Welcome aboard this year-long retrospective series celebrating my Fifty Years Trackside - watching trains and taking numbers. This is the Sixth of a year-long series celebrating those five decades - each month's post is a time capsule; a five-year slice of those fifty years. In the previous post, the nineties made their exit down the track. This month, it's into the new Millennium! And Y2K? That stands for Yes 2 Kids trackside!
On May 7, 2000 the kids and I were at the VIA station for four VIA and one CN train. Andrew was not only expertly car-counting, he also relayed observations from his travels on sticky notes for me, including a notepad draft form for me to fill in:
Andrew and I put in a productive day on May 20. CN Nos 149, 590, 308, 309, 364, 301 and 306; VIA Nos 641, 653, 652/640 and 57, all between 0845 and 1400! Our Country Style donut shop was a convenient location within biing/walking distance from home. Excellent views across Bath Road to the CN mainline, air-conditioned or heated in season. And to boot, the owner was a train enthusiast. Prime morning visit times for fresh donuts!
A Sounder bilevel heads west at Kingston Mills locks above the Rideau Canal on June 30, 2000, during our Canada Day-weekend picnic. While picnicking, we netted six VIA trains, of which two were LRC-hauled evening expresses and two CN freights, between 1710 and 1920:
On a berm behind the Riocan big box centre, Erika and I watched two golden-hour Geeps switching eight Nova Chemicals covered hoppers at NORCOM on now-removed CN's Industrial Spur on Aug 9, 2000. The plant would close three years later and is now the site of a housing development with a large school, three apartment buildings, seniors' home, houses, a combined fire station/ambulance base and more to come.
Quinte 2000 was on Aug. 24, 2000. We are three generations with two different methods of documenting trackside, in the golden hour. Dad provided McDonald's supper and Andrew. From 1515-2310 there were 23 trains including 6 CP.
September 17, 2000 was the annual Picton train show. Our whole family, Dad and Dave made the trip, catching a hog-lawed CN No 320 and a 321 setting out 31 of its 96 cars in track BY15 in Belleville yard, power 5428-5306-5285.
Sundays were good days to catch dimensional loads. Photo by Andrew, August 2001 dimensional loads RBTs (Really Big Things!) westbound at Bayridge Drive overpass (above).
- Sep 24/00 at 1705 WECX 102.
- Oct1/00: No 317(30) at Kingston station with CN 601967.
- Jan 5/01: KWUX 10 and KRL 074.
- Jan 16/01: HEPX 200 at Queens.
References to CN's bigger trains of 120-150 cars came from an RTC, "Bigger and better? Well, bigger anyway!" and a head-end crew, "There are no cars left in Montreal - we got them all!".
The family went on a March Break vacation to Florida with another family, but without me. I couldn't get the week off work. One day I headed west to Belleville - March 10, 2001. From 1030-1600 there were CN freights No 519, 106, 364 (103 cars), 149, 301, 321 (135 cars including hi-cube boxcar GTW 378057 - below), 899 and 306; VIA Nos 642, 57, 60 and 45. Then on March 17, from 0820-1500 CN Nos 103, 149, 369, 737, 106, 309, 321, 310; VIA Nos 652/640, 641, 653, 57 and 60. CN's spring rail gang under Foreman John Casano was in the area between April 10 and 22, 2001.
On July 18, 2001 we visited the Bath tie pile from 1830-2030 (above, below and top photo), seeing CN Nos 368, 704, 363 and 148; VIA Nos 65, 66, 47, 67, 48, 49 and 68. No 704 came out of the Bath Spur with 62 GATX empty TankTrain cars from Lennox Generating Station on the CN Bath Spur at 1955 behind CN 2506-5642.
We made a family trip to Niagara Falls between Aug.21-23, 2001. I noted tarped QOPX woodchip gons south of the Thorold Abitibi-Consolidated paper mill, and we saw an impressive 16 ships transit the Welland Canal.
Quinte 2001 was August 30. On our way there we caught this interestingly-led CN No 308 at the Wymans Road crossing east of Belleville at 1500: CN 5628-exConrail 8667-CN 9445-unpainted FP59 GMDX 001006, the latter billed to Pointe St Charles. Between 1500-2000 there were five CN freights, two CP freights and eight VIA trains. Dad provided historical perspective, Dave was the poison-ivy detective, and Andrew picked a few apples from the nearby orchard while waiting to take more video. CN No 365 Engs 2413-5716 had a Brockville lift on the head-end at 1813 in the golden hour, heading for Toronto:
CN's public car tracing function was suspended on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 over concerned for post-9/11 security concerns, along with that of other Class 1 railroads by the AAR. From then on, I had to make educated guesses on the identity of passing CN freights, at least helped by previously-available access to learn their operating patterns!
Trips to Belleville yard still included OCS cars in the Great Lakes Region winter storage yard. On December 26, 2001 CN No 368 called out to passing 519, "Why don't you go over to Country Style, get some donuts and hoop them up to us?".
June 2, 2002 - we waited three-plus hours for the delayed but E8-powered CN business car train No 009 that finally passed westbound at 1732: IC 101-IC 100-CN Coureur des Bois-CN Gatineau (94)-CN Tawaw-CN Sandford Fleming.
