Postscript: Seventeenth Anniversary Contest

Thanks to all those who participated in this year's Seventeenth Anniversary Contest and here's my heartfelt [and can-you-tell-it's-repurposed] message to each and every one of you (top photo). This year there were three ways to win, all concerning marketing initiatives I've been considering for Trackside Treasure:

1. T-shirts and merch - Suggest a logo or image!

2. What would the best mascot name be?

3. Which song title most closely resembles the feeling you get reading this blog?

The entries were eye-opening, engaging, enlightening, edifying and elucidating, emigrating from all across North America. They not only speak to the entrants' preferred suggestions, but also how they view Trackside Treasure and its role in its tiny little corner of cyberspace. Here are some of the pleasantest comments ever received in a blog contest:

• Thanks for all you do. Your work has kept me coming back for many of those 17 years (I was a little late in discovering this blog). Congratulations on another spin around the sun for Trackside Treasure. - Michael Hammond

• Congratulations on 17 years and here's wishing you many more! I always enjoy your posts and look forward to whatever is on the horizon. - JD Lowe

• Continue to enjoy the blog….17 years later. I often check out your Working Stamps blog. I'm not a collector, but I absorbed enough by osmosis spending time with my grandfather that I kind of, sort of, understand…. - John Fenner

• I am a week late, but happy 17th! This American loves the site and the updates which take a lot of hard work. Again, cheers and many more years of "Trackside Treasure". - Joseph Matthews

HOW YOU MIGHT THINK I LOOK WHILE I'M BLOGGING:

HOW I ACTUALLY FEEL WHEN I'M BLOGGING...

I wish I had some time to create suitably subtle and amazingly appropriate illustrations for this post, but I now need to spend a few days on my front porch doodling the described logos, carefully silk-screening and hand-sewing mascots from the finest high-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, and sourcing sonorous songs from my personal record collection currently housed in seven former K-Mart tractor trailers just behind my property. 

But enough of my whining and let's get to the winning! Here are some of the best!

TRACKSIDE TREASURE T-SHIRTS AND 'MERCH' LOGO:

Here's a logo I came up with. It looks strangely familiar when I stop squinting at it and put on my reading glasses, and I can't figure out why...but I'll like yours better:

• Something like a round seal with "Trackside" on the top and "Treasure" on the bottom.  An open pirate's treasure chest in the middle with a set of tracks sticking out.  A VIA train on the track.  Just the random thoughts of a blog reading railfan.

• How about milepost 179, standing proudly on a pole, bathed in the glow of an open treasure chest nestled at its base?

• Combination of logo and mascot, take 1: The CPR beaver crouched over a laptop, typing vigorously for a cool T-shirt image AND a mascot.  And hopefully, not a cease-and-desist order from some trademark lawyer person and call him “X2F”.

• A treasure chest brimming with jewels (or gold-plated tie nails) sitting right beside a railway track! 

• Here's one example of original submitted artwork from a contest entrant!

[Thanks to those readers who mistakenly misread 'logo' as 'loto'. Hosting lottery schemes and big jackpots is beyond the scope of Trackside Treasure, as is the government red tape and lottery licensing involved!]

TRACKSIDE TREASURE MASCOT:

• Combination of mascot and logo, take 2: A Northern Hawk Owl (non migratory, day-active) which ranges over our boreal forests. The symbolism behind the choice of this particular animal should be obvious. In the crest, this bird is seen at eye level as it perches on the symmetrically-peaked top of a telegraph pole with arms and insulators. Whether the wires are present or clipped off at the insulators depends on the 'era chosen' ... for its symbolism. 

• It seems obvious that your mascot should be Spike the Spike. Just make sure he/she doesn't look like that goofy paperclip mascot that tried to "help" in past iterations of MS Word.

• Mascot suggestion - Posty!  Tall, thin, Cross-arms for a head, TT on the left arm, 179 on the right arm, stuck into a treasure chest of gold coins, perhaps with an ear or two of corn in the mix for some of your corny puns.

