Pop-up Post: Four Days in September 2025, Day Four

Although recently reliving and rail-ly enjoying my Real Rails 2025 retrospective, it's now time to turn trackside taking up the trail after Day Three of my Four Days in September. I had spent my second-last day of four trackside north of Bath, Ernestown and Kingston station. My fourth day was a bit of a crossing casserole, a geographic goulash, a ferroequinological feast - again at Kingston station, hoping to catch two unusual Siemens Venture sets, and a noontime break for some retro research.

0846 WB CN No 149: (top photo) 2924-2860.

0851 EB CN No 322: 3192.

Mid-train DPU 3362:

0902 EB VIA No 60/50: Sets 24XL-Set 21.

VIA had announced a 'direct pilot project' which would see four trains a day not stopping at Kingston station. Heresy! Though VIA claimed CN infrastructure constraints were the downfall of the project which was cancelled, my belief is that local, provincial and federal political pressure was more likely. Four days before the pilot project launch, VIA issued a statement to media:

"This pilot is designed to test demand for faster, more efficient downtown-to-downtown travel, with some trips expected to arrive 30-40 minutes earlier than today's schedule. Direct trains are being tested to see how we can shorten travel times between major cities while still meeting the needs of all the communities we serve. Adding extra stops isn't as simple as it seems. Schedules are carefully coordinated, and unscheduled waits can quickly erase the benefits of a faster service. By testing faster travel times between Canada's two largest cities, we aim to position the train as the smarter alternative to flying or driving. Although this pilot project is an exciting opportunity, we recognize this change may inconvenience some customers who rely on intermediate stops. That's why we will carefully evaluate the pilot based on ridership, on-time performance, customer feedback, and community impacts. It is too early to determine whether the program will continue beyond this pilot phase."

So here I was in place to document the non-stop train(s) swooshing by - and it wasn't going to happen. The passengers who were notified and rebooked on later trains did not return for this arrival. Only two passengers would be on the platform to board No 60 and No 61 as they sun-shiningly slithered into the station!

0907 WB CN No 369 as VIA No 60/50 departs eastward: 2770 ex-Citirail-2297.

0925 WB VIA No 61: 903-3452-3471-3311R(en)-3338F(uture)-3305R-4105D(&H). Supposed to be another non-stop, it also stopped unspectacularly.

DING. Will that buff out?

I took a two-hour break to do some historical research and retail therapy downtown. Bridging both was the need to screw my reading glasses back together, after they inexplicably detached themselves. Ever try to fix your glasses while not wearing your glasses? A caffeinated pick-me-up at the Downtown Starbucks was not to be - the location had closed the day before! Dollarama Coke would have to do for a midday caffeine infusion. The afternoon would see lots of into-the-sun photography, and photo-editing has been used to reclaim a lot of these ensuing shadowy shots! 

1219 WB VIA No 63: Set 27 running 37 minutes late and beginning five trains in an hour!

1226 WB VIA No 45: (can you tell the difference?) Set 3.

1247 WB CN No 305: 3403.

I had an audience - surreptitiously photographed over my shoulder during 305's passage. One SUV went lights-on and the policeman waved energetically at arriving No 40 before leaving!

HTTX 93367 with heavy-equipment dimensional load:

mid-train DPU 3051:

.

1255 EB CN No 368: 3013-ex-Citirail 3979, mid-train DPU was 2805.

1307 EB VIA No 40: Set 5. I had a tough time keeping up with all the rapid-fire arrivals and the documenting thereof!

1340 WB VIA No 65: 909-3318-3312R-3367-3329F40(years)-3304-3467-3462-912.

1353 WB VIA No 53. Another unusual Venture event I was on hand to record - the DXS/XS-J in service for the first week. It did run two days, and seven days as envisioned the following week, but NOT on this first expected day, unfortunately! Merely Set 10...

...and meeting No 64: 918-3464-3465-3333-3334-3366F40-3371-3323-6414.

1451 WB VIA No 47: Set 28. My creativity and get-up-and-go were lacking by this point. So many Ventures! The day is coming - though implementation stumbles keep delaying it - when every VIA train through Kingston will be a Venture. Despite the LRC and even HEP consists operating on these four days, the number of Ventures was still a remarkable reminder, a harboured harbinger, an important portent and dare I say, an ominous omen of omnipresence, of that day. I call it The Ghost of VIA Future!