During a June 26, 2002 visit to the tie pile, CN No 519 Engs 4124-4122 navigated the Bath Spur. Fifteen cement cars from Lafarge were on the siding portion of the Bath wye parallel to the mainline. The Geeps arrived from the east after switching Celanese at Millhaven and heading for Goodyear at Napanee, went down the wye, out the west end and back to Belleville:
July 1, 2002 was our Canada Day family picnic at Kingston Mills with Mom and Dad, with four freights in one hour: CN Nos 307, 148, 363 and 366 (L.C. Gagnon photo, below).
In 2001, the British Nightstar cars were bilingually-named “Renaissance” or Ren for short, were introduced in a six-city tour. These cars entered service in spring 2002, first on the overnight Enterprise then in wider Corridor service. The Enterprise was terminated in 2005. General Electric P42DC's in the 900-series entered service, and all but one of VIA's last F-units, the 6300's, were retired. The last of the LRC locomotives were also retired, and coaches were LRC and HEP stainless-steel cars. VIA No 47 has Eng 902 at Kingston station with Erika and Andrew on June 9, 2002:
Quinte 2002 was on August 3 with Karen only, with three CN and one CP freight between 1500-1600.
THE ENTERPRISE
The Enterprise was a revival of VIA's overnight service à la the Cavalier and operated from January 16, 2000 to September 14, 2005 first with HEP2 'commuter' cars up front/HEP1 sleepers and a Park car on the tail-end.
VIA No 51 with stainless steel cars on July 7, 2000 at 0550 at Vista Drive:
6404-3 S/S cars -64XX-2 S/S cars -Chateau Lemoyne -Laurentide Park:
One more sighting:
Mar 9/01 0535 WB No 51:
6416-4113-4001-4115-6453-4122-Burton Manor-Evangeline Park
Ren-equipped Enterprise began in June, 2002:
Oct 1/02 0540 WB No 51:
6431-2 S/S cars-4117-6426-coaches 7204-7210, service car 7306, and sleepers 7506-7509-7514. The first Ren cars I'd seen, and the third set finished, having arrived in Toronto on the tail-end of No 2 in June.
On Aug 30, 2001 at 1910, westbound VIA No 67 with 6921-4 LRC cars would be the last LRC‐powered train I would see. CN locomotives began wearing the www dot cn dot ca logo.
October 26, 2002 I travelled by VIA to Toronto for a day-long continuing education course at the Michener Institute, riding VIA No 51 in 2&1 Ren coach 7210 Seat 11 on the north side, returning home on VIA No 648.
On January 16, 2003 Karen and I took the train to Toronto for the three-day start of the Clinical Laboratory Quality Manager course at the Michener Institute, up on No 43 car 3367, returning on VIA No 668/648 in car 3464 on January 19. The Microbiology manager heading the Con. Ed. committee got around the $1,000 annual tuition reimbursement maximum by spreading the $2,000 tuition over two consecutive years!
On Nov. 27, 2003 we went to Toronto one more time for the three-day course wrap-up for the Clinical Laboratory Quality Manager course on No 43, car 3333, returning home November 30 on VIA No 668/648. I faxed the last assignment on December 18, 2003 before receiving my certificate!
On August 7, 2004 two trains passed a soon-to-be-closed private crossing near Mi 179 CN Kingston Sub. The house in the distance was set ablaze as a training exercise for city fire crews! No 309 Engs 2526-2422-5625 at 1330, then 10 minutes later No 149 Engs 2626-5615 (both - above.) Then on February 6, 2005 No 317 Eng 4809 went west with transformer for Lennox Generating Station. At Mi 179 Kingston Sub -the crossing was closed by the fall - and approaching Napanee along Old Hamburg Road. Three cars and caboose HEPX 79640.
October, 2005 westbound VIA train at under-construction Centennial Drive overpass:
Transcribing notes were lagging in 2005. I got a little behind so just taped the original notepad pages directly onto the scribbler pages. VIA LRC-equipped train consists were perhaps too boring to record. I only noted HEP-equipped trains throughout 2004. Wraps like Telus on VIA 6429 on a westbound VIA train in August, 2003:
July 30, 2005 Canada Day picnic at Kingston Mills: CN Nos 376, 148, 377, 368 from 1700-1900.
Thanks for being aboard this year-long train of thought as we retrace, remember, and yes, wallow in nostalgia these fifty years trackside. Watch for an upcoming Part 7 covering 2006-2010.
Running extra...
Happy Independence Day to Trackside Treasure's American readers. This is a Big One - America's Semiquincentennial. I remember spending the last Big One - the Bicentennial - watching President Ford dancing with the Queen at the Bicentennial ball on TV on July 7 while we were in Duluth, MN:
Things have really changed, though. Nothing said 'land of the free' more than Secret Service snipers riding the walkway the third of three BNSF Bicentennial units on a two-car train in North Dakota:
First past the post...
Canadians did not disappoint in their celebration of Canada Day. Ottawa's festivities at LeBreton Flats featured...the Hanson Brothers? Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and Paralympian Man in Motion Rick Hansen, Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller speaking in eight indigenous languages, and Canada's newest Governor-General Louise Arbour making her first Canada Day remarks, "Whether you’re in a remote area, a big city, with family or with friends, let’s celebrate together what unites us, not despite our differences but through them: our ability to welcome others, our solidarity, our resources and our great potential".