Looking Forward, Looking Back

Indulge me for a minute. Couldn't sleep. Got up, made a cup of  'joe' and turned on the tube. There on the screen was a PBS pledge drive special, The Bee Gees:One Night Only! An amazing 1997 concert in Las Vegas that "covered the whole spectrum of our career," according to group member Robin Gibb. Their hit "How do you Mend a Broken Heart" was on this LP that I won decades ago at a live radio broadcast:

Remembering the Bee Gees' initial membership in the British invasion, along with Gerry & the Pacemakers and their evocative song "Ferry Cross the Mersey" and its first line:

Life goes on day after day/

...though I'd enjoyed the special before, as I tuned in (remember tuning in?) the Bee Gees were starting their hit "Morning of My Life"...

In the morning when the moon is at its rest/
You will find me at the time I love the best

The minutes take so long to drift away/Please be patient with your life

It's only morning and you're still to live your day

In the evening I will fly you to the moon/Where we'll stay until the sun shines/

Another day to swing on clothes lines/May I be yawning

There are two ways I can live life - through song lyrics (doesn't everything remind you of a song??) or punchlines - to paraphrase my colleague George "...and that's why they don't let me in the A&P anymore!" And I would be yawning, because it was 0400 hours at the time. I wondered what it was like for the three brothers to be singing those lyrics into a shared microphone, a capella and no doubt reflecting on their long career.

As I am.

After 33 and three-quarter years, it's time to hang it up. Not blogging! Day job - you know, don't quit your day job? Well, why not?? And of course this moment reminds me of...trains.

When riding a train, there are three ways to look - forward, backward, or out the window. What's coming down the track? What's happening right now? Where have we just been? What's your preferred view? While I enjoy wallowing in nostalgia, especially railway nostalgia, there's a time to look ahead and keep your eye on the tracks ahead.

I was standing in a Budd-built vestibule in May, 1985 having crossed the Ontario-Manitoba border (top photo) as the setting sun illuminated me and the reflection appeared in the open upper Dutch door. Meandering moustache and Icelandic sweater knit by future bride are to be seen in this early-era selfie.

Take this little trackside guy, waving at the bemused crew of a westbound CN freight at Mi 182 Kingston Sub in March, 1971. 

 L.C. Gagnon photos, scanned by David J. Gagnon

Also trackside, the next summer, my Dad and I were going for a walk down the farm lane across the Kingston Sub with binoculars and 'gun' made out of Meccano. (With a pacifist mother, we couldn't 'buy' a toy gun, so I guess I resorted to making one, to hunt those 'bad guys'.) Speaking of dressing up, Hallowe'en 2018 photo includes me 'dressed up as a retired guy' and two other colleagues who have since retired. Why not join 'em? (Though I will not be returning on a part-time basis, as they did)

With VIA's new emphasis on bidirectional consists and more to come in the future, at least ticket booking now includes notification of forward-facing or rearward-facing seats. I don't really mind riding backwards, though some objected strenuously on Twitter when the practice first began! But I don't want to spend ever trip seeing where I've been. I'd rather see what's coming - and be ready to photograph something interesting.

We're looking forward to doing some new things and some of the same things. Because you know, once you use the 'R' word, people ask, "Are you going to get a part-time job?". Well, not with what I do. "What will you do?" and "What are your plans?"are other popular questions. Plans include:

• spend time with family including train-watching with that little rascal grandson o' mine!
• enjoying the great outdoors
• blogging and model railroading 
• volunteering with music will continue
• delving more into Kingston's industrial and railway history
• travelling aboard VIA Rail, and lots of day trips
• learning to say 'no' (thanks, Kevin!) but being open to new opportunities

Thanks for indulging me. And this is no April Fool's! Though the first pension cheque will be in the mail April 1.

Kevin's suggestion in meme form:

 Followed by best wishes from fellow Portage modeller Randy O'Brien:

And your humble blogger in his natural habitat:

Postscript: Sudbury 1985

Bob Fallowfield was guest operator at the Waterloo Region Model Railway Club recently. Between switching moves, Bob snapped a photo of stored CP plows in the club's Sudbury yard. When I subsequently posted a photo of double-track (one-sided!) plow CP 400823 that I photographed after temporarily detraining from VIA No 2 in 1985, club member Ted Kocyla mentioned an interesting fact: that the club had used my original 1985 photo as a prototype reference for these models. And Ted said 'thanks' for taking the photo so many years ago. 

