Wintertime at the Station, Jan-Feb 2026 - Part 1

Two Saturdays of post-pickleball parole possiblized a pair of pop-ups at Kingston's VIA station. On January 31 it was a short visit sunny-side featuring two VIA trains and one CN freight under big skies. The following Saturday, February 7 was shady-side three-plus hours with a plethora of trains and a positively polar -17 degrees Celsius! This three-part series will include all the trains I photographed plus some interesting freight cars. Parts 1 and 2 will include some B&W images. The trains I observed will be listed in this post with by time, direction, train number, locomotive numbers or VIA Venture Set #'s.

1223 EB CN No 372: 3927, DPU 3826 (top photo).

1231 WB VIA No 63: Set 13.

1241 WB VIA No 45: 6402-3 LRC-4002-901. There was confusion in the station about which train would be arriving first. A staffer tool the under-track tunnel to peer down the south track to the east!

VIA has created several Corridor consists of three LRC Economy coaches and one HEP Business Class car. I'm not sure if this is due to several LRC Business Class cars running out of lifespan, and/or some LRC consists having two or three LRC Business Class cars!

One of four remaining original-paint P42's: 901, 902, 915 and 917.

February 7, 2026 - this day it was all parking lot photography, no sunny-side. Photo-editing to the rescue!

1235 W VIA No 45: 903-3356Future-3336-3357F-4000-910.

1246 EB CN No 322: 2892, DPU 8363 while 45 was doing its station stop.

Shiny new remanufactured 8363 mid-train:

Another one of those reassigned HEP Business Class cars:

CN No 322 still going by as VIA No 45 departs:

Watch for more trains from this second day trackside, including some snowbank mountaineering,  if you get my drift, in Part 2.

Running extra...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Model Railroad Planning 2026 is now available.

February 8 Unofficial colour - an otherwise black gon becomes a video game on CN No 321:

February 8 Official colour - CN helpline unit on CN No 306:

On No 306 again on Feb. 10, westbound on Feb.11:

(Images courtesy Railstream, LLC.)

First past the post...

Tumbler Ridge RCMP detachment. If the US had addressed gun control and shooting sprees, we would not have imported such atrocities into our country. In this instance, the Mounties did not have to get their man. They do, however, each deserve a medal. We grow, through, what we go, through.

ALTOgether Now! A Thoughtful Commentary

I consider Jakob Mueller to be something of a wunderkind. His encyclopedic knowledge of VIA Rail Canada and its rolling stock is what got me started creating my first book on Canada's passenger railway. While I often noticed his 'handle' on the Can-Pass-Rail yahoo group (now groups dot io) in the past, it hasn't been there in nearly five years, or roughly 10,978 group messages! What brought Jakob's insightful experience back online? VIA, er, High Frequency Rail (HFR), er, High Speed Rail (HSR), er, ALTO, that's what! This massive Corridor boondoggle that I will finally likely ride accompanied by my guide dog having arrived at Sharbot Lake station in the Access Bus - that's how long it'll be before it ever arrives. I will be Canada's oldest citizen, perhaps, at the ripe old age of...124?

When I read Jakob's post about ALTO, I immediately knew it should be shared widely, starting with not only Can-Pass-Rail's readership, but also the hundreds, okay dozens, okay two-hands'-worth of Trackside Treasure's readers exercising their eyes this winter, just to stay warm. To say I'm highly skeptical of ALTO is an understatement, and I'm already tired of reading the half-baked pie-in-the-sky proponent promises, political pronouncements, plus private-citizen pining and pillorying. I've resisted publishing Trackside Treasure posts on the project - goodness knows VIA has enough on its plate right now to contemplate its future vis-a-vis ALTO.

It's been two years since I openly opined in the opening salvo of the HFR, er, HSR (oh, never mind) wars. In the meantime, I re-read a project proposed for high-speed rail in the Corridor and Edmonton-Calgary in 1984. There have been a shelf-full of similar project proposals** since then. 

ALTO proudly proclaims that it's Shaping the Canada of tomorrow with high-speed rail and posting Interactive map with comments that actually seems to work and is chock-full of comments for wayside communities. Or, communities that may be along the line. Not only is the final routing not chosen, but a second, southern sweep has been included to further confuse us!

Without editing, comment or otherwise dilution - except for a few images - here is Jakob Mueller's post:

 

We got [to ALTO] by trying to answer the question: how do we make VIA's intercity network better? Somehow the answer became "with a ground-up service that in no way improves regional rail or addresses its problems".

Let's not pretend that ALTO is truly, fully costed. They don't even have a route between Toronto and Ottawa, just two broad paintbrush strokes across a map that lacks understanding of the terrain and the reality of the ground. Just two different awkward ways to get to Peterborough. That part of the planet is very much not flat, full of knobs of precambrian rock and wetlands. Making an HSR alignment there that actually works will be technically very difficult, necessarily very destructive, inevitably very expensive, and bring ecological damage we will regret later. But why would we think about all of this when we are building for "the future"? I digress.

