Welcome aboard this year-long retrospective series celebrating my Fifty Years Trackside - watching trains and taking numbers. This is the tenth 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, 2016-2020. This month, it's 2020-2024 as we roll inexorably into the pandemic period. While intended to be the last of 10 posts, watch for an upcoming bonus eleventh post covering the last two years. Our elder grandson rambles along the former CN - now Cataraqui Trail - near Harrowsmith in April, 2020.
On May 4, 2020 I was watching a passing eastbound CN freight led by CN 3246 with DPU 3067 at Vista Drive. The phone in my pocket rang at 1612. It was the doctor at Arbour Heights with the message that my Mom "may be dying". Pandemic precautions in place at her long-term care home precluded family from visiting. So went the murky period of our shared history called The Pandemic. We spent that spring hunkered at home, wondering was safe to do. Fortunately, walking around the neighbourhood and watching trains both were. I was doing the latter when I got that phone call.
It would be a socially-distanced year in which our second grandson was born with no visitors allowed, my Mom's funeral held outdoors with a maximum of ten attendees, and our daughter's wedding with only 50 guests. And even that was during a fortuitous and fleeting window of time that opened for a month, albeit rescheduled months after her initial June date. That's what I think of as this post begins in the spring of 2020!
VIA would eventually have to cut the number of Corridor trains due to a lack of passengers and the unknown nature of COVID-19. But something happened as a result to return the Canadian to the Corridor. Well, its cars at least. VIA operated train No 12's from Vancouver to Toronto with up to 22 cars to be worked on at the TMC and MMC during the slowdown. I was trackside on several occasions as these cars were brought east in small cuts through Kingston: seven on May 21; four on May 22; five on May 23, three on May 24 and four on May 25.
We still made trips to Belleville - like June 5 - but that was the extent of our travel. When Erika's wedding date was necessarily shifted from June to September, I was trackside on June 18-19 to catch four or five trains while Erika and Karen worked away on table centrepieces. On June 30, I watched Mark Sampson through glass while he was on a Montreal-based memorabilia mission aboard VIA No 669. A full morning trackside on July 25, 2020 while I worked on my the manuscript of my first book on Kingston's industrial waterfront history netted five CN and two VIA trains.
I was able to share in our eldest grandson's first time trackside during Erika's outdoor bridal shower on August 17. Andrew brought Timmies to the Kingston VIA station. Watching CN No 368 (below). Socially-distanced ballast replacement was underway at the station that August.
On November 25, CN No 518 was led by GMTX 2323-CN [GMD-1] 1439. The first GMD-1 on that assignment since February, 2015 - so, truly an event!
Pandemic precautions and cases extended into 2021. Ambulances from Frontenac, Hastings, Kawartha Lakes and others travelled to Toronto to take a plethora of patients away from the city to hospitals in other smaller cities. At Scarborough Centenary Hospital on April 21, 2021:
Precision Sort of Railfanning (PSR)! February 4 was a sunny day, and I was waiting at Vista Drive for CN Veterans unit 3015 on CN No 376 (the other Veterans unit being 3233). Then, besides those special units, CN painted several units to mark the 25th anniversary of their IPO. On their way west, the units on CN No 105 sat at Marysville and railfans from hundreds of miles around crowded the right-of-way for photos of the sitting ducks.
I caught "EJ&E" Heritage Unit 3021 on April 21. VIA had worked diligently during the pandemic to enlarge the previously-inadequate parking lot at Kingston station. On August 19, I finally checked out the completed John Counter Boulevard overpass. Kingston's newest grade separation was finished in November, 2020 and the pandemic did not present a good opportunity for me to visit. Socially-distanced train watching with our eldest grandson:
September, 2021 was eventful - a minor derailment at Mi 182. I visited the site during nap time of our youngest grandson, for whom we were providing daycare some days. UberVIAphile Matt Soknacki reported the first VIA Siemens Venture delivery on September 29 at 1300:
At the tracks, little did I know that this was the start of a long and laborious Siemens Venture implementation that would span more than three dozen blog posts and make me arguably Canada's most knowledgeable (make that most obsessed!) Venture tracker.
