo taken by my Dad. Notice that menu tucked by the window? Fellow VIAphile Bill Staiger of Delaware is an inveterate Canadian train rider. Though we've corresponded by email for some time, Bill recently sent a capital idea along with some photos of his CN dining car menu collection. Whenever I entered a dining car, there was a unique aroma of whatever was cooking, cigarette smoke and humid steam hanging in the air. A marvellous meal-in-motion awaited, with the panoply of tables, chair and fascinating fellow diners becoming visible after passing through the narrow passage around the hopping kitchen.
Cafe Lounge Service CCS-046-E Dining Car Service CCS-018D
(Above) The Dining Car Service menu is a luncheon and dinner menu, which include a statement designating two items as an additional feature at the evening meal.
Breakfast CCS-001 both  menu items are identical
Club Lounge CCS-111-B and Beverages CCS-201-C
Dining Car Service CCS-016-A and Dinner D-4 (E-2) 
(Above) The red-cover menu is for luncheon and dinner, including a statement designating two items as an additional feature at the evening meal. The scenic menu's back cover reads 7972 (10-66) 48-55-806.
Breakfast CCS-003-B and CCS-001-D
(Above) The black, white and yellow breakfast menu back cover reads 7973 (10-66) 48-55-813. The colourful Good morning/Bonjour back cover reads 7964-B (7-75) 48-55-755.


Although Bill notes that he has 18 VIA menus in his collection, the colours are much more muted - usually brown! Here are some from my collection:
Obverse/interior views - VIA Business Class at left. No more menus today - announcements are made overhead of the meal selections.
Blast from the past - vintage style CN/CP pool train service breakfast menu. This menu was given to me by my great-aunt during a visit to her house in Vancouver for Expo86. Spiral Tunnels cover, date-stamped 1937:


Thanks to Bill for sharing these. Bill has travelled extensively on CN during the heyday of its passenger service.

Running extra...
The top photo from our 1968 trip is but one of the slides recently scanned by my brother - whole slide boxes reduced to a single memory stick! I've selected some select slides and will slide them into an upcoming series on that trip. My sister and I are enjoying Hockey Night in Western Canada with my great-uncle (above). One part will be family photos...
 One part will be railway photos...
 One part will be scenic photos...
CP+NS=0. Merger denied. Is it a screen shot? Is it a meme? 

Friday, April 8, 2016

GTW P-S Covered Hoppers

CN former subsidiary Grand Trunk Western rostered 150 Pullman-Standard covered hoppers with reporting marks GTW 138200-138349, such as GTW 138262 westbound through Kingston on April 6, 1997 with a weathered fleetmate (above). The first fully P-S- (not Trinity-) built lot 9866 of 4740 cu ft cars, were built 10-11/76. GTW 138350-138449, built 1979 by P-S were 100 cars with a capacity of 4750 cu ft. with larger Grand Trunk Western lettering. P-S builder's photo:
GTW 138433 and a string of fleetmates near the P-S plant:
Earlier, GTW 315222, built 1972 by Pullman-Standard was one of a series of fifty cars, GTW 315180-315229 with a capacity of 4750 cu ft. - notice the tiny 'Grand Trunk Western' between the ribs:
Interestingly, some of the cars have been repainted into CN's brown website scheme, retaining their GTW reporting marks, with some receiving the IC-style reporting marks font. Most have received yellow conspicuity markings, and have rusted to the extent that their blue paint appears brown, and received various-coloured lettering patches to make their reporting marks legible.

It would seem that most of the GTW fleet has made its way into grain service in the twilight of its career. Joe Stover posted this 2009 photo to Facebook, showing a Hudson Bay Railway grain consist at Churchill, MB. Spot the GTW car? I knew that you could!
My 21st-century GTW sightings, when the paint and lettering was fading (like the number-unreadable car westbound at Kingston on CN No 309 in May, 2008) and spotting them became more of a rarity:
September 26, 2009 GTW 13832x on CN No 305 at Shannonville:
Some GTW covered hopper sightings with date, car number, CN train on and remarks:
Mar 23/97 GTW 138281-138421
Apr 27/97 GTW 138429
May 18/97 GTW 138286-138329
Jun 7/97 GTW 138360-138412-138365
Sep 13/97 GTW 138306 on No 308
Oct 5/97 GTW 139399 dest Bay City MI ety on No 395
Oct 26/97 GTW 138212-138414 on headend of No 395 dest Flint, MI empty
Nov 29/97 GTW 138443 near headend of No 395
Dec 6/97 GTW 138276 near headend of No 395
Apr 4/10 GTW 138207
Oct 13/11 GTW 138208
Jan 15/12 GTW 138394 noticeably faded!
Apr 6/12 GTW 138430 with yellow conspicuity stripes on CN train No 308 (below)
Nov 25/16 GTW 138422-138345 among a cut of grain cars and GTW 138201 on No 369. Although GTW 138422 had one good side of paint, the other two were almost brown.