In this and so many other areas we see the same pattern: politicians chase the shiny bauble (HSR, in this case) because it captures attention and "we need to dream big again" or whatever sloganeering nonsense, rather than practical, achievable, pragmatic things that drive incremental improvement over time. So a consulting firm gets hired to write a report, but they are dopes that don't thoroughly understand the subject matter, or the wider issues, or the world outside mom's basement, but the report is so official and expensive that it is treated as definitive scripture. And then when members of the public try to participate in consultations, or raise valid questions, or make practical suggestions, they get dismissed with this infuriating mix of ego and closed-minded condescension: well we can't change it now, we already did the report, it took sooo long we wouldn't want to take any longer to make it better, or do it right the first time or anything. It's not as if this is being built with the people's money and for their purported benefit. (This disdain is fully intended as non-partisan; the absence of competence afflicts all parties and all levels of government.)

The HSR mistake is at the beginning: failing to consider all rail as integral transportation infrastructure. Freight and "conventional" passenger rail matter too, and are really part of this same conversation. We don't have a proper rail strategy, we haven't ever bothered to give VIA a proper mandate or proper funding in almost 50 years, and in every economic downswing, we let rail lines with regional strategic importance get abandoned and sold off by their private owners to become ATV trails and cornfields, rather than enabling rail banking. Yet we think HSR and just HSR fixes something? Give me a break.

 

In the 1990s, VIA actually had good on-time performance. It could run a train from Montreal to Toronto in 4 hours. That's good. You can't drive that. Because of all the airport nonsense involved with flying, that's competitive there too. This was possible with a collaborative relationship with CN, and with more freight trains on the line (which were not as long - as PSR is another elephant in this room). HFR as proposed was indeed stupid, but if VIA could regularly achieve those "Metropolis" kinds of times, with more frequency, AND with ticket prices that were more accessible, you would get a lot more people out of their cars. Convenience and price speak to people, so take away those concerns. Price in particular is not being discussed enough for how much it matters.

 

I think diverting through freight to an upgraded Winchester-Belleville alignment is a great idea. If freight getting in the way is a roadblock to frequency, reliability, and good passenger train speeds, shifting some of that freight away will help. (So would giving VIA legislative priority, but there I go, digressing again.) The Winchester was single-tracked only a few years ago, which seemed incredibly short-sighted, as do most railway decisions of late. The whole route is under-utilized, and adding a second conventional track to much of it would not be that difficult (with a few tricky spots, i.e. Bolingbroke Trestle, reminiscent of Halton Sub constrictions). Without modifications, it (quietly) handled some detouring CN traffic during the blockades in 2019. If track becomes public infrastructure and the freight railways get a fair deal, it's in their benefit, and ours. (We subsidize the heck out of highways for trucks, why not facilitate transportation that has wider social and economic benefits too?) It's important, too, to maintain access to local freight service on both lines.

 

Also: looking back, the TurboTrain concept was to get higher speed out of the Kingston Subdivision, at least 125 mph. That's 200 km/h, and that's pretty darn good. It's better than anything we've ever actually had in Canada. The LRC was built to be 125 mph capable. The Chargers are able to achieve 125 mph (uh... in the summer, I assume). It's an interim step to true high speed and far less costly. We've had the rolling stock to do this since, in theory, 1968. Could we, I don't know, maybe try and get that to work somewhere first? It doesn't need special track, although we should replace some level crossings (another thing we should be doing anyway, but also not politically sexy). Too much too soon? How about baby steps: Amtrak's Michigan Corridor is cleared for 110 mph operation (on CN lines that also have freight trains, believe it or not). Practical, incremental improvement that increases use of, and builds demand for rail service, then makes HSR make more sense - but as an add-on compliment to a robust regional network, not something built without it, or in lieu of it.

 

Lastly, Peterborough: It clearly ought to have a decent intercity/commuter connection to Toronto, if nothing else. But the Peterborough-centric nature of this is frankly weird, and theoretical at best. It is the biggest sunk cost fallacy here: it is a through line from the original HFR concept. Peterborough hasn't had passenger service for 36 years and counting. The last trains took commuters to Toronto and the youngest people who used those trains as commuters have retired. Everyone who works in Peterborough today somehow gets on without rail service. Not that it shouldn't be there, but again, why not start with regional rail? A GO train with GO train pricing? A new use for displaced HEP2 coaches? Going from zero to HSR overnight - without a regional network - isn't a recipe for widespread adoption and success. Perhaps the Peterborough HSR station becomes a white elephant, lightly used by Trent students with rich parents. Alternatively, HSR access intensifies the degree to which Peterborough is a bedroom community for Toronto, driving up housing prices and rapidly gentrifying the city. As much as Peterborough needs a figurative coat of paint, I don't see how HSR brings back manufacturing jobs or otherwise helps laid-off GE workers. 

HSR hasn't ever materialized because to do it right, we have to build up the anemic rail infrastructure, and the culture of actually using passenger rail, that supports it. Doing it right away would be a boondoggle, doing it the right way is a generational investment that, because of the time needed, doesn't have a political payoff for the people who launch it. So it hasn't happened. Now we're in this moment where there may be political will and opportunity, which is great, but the desire for immediate progress and the fallacy of sunk cost is creating the opportunity for error. If this is done wrong, it will sour another generation on trying to invest in rail. Some of you optimistically think we're building the Shinkansen, but so far I think this is Tren Maya*.