• Mascot name - Shunter! has double meaning - the kind of loco, and, the rail-to-rail electrical shunting that takes place, which in some cases is one and the same thing...hopefully...and without the dispute from any infrastructure owners!

[Thanks to those readers who tragically took 'mascot' as 'ascot'. I can't really wear a fancy, knotted tie while I'm working on this blog - it would cut off what's left of my carotid brain-bound circulation.]

TRACKSIDE TREASURE THEME SONG:

• Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet (besides the literal idea of taking a break to visit Trackside Treasure, the piece is unique as most pieces don't use that time signature and it suggests a refined knowledge of music. Trackside Treasure is unique in the way it covers many of its topics and in its areas of specialty. The music came out in 1959, when all of the classic railway hardware, old and new, was generally still in service in Canada).

• Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot (two mentions)

• Peace Train - Cat Stevens 

• I'm a Train - Albert Hammond

• Jumping Someone Else’s Train - The Cure

• Last Train to Clarksville - The Monkees

• Train Round the Bend - The Velvet Underground (give it a listen!) 

• Big Rock Candy Mountain - fun, whimsical, lyrical (much like Trackside Treasure).

• Something between John Coltrane's Blue Train and Pat Metheny's Last Train Home.

[Thanks to those readers who erroneously read 'song' as 'smog'. Sure, the smoke has been oppressive across much of North America but here in Southeastern Ontario, far from the Big Smoke, the air is clear (and we want to keep it that way} and only thick with expletives and epithets when I hit 'Publish' before it's time to do so!]

THE LABORIOUS PROCESS OF CHOOSING A WINNER THEN BEGAN

All of those confusingly creative entries were laboriously copied using a Montblanc Meisterstück Calligraphy Maki-e Fountain Pen onto colourful hand-crafted rice paper and folded into delicate origami cranes before being blown/flown by the salt spray off Lake Ontario into in a Pantry Shelf canned chicken 48 fl.oz. can I've been saving under my back porch for this purpose since the 1970's. (It was just time to put it to use.) Then, after sustaining a few minor lacerations to my wrists, I finally drew out the winning entry - before going for a tetanus shot.

The winner of Trackside Treasure's Seventeenth Anniversary Contest is...

Alan Graham of Vancouver, BC. 

Alan noted: "I look forward to reading many more editions of your blog.  Thank you for your creative and inspirational ways of paying it forward." Trackside Treasure's coveted anniversary prize pack will be winging its way to Alan via Canada Post on an Air Canada flight diverted through the tariff-laden United States. Should be no problem. Alan responds to his win: "Thank you Eric!  What an honour!"

AND NOW IT'S ON TO TRACKSIDE TREASURE'S 18TH YEAR!

Thanks to contest entrant Mike Kulesza for sharing this photo of the rear view from VIA No 54 last night.

 While each anniversary gives us an opportunity to look back, 

it's also time to look forward with optimism!

Trackside Treasure's Seventeenth Anniversary

Admittedly, 17 is a rather obscure number to celebrate. It is a prime number, indivisible by any other numbers. Also admittedly, the number 17 is important if you're Shohei Ohtani, or Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet, or if you don't want people to guess a number between 1 and 20.  In some studies, 17 was found to be the least common choice when people were asked to pick a random number between 1 and 20, So it has manifold meanings, and the manifest of fellow bloggers that inhabit this space with me deserve...

...MY SINCERE THANKS! 

To celebrate the Scintillating Seventeenth anniversary of my little corner of cyberspace - in which I first rolled out my shag carpet and plugged in my lava lamp in 2008 - I need to first turn to my blog partners whose chocked-full-o-content blogs you've read to the right over the past year. Steve Boyko, George Dutka/Don James/the late Peter Mumby, David Gagnon, Stephen Gardiner, Michael Hammond, Bernard Kempinski, Matthieu Lachance, JD Lowe, Chris Mears, Marc Simpson and Jim Sloan.

Thanks also need to go to all those who read, contribute, tolerate, comment, and most importantly keep coming back week-after-week. If you weren't here, I wouldn't be here. Well, I would be here because I live here, but it would be considerably lonelier for me and leave me asking, "Eric, what's the point?". Instead, I fire up the laptop every week with a fire in my belly (ooh, too many baked goods!) and a burning desire to share more.