The year 2022 started with a Venture test train. Set one operating as VIA No 627 pulled in to Kingston at 2:22 a.m on February 22, 2022 (above). Originally scheduled for late evening on February 21, the Montreal-Kingston-Ottawa special slunk in with Jordan 'Hollywood' McCallum at the controls. The same set made a test run to Southwest Ontario operating as VIA No 656 back through Kingston on April 14, 2022 at 1900. I would subsequently track all 32 deliveries of trainsets, though for a long time they were nocturnal!
Having been able to secure digitized images of archival photos from the Queen's University Archives pre-pandemic, I set about creating two books on Kingston's industrial waterfront history, published in November, 2020 and July, 2021. Many were picked up by buyers in pandemic-style front-porch pickups.
The last 'wind turbine' train from Gaspé rolled west on May 7, 2022 with BNSF Logistics cars in use. Apparently the plant had shifted production to larger turbines requiring shipping by sea. Fortunately, Andrew (as both our kids continued to do periodically) sent me notification that he had seen the special train heading my way!
Wedding-prep gave way to nursery painting and while Karen and Erika were collaborating on that project, I went trackside nearby on August 8-9 catching CN Nos 122, 369, 305 and 372 plus VIA Nos 67, 44, 62/52, 63, 45 and 40.
Sometimes CN No 518 (above - backing across Armstrong Road on August 3) was able to avoid wyeing or running around its train at Queens. If only a short train, the crew executed a nifty move at Invista by splitting the power, uncoupling the lead unit (west end of train) into a partially empty track, running the rest of the train into another empty track, letting the first uncoupled unit back out (now at east end of train) to pull the short train without second unit, shove into an empty track, let the second unit out, facing east and becoming the now-first unit, do their switching and return to Belleville with the train facing the correct direction! A rare single-unit 518 back on January 22, 2022:
518 with rare power on October 3, 2022:
At the November, 2022 Associated Railroaders of Kingston-organized Railfair, during my combined volunteering/buying shift, a well-connected Brockville railfan connected his truck into the front end of our van! Returning days later from the CSN body shop on December 13, I noted VIA 8129 ("D&H" scheme)-Craig Manor deadheading on the tail-end of VIA No 45. Later, it was Lorne Manor on the tail-end of No 41 on January 4, 2023, 8126-4005D-8122-8106-Macdonald Manor-Chateau Vercheres trailing No 40 on May 2 as equipment returned to service.
PSR to catch Heritage units on CN freights continued: 'WC' 3069 on CN No 149 on April 2, 2023 and "BCOL" 3115 on CN No 372 and No 122 on March 22, 2023. On June 9, 2023 the Zero [incidents?] Is Possible CN executive train passed through Kingston heading east. I ascended the Bayridge Drive overpass for a down-on, right-of-way foliage-free view. Meeting Vancouver's Terry Muirhead gave me two opportunities to head to the station. Terry was in Business Class car 3461 on No 62/52 on July 11, returning west in car 3469 on No 63 on July 15.
Karen participated in a live online crafting event from September 28-October 1, 2023. I planned out trackside stops along the CN Kingston Subdividision each day:
- Day One - Taylor-Kidd overpass near Mi 184, Coronation Blvd Mi 182, Golden Mile Road and Riley's Garden Centre near Mi 178 (5 CN, 13 VIA).
- Day Two - John Counter Boulevard overpass and VIA station, Mi 176 (4 CN, 14 VIA) culminating with my witnessing a stowaway doing a tuck-and-roll at the east end of the Track 1 platform!