 

--Jakob

There you have it. I think you'll agree that was an excellent, engaging encapsulation of the chances, challenges and chagrin that ALTO is facing. I'd like to thank Jakob for readily agreeing to the sharing of his prescient, perceptive post. 

*The Tren Maya or Maya Train, is a 966-mile inter-city railway in Mexico that traverses the Yucatán Peninsula. Construction began in June 2020 and the Campeche–Cancún section began operation on December 15, 2023, with the rest of the railway opening in subsequent stages, with the final segment from Escárcega to Chetumal beginning operation on December 15, 2024. The project aims to connect tourist destinations in the Caribbean with lesser-known sites inland, including historic Mayan sites from which it derives its name. By linking the main towns in the region, with 42 trains carrying up to three million passengers a year, the line is intended to redistribute tourist flows that are currently concentrated on the coast, and to encourage the development of a region that has historically been neglected by the state. It also may not have had enough engineering, procurement and commission time for adequate operational testing. Experts also worry that the accelerated construction could be hiding structural problems. So far, the project has been linked to more than 60 workplace deaths, multiple route changes, and allegations of purchasing faulty materials from corrupt networks!

**A partial list of HSR studies over the years:

• 1984 - High Speed Passenger Rail in Canada, VIA Rail Canada. 
• 1989 - Review of Passenger Rail Transportation in Canada, VIA Rail Canada.
• 1989 - Pre-feasibility Study of High Speed Rail Services in the Quebec-Montreal- Ottawa/Hull-Toronto Corridor, Bombardier.
• 1990 - Sprintor, Pre-feasibility Study, Windsor-Quebec Rail Corridor, ABB Canada Inc. 
• 1990 - The Canadian TGV Project - Bombardier, GEC, Alstom.
• 1991 - Ontario/Quebec Rapid Train Task Force, Ontario and Quebec Governments.
• 1991 - High Speed Rail Market Assessment - Air Canada/CP Rail.
• 1992 - Fast Tracks - Options for High Speed Rail in Canada - VIA Rail Canada
• 1995 - Quebec-Ontario High Speed Rail Project - Government of Canada, Ontario and Quebec Governments.
• 1995 Quebec Ontario High Speed Rail Project - Preliminary Routing Assessment and Costing Study SNC-Lavalin.
• 2002 - VIAFast- VIA Rail Canada.
• 2003 - High Speed Passenger Rail Analysis - Environmental and Socio- Economic Impacts of VIAFast - IBI Group for Transport Canada.
• 2011 - Updated Feasibility Study of a High Speed Rail Service Quebec City-Windsor - EcoTrains for Ministry of Transport Ontario,Quebec and Transport Canada.
• 2017 - Special Advisor Report Ontario High Speed Rail  - David Collenette.
• 2022 - Alstom TGV Presentation Ontario-Quebec.
• 2023 - Build it Right - A Study of HFR/HSR in Canada - Cambia Consulting.
• 2025 - All Aboard: The Benefits of Faster, More Frequent Passenger Trains between Ontario and Québec and The Costs of Delay - C.D. Howe Institute.
• BILL C-15 - An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025 for FIRST READING, November 18, 2025 in it Under Part 5 Various Measures - Division 1 is the the High-Speed Rail Network Act. 

Running extra...

To paraphrase The Man in Black, Johnny Cash  

"Well if you ride it/ 

you got to ride it/ 

if you ever find it/

get your ticket online/ 

for the AL-TO Line."

First past the post...

Thanks to the nice lady who stopped to offer us a toonie so our granddaughter could ride Mickey's golf cart at the mall food court. We assured her that the motion is not enjoyable for her, so a gentle manual shake is all she needs from the machine. I didn't have the heart to tell her all the machines are card-only. Talk about pay-to-play, or perhaps tap-for-a-trip!

50 Years Trackside ...1976-77 Original Notes

As we embark on a year-long retrospective series celebrating my Fifty Years Trackside - watching trains and taking numbers - this first five years begin with this postscript of two years' original, uncensored, unabridged notes penned by an unabashedly enthusiastic twelve year-old. Related but quite separate from the locomotive, car and caboose numbers I recorded, these notes are a variety of experiences mosty related to train-watching exploits described in the first post. [Captioned bracketed photos in this post by L.C. Gagnon, such as CN 9550-2533 leading a westbound freight past me in the Kingston station parking lot (top photo) on August 28, 1976.]

1976

Jan. 7 - Saw a Century in new colours.

Feb. 8 - I'm going to work for CP Rail, I decided, when I grow up.

Feb.18 - A freight broke in half. Air brakes. Tracks across from school. Engines and half of train came back, picked it up, went off.

Feb.20 - Today was a goodie. For three hours this aft I went up to the train tracks. Saw four trains. Tomorrow we go to the old station. [Notes from the first day:]

Feb.21 - Dad and I went to the station. Saw a train go under us on the overpass. I got a book to write trains in. [CN 3704-3742 westbound to DuPont passing the smaller Track 2 shelter at the then-CN, now-VIA station:]

[A westbound freight behind 3625-3108 the same day, photographed from Montreal Street as it passes through the new alignment of the 'bend in the road' between Montreal Street and Division Street:]

Feb.22 - Dad and I went to the tracks. Saw 5 trains. I got lots of numbers for my little book.