A BIG ANNIVERSARY PRESENT

Mere days ago, and nearly four years since the first delivery, VIA's 32nd Venture set made it to Montreal. Here's my YouTube link (screenshot above) and this Venture delivery dates post can finally be called complete after being 'alive' for four years!

THERE'S ALWAYS A CONTEST

Anniversarially speaking, there are one, two and/or three ways to win! Just answer one or all of these questions. 

They all pertain to some marketing initiatives I've been mulling over...

1. Trackside Treasure T-shirts and merch - Suggest a logo or image!

2. Trackside Treasure needs a mascot. What would the best mascot name be?

3. Trackside Treasure soundtrack. Which song title most closely resembles the feeling you get reading Trackside Treasure?

Simply answer by email to mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca, or as a comment to this post. It's just that easy! Entries are now closed. A winner will be randomly selected from any and all entries, and memorable entries will be published in a postscript! Now, rush to your device to enter! The prize will be the oft-desired Trackside Treasure anniversary prize pack!

RULES: There always have to be contest rules - I always like to throw some in to make the lawyers earn their rather steep retainer. Contest not valid in places ending in '-stan'.  Odds of winning are roughly one in...whatever. No skill-testing question required. You're alive - that takes a certain amount of skill all in itself! Trackside Treasure reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this contest if in its sole discretion a virus, bugs or unauthorized human intervention occur, or if we find out participants are not being a generally good person with a kind heart, nice hair and matching socks. Not valid in states of utopia or dystopia. No promotional emails will be sent. Heck, we're still shaking our heads that you're still reading this. No applicable tariffs!

 <POUR PARTAGER LA PISTE>

Seriously though, if that's possible at this point, I believe in giving back. Oddly enough, one reason I started blogging was because when I began in 2008, blogging was pitched as a money-maker! Turns out it's only lucrative with a huge fan base, tons of posts daily and hosting advertisements. Um, no thanks. So I started blogging my own way, pleased to have no editor or rules. There are inevitably nitpickers, but if I don't want them here picking nits, I can and do keep them out. If it weren't for Trackside Treasure, there would be no loyal Trackside Treasure readers. There would be none of the amazing connections I've made with like-minded readers, and the amazing opportunities and interactions with you that I continue to enjoy. There would be none of the eight books I've created that enabled me to share information with other enthusiasts offline. There would also not be my Nespresso machine and the cupboards full of espresso coffee capsules, my one-each collection of iPhones, my driveway full of electric cars, my 122-inch large screen TV in my great room, nor my collection of fine European cheeses in my grate room.

To give back and to celebrate Trackside Treasure's Crystal Anniversary, I proudly announced The Trackside Treasure Annibursary. Each August anniversary forthwith and thereafter, I will bestow upon a fellow blogger, enthusiast, reader or preservationist group a modest bursary to fuel their initiative, interest and ingenuity in blogging or other activity. The bursary can perhaps be used to pay for expenses incurred in sharing information, research costs for travel or materials or any way the honoree so chooses. The honoree and/or Trackside Treasure will be free to publicize this award as they so choose. 

TIME TO CUT TO THE CUT CRYSTAL

The Trackside Treasure Annibursary comes with a curvaceous crystalline trophy inscribed with the recipient's name and year as well as the fancy French motto that describes all railway bloggers and researchers and loosely translates as "To Share The Track". No-one controls cyberspace alone, we need to share: knowledge, enthusiasm and information. That is our lofty goal to which all railway bloggers and researchers ascribe. (Oh, and the trophy is only a jpeg file, so don't look for a soapstone carving, gold-plated trophy or any achingly-weighty tchotchke in your mail, nor some huge brown paper-wrapped package you have to pick up at the post office, or arriving at your door with accompanied by an armed escort. It gets sent to you with domestic First Class Postage!

The 2025 recipient and third recipient ever, is...the VIA Historical Association!