1547 EB VIA No 644: One of the last four P42's (VIA 901, 902, 915 and 917) in the as-delivered scheme 915-3456-3301R-3337-3343F-920.

Day Four Total: 5 CN, 10 VIA.

Thanks for being aboard for this four-day extraVIAganza! Watch for an upcoming pop-up post on the freight cars I prototypically photograph perennially!

Running extra...

If you are in VANCOUVER ON NOVEMBER 22 (I know, not much notice, that's why I'm shouting!) there will be a 70th Anniversary of the Canadian event at 'Pacific Central Station'. More here. 

First past the post...

While in Dollarama on Princess Street on Day Four, not only did a helpful cashier point me to the eyeglass-repair kits (I couldn't see that they were right in front of me?) she also patiently helped a wheelchair-bound customer pack, hoist and hang his purchases on the chair, converse with him genuinely, and earn praise from the next two customers. All in a day's work? Not necessarily so. Her good deeds were commendable and commended!

Real Rails 2025 - The Trip

After agreeing to make a presentation at Real Rails 2025 there was only one way to get there - by rail! After deciding to spend one night in Burlington, I booked tickets on VIA No 41 up on Friday, October 17 and VIA No 54 back on Saturday, October 18. Unfortunately, VIA has not yet restored train No 641 on Fridays, which would have got me started an hour earlier. VIA No 54 was the last train heading back to Kingston on Saturday, thus maximizing my time. Having profiled the Real Rails talks in Part One, the VIA TMC tour in Part Two, it's time to do a trip account in this final post. VIA No 41 (Venture Set 15) arriving at Kingston (top photo).

THE TRIP WEST - NOT AS LATE AS I'D EXPECTED!

My seat mate was reading a book on an e-reader. I could easily have read along, as it was a large-print version. The fall colours were nice but cloud started to move in as we neared Belleville. Blasting past stopped intermodal train CN No 105 in Belleville yard:

We hit 152 km/h (in-car speed showing on ceiling sign!) east of Trenton Junction, meeting an eastbound freight, likely CN No 372, then hit 147 km/h east of Cobourg. We were now 15 minutes late.  Port Hope''s CP viaduct just to our north:

At Clarke, 105 well cars were stored on an adjacent spur. VIA No 62/52 were departing Oshawa as we arrived, and three CN units were working the west end of Oshawa yard. Venturinterior view:

We stayed travelling about 15 minutes late. The speed seemed slow, often around 111 km/h with maximal speed of 150 km/h.  There was no sensation of a sudden slow down-speed up cycle that I'd heard about during the quarter-mile crossing speed reductions.

Arrival at Toronto Union Station was still 15 minutes late. I was a little grateful for that, because it eliminated the temptation to run through the concourse like a true Toronto commuter to get the 1017 GO Lakeshore West departure. Instead, I had time to buy my $12.30 ticket at the kiosk, find the appropriate platforms to board in the York Concourse, and even have a snack before the 1047 departure. (I could have used a Presto card available for $4 to drop the fare to $10.35, though I would not use it again and would have to do the tap-on, tap-off routine.)

Top level of former cab-car 237 on the 1047 Lakeshore West departure:

YouTube video link - passing VIA's Toronto Maintenance Centre. The site of our excellent tour the very next day!

Procor shop at Oakville:

Switching tank cars at Clarkson black Geep LTEX 3828:

Arriving at 1148, no, I did not want to go to the Burlington parking structure. Wrong way! Heading back under the tracks to the newly-constructed transfer point, I found Burlington Transit Harvester Route 80 bus waiting for its momentary 1152 departure east, riding along Fairview Street to Guelph Line thence Harvester Road, hopping off near the Holiday Inn. Hello, Real Rails 2025!

THE TRIP EAST - NOT AS EASY AS I'D EXPECTED!

One day before departing, I had learned that Metrolinx/GO Transit was suspending all Lakeshore West service due to construction on this weekend - a hundred year-old bridge over Etobicoke Creek. Sure, Sunday it was truncated to ensure fans could get to the Jays' game, but that was later than I needed it. My mind became a frog in a blender. How was I going to get from Burlington back to Toronto Union? My one-hour GO Lakeshore West trip up would become a two- to three-hour trip back. I had to budget time at the conference - leaving too late imperilled my catching the last VIA train of the day back to Kingston and I had a date with a pipe organ the next morning! I found two possible routings:

Option One

• GO Transit bus 12 to Hwy 407 Carpool/Dundas 1357-1415.
• GO Transit bus 40 to Pearson Airport Terminal One 1431-1525.
• Union-Pearson Express to Union Station.