Mar.13 - I went train watching twice. Dad and I went out from 1:00-1:45, and saw the two Rapidos, tanker and a freight with 2 GF-30's and an MR-20. Stuck some pictures on my train book. It is good. In the last week, I got packages from Auto-Train, Milwaukee Road, Amtrak, D&RGW, and on Friday my 1972 BN Annual came. It is really neat. It only cost $5.95 and it has 100 pages.

Mar.18 - Today I went to the train tracks. Mark and Andrew were there. Saw 5 trains [March break].

Mar.19 - For the only day this week I didn't go to the tracks.

Mar.20 - Today Dad took me to the tracks at Collins Bay 6:45-7:55.

Mar.26 - I wrote to Chessie. I hope I get something.

Mar.27 - Two noon passengers came in to the station. I got near the engines. One guy gave me a timetable, the other an extra flag and his autograph [Elmer Ogden]. A nice bunch.

Apr. 4 - Went to tracks 6:30-7. Saw 2 Turbos. Dad came up. I'll write to CN tomorrow for a roster.

Apr.11 - Dad and I went train watching. He got stuck. Tried to get out, couldn't. Called a tow truck, $3.00. Saw good trains. Found lots of train stuff. 

Apr.14 - Trains were good. Got lots of numbers. 

Apr.16 - Mark and I went train watching [Good Friday]. Pinged puddle cans with rocks.

Apr.19 - Mark and I went to tracks. A CN man said a work train was coming. We wanted rides. It didn't come. Trains were best!

Apr.23 - Today I got stuff from CN, CP, rosters, etc. Lots.

Apr.24 - Mark and I went train watching 5:30-8:45. Saw 7 trains.

Apr.28 - Today I saw the yellow Turbo. It's cool.

Apr.29 - Mark and I went train watching 7:15-8:00. Saw yellow Turbo.

Apr.30 - Went to sleep in clothes.

May 1 - Went to tracks, up at 5:30. Saw good trains.

May 5 - Mark and I went train watching. We saw five trains, of which four were in meets. We also put our footprints in wet cement.

May 8 - Went train watching 5:30-7:30, 9:30-10:15. Mark went to Toronto Yard. Show-off!

May 15 - Went trainwatching 6:30-8:00. 4 trains.

May 19 - I love trains. I hate math.

May 20 - I saw 6060, all by itself. 20' away, going east. No coaches.

May 21 - Went train watching 3:30-4:15, 6:15-8:15. This is a big train weekend.

May 22 - Went train watching 6-8, 3-4, 6-8. Saw good trains. Train pictures came. Stuck them in my book. I've seen 18 trains this weekend.

May 23 - Watched trains for 2-5 hours. I have seen about 30 numbered trains - weekend.

Jun. 3 - I ran for a freight. Missed numbers. I was very bloody mad.

Jun. 6 - Went to tracks 6:45-8:00. Saw 4 trains - all passengers. 

Jun.14 - I can hardly wait to go out West.

Jun.16 - Got my Railfan magazine. Good!

Jun.19 - Sent for four Railfan back copies.

Jun.30 - We started our trip. Motel in Iron Bridge is great. Saw great trains.

Jul. 1 - Now in Thunder Bay. The train tracks are 10 feet to my left. Saw excellent trains. One of the best motels I have ever stayed in - the Holiday Inn at Thunder Bay. Because the CN double track ran right behind it. At 1:30 in the morning, I was awaked to the sound of CN 1908, a GMD-1 and two boxcars. I was kept on edge for 20 minutes, watching way freights go back and forth. Finally, the parade stopped. The next morning I looked out the first floor window to see a train with two GP40-2's. The engineer and conductor must have had quite a surprise seeing a pyjama-clad kid waving to them and taking numbers out of a motel's back window!

Jul.2 - I'm in Manitoba. Trains are SUPER. I had good news today. I think tomorrow we'll go train watching. 

Jul. 3 - We went to the station 9:30-10:40. Trains fairly good.

Jul. 7 - I'm in Duluth, Minnesota. Big city, lots of good trains today.

Jul.12 - I'm home. Everyone was mean to not stop to see trains.

Jul.24 - David and I went train watching, Napanee 10-3. Great trains. He wants to work for CN.

Aug.13 - Going to bed early because 6060 ride tomorrow.

Aug.14 - Up at 2, went at 3:15. Got there 7:30. Waited til 9:30. Left at 10:30. Back at 7:30. Waited till 11:00. Left, got home 3:40.

Aug.26 - Dad and I went to see the tie-layers at Collins Bay. Fun. I'll write up my trains tomorrow.

Aug.28 - Dad and I went train watching and taping 6:00-7:50, 12:00-3:00, 6:00-7:50. Saw good trains. [Eastbound Rapido with 6539-6629:]

Aug.31 - Went tie-nail hunting this morning. Bad trains. This summer was the first time I ever rode a bike. Since then I have made good use of it picking up and transporting refundable bottles and going train watching. It seems that whenever I put up the garage door, a train comes. The tracks are 70 seconds away and can easily be reached. It's my second favourite kind of transportation next to you-know-what!