The VIA Historical Association (VHA) was founded in 2020 by a group of dedicated VIA Rail Canada enthusiasts and historians. Building upon the collection assembled by model railroad manufacturer Rapido Trains Inc., the VHA aims to assemble a representative collection of VIA train cars and locomotives to fulsomely interpret the history of Canada’s national passenger railway. The VHA's unique mission includes preserving and restoring examples of VIA Rail Canada rolling stock and locomotives for public exhibition and operation, educating the public about VIA's vital role in Canada's transportation network, and documenting VIA's history through archival materials, exhibits and publications.

As VIA approaches its 50th anniversary, members of the VHA believe it is long past time to celebrate and interpret the history of our nation’s passenger railway. The VHA collection will allow VIA’s history to be preserved, and their aim is to maintain the equipment in operational condition. The VIA Historical Association also looks forward to sharing VIA’s history and in person at railway-related events across the country. VHA members participated at the recent Ocean 120th anniversary celebrations in Halifax. 

While VIA modernizes its fleet to serve the travelling public of the future, the VHA will celebrate the equipment, people and stories of VIA’s past. That unique mission, stated on the VHA website is one that is very timely. In the past year, the VHA has not only been able to stabilize its current collection, but also to show it can grow its collection, obtaining several serviceable pieces of VIA rolling stock and rejuvenating them cosmetically. Their acquisitions and activities have been well thought-out, well-done and there is pent-up interest in seeing them well-travelled.

I don't ever see myself sanding the side of a sleeping car, cleaning cobwebs from a coach or asking, "WTF is this hunk of steel?" underneath an F-unit. So, in my own small way via Trackside Treasure, I'm providing some net-equity if not sweat-equity to the cause. I wish the VHA well in its future endeavours, and yes, Endeavour was a VIA E-series sleeping car!

Well-earned congratulations to the VIA Historical Association!

         

Running extra...

This is a real page-flipper. Rapido's virtual catalogue. There's also a virtual catalog for US readers. There are 28 pages showing primarily US models, 11 Canadian.

First past the post...

Though there are several members on the VHA team, I know the ones I've had the pleasure to meet are devoted to the cause: Steve Boyko, Chris Greenlaw, Tim Hayman, Andrew Jeanes and Jason Shron.

VIA Ventures in Service, Part 4

Back in January, 2024 and with the delivery of the twelfth Siemens Venture set, I split my original Siemens Venture post first published on September 21, 2021, spawning VIA Ventures in Service, Part 1. Then a subsequent Part 2, then Part 3. We're now splitting it again, spawning this Part 4! VIA's Siemens implementation has so far spawned a blog-busting 21 Trackside Treasure posts and counting! (Maybe this blog should be retitled Venture Treasure?) Here are the Venture-centric posts:

• VIA's New Siemens Trainsets through Kingston - each set's delivery date and related information.
• VIA's Siemens Venture's First Visit to Kingston - test run arriving at 0222 on 2/2/22!
• VIA's Siemens Venture's First Revenue Visit to Kingston - September 21, 2023 was the big day!
• The Ventures are Coming! The Ventures are Coming! - Ottawa-Toronto service began October 24, 2023.
• Venture implementation compared to the LRC implementation 40+ years ago.
• VIA Ventures in Service, Part 1 - On CN's Kingston Subdivision - updates to April, 2024.
• VIA Ventures in Service, Part 2 - On CN's Kingston Subdivision - updates from May, 2024 and beyond.
• VIA Ventures in Service, Part 3 - On CN's Kingston Subdivision - updates from February, 2025 and beyond.
• VIA Ventures in Service, Part 4 - On CN's Kingston Subdivision and beyond - [you're reading it!] updates from August, 2025 and later.
• CN Imposes Speed Reductions on VIA's Ventures - suddenly in October, 2024!
  
• VIA Ventures and Shunt - Enhanced Post - all you need to know about shunt, loss-of-shunt and why CN is imposing speed reductions.
• VIA takes CN to federal court - judicial review requested November, 2024!
• VIA and CN make submissions to the court in December, 2024 - the facts!
• VIA and CN make more submissions to the court in January, 2025 - more facts!
• VIA and CN make yet more submissions to the Court published in March, 2025.
  