In grain service, faded-lettering GTW 138x60 (above) and rusty 138399 (below) were through Kingston on April 1 and 2 respectively.
May 4, 2018: CN 138214 westbound - so brown they have to patch the reporting marks in blue:
Some 21st-century sightings:
  • January 9/21 GTW 138438
  • January 24/21 GTW 138331 repainted in CN 'website' scheme. Not as delivered, but still running.
  • February 14/21 GTW 138448 on CN No 306, (image courtesy Railstream, LLC):
  • March 22/21 GTW 138266 on CN No 305 (above), also with GTW 138439 in good paint (image courtesy Railstream, LLC)
  • Jan 3/23 GTW 138423 eastbound at Belleville in the CN 'website' scheme, returned westbound on January 6 (image courtesy Railstream, LLC):
Meanwhile, in HO scale, GTW 138240 has been painted and decalled and will always retain its nice, bright blue: 
 In 'N' yard on my Vancouver Wharves layout, sandwiched between BN and CP wooden ETU's:

Running extra...
This is one underrated book - Canadian Sunset by Adolf Hungry Wolf. A plethora of varied-era photos of this venerable streamliner. Beautiful reproduction and nice, large format. My only difficulty is with the "America's Last Great Train" cutline. I understand that some Americans think Canada is part of the US. Not after we build our wall they won't!

Speaking of fading into the sunset, American Idol's fifteenth and final season ended last night. Thank goodness. Though early idols like siren Kelly Clarkson and Checotah, OK's own Carrie Underwood shone, recent idols like whatshisname, ohyouknowher and thatidoldude have failed to inspire much idolatry. Once Simon Cowell left, the veracity dropped and the treacle flowed.

Check out this all-season folio of north of Superior photos by Earl Minnis - what CP now lacks in motive power diversity, it has always had scenery in spades!

Monday, April 4, 2016

Cars on CN Nos 305/376, March 2016

CN 624590 with Irving lumber load
All freight cars, all the time! Here's some photographic detail depicting the cars of CN Nos 305 and 376 seen at Belleville on March 12, 2016. First, CN No 305's Toronto-bound cars, with each photo captioned.
Carbon car TCMX 96147
Carbon car ECQX 47096
Enclosed bilevel autorack TTUX 891176
Pressure-differential covered hopper FAXX 292
GNRR 7329 with Irving lumber load
CNA 330335 one of 110 ex-LEF&C 3600-4115 hoppers
Two cuts of CN predecessor-road scrap tie cars and a few assorted cars from CN No 376. I profiled a cut of these mundane but interesting tie service cars in Kingston in 2012
BLE 65528
SSAM 33262 was formerly KCPX Kansas City Power & Light
IC 387185
ex-BN WC 33131
IC 365413
One of four IC (ex-NKCR) gons IC 3784, 3790, 3786, 3778
BLE 65092 complete with Bessemer logo
Part of the CN family for 20 years - Chicago Central CC 40145
BLE 1751 (ex-Route Rock)
Fleetmate BLE 1752 also shows Route Rock lineage.
BLE 65588
BLE 1607 with www.cn.ca at right
Sodium chlorate CGLX 60911 covered hopper
Logo-less bright-blue BM 3347
Graffiti'd FBOX 504257
One of ten plain-jane ACFX covered hoppers on the tailend ACFX 66555
CEFX 302115 on No 305
PTEX 21227 on No 305
Running extra...

Hours of fun for the traveller, railfan or VIAphile. VIA Rail Canada has launched real-time Corridor train tracking with maps, speed and upcoming stops. Updates every minute. Speeds seem faster in...metric. Have fun! 
Before CN ceased passenger service on the former Thousand Islands Railway between Gananoque Junction, on CN's Kingston Sub, and the waterfront Gananoque station, an eclectic collection of passenger equipment and locomotives had the duty. Vintage Gananoque Facebook group photo, dated 1953 shows a wooden combine at the waterfront station. Watch for an upcoming post on CN's Gananoque Spur and the CN wayfreights that served it. Thanks for the inspiration, Jakob!
Richly-deserved! Winnipeg's foremost keyboardist and straight-up rocker Burton Cummings inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the 2016 JUNO Awards. Juno that before I told you?