Sep. 6 - Back to school. I can see tracks.

Sep.16 - Short bike ride, track crews here today.

Sep.21 - 6060 went by. I was awakened at 11:46 by Dad. He was standing by my bedroom window, listening. He said that 6060 was going by. I sat up and listened. Sure enough, I could hear CN's last steam locomotive huffing and whistling at Collins Bay. We went on it out of Toronto on August 14. Today it is going to Murray Bay, Quebec for an excursion on September 25. 

Sep.25 - Went tie-nailing 1:30-3:15. Excellent trains.

Sep.28 - I was sitting in the living room watching Rhoda at 8:10. Dad was writing a letter, my sister was at band practice, and my mother was at her German course. All of a sudden, I thought I heard a steam engine whistle. I turned down the TV to listen. Sure enough, it was. My Dad got up, I turned off the TV, and we ran out. We opened the garage door, got in the trusty Volkswagen, and sped up to the tracks, nearly causing a collision. We got up to the tracks, miraculously, and we narrowly missed it. All we saw was the Turbo 67, nine minutes late. Missed 6060 once again!

Oct.19 - Yesterday I went up at 4:15 to see the track machines go back to Kingston. Four of them waved at me. Two of them were driving the machines with no hands. What a bunch! I saw the Dayliner. At 4:30 they went back.

Oct.30 - This morning I woke up at 6:55. I was quite groggy. I heard a freight whistling at Coronation Blvd. I ran over to my bedroom window but it was too fogged up. So I tore down to the dining room. I saw the train in the nick of time. I couldn't get back to sleep. That's one way to get me awake!

Nov. 3 - I can see trains from home.

Nov.11 - I slept in until 0730. Then I got up, ate breakfast, practised my piano and did the dishes. Then I painted my Me-262 while watching Captain Kangaroo. I raked leaves in the front yard from 10:30 to 11:00 then watched the Remembrance Day service and Happy Days. At 12:15, I went up to the tracks on my bike to see the Capitales. My first VIA MLW unit! I came home and ate lunch.

Nov.21 - Went tie-nailing with Dad. great trains.

Nov.30 - I compiled my monthly train-graph. Everything went down except Centuries which went up by one. Dayliners were the second-lowest that they've ever been!

Dec.19 [20] - Dad and I went to the tracks from 11:45-12:10. I took two pictures of the tanker train (below) and one of a MLW VIA A-unit. We didn't want to stay up to see the westbound passenger, so we went home and had lunch - a homemade pizza.

Dec.24 - Went to station twice. Great passenger trains! [My brother was heading to Dorval to visit our grandmother CN 3101-6623:]

Dec.31 - Three of my train pictures came back. Great!

A September 16, 1976 how-to:

The usual equipment for train watching is: notepad, binoculars, pencil, radio, engineer's hat, jacket, books to read. Some favourite places are the new station, the sports field, and Napanee. The procedure is to wait for a train. If it is freight, get 10-20 feet from the fence, or track. As it comes by, take down engine and caboose numbers. Write down types and railways of each car. If it is a passenger train at the station, stand beside engines, looking at various apparatus and as the train rolls out, take numbers of locos, baggage, club cars and coaches. If it is anywhere else get back 20-30 feet and get locomotives, club baggage and diner car numbers. For Dayliners or Turbos, get 10-20 feet from fence and take numbers. There are also opportunities to buy crests or write to GM or railroads for information. My father worked in Windsor Station CP in Montreal, and my brother might get a job with CN, CP or TH&B running a steam engine line. I would also like to work for CN. I'm sure this will always be my favourite hobby and I will never lose interest in it.

1977

Jan.14 - My number book has had a sudden lift in GF-430's and MR-20's. This morning, Mark, Andrew and I ran from Wedgewood to the tracks. It was a train with GF-430's. At 0910 there was an eastbound with the two MR-20's and one GF that went by yesterday: 2507, 2533, 96xx I forget.

Jan.15 - Dad and I went train watching. There was a freight with 6 locos. I wouldn't have gotten the numbers if not for my extensive training!

Jan.20 - Got system map, sheets, roster from BN. Neat.

Jan.26 - Saw a CN plow.

Feb. 8 - Went to see Silver Streak movie.

Feb.13 - Today David left for Schreiber on CP. Went train watching for 1.5 hours. All of the 7 trains were eastbound freights except one westbound passenger and one freight. Next Sunday is the first anniversary of train watching. We will have a big party, and the official watching of the eastbound Rapido and the annual number count.

Feb.16 - My fingers have gone very numb since I was just watching a train. Did you see that snowplow extra at 0913 eastbound with CN 4571?

Feb.20 - First anniversary of train watching. The train we were supposed to see was one hour late [marking the first train recorded a year earlier]. 3,122 numbers.

Feb.21 - Wrote to SP, P-S, DRGW, Auto Train. 

Feb.22 - Wrote to Amtrak, IC, SF, Milwaukee. Hope I get replies.

Feb.24 - Derailment at Lyn - 14 cars, 2 locos. No trains.