• the final VIA and CN submissions to the Court in February, 2025 - the last of four posts!
• VIA and CN now in Quebec Superior Court Part 1 - March, 2025
  
• VIA and CN in Quebec Superior Court Part 2 - June, 2025
• An opinion piece - "What is Happening with VIA's New Trains?" 
• Seven months o' facts - Serviceability and OTP of VIA's Ventures October 2024-May 2025
• VIA augments a Venture consist to eight units in July, 2025
• Ventures' On-Time Performance, published weekly November, 2024 to present

VIA has been dealing with what seems like improved serviceability of the Ventures, as well as some train and finally a smoother implementation process. Part 3 is now six months ago and this post picks up the implementation at the beginning of August, 2025. It will be a living post, with updates added regularly and perhaps being bookended when we finally, if ever, see complete implementation. Here's Doug Bardeau's current Venture Corridor rotation diagram, effective July 7, 2025:

AUGUST 2025 UPDATES

August 7 - Set 31 operated between Montreal and Ottawa reportedly as No 336. 

August 9: Set 12 operated as No 67. Departure delayed by three hours, 22 minutes today due to crew shortage. No crew could be found who could co-operate linguistically so No 67 (247) towed No 69 (64), potentially the longest VIA Venture train yet

The first week of August, starting August 3, saw 22 of 30 in-use sets observed in Corridor service, based on 75 planned and/or observed Venture-equipped trains, with Sets 2, 9, 10, 14, 18, 20, 24, 25 and 26 reported on one trip only. Not observed were Sets 1, 2, 4, 7, 15, 19, 21 and 27, with Set 31 not yet in service and Set 32 mere days from being delivered.

August 15: VIA Nos 50 and 60 travelled separately. While both were originally intended to be Venture consists, No 60 was swapped to a 6-car LRC consist. The Metrolinx RTC arranged for 60 to pass 50 inside the USRC, preferable considering the crossing-related delays that 50 will incur later in its journey.

Also August 15:  No 71's HEP consist was replaced with a Venture set from due to A/C issues at Toronto.

August 19 - Set 31 was planned for No 54, perhaps its first revenue run, though this did not take place.

As part of its 2025 Annual Public Meeting, VIA Chair Jonathan Goldbloom commented on some of the challenges VIA currently faces. "Our real challenge has been our operating performance, in that we've seen a decline in our on-tie performance. We've seen a decline in passenger satisfaction, and we've seen a decline in our passenger volumes. A good part of that is due to the relationship with our host railway and restrictions that they placed on us. We have to deal with that and we are going to." When CEO Mario Peloquin abstractly referred to VIA trains trying to navigate around much larger freight trains, the Chair cut back in to say that VIA is in active conversation with CN and Transport Canada to find short-, medium- and long-term solutions. Peloquin also mentioned that in 2024, there was the entry to service of VIA's new Corridor fleet, with the entire Corridor served by the new trains.

Pop-up Post: One Day in July 2025, Freight Cars

After a day trackside in the Greater Napanee area, I realized I had a greater number of photos than would fit in one post. A redundancy of rolling stock. A plethora of pictures. A surfeit of scenes. Therefore, I hereby present freight cars photographed on July 26, 2025 at Townline Road, east of Napanee and Vista Drive, west of Kingstonin this pop-up format. Each train's cars of note are listed by reporting marks and notes.

No 271 

CSX/TTGX 983533 with colourful graffiti (top photo) and 'patchwork' WRWK 300151:

TTGX 704022 Ferromex monster graffiti:

TTGX 694409 BOOG graffiti with a bonus Conrail:

No 368 

AIMX 20076 scrap metal bathtub gondola:

Ety bulkhead flats CEFX 816620-816617:

SPL flat SOXX 20501:

As mentioned in the pop-up post of train photos from this day, I caught four pairs of consecutives! Consecutive AITX 100008-100009:

Wheel flats CN 618076 and AOKX 44125:

CGAX 9361:

ubiquitous Irving lumber:

TTGX 953376 CANAS BOKS graffiti:

No 372

the first of morons GACX 2720:

GATX 12369-12368 consecutive (take my word for the left-hand one but it was consecutive!):

CRDX 20498 another MORON:

CMBX 101160 rusty scrap metal bathtub gondola:

RTAX 23048 and 23061 with aluminum ingot loads:

ONT boxcar 7762:

No 369 

Wheel flats CN 48961 and AOKX 44079:

Ex-Rock IC ?789001 covered hopper:

LATX covered hopper 7004:

IMR/RMI is a joint venture of ArcelorMittal and Triple M Metal. Scrap gondola IMRX 2377:

No 306 WFRX 320056 and 320062 formerly Gondola Connection:

Running extra...

Soldier first. Strathcona second. Female CAF member third. Viral internet sensation regardless. This Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) private is one of a large contingent that provided the King's Guard mounted at Horseguards Parade in London during an apparently scorchingly hot July. Uniforms were provided by the regimental association, horses by the Household Cavalry. But the sentries themselves were all-Canadian. Only the second Canadian unit after the RCMP, and the third to include female sentries. 

Watching now-hundreds of these videos on YouTube and elsewhere has become another hobby and a study in sociology! While the British sentries yell "Make way for the King's Guard!!" the Canadians rarely raised their voices. On occasion, one nudged his mount right or left to get closer to tourists staying outside the painted 'white box' that separates 'look at me!' instagrammers from soldiers on duty. At least three times, I saw a sentry pay respect to a veteran with a sword salute. One explained his medals. Most said quietly, "Move out of the white box". One said, "Outside of the box! Thank you."

This private was the only one who added "Please" each time - as in "Stay out of the white box, please." Hey, it's the internet so commenters gotta comment. But really - never appropriate to comment that she's not a real soldier/playing army/looks unhappy/suggesting physical reasons for that - resulted in a large number of return comments, thank goodness. 

There are other troopers in work uniforms nearby, as well as uniformed well-armed London Police to really deal with obnoxious tourists, and they often do. This is a ceremonial guard, and a Policeman with a full clip is much more of a guard to the Realm than a Canadian with a sword most unlikely to slash or run anyone through! But in all cases, no matter their gender(!), they have done themselves and their country proud over the past 125 years! Serving in all our country's wars from the Boer War to Afghanistan, the regiment's motto 'Perseverance' is second only to Lord Strathcona's original suggestion, 'Craigellachie'. Hmmm, heard that one somewhere before...

First past the post...

My good wife convinced our granddaughter to pose with me in front of CPR 1095 'The Spirit of Sir John A' across from City Hall today. She also took the photo. We took in a stories-and-songs kids' session in the City Hall amphitheatre then visited with the ducks and geese at Confederation Basin. I wonder what a two year-old thinks of this big, black 112 year-old (whose renovation and relocation was paid for by us Kingston taxpayers and with significant volunteer involvement)?!

Venture Trainset Implementation Dates

This was an enjoyable project to work on today. Who doesn't like a spreadsheet full of dates and numbers? 

With an infusion of VIA Rail Venture Acceptance Dates, I added these to these additional columns:

the Trainset number somewhat arbitrarily added to each, though always in the order delivered,

Locomotive and cab car numbers,

Delivery Date - that I continue to publish in this post with only one delivery left,

First Test Date - if available, as reported online,

VIA's Real Acceptance Date,

another set of dates from an untitled column in the same document that I'm calling 'Alt.' Acceptance Date, always in advance of the 'Real' Acceptance Date,

First Revenue Run date - if available, or if not available I've added a '<' to denote that it is likely earlier than the date listed, and last but not least,

a list of the number of Venture sets introduced into the 28-set Corridor rotation, slowly increasing over the nearly-three years of Venture implementation.

This will be something of a pop-up post until a better place to put it emerges. Perhaps as an epilogue once the final, 32nd Set is delivered sometime this month!

