2015 Skrillex Tour Aboard VIA Rail

What has a diner, three Chateau sleepers, a baggage car and a Park car and travels up CN's Kingston Sub on a sunny Saturday morning? Well, it's the 2015 Skrillex Full Flex Tour! Let that sink in for a minute....questions? Who's Skrillex? Great question! He's a DJ and a producer who also chartered a VIA consist in 2012 for his cross-Canada tour. Here's a Twitter photo showing the gleaming stainless steel consist at Ottawa:

This year, he's doing it again, with shows in Ottawa on July 8, Quebec City on July 9, Montreal on July 10 and Toronto July 11. Then he heads west for shows in Winnipeg on July 14 and beyond. At Fallowfield, the consist was marshalled with VIA No 30 for the trip to Montreal: 6405-6412-3475-4100-4107-Chateau Lasalle-Chateau Bienville-Chateau Marquette-8604-Waterton Park. Today, the charter was tailing VIA No 61, led by 6457 and four LRC cars:

No Corridor cars behind 6405. Diner Frontenac has been added, likely at Montreal:

These photos were taken along Bath Road in Kingston. I had earlier been out to watch for Skrillex, thinking it would be an early-running sunrise-shredding separate charter, as in 2012. But thanks to fellow VIAphile Matt Soknacki, who gave me a heads-up via Facebook that the train had not gone through Kingston yet, I headed back up to the tracks upon receiving that message. Was I in time? An eastbound freight passed as I tarried trackside, thinking I might be too late. Then, a headlight appeared. YES!

Three Chateau Cars. Chateau Lasalle:

Chateau Bienville, one of the two cars on CPR's demonstration Canadian train:

and Chateau Marquette:

Why would a baggage be marshalled mid-train, between sleepers and Park car?

This is why 8604 is marshalled next to Waterton Park. Space to create and um, kick back! Sick = good.

The train scoots west towards Toronto and a 4 pm show. Then it's to be attached to tonight's VIA No 1 out of Toronto, between the power and the working baggage. One problem - VIA No 2 is late into Toronto, as it was on July 9. On the 9th, it arrived eight hours late at 1738.

I had arrived on VIA No 651 and was heading back east on VIA No 48. Here's the view from near the new Union-Pearson Express terminal:

Thursday's No 1 was turned around, the crew rested and it went west again at 0110. Tonight's No 1 may be detouring due to a bridge fire. Watch for updates!
UPDATE: Sunday July 12 - VIA advisory states that No 1's ETD from Toronto was 0200.
UPDATE: Saturday July 18: The cars of the Full Flex Express arrived in Vancouver on the head end of VIA No 1, the day before the Pemberton BC show.

Waterton Park whisks westward with a whoosh.

These are video captures from a video of the train I posted on Youtube. This may be the wave of my full flex foto future - video to stills. Any Trackside Treasure readers preserving photos for prosperity in this way? Maybe I should just stick with stills?

Running extra...

While in Toronto on Thursday, the 'Play Me - I'm Yours' baby grand beckoned to me. On my way to the Business Class lounge, Burton Cummings' mellow Tears of a Child was followed by equally-mellow though genre-hopping Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by J.S. Bach. 

Thanks to Hank from Holland for his videography skills!

43-Train Weekend, Part 2

In Part 1 of this bountiful weekend, I was leaving Cobourg station, having observed 24 of the 43 total trains I'd see and photograph. Heading east out of Cobourg on Highway 2, I soon reached the Pentecostal Road turnoff. I followed the signs religiously. Both CN's Kingston Sub and CP's Belleville Sub (north-to-south, respectively) are protected by automatic warning devices here. Heading west to a straightaway, back under Highway 2 and thence Cobourg, CN No 107 is westbound at 1020 with 2664-2190 (above). VIA also heads westbound at 1045 on the straightaway, behind 6421 with four cars, probably No 61. Going like stink:

Pentecostal Road is the site of a trailer park, with good views trackside in both directions. CP has a siding and back-track here. Travelling by satellite would have been faster, but Hyundai got me there. Satellite view for your orientation:

The second CP train of the day for me. CP No 142 with 9780-9631 at 1100, with a few auto racks, boxcars and covered hoppers, then intermodal:

While the eastbound CP was still passing, VIA J-train No 62/52 with 904-5 LRC cars-64xx -6 HEP2 cars zipped by:

Highballing east to Brighton on the 401, I found the town crossings too busy with road traffic, so decided to head farther east to Lawson Settlement Road. This road actually crosses the CN and CP mainlines twice, at its west and east ends. Infrequent road traffic to nearby farms and good sightlines east make it a good spot. Difficult sight lines to the west on CN are due to telegraph poles and signal installations. A long, zoomworthy straightaway to the east with ample foliage more than makes up for the westbound view. 

VIA No 643, with 6439 and four LRC cars, was westbound at 1215 (above and below). Considering this train was operating at high speed, my little Nikon did a good job of stopping it in its tracks, at least photographically.