Feb.27 - Saw many trains - 1 freight A-B-B-A with 4 cabooses.

Mar. 6 - Talked to Dave on phone. He is working brakeman.

Mar.15 - Wrote to WP, UP, SCL.

Mar.20 - Wrote to FGE, SLSF.

Mar.24 - Went to station. Chased wayfreight [to DuPont]. [Afternoon Railiner 6101-6003-6351:]

Apr.16 - Went train watching with Dave, and on bike: 5:30-7:15, 8:30-10:00, 11:00-12:00, 1:00-2:00, 3:00-4:15, 6:00-7:05. Took train pictures. 

Apr.24 - Uncle Maurice and Aunt Irene came. Brought rail anchor from SCL in Plains, Georgia. 6060 will come on May 14.

Apr. 30 - Found 10 bucks at the tracks.

May 14 - Went to Collins Bay 9:30-1:15. 5 trains. 6060 great. 

Jun.23 - Last day of school. Went to tracks with Dad. 4 trains.

Jul. 8 - Rode bike to Ernestown station. Good trains but that place is spooky.

Jul.20 - Rode to tracks for 2 or 3 trains. Hot day.

Jul.25 - Went to old Kingston station. Switching-neat!

Aug.1 - Dad and I taped RDCs at Collins Bay.

Aug.13 - Watched trains 4:45-6:30, slept 6:45-9:45.

Aug.22 - Went to Uncle Maurice's. Belleville yard for 1 hour.

Oct.10 - Saw 6060 at Hawkesbury.

Oct.28 - Biked to tracks. VIA RDC!

Oct.29 - To Toronto on RDC with Allison left 7:05 to CN Tower.

Running extra...

Still dealing with the after-effects of my bad case of Gormick-itis! Everyone's a critic. But now we're buds! Or should that be Budds?? Amazing what a 'moderated status' will do. Johannes and 'Dannes' FTW.

Time to touch grass:

Before social media, there were notes in notebooks. Having been suspended by Facebook for two months, I'm surviving just fine. Others will try anything. Here's one suspendee's solution and if this is not identity fraud, I don't know what is...

"Here's what I did. It was a waste of time trying to recover my account. I have created a new one and it has been active for 3 months now.

Brand new device.

Had my internet provider reset my IP address.

No pictures of myself or that I've ever uploaded on Facebook.

Different first name.

Different email address.

Different birthday.

Add randoms like 2 a week for a month.

After a month add ONE old friend. Add more randoms.

A week later Add another old friend. Rinse and repeat.

Do not send any previous pictures you've used on FB via messenger.

I use this device for FB only. $60 tablet from Walmart.

I get the missing all your photos and memories but this is the method I have found that has so far that didn't result in subsequent accounts and devices being banned within 3 days."

A dumb guy saw construction workers getting in to the Winter Olympics by showing their tools. He hadn't bought any tickets. As he approached Security behind a first guy who said, "Plumbing" and a second who got in by saying "Carpentry, he didn't panic. He simply picked up a roll of snow fence and got in by saying "Fencing".

First past the post...

Thanks to Paul, Mark C., Mark P., Terry and you-know-who-you-are for keeping me up-to-date in the Facebook-Free Zone! While I miss OS's otherwise received, I don't miss the drama which apparently I can get elsewhere! No-Drama Llamas!

50 Years Trackside ...1976-81 The Bug Bites

This is hard to believe. I've been fifty years since I started scribbling train numbers and transcribing them for posterity. Starting with this post, I'm celebrating 50 Years Trackside throughout the year 2026. In this introductory post, I will be sharing the very genesis of the train watching bug that has affected me, or more correctly infected me, to this day. We had grown up reading, riding and watching trains go by, with a strong train affinity in our family. I'm sure if the internet had come along earlier, my Dad would have been blogging and sharing his decades of trips, photos and experiences trackside just as my brother David does. However, purposely being trackside and recording observations at the tender age of twelve was something new for me. Each month of this coming year, I'll devote one post to a successive five-year slice of those 50 years - which trains I was watching and where, how, trips taken and a bit about what was happening in my life when not trackside! 

Welcome aboard my train of thought!

1976-1981

As an almost-teenager in February 1976, I spent my very first uninterrupted three hours trackside just waiting for CN trains to pass by. The bleachers and team benches at the Amherst View sports field provided the seating. With the winters of the time, spring could not come soon enough. When it did, school friends from just around the corner of Manitou Crescent, Mark Reynolds and Andrew Makepeace, joined me trackside. So began the years of our misspent youth together!

We would often walk the half-mile or so north along suburban streets early on a Saturday morning to the CN Kingston Subdivision double-track mainline. Sometimes I was so excited about going to the tracks that I would slip quietly out of the house in the near-dark early morning, having slept in my clothes! One favourite pastime while waiting at the tracks was sinking old pop cans in a large, two foot-deep puddle with handy pieces of crushed limestone from nearby construction. There was nothing quite like those early mornings. If the moist morning air would allow, we could often hear the trains for several minutes before their arrival. We could hear the approaching train whistling for the County Road 6 crossing two miles to the west, or double-whistling for two crossings in Collins Bay two miles to the east. Early-morning Railiner 6114-6101-6355 heads west past the Amherst View Sports field and past the growing row of townhouses along Amherst Drive (above - just visible at centre of photo).