- Day Three - Townline Road, Big Creek and Little Creek/Mousehole east of Napanee (6 CN, 12 VIA)
- Day Four - Townline Road (4 CN, 10 VIA)
By Day Four, I had four rules I railfanned by:
1. No chimping - uses battery, too tempting to edit
2. Maximum one photo per VIA train.
3. Stay at Townline Road - no driving around.
4. Check Invista on the way home for new trackage
CN's Executive Train was another PSR must-see for me on November 7, 2023 at 1000. Boy, did retirement ever make daytime trainwatching immeasurably easier! Ventures were running on three morning trains within one hour of each other for awhile (below - March 1, 2024). No 643 at 1040, No 62/52 at 1105 and No 63 at 1140. I was out on May 17, 2024 to catch this trifecta, although No 45 was unfortunately replaced by an oddly J-trained LRC consist.
VIA's $20 kids' summer Saturday fares led us to Toronto with our two grandsons on June 1, 2024:
Departing Kingston at 0940 on LRC-equipped No 61, departing Toronto eastbound on Venture-equipped No 46. The boys were tuckered out after our quick trip to Ripley's Aquarium and lunch at the GO concourse McDonald's in Union Station. The younger one fell asleep on my lap most of the way home, marking Grandpa's first trip on a Venture!
Discovering the Spirit of Sir John A. (large and small versions) across from Kingston City Hall, with our granddaughter that summer.
Karen's next krafstravaganza took place on July 27, 2024 "Christmas in July". I spent my "Christmas" east of Kingston: Joyceville Road, John F. Scott Road and Collins Bay netting 14 VIA including 4 Ventures, and 4 CN freights.
August 2 was PSR again - the first revenue run of the so-called Turbo-tribute Venture Set 18 unfortunately nicknamed 'LUMI'.
Four Days in September rolled around again from September 26-29, 2024 - I revisited a variety of locations to the east and west in nice fall weather:
- Day One - Morningstar Road, Salmon River Bridge, Oliver Side Road.
- Day Two - Kingston Station, with an enjoyable break to walk our granddaughter, not quite two years old, to the park while Erika participated in an online session.
- Day Three - Townline Road east of Napanee.
- Day Four - Gananoque Junction station.
My end-of-2024 railfanning included stops at the station with Karen then with our two grandsons. October 5, 2024:
Last trainwatching day of the year. Westbound CN freight on December 31, 2024:
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 unplanned, bonus, I'm-not-good-at-math, only-two-year post to finish off these five decades.
Running extra...
Join us for CMRM LIVE — November 21. Trackside Treasure is a proud supporter (now there are 41 of us!) of Canadian Model Railroad Manufacturers. Watch CMRM LIVE on YouTube on Saturday, November 21, from 1:00 to 4:30 PM Eastern, and discover model railroad products made right here in Canada. Watch on YouTube - here's the event link. I watched last night's CMRM LIVE (below - screenshot) and it was three D's: descriptive, demonstrative and de new webcam!
Top three issues this week on social media re: travelling on VIA Rail:
- #3 how is the wi-fi?
- #2 how much should I tip on the Canadian?
- #1 running away, with 300+ comments in just 18 hours:
Yes, it's 'talking non-stop' but more importantly 'need to put their feet away'. Thank you, science-bot-in-a-boot for helping answer those tough questions...'should I ask the staff...people are so respectful in Japan...find something to do with your time' and the like. Sounds like the trip started off on the wrong foot! An arch-enemy? Toes out of T.O.? Time to heel the seatmate relationship? Or is that a newfound sole-mate?
First past the post...
While it's tempting to weigh in on the remarkable U.S. midterm election results, no. Let's be positive here! After all, that's the purpose of this part of the post, er this post part, um, and we don't need more depression. We need uplifting. Operation Warp Speed established mRNA and other vaccines that saved millions. The U.S. administration's work on the administering of these vaccines was a rare humanitarian success, and a real shot-in-the-arm for a dark period that I recall, not reminisce about, in this post.