Three minutes later, 6429 led a four-LRC car No 40 east. Following was CN intermodal train No 149 at 1259. New 2812-2846 double-team double-stacks:

The CP Belleville Sub is visible at right (below). VIA No 64 was eastbound at 1317: 905-8623-3477Ren-4101-4102-8112-4121-8104. Note the use of two ex-CP Canadian Budd cars and an LRC Business Class car, a common occurrence. It passed the Mi 237 detector on the north track doing 87 mph!

Great moment in railfanning: NEVER dismiss an ETU squawk when you hear one. I returned to the east end of Lawson Settlement Road, just after leaving to head to Trenton. I was not disappointed to find my third CP, and the first westbound. CP 655 led by CP 8883, toting empty auto racks and tank cars.

A VIA train zipped by, obscured, while CP's train was passing.

The tank cars, many bearing the Renewable Products Marketing Group logo, were placarded UN 1987 ethanol. Examples were NATX 302352, TILX 197272 and SHPX 208082.

Another satellite view showing stops on my route back towards home:

Not-so-great moment in railfanning: I disregarded an ETU squawk, figuring it was the CP train. Just after reaching the Highway 2 overpass, bringing the highway south of the mainlines, I encountered a CN westbound just as I was crossing the tracks. Not wishing to stop while still cursing my thoughtlessness, I snapped a quick photo from atop the overpass. Westbound at 1400 with CN 2835-5425-8861:

At Morningstar Road, Mi 234.8 of the Kingston Sub, site of many intergenerational yet still-unblogged railfan trips, CN sent westbound No 305 with 2685-5736 at 1518:

Bob Gibson of Oshawa, kindly emailed to say he grew up just down the road, and has memories of riding his bike to watch MLWs and Turbos here and waving at the orchard owner, Mr Alyea on his tractor. Bob also rode his bike around the quarry pit, which is the reason that this now-quiet gravel road has such amazing automatic crossing protection. Bob corroborated what we were told, that the dumptrucks operating from the quarry were numerous enough that there was danger of a collision. He also remembers DomTar (a by-product of the nearby Trenton Domtar plant) being spread on the road to reduce dust, making it gooey in warm weather but almost like pavement.

Mid-train DPU 8014 followed all those tank cars, and preceded 60 auto racks on the tail-end.

Three more VIA trains followed:
1550 WB No 65 919-3466Ren-3313-33xx-3329-3350
1558 WB No 47 6406-5 LRC cars
1600 EB No 44 914-3460Ren-33xx-3339Ren-3306Ren-33x2Ren

The orchards to the north are no longer in production. VIA No 65 passes by on the north track:

The next day, Sunday, I drove past CN No 369 led by 2825 while heading to the station at 1250. No 369 was meeting an eastbound with 2310-2418, with DPU 2203. It was time to see bring this 43-train weekend to a successful though overcast close.

Fellow railfans and modellers Roy Whitman and Ron Barrett were also there. We observed three VIA trains:
1415 EB No 64 916-8618-3461Ren-4007-4115-8107-4120-8127 (above)
1433 WB No 65 6405-4LRC cars-3332Ren
1502 WB No 47 902-4005-4122-4117-4111-4109

VIA Budd coach 8127 - I can almost feel myself stretching out my legs on those comfortable leg-rest seats (above) and here is No 47 arriving at the east end of the platform:

No 65's leader, VIA 6405 caps off this 43-train weekend. It was time to go home, put my back-seat drive-thru diet-blowing detritus into the recycling bins, vacuum the carpet, and make it look like I'd been doing something, before my wife returned from Algonquin Park. What a weekend! Funny, she never even asked what I'd done all weekend. She knew!

Running extra...

Ever dreamed of controlling HO-scale trains from your smartphone? Yes, before too long it will be reality. Then I can skip DCC entirely and go right from DC to smartphone. It will give me a reason to buy a...smartphone. Here's a great article on the evolution of DC, DCC and Bluetooth control.

VIA with 5 Business Class cars! Big business board meeting? Deadhead move? Regardless, thanks to a heads-up from Dave in Salem, I was able to catch this krazy konsist kruising through Kingston. Precision, pinpoint railfanning, my friends.