Before that string of townhouses was completed along Amherst Drive, we could also see eastbound trains descending the grade past the Amherst View golf course, one mile to the west. When the train finally passed us, we would take notes, and I transcribed mine at home into a school scribbler that later expanded to a one-inch binder, with a shoe-box of notebooks that kept multiplying.

June 30, 1976 saw my parents, sister and me cramming into out '76 VW Beetle for a road trip to visit my Dad's sister and my uncle 1,500 miles west in Portage la Prairie, MB. I'd return in each of the next then years, except 1977 and 1983 to visit each summer. When not otherwise engaged in souvenir shopping, dining, sightseeing and the pursuit of various cultural experiences - museums, exhibits, historical plaques - visiting the CN and CP yards was a convenient diesel-fuelled default! Of course, notes were taken there, too.

Once home, we made a day-long pilgrimage to Toronto to ride one of the summer excursions that CN and then VIA would market each year. Being able to sidle up to 6060's warm steamy side on the platform of Toronto Union Station before departure on a muggy morning was magical. The excursions operated between Toronto and Niagara Falls with a side-trip to Yager, ON. In the waning years of CN's steam program, we were often treated to seemingly-impromptu appearances of 6060 up at the sports field. It was simultaneously confusing and exciting to hear a steam whistle from home, than rush to the tracks to see if we actually heard what we thought we heard.

We made many trips to the new CN Kingston station, opened in 1974. I was reliant on my brother or Dad for a ride there in various Volkswagen vehicles. Westbound Rapido with 6781-6862-6763 on August 8 - L.C. Gagnon photo:

CN sent a large tie gang through late that summer. Upon discovering the presence of tie-nails in the replaced ties, I had a new hobby over the next three years - tie-nailing - see 1979 photos below. 

Grade 8 was calling, and I was happy to be in a classroom with a sweeping view of the tracks. Knowing of my train-related distraction, the teacher kept an eye on me when trains were passing and some of my classmates even pulled the window curtains shut! But I knew the number of passing trains would eventually outlast their drape-closing tendencies!

I took up a pen to write to every railway and railroad for which I could find an address. I would ask, perhaps beg, for photos, rosters, booklets and pamphlets to add to a young railman's burgeoning learning curve. Most were surprisingly obliging, and even rejection came in the form of a conscientiously-composed, neatly-typed-on-letterhead - all but a few roads have since merged.

All the while, my brother departed for the wilds of Northern Ontario to try his hand braking on CP Rail out of Schreiber, ON. While I, too, considered such a career during my mandatory school guidance-counselling sessions, neither of us made a living out of it. With the advent of cassette tapes, I now had a new way to not only capture train sounds, but also their numbers. Cassette tapes and recorders were inexpensive, battery-powered therefore portable! They would accompany me to the tracks, and surviving cassettes carry on my squeaky, tween-age voice reciting my observations. The zenith of cassette-taping coincided with the Corridor Canadian years of the early 1980s. Dad and I would drive to the nearby Coronation Boulevard crossing to catch the early eastbound Vancouver-Montreal train, as I yelled Chateau-this and that-Manor into that condensed microphone as loud as I could!

I had to graduate high school before entering the big-hair eighties. Enrolled in a new school, Ernestown Secondary School was six miles north in Odessa, ON. We bounced along each school day, charioteered by school bus-drivers 'Flash', Art or Ken, crossing the CN once each way. What were the chances of encountering a train twice a day? Apparently pretty good. Out came the little green notepad again and again!

Notwithstanding my learning to ride a bike at 12, getting a camera at 14 and my driver's licence at 19, there was one respect in which I was ahead, not behind the learning curve. That was cross-country rail travel. My sister and I travelled west by train in 1978, then my brother and I drove the Trans-Canada in 1979. 

Despite sporadic attempts at photography using my Dad's Kodak 126-format Instamatics, the one I was sent west with in 1978 gave up the ghost in Northern Ontario. My generous uncle gave me a Kodak 110-format Hawkeye once we reached Portage. It was this slim, pocket-sized plastic kaleidoscope through which I'd document life over the next six years. Anyone who has grown up in the area of digital photography won't appreciate the precariously precious process of photography in the film era. Film was not cheap. And the processing, costing up to a dollar a print made photography expensive. My friends promptly purchased their 35 mm cameras while I soldiered on with my Hawkeye, used to photograph CN 4561-3739 heading west past Kingston's VIA station to DuPont on October 14, 1978 (above). An eastbound VIA 6764-6624 through Amherstview on October 28, 1978:

Another adventure in Northern Ontario was our band trip to Thunder Bay in April 1979, aboard a Wagar Coach Lines bus. We were billeted by a band member named Rob Lucy. In spring, Thunder Bay was a grey and gloomy place. Fortunately for us, Rob could already drive, and he had a Chevette that he called The Grey S***box and he was happy to drive visiting band members: me, Andrew, Mark and Richard Faulkner down to the city-wide freight yards. One evening, a friendly crew even invited us aboard CN 7034 for some yard-switching.