Option Two

• take the truncated part of the Lakeshore West route still in service, riding the Niagara Falls train from Burlington to Oakville (hourly service)
• transfer to a GO bus to Bramalea.
• ride the Kitchener line train to Union Station.

When I asked two GO Transit staff about this option, they made funny faces. I went with Option One. I could have done Option Two all on a weekend $10 GO one-day pass but would have to have downloaded a code to my phone prior to travelling.  Option One cost me an extra $12.35 for the UP Express but in retrospect, it was worth it!

I regrettably left the Holiday Inn not long after returning from the VIA TMC tour. I met fellow ARK members Andrew Chisholm and Michael Pasch, both about to depart on a tour. Michael was so stoked about the previous GO Willowbrook tour that I thought he was going to miss the bus while telling me all about it! I walked south until catching Burlington Transit Route 1 at Guelph Line to Burlington GO. This saved me a bit of a walk on an unseasonably warm day, and gave me time to get my bearings before starting my circuitous route east. And, equally importantly - time to grab a Timmies and some Timbits. If travelling by rail, would it have been a Jay Train? Or a GO Jays GO train? Hmmm. 

Lots of Burlington Transit and GO buses in the transfer point:

The GO bus ride was...interesting. Route 12 was a treat. Front seat upstairs, coffee on the window-ledge, cool air blowing. Unfortunately, Route 40 was unpleasant. Transfer point sited along the 407, super-busy route, 50 minutes with no cool air, seat reclined in front of me. Fortunately, the driver found the switch about 20 minutes along. After Square One, we got some elbow room after most young passengers disembarked. Approaching Pearson, this Antonov has been impounded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It's not rushin' to get anywhere!

Way-finding in the terminal was a challenge. Arriving by bus I saw no signs for the 'Train to City'. I found them on the upper floors. I literally walked aboard the UP Express 1546 departure before it left. It was fairly crowded. I think it was only a two-car train. 

I arrived at Toronto Union at 1609. Boarding for No 54 was scheduled for 1708 for the 1738 departure. That seemed early for boarding. We had passed numerous VIA trains laying over at GO's Bathurst North layover yard west of Union. VIA had no access to its TMC because of the closure, and many trains were stabled here while No 1's Sunday departure consist overnighted unattended at CN's MacMillan Yard in Vaughan before running down to Union on Sunday! Giving into train watching temptation, I decided I had time to hike west to Spadina Avenue bridge, and maybe even Bathurst Street to get some photos, and ideally making it back to Union to not miss my train home. It was unseasonably hot and humid but I decided to get going! Walking west...

From north:

• Venture Set 6/910-4 LRC-6415 
• 6432-3476F + 4 LRC-6429 (my No 54)/ single guard unit 6418
• 903-4 LRC-9xx (green)
• Venture Set 14

GO 558 with 6 bilevels, GO 617 with ?10 bilevels.

Union-Pearson Express arriving at left, VIA slowly heading for Union at right:

Back to Union Station via Front Street:

Venture Sets 8 and 21 under the train shed. Maybe joined for the trip to TMC?

6429-3470-3476-3311R(en)-my car 33xx-33xx-6432 - No 54. Departing 35' late at 1813 and arriving 45 minutes late at Kingston.

My seatmate, on at Guildwood was one of those rare passengers not using a screen. I celebrated my successful return to Kingston with a Molson Canadian and browsed Branchlike back issues.

My Real Rails 2025 credentials and ticket for the MMC tour, VIA boarding passes, two GO and one UP kiosk tickets, and Real Rails 2025 swag bag that included Time Table 1 - program, site map, tour and banquet information:

Running extra...

Actual wacky news stories of the week...Tom Brady cloned his pet dog (I guess he could not bear to put the first down). A bear was found trapped inside a car (It had bear-icaded itself). A big game hunter was killed by the Cape buffalo he was stalking (It was the last thing he herd). After 529 days in the outback, an Australian dachshund found its way home (He looked and felt like a wiener!)

First past the post...