43-Train Weekend, Part 1

So, my wife finally left me. Don't worry, it was only for a couple of days. Camping with family. So, I camped trackside in my Hyundai. I had a 43-train weekend, June 12-14! It was a win-win. Friday night, I headed to Kingston's VIA station.Conditions were dark and rainy. Oh well, in under five hours, there were 15 trains. (VIA Ren-painted LRC cars are denoted "33xxRen" throughout):

1644 EB No 44 6433-3467Ren-3344Ren-3345Ren-3357

1850 KFC break!

1723 WB No 55 6453-3451Ren-33xx-33xx

1745 EB No 66 6406-3475Ren-3309-3316-3328Ren-3342

1807 EB No 46 6414-3471Ren-3371-3308-3365-3320Ren

1823 WB No 67 902-4005-4113-4117-4122 (top photo)

1850 EB No 646? non-stop 6415-34xx-33xx-3314Ren-33xx (below)

1915 WB No 647 918-3453Ren-3347Ren-3310Ren-3325

1936 WB No 69 904-3472Ren-3300Ren-3301Ren-3356-3351 (second photo below)

1937 EB No 68 non-stop 64xx-four LRC cars

1855 EB CN No 306 2906-DPU 2875

2035 EB No 650 900-4000-4118-4105-4116

2040 WB No 59 913-three LRC cars

2047 EB No 668 6443-3468Ren-3331Ren-3330Ren-3318 (third photo below)

2100 EB CN No 148 2846-2812

2121 EB No 648 6427-3456Ren-3326Ren-3348Ren-3334

VIA No 69 with some trackside viper's bugloss in flower:

The rain stopped. the clouds parted. The sun shone, then set. VIA No 668 departed at 2047 eastward:

The next morning, June 13, I was up before the sun to get in position at Cobourg's VIA station. My railfanning efforts here have so far been limited to what passed by on CP while our train was stopped at the VIA station. I knew I could do better. Arriving around 0515 after a coffee and Harry Connick Jr-fuelled drive west from Kingston, (Afterthought...this would have been excellent driving music - Doin' It Right by the Powder Blues Band. Or, Thirsty Ears. Applicable lyric: By age 15 I was up and gone/I had nothing but my guitar and some blue jeans on/ or in my case: By 4:15 I was up and gone/I had nothing but my Timmy's and the scanner on/) Though the brush is growing, CP's Belleville Sub is just visible, running parallel to that retro-updated factory at left. CN's Kingston Sub runs parallel to the VIA platform. My railfan vehicle reposes, visible in many of these Cobourg photos.

Though defeated by the good citizens of Brockville, VIA's up-and-over accessible monstrosity has been visited upon Cobourg, Belleville and Oshawa. Functional and accessible, of course, but it seems a team of Sherpas might be necessary if the elevators aren't working. The sun rises, and I catch it just peeking around the monster as some distant mist also rises. Cobourg has a nice small-town feel to it, though it seems the GTA just might encroach on it. The commuter business from Cobourg into Toronto is very healthy aboard Monday-Friday VIA No 651, and the parking lot has been enlarged accordingly. Pretty good sightlines for visiting railfans!

CN No 368 was the first, passing just as I entered the VIA parking lot. Power was 2682-2332 at 0528. At 0630, after a brief lull, CN No 517 which originates in Belleville, taking local cars to Toronto, whipped through with 30 cars at 58 mph. I see Millhaven and Kingston Invista cars, with  Belleville OMG cars bring up the tail-end:

The first CP of the day was CP No 112 or 118, mostly intermodal behind 8516-9618. I moved to the south side of the CP at the automatically-protected George Street station crossing for this photo:

Cobourg is also bike-friendly. From here, cyclists can head into town via nearby George Street, which also serves the station parking lot, far left (below). A covered shelter and tree-lined path to 'the monster' complement the original brick station.

At 0755, J-train VIA No 50/60 entered the station: 913-3455Ren-3366-3327Ren-6453-3451Ren-3343-3359.

Ten minutes later, VIA No 655 approached from the east on the south track, crossing the Division Street underpass leading to the station. I often wonder if VIA crews actually care about what those weird, plethoric alpha-numeric platform signs mean? No 655 overnighted at Kingston: 900-4000-4118-4105-4116.

The Canada wordmark looms large on coach 4105, and the original brick station is visible at left:

At 0955, CN No 121 led by 8843-BCOL 4601-8006 led intermodal traffic west:

Reefer madness:

Eighteen minutes later, it was CN No 376 2587-5555 with 119 cars, about to change tracks ahead, only going 29 mph. Four nickels!

In a mere 12 minutes, CN No 371 with BCOL 4624-2135 blasted west with a solid train of autoracks:

Notice the railfan vehicle, perhaps secretly personified, wishing it could also go for a ride on CN? CP's Belleville Sub enters a straightaway at right, just beyond the George Street crossing. Legacy Vintage Building Materials operates the former CP freight house. Though tempting to visit, the thought of hearing CP toasters roaring by on the far side of the wall was too much to bear.

Last train of nine before I headed into town.  My son took pity on me, inviting me to a nice steak supper so I wouldn't starve. Stopping by the downtown Cobourg LCBO, I could see the farmer's market and yard sales were in full swing. Nice waterfront, too! Here is VIA No 641 at 0955 - 6427-3456Ren-3326Ren-3348Ren-3334. In Part 2, I move on to some more pre-scouted locations.

Running extra...

A few bonus photos from Cobourg:

 CN hi-rail vehicles (above) and OCS gon WC 65015 (below):

 NW 176752 (above) and 2014-built NATX 290035 (below):