Pop-up Post: One Day in July 2025

Another online craft event for my wife on a Saturday - July 26, 2025 - meant that I would be heading trackside. Given the gift of several hours to spend train-watching, I always try to find a location that I haven't visited in awhile. Instead of the boring ol' Kingston VIA station platform! By 0800, I was already atop the Belleville Road overpass at Queens West, Mi 199.7 Kingston Sub! I wanted to catch at least two morning Venture trains at Napanee and overhead: 60/50 and 62/52, both of which are 'doublavay' consists and both eastbound into the morning sun. Meanwhile, my wife was at home getting her supplies and snacks in order. We were both ready to let our day begin, albeit separated by about 20 miles! 

The trains I observed will be listed in this post with a photo or video link, if available, then by time, direction, train number, locomotive numbers or VIA Venture Set #'s, On-Time Performance (OTP) for VIA trains, YouTube video links and notes. Here are some links to previous kraftstravaganza days when both my good wife and I enjoyed our respective hobbies:

• Four Days in September, 2023
• One Day in July, 2024
  
• Four Days in September, 2024
• Two Days in March, 2025 

The fog on this morning was unbelievable! I estimated about 10 car lengths' visibility while driving to Napanee, and at one point on Highway 2 west of Odessa, only about five! I parked and ascended to the overpass, noticing that the nearby church had installed a moveable gate blocking its parking lot being used by the nearby scrapyard and its denizens. Thou shalt not park here!

0817 WB VIA No 41: Venture Set 22/2221, 27' late. YouTube video link here.

Looking east (above and top photo) and west to the scrapyard. No 41 then changed tracks to the north, since its station stop was done off the south track at Napanee. No 60/50, though no freights, would be coming the other way.

0841 EB VIA No 60/50: Sets 16 and 3, 12' late. Video screenshot below, Youtube video link here. The sun had burnt off almost all the fog. An unhoused man in a tent under the tree at the right would loudly yell expletives every 30 minutes or so, though apparently directed at the world, not at me. 

1002 WB VIA No 61:  917 and 6 LRC cars, on-time. I am always amazed that a large farm with outstretched grain and soybean fields continues to prosper on Highway 41 as part of the commercial/fast-food 'cholesterol strip' in the background:

Looking east (above) and west (below) from under the overpass. The sun was already up and the day would bring heat warnings and temperatures around 30 degrees C. Shade was my best friend.

After these early VIA trains, it was time to head to Napanee station.

1043 EB VIA No 62/52: Set 30 and 13 pass the station on the north track nearly on time, making way for the inbound VIA No 643. Video screenshot below, Youtube video link here. This was not Set 30's first rodeo, but very close. Perhaps it's fourth revenue run since completing its break-in period.

1119 WB VIA No 643: Set 26, 20' late. Passenger stop made, Youtube video link here.

Stopped 643 and I emerged from the shade of a big tree off to the right for some photos:

The station lawn is crispy. For some reason there is a hospital bed, no mattress but with a headboard, just in front of the operator window. I did my best to make the 'safety railing' on the platform invisible.

1230 Lunch break for my wife and I. Yum, sandwiches! Meanwhile while munching, I mused about MR's 1,000 issues and this 2017 issue that mentioned my operations hero Frank Ellison, though it over-mentioned John Allen and his ground-breaking Gorre & Daphetid.

1237 WB VIA No 63: 903-3305-3313-3301-3475-3476*consecutive-*-6411, 35' late. One of four consecutive numbers on this day!

Someone has done a nice job planting pleasantly pastoral plants on the platform pleasingly.

That grass is crispy, east of the station. A stand of sumac is off to the right, making it difficult to photograph westbound trains from this side of the station, except at the last minute as they round the bend.

1238 EB VIA No 40: 915 and 5 LRC cars, on-time. No station stop, as is the case with most trains at Napanee.

With VIA trains in both directions, I made a quick trip to my next destination, Townline Road. Great sightline, good light, few obstructions and not too many cars driving by. I missed empty potash unit train CN No 731 on the way, otherwise soon I'd catch the first freight in nearly five hours.