I'm including this lightly-edited post by Real Rails 2025 key organizer John Spring to social media. John's presentation was just before mine and I could tell his depth of knowledge on the TH&B was unparalleled. The following list reveals the many behind-the-scenes hours spent on this labour-of-love that was enjoyed by so many:

 

Thank you for many great comments on the convention. There was a great committee of people who worked on this convention for almost three years. I am with the TH&BHS and I was the facility manager. I set up the plan for the use of each of the seven rooms in the hotel as well as the loading and unloading of hundreds of sales and display items into the facility. I also had my hand in every aspect of the convention as I have been involved in other national-level conventions as well as chairman of other events such as the Copetown shows. Thursday and Friday nights I got about four hours' sleep setting up until 1 a.m. and being back on deck by 5 a.m. for the next day's events. Saturday I rapped up after the banquet at 1am and was setting up the train show room all night starting at 3:30 am. I set up the Ontario Steam Heritage Museum tour and the Ontario Southland Railway tour. I had my wife Laura (also on the committee), daughter Laura, and son James all working the 4 days selling tickets moving furniture and a hundred other behind the scenes jobs helping out. 

Richard McQuade from the CPHA was the chairman who worked extremely hard promoting the convention and resolving problems in every aspect of the convention. Richard was super-stressed over making things work within tight financial pressures. Richard got the people at GO Transit to agree to have a tour for our people and to expand the size of the tour when the tour sold out almost instantly. Richard also set up the Halton County Radial Railway Museum tour in Rockwood. 

Glenn Courtney from the CNRHA was also worked for two years  as secretary of the committee. Glenn could be found not only covering various jobs for the convention over the three days but also running a great display of CNR memorabilia on the CNRHA tables. Glenn got the 10 or so speakers in the CNRHA room giving talks on great CNR.

Larry Sebelley from the CPHA was the treasurer/registrar. CPHA put up the seed for the convention to get the ball rolling. Larry projected we would not break even and we would lose money on this convention. We exceeded the break-even numbers! Larry is still crunching the numbers to see where we are financially. The train show was a huge success with well over 300 people paying to come through the door plus the convention guests and children that got in for free. Larry put over two years into the planning of the convention but unfortunately he was not able to come east from BC to attend.

Christopher Greenlaw from the VHA was the outside event co-ordinator.  Chris looked after the five tours, getting buses loaded and out on time, making sure there was a bus captain volunteer on each bus to guide the bus to the tour and make sure everyone got back on the bus to the hotel. Chris was also manning the VHA tables and pitching in on so many other jobs like the raffle draw.

Jim Little from the CPHA was inside co-ordinator running the four speakers' rooms. Jim got speakers for both the CPR room 1 and the other railways in room 4. Over the two years Jim worked on scheduling the four rooms to give an extremely full program for everyone to enjoy. Jim tapped in to his personal friendship to get Adam Meeks from CPKC to be the keynote banquet speaker.

 

Damon Stead worked with Richard on the marketing of the convention. Damon created the graphics and flyers we used on so many different marketing items. 

Gerald Harper was on-site registration desk coordinator. Gerald had the complicated job of taking all the information from the program Larry had and make it into over 300 registration packages for everyone attending the convention.  Gerald and Richard spent days making up all packages that were different for each person with the tickets for tours and banquet tickets so they could be easily handed out at the convention door. While everyone was enjoying the programs and tours Gerald was at the door.

Laura Spring also from the TH&BHS was the hospitality room and train show co-ordinator. Laura spent two years getting manufacturers and historical associations to buy display space in the hospitality room. Laura picked the menu for the hospitality and the banquet and got the vendors to sign up for tables at the Sunday train show.  

Jeff Pinchbeck from the CPHA was the IT and AV coordinator.  Jeff supplied the four program computers and other equipment. He had every speaker send in the programs and checked the programs worked with the computer operating system and had the programs all pre-loaded. Jeff rented the screen, sound-board, microphone and speakers for the banquet, and was in change of the CPHA display tables.

Ed Freeman from the CNRHA was part of the convention from the beginning. Ed worked tirelessly helping Gerald with the registration desk and other convention jobs.

Not on the committee but I need to mention is my daughter Laura. Along with our friend Shari Small she sold over $3000 in raffle draw tickets. Laura stayed up all of Saturday night as security for all the convention rooms going without sleep from 6 am Saturday until she got home late Sunday night.

Most of the committee never got to see presentation or go on a tour. This is just some of the effort to bring the Real Rails 2025 Convention to those that attended the event. Add more than 50 speakers, dozens of people doing displays and layouts, nearly 100 manufacturers and vendors at the hospitality room and the train show and countless other people who worked with the committee for this event!