Sunday, January 18, 2026

VIA Ventures in Service, Part 5


Back in January, 2024 and with the delivery of the twelfth Siemens Venture set, I split my very first Siemens Venture post first published on September 21, 2021, spawning VIA Ventures in Service, Part 1. Then a subsequent Part 2, then Part 3 and Part 4. We're now splitting it again, resulting in this post - Part 5, because it's hard for you and me to find 'news' in a post buried back in August, 2025! VIA's Siemens implementation has so far spawned a blog-busting 26+ Trackside Treasure posts and counting!  Here are the Venture-centric posts:
VIA has been dealing with improved serviceability of the Ventures, a smoother implementation process. The genesis of Part 4 is now six months ago, and this post picks up the implementation in mid-January, 2026. This winter, VIA has faced some operational challenges and garnered some negative media coverage over HEP losses and resulting stranding and subsequent rescue of Venture sets. 

This will be a living post, with mid-January (and newer) operational updates (serviceability, Corridor rotation, incidents) added regularly and perhaps being book-ended when we finally, if ever, see complete implementation. On that note, the week this post was published saw 25 of VIA's Venture sets documented in service - a record high since I've been documenting the implementation of the 32-set fleet! Witness Venture Set 18 "Lumi" operating as VIA No 40 on January 16, 2026:
JANUARY 2025 UPDATES (continued from Part 4)

I've initiated a new way to document Venture sets' serviceability. My previous methodology involved giving each set a week's grace for not being observed in service, designating two-week absences as plausible NOT in operation (was shown as red squares). The problem was that I couldn't really prove that. What I can prove is a set being IN operation (now shown as 'V' for that week), based on first- or second-hand observations. Even though I had a six-week decrease in the number of observations (shown as grey shaded cells at bottom of table), I include those weeks in the table while acknowledging that decrease. Here's my most recent ten-week observations of Venture serviceability, begun the nominal week of November 10 (the dates are shown across the top row because Set 1 seems to reside at VIA's TMC. If it ever enters service, it will be a banner day!

Jan. 19 - Snow Day! VIA No 45 kicks up snow squall powder (image courtesy Railstream, LLC):


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Friday, January 16, 2026

Sky Replacer? Game Changer!

Perhaps you've read about modellers using AI to replace sky backgrounds in photos taken on their layouts. Why? Because basement walls with corners, nailheads, drywall imperfections, doorways, TVs on the wall et al make for distracting photo backgrounds. With my layout in a finished room, (previous owner's pink-painted home hair salon!)  I don't have to contend with a hot-water heater, furnace or laundry area!) They get in the way, draw the eye, and ruin realism. So far, my backgrounds have been limited to trying to hold up a dollar-store Bristol-board cloud background while taking the photo. Difficult! Low-tech! I published this layout photography post over two years ago.

A quick online search led me to free BeFunky Sky Replacer that uses AI, and I tried it on some images taken on my layout. In fact, I took 120 images within one hour! Sky Replacer is easy to use, has good options, and best of all, it's free! There is a premium version at a cost. In this post, I'll post some before-and-after photos, including some black & white attempts. There are also some after-and-before photos; you'll see the improved image first. Sky Replacer truly is a game-changer!

For this experiment, I followed the CN switcher from the Outer Station across Railway Street and under the River Street bridge, trying to take some photos at previously-unphotographed layout locations with temporary backgrounds that I then replaced with Sky Replacer. The top photo (with unusual rainbow sky option!) works because I'd previously added a low backdrop with track and telegraph poles in perspective.
Leaving the Outer Station yard with my current blue-painted wall backdrop with occasional clouds ...and... Sky Replacer!

Layout photography challenge #1 - FURNITURE in the layout room! Such as the white storage cabinet at the end of the Kingston Outer Station stub-end yard. For purposes of this post, I taped three slightly-darker blue card-stock pieces to the end of the cabinet, to which I've previously added a low backdrop and blue card-stock to aid photography. Notice how the AI can fit the sky around poles and other projections.
This corner (at left, pre-edited before sky replacement) has always been an issue for layout photography:

The River Street bridge.
CP lead and spur in foreground.

Some finished photos, passing Millard & Lumb, coal yards and switchman's shanty.

Passing the Bajus Brewery.


Passing behind Kingston Milling Co. approaching the end of the CN Hanley Spur across from City Hall.

