In Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the protagonist is visited by three spirits representing past, present and future. The ghost of Christmas Future does not speak. Rather, it shows Scrooge various scenes of his fate if he does not change his miserly and uncharitable ways. Way too serious and deep. This is no literary blog, Sir! It's a train blog. But this post gives you an insight into two of my cultural references from Britain: Charles Dickens and Monty Python.
But I'm going to show you your fate if you spend time trackside watching VIA trains. Absolutely boring. Or to paraphrase Monty Python's Flying Circus' accountant sketch between Mr Anchovy and an unnamed counsellor:
"Anchovy: You don't understand. I've been a chartered accountant for the last twenty years. I want a new job. Something exciting that will let me live.
Counsellor: Well chartered accountancy is rather exciting isn't it?
Anchovy: Exciting? No it's not. It's dull. Dull. Dull. My God it's dull, it's so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy and boring and des-per-ate-ly DULL.
Counsellor: Well, er, yes Mr Anchovy, but you see your report here says that you are an extremely dull person. You see, our experts describe you as an appallingly dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful. And whereas in most professions these would be considerable drawbacks, in chartered accountancy they are a positive boon."
Unlike Dickens' famous literary ghost, I do speak, at least in print. Picture yourself somewhere in the future. VIA's future. Maybe it's 2035. It doesn't matter which year. Lots of stuff has happened:
- VIA is expecting the imminent delivery of its Long Distance Regional and Remote rolling stock. Turns out the dome cars are not like the Budd Skyline and Park cars we were expecting. They're really more like a Subaru equipped with a moon roof.
- VIA is still talking about HSR. Actually, it became HFR. And now it's HUR: Highly Unlikely Rail. Their HUR CEO is still making the rounds of Chambers of Commerce pitching the plan. And it's just a plan. Or the concepts of a plan?
- VIA restored its Gaspe service. Its ridership of railfans nearly exceeds the ridership of the Sudbury Budd car service. Both are operating with 100% railfans, no locals.
- VIA has broken its Prince Rupert Service into a four-day run. Who doesn't want to spend a night in Hutton and Houston?
- VIA is about to be bought out by Rapido Trains Inc. because Rapido has had more VIA cars built in the previous 10 years than the actual VIA. Jason Shron is now Minister of Transport in addition to his other duties. Good for him!
Meanwhile, here in the Corridor, It's dull. Dull. Dull. My God it's dull, it's so desperately dull and tedious and stuffy and boring and des-per-ate-ly DULL. Every train is a Siemens Venture set. VIA decided not to vary the length of trainsets because to them it sounded like a lot of work. And the marketing study hinted that there are more people, more than you might have thought, who have a burning desire to go to CHATHAM - so no short trains in Southwest Ontario needed.
You might not think Every-Train-A-Venture is dull. Well, I'm about to show you. In this post, you'll see a pictorial representation of a full day of trains here in Kingston in VIA Future, based on the current daily schedule. Are you ready to see the future?
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The photo angles look amazingly similar throughout this post because everything will be amazingly similar! The moral of the story is enjoy the relative par-for-the-course predictability of train watching in the current version of VIA's Corridor. Treasure the tedious types of trains you've been seeing. Keep an eye down the track to the future. Yes, the future is on track. But the track leads right to...Boringtown!
Running extra...
A very well-produced and informative series of YouTube videos by Leo on his South Down Switching Layout. Even an interview with Lance Mindheim! Check out this Windsor Station model on the Montreal, Vermont & Essex layout!
Happy Thanksgiving to Trackside Treasure's American readers. I watched the rainy Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the entertainment was enjoyable. I watched zero football. I ate no fowl, pardoned or otherwise. We did, however, toast the day with two Spiced Coke Zero 'spiked' with Fireball. May you never forget the many blessings that have been bestowed upon your great country. A great country that does NOT need to be made again something that it was already. You remain the envy of the world, next to Canada.*
Freedom from Want is the third in a four-part series of paintings which Norman Rockwell titled “The Four Freedoms.” The works were inspired by FDR's 1941 State of the Union Address, which celebrated each of four freedoms which Americans enjoy: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Freedom from Want depicted friends and family of Norman Rockwell at the Thanksgiving table; the work first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943.
*I mean that in a geographic sense, as well as in an ordinal sense!
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