1254 WB CN No 271: CN 2903-2970 with about 90 empty auto racks:

1340 EB CN No 368: CN 2827, although expected green KKIX 3003 brought three fellow fired-up ferroequinologists to the crossing, not just to hang out with me (although we did). The main draw for Malcolm, Mary and John was that green SD. Just to prove it wasn't all a conjuring, here it is arriving Belleville at 1145 (photo posted to social media by Barry Silverthorn):

It turns out that 3003 had been wrongly sent east of Toronto - instead of Illinois - its intended destination. Once this error (I'll call it a misdirectomy!) was discovered by the CN brain trust, the errant unit was set out in Belleville yard. It returned west on July 29 to reach its eventual destination. This YouTube video link shows the unit heading through Michigan, just after a guy runs the crossing gates!

DPU CN 2534:

1402 WB VIA No 45: Set 21, 47' late. This crossing is subject to CN-imposed and VIA-perpetuated crossing speed reductions, so this speedster is making all of 45 mph at this point. Approaching the crossing from the east...

...and heading west, inevitably to repeat the speed-up, slow-down procedure all the way to Toronto.

1422 WB VIA No 53:  Set 5, only 12' late. Youtube video link here. A rare trip to the 'dark side' north of the north track, but with so many Ventures, there was nothing to lose but a little light.

1455 WB CN No 305: led by CN 3040 with 40 tank cars on the head-end:

This is a regular move, all placarded UN 1863 aviation fuel for Hamilton airport:

DPU ex-Citirail CN 3976:

1505 WB VIA No 47: 6406 and 5 LRC cars. Departed Montreal 2 hours late (unknown reason), here 75' late:

1517 WB VIA No 65: Sets 10 and 24, only 15' late! Youtube video link here. A rare westbound 'doublavay' therefore not subject to crossing speed reductions due to its 48-axle count.

1603 EB VIA No 644: Set 22, 40' late. Sunless on the south track...

...approaching from the west(above) then over the crossing (below) and on to Kingston:

1608 EB VIA No 64. Five minutes later on the north track, 904-8 LRC cars. The advent of Ventures means more LRC cars are available to form longer Montreal-Toronto consists. 98' late, left Toronto 2 hours late (again, for an unknown reason)! 

1640 EB CN No 372: leader CN 3272

DPU CN 2816. (No, not that 2816!):

Time to head home. Intrepid Napanee railfan Malcolm Peakman let me know that a Norfolk Southern unit was second on CN No 369. I headed for home, hoping to catch it near there. I did, at Vista Drive!

1730 WB CN No 369: ex-Citirail CN 3984-NS 1060 (below). The big, black beast would return the next day on CN No 372.

1735 EB CN No 306: its usual jumbled consist of auto racks, tank cars, boxcars and empty centre-beams (repeat!) with another consecutive (one number higher than 369's leader) that it had just met. This is ex-Citirail CN 3985:

DPU CN 8836:

Here's a subsequent pop-up post showing the freight cars on the six CN freights that passed me on this sunny, sweltering Saturday. Including two more consecutives!

Running extra...

A VIAritable riot of VIAdeo VIAriety this past VIAdnesday!

After the 'day-out-with-Thomas' that VIA RDC-4 6251 (above) recently enjoyed, profiled in last week's post, all was well mechanically and though it had been sitting at VIA's MMC for some eight years, the plucky Railiner is now on its way to Sudbury. Here's my video YouTube link showing it on the tail-end of VIA No 63. That same evening, VIA Panorama car 1721 completed its journey east from Vancouver on VIA No 2 (also profiled in the previous post) and No 68, joining VIA 1720 and 1722 as they ponder an uncertain future together at the MMC. Another screenshot from my video (below) or check out this YouTube link.

Speaking of the MMC, apparently a new urban park nearby has been completed. Not only does the overhead REM R-O-W allow viewing of VIA equipment from one side, this new urban park view now features ground-level (or slightly higher) viewing of another side of the MMC. Enjoy it VIAcariously in this YouTube link.

First past the post...

It was great to hear from Olive at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival this past week. The group is holding interviews to create a history of the building they inhabit - the Bailey Broom Factory on Kingston's Rideau Street. I had a vanishingly small role in the building's non-bulldozing, so I'm happy to help peel back the layers of this building's century-and-a-quarter story!