The switcher then traversed the CN Hanley Spur in the opposite direction, past Millard & Lumb, the Imperial Oil limestone warehouse, the River Street bridge, the Wooden Mill, the Davis Tannery and back to the yard. While we're waiting for the return trip, here's my method for creating these images:

1. Open [after editing] a layout photo from my Photos section into the Photo Editor.
2. Click on Sky Replacer.
3. Let AI spin while it works for a few seconds to prepare background for new sky.
4. Click on Change Sky. 
5. Click on Select Sky and click on one of many available skies - stay away from the thunderstorm/ colourful sunset!
6. Once a sky is added, the characteristics of the selected sky can be changed/edited from within the selected sky's window.
7. Save and enjoy!

Layout photo challenge #2 - FLAT EARTH! The end of the layout that had a background of my wife's craft area has...no backdrop at all. Definitely a challenge! I hung a light-blue bedsheet from the ceiling for this experiment, because BeFunky can't work miracles with visually-busy backgrounds. The AI seems to deal better with a homogeneous, colour-related background, and is pretty good at working the sky around poles and structures.
From the River Street bridge. A low photo backdrop would enhance my [should have been ironed] bedsheet temporary backdrop! A pre-edit to cover gaps helps the AI. This area still needs a new approach to providing a background, including a low photo backdrop to stop the flat-earth look.
One of the closer comparisons between my sky and the BeFunky sky.
Crossing Cataraqui Street, paralleling the CP Kingston Subdivision, sky-unreplaced:

While waiting along Rideau Street, a couple of photos of the Davis Tannery.

And arriving back at the Outer Station, black & white and sky-replaced:

Transition between painted wall and cardstocked-cabinet patched with clouds...gone!


Layout photo challenge #3 - AI UNABLE to accurately determine what needs to be replaced! Too much variation between my wall colour, with two shades of blue cardstock on the cabinet and too much area to replace (above). And a close-up of my section shed (below), though using photo-editing before replacing the sky left too disparate a background to replace effectively. Straight visual lines are not AI's friend.
Layout photo challenge #4 - MISSING PART! I took 120+ photos of the long-hood end of my retirement-present-to-myself CN 3120 before noticing that a front handrail was missing and the cut lever was unglued. An excellent reason for doing low-level layout photography, no matter the sky. This was an important missing detail not visible to my eye prior to seeing the digital images!

Layout photo challenge #5 - PUSHING the envelope. It may be a great sky that I selected second, but it's attached to the Greek whitewashed cliffside village of Santorini! (What Athens in Greece, stays in Greece!)
Consider this sky just a Socra-tease!

Running extra...
VIA No 14's 6435-6419, baggage 8621 and three Chateau cars derailed at Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska at 0125 on Monday, January 12 near the Highway 289 crossing (above - two CBC screenshots and comparative Googlemaps image). The eastbound Ocean was travelling 54 miles an hour,  braking 21 seconds before the impact to slow the train down to 39 mph, then went in emergency, down to 19 mph when it hit two parked transports that had been backed past the edge of the parking lot of Aliments Asta onto the CN tracks! The TSB will be investigating and I think some Jersey barriers will be arriving soon to prevent a recurrence! Imagine how many other parking lots there are across Canada that abut mainline trackage. CN sent a rescue locomotive from Joffre to tow the consist westward, though the unit remained nearby and likely was not needed. Hospital train No 614 with Eng 914-8605-Chateau Vercheres left MMC at 2230 on Tuesday to return the consist of derailed No 14 -  the farthest-ever trip east by a VIA P42 (trackside small talk with Chris Mears!) No 615 just left Sainte-Foy at 1715 Wednesday with 914-6433-6435-6419 and 21 cars with Chateau Vercheres, Chateau Argenson, Chateau Marquette and Chateau Levis near the head-end and Chateau Brulé on tail-end with three Budd coaches. The track was being repaired and should be back in service by Wednesday. Only VIA Nos 14/15 and CN 402/403 routinely pass here. 

Speaking of landing on the ground, the largest aircraft to ever land on Kingston's lengthened runway (lengthened to encourage a second airline before the pandemic ended all airline traffic, except for a newly-reinstituted Air Canada bus to/from Toronto!) when evacuees from Kashechewan First Nation undergoing a water crisis were relocated here last weekend:

First past the post...

No precedent for being this un-presidential. A Fort Rouge Ford assembly plant heckler got a rude finger, a tired "You're fired"  phrase, and suspended without pay. The subsequent GoFundMe* democratically produced $330,000...of a $10,000 goal, from 13,000+ donors! *The comments are a very positive read! Un-corporate cohones!
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