My wife's online crafting course on a sunnily synchronistic Saturday, February 8 was a provided providential opportunity to be plunked proximal to CN's Kingston Sub, specifically at the straightaway Kingston VIA station for nearly banker's hours. My hope was to photograph the plethoric panoply of Ventures, especially the two week-old 'doublavays' (TM - double V's and it's kinda bilingual!) of VIA eastbound morning train Nos 60/50 and 62/52. Not only is it cool to see two coupled Ventures, but the attempt by VIA to re-jig their Corridor equipment rotation and to partially overcome the CN-imposed speed reductions in the process by adding axles made it historic and photo-worthy.
This three-post series will document a daylight-hours day of train-watching totalling nine VIA (two of which were doublavays) and four CN trains.
0906 EB - VIA Nos 60/50 Venture Sets 10/7:
For whatever reason, the powers that be prohibitively padlocked the pedestrian pathway that plies the former Counter Street crossing. This pathway is widely used by neighbourhood residents, and was a handy way for nearby railfans to safely cross the main line from the station parking lot. I wanted an overhead angle, so laboriously triumphed over the $50,000 city-provided turtle fencing that keeps our shelled citizens safe (well, not in wintertime!) to reach the overpass. From the north side (above) and south side of the mainline:
Two Ventures - views of head-end, joint and tail-end. My one-of-everything approach I learned from Pathology residents - weary of rows and rows of 'junk' specimens like appendixes and pilonidal cysts as 'not a learning opportunity' grew to respond with, "Oh, an appendix? I've already done one"! Having diligently digitally documented this duo, I don't plan to return to further document The Ghost of VIA Future. Fortuitously, I didn't garner any wellness checks while on my lofty perch! I was only jumping with excitement.
Heading east to Brockville to be split, with No 60 continuing on to Montreal and still subject to CN's speed reductions east of there (gets later), while the Ottawa-bound No 50 gets off scot-free (stays on time or makes up time) due to VIA ownership of the tracks to Ottawa!
0925 WB - VIA No 61 918-3455-3462-3358-3337-3335:
Shadow-side of equipment that VIA now calls its Legacy Fleet. Interestingly, this fleet is coming to the rescue of the Venture implementation, which grows longer and slower as months tick by. VIA's February alteration to its rotation organization actually dropped the number of Ventures to 12 from 13, of the 27 sets deployed to cover the Corridor completely. The 'legacy' LRC consists number 12, and the HEP 'legacy' sets remain three in number.
1032 WB - CN No 377 8870-midtrain DPU 3108. Freight, finally. An average morning can see CN intermodals like 105, 185, a late-running 121 perhaps, 149 and manifest freights 271, 305, 368 372, and on weekends perhaps an extra 309, 310, 377 or whatever other unit trains or extras CN might discover it has to move. For an up-to-date rundown of daily CN Kingston Sub daily freights, see Trackside Treasure's right sidebar.
Mid-train distributed-power unit CN 3108 with centenary logo in the snow, not a true Century in the snow, though if leading it would be a head by a century!
1036 EB - On the north track behind CN No 377: CN No 372 IC 2704-5709, mid-train DPU 8847. You'd wonder how bad one railfan's luck has to be to have two of the four CN freights seen to pass simultaneously, with most of 372 invisible behind the aforementioned and first-appearing 377! So here's the DPU, with head-end unphotographable, though luckily catching cab numbers between cars.
1107 EB - VIA No 62/52 Sets 6/17. Another doublavay during coffee break. First-world problems...my 13-minute drive-thru bagel-based donut-detention tidbit-time kaffee-klatsch kost me a photo of another westbound Venture, namely VIA No 643.
Just starting to depart eastward:
November, 1985 nearly the same spot then-and-now:
Once more, from terra firma - two Ventures - views of head-end, joint and tail-end.
In Part 2, the post-prandial portion of the day gets duly documented, behind a bounteous Baconator and prior to a piping-hot pizza pie supper!
Running extra...
It's election day! A minority of Ontarians may elect a majority government. Something wrong with this picture. Listening to reporters mention reasons for a projected [usual] low turnout now include seasonal alibis in this first winter election since the 19th century....snowbanks, record snowfall in Toronto, yada yada. People in Ukraine and Gaza walk over mountains of rubble to get food dodging the bombs and we can't walk over a piddly little snowbank to get to the polling place one time? Is it a Snowbank Too Far?
Veteran actor Gene Hackman has died. He played Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski in A Bridge Too Far. Fun fact: during the entire film he wears the rank insignia of a Polish Brigadier General (Brygady) and not the rank insignia of a Polish Major General (Dywizji). The difference between the two is an additional star for the Major General.
The stars will be out this weekend as the Oscar schmoozefest is celebrated. Conan O'Brien hosts. I will be watching the broadcast, the Red Carpet Pre-Show, and the Pre-Show to the Red Carpet Pre-Show, and maybe even The Stars Have Brunch Before the Pre-Show...oh, never mind The way things are going, I'm surprised Elon Musk is now being allowed to host the broadcast. So what if he's not an actor? He acts like a politician, in custom - weird T-shirts and a ball cap inside in a room full of suits at the recent U.S. Cabinet meeting. So awkward.