Here are some previously-unpublished Hawkeye photos from my early years:

May 19, 1979 - CN 2325-2320-2553 eastbound freight at Queens East (above). 

In September, 1979 we enjoyed our final ride behind CNR 6060 before it was relocated to Alberta. On an overcast day, the fall colours were blazing in the Muskokas. The next summer, my chances to see the  Continuous Welded-Rail installation near home were limited by the fact I was going back to Manitoba by train in June, 1980 and for the first time on my own. Looking back, was it an alien concept to send a 16 year-old halfway across the country on his own? What could possibly go wrong? 

The day before I left, I had a job interview at the Bath Road McDonald's. All went well, and I was foreseeing a career under the Golden Arches. But training sessions were being held when I was scheduled to be riding west on VIA! No surprise here, the train trip won. I had a different kind of train-ing in mind! My Uncle Wilf snapped this photo of me with my VIA travel bag (!) and my ride home - VIA No 4 -  arriving at Portage la Prairie's CN station at 0700, June 22, 1980:

East of Coronation Boulevard on October 7, 1979, Centuries CN 2007-2009 are westbound at 1130:

Armed with a hammer and a too-big slotted screwdriver, I would scour the piles of ties along the right-of-way. Returning home with tools in hand and jeans pockets bulging with creosote-coated tie-nails, there were always more miles of piles to be checked. The collection ran to nearly a thousand tie-nails!

October 8, 1979 while tie-nailing east of Coronation Boulevard, VIA 6781-6628-CN 3117 are westbound on a nice fall afternoon (above). On October 21, just west of Mile 183 CN Kingston Sub, Centuries 2020-2043 lead an eastbound freight past the intermediate signals while I was tie-nailing there. (Remember photo corners?)

A visit to the 'old station'/Outer Station on Montreal Street, by this time just a small stub-ended freight yard. Crane CN 50367 rests on January 25, 1980:

East of Coronation Boulevard in August, 1980 - two freights meet - eastbound in foreground:

August 13, 1980 - eastbound VIA meets westbound CN freight:

Our second school band trip in October, 1980 to Port Moody, BC involved travelling there on CP aboard VIA! The government grant for this trip had a mandatory educational component. A group of us were drafted to a Boredom Prevention Committee on the trip west. Our produced package included a map, train schedule, berth assignments, fun facts, word puzzles and more. While some band members were assigned four to a section or three to a double-bedroom, I was able to assign myself to a roomette on the way. The quicker, less educational return trip was aboard Wardair. On the way west,  we're stopped at Banff station and I'm leaning out a blue & yellow car vestibule:

VIA was born, coincident with the genesis of my train watching 'career'. Inheriting CN passenger equipment, Corridor consists I was observing in these first five years remained largely unchanged from the CN era. That, of course, changed in the next five years as blue & yellow paint flowed, the LRCs arrived and the Turbos departed for the final time. 

Freight trains were operating with a plethora of American railroads' cars, even predecessors, minimal intermodal traffic, and prior to the lease-fleet freight car era. The freights I'd observed fell into a few specific categories: container (intermodal) trains; through freights with bridge traffic to/from the U.S. Midwest/New England; Montreal-Toronto freights; maid-of-all-work freights like CN Nos 317/318 with lots of chemical and misc. traffic, and short local wayfreights.

March 23, 1981 - CN 9452-9651-9428-5062-5071 led this westbound freight west of Mi 184 Kingston Sub:

March 29, 1981 - Looking east, CN 2037-2017-2041 head a westbound freight at the Amherst View sports field where we started this post looking west! The shadow of the bulbous Amherst View water tower looms over the grass!

Thanks for climbing aboard this year-long train of thought as we retrace, remember, and yes, wallow in nostalgia these fifty years trackside. Watch for an upcoming second part, 1981-85!

Running extra...

It's been a good old-fashioned winter! The snowbanks grow higher making it increasingly important to be creative when it comes to shovelled snow storage. Q: Where did the snow man keep his money? A: In the snow bank!

Check here for regular updates on how VIA's winter is going. Today, the Corridor will see an ebbing 8 LRC trains,  a burgeoning 11 'HEP' trains*, and a static 30 Venture-equipped trains. (*full disclosure - six of those 'HEP' trains will be LRC Economy class cars with one HEP Business Class car. As of today, there are only 11 LRC Business Class cars left in service, with some trains having two or three, hence the shortage.) Here's VIA 4002 on the tail-end of yesterday's VIA No 45:

They say social media is bad for your health and this week I came down with a bad case of Gormick. The discussion centred on VIA's Ventures (what else is making news?) and the Oracle of Oshawa was holding court. Nobody likes a bit of humour or going tangential more than I do. But according to this 'consultant', everything is wrong, nothing works, and only he knows why. Mix that with a healthy dose of holier-than-thou, been-there-done-that, not relevant name-dropping and just plain nonsensical innuendo and it's time to swear off for awhile! Weird. Really weird.

First past the post...

Thanks to erudite Johannes Urbanski and the ever-relevant Dan Garcia for adding substantively and factually to the discussion referred to above. Nice to have some adults in the [chat] room!