One need not wonder why a layout in Maryhill portrays Sudbury any more than one wonders why a layout in 2019 models the 1970s. The fidelity of their modelling, especially rolling stock modelling, to that specific era is what most interests me. Photos of CP plows are a dime-a-dozen, but based on the photos I took, I was lucky to see a double-track plow stuffed and mounted like this! In plow times, CN also stationed double-track and single-track plows at Belleville, ON.  Look at the big, black, expansive between-tracks side:

Gak! If only I'd posted the other photos in that original post, for the club's benefit! The post that included the single CP 400823 photo was only the third post I'd published on Trackside Treasure back in August, 2008. At that time, I was focussing on Retro Railfan Reports, sharing consists and other fun facts noted trackside. I had not yet decided to showcase more photos and theme-type posts. At the time, I considered the other photos of this unique piece of snowfighting equipment to be poorly manually-exposed. Modern photo-editing software to the rescue! I'm pleased to share more photos in this post, taken during that same brief visit.

No shop personnel were visible, and I was free to walk purposefully, safely and carefully around the shop's outdoor ready tracks happily snapping photos of well-lit, separately-spotted plows. Though film was precious and expensive at that time, I was nearing the end of my trip West and seemed willing to expose several frames to these snow-hungry subjects. Maybe to finish the film off!

I apparently took no notes of the numbers, so they're what you can see in these photos. I don't know whether the plows were receiving a pre-winter once-over, or if they were always spotted on these tracks. I suspect the former. (That's former, not foamer!)

The business end! (above) and rear views (below). Notice differences in cab styles, details and appurtenances, and even block versus CP Rail lettering.

At the time, these plows were still vital to CP's track maintenance in Northern Ontario. Today, not so much, and the expertise to operate such equipment is likely vanishing quickly.

On the same track as CP 400823 were these roofless woodchip boxcars (amazing how many former International of Maine boxcars were in this service throughout Northern Ontario at the time - but that's another post for another day) and ore cars:

Script-lettered at the shop:

The original post included leased Conrail units and CP Rail switchers at the shop tracks, but these larger MLW cousins are posted here for the first time:

I wish many happy additional years of truly prototype-based modelling to modern-era CP Rail modellers like Bob Fallowfield and the members of the WRMRC!

Running extra...

It's just around the corner...one of my favourite days!

Sundays at the Valois Station, 1971-72

Some people get dressed in their Sunday best to go....to church. These photos make it look like we got dressed in their Sunday best to go....trainwatching. Actually, in this post it was both denomination destination stations! My maternal grandmother lived just steps away from the CP Rail Valois station and her neighbour was the station agent! So it was trackside we went - in my case stylin' with blazer and flannels. These slides were taken by my Dad, L.C. Gagnon and recently painstakingly scanned by my brother, David J. Gagnon. Thanks to both these fine gentlemen, we can enjoy some true treasure trackside.

Since it was at least five years before I was writing down consists, and only three years after I learned to print, there is no data for each train pictured. We're under the shady station eaves -  top photo shows a westbound CP freight with CN mainline in the background - June, 1971. The above photo shows me not watching a westbound CN passenger train. And below, I'm not watching a short, weekend Dayliner making its station stop:

 Summer 1971 - best photo of the bunch. Pan shot of a speeder speeding:

Then it's another (non-multimarked!) hockey-masked Dayliner:

Seems somewhat unusual to find two units on a single-level Lakeshore commuter consist:

Evening commuter run with Vickers gallery cars:

Arriving (above) and departing (below) with classic 'bus stop' commuter shelters on the platform:

Evening action in 1972 - freshly-painted candy-striped SD's leading one other MLW unit:

Tail-end and tail number. Jet lifting off west from Dorval airport as this CP marker-lit run-through van tails open autoracks east. My Dad would always try to fit two subjects into one photo!

I'll sneak in a weekday photo, this one from the summer of 1973 with a bountiful brace of beautiful RDC's heading into the city:

 Later that year, a westbound MLW-led freight smokes it up:

 And a Dayliner consist is just west of the station:

In 1974, morning commuters are ready to board this inbound single-level consist:

Running extra...

Don't trip over these names I'm about to drop. Not a bad week at all. Kingston Rail-o-Rama supplied a small shopping bag of paper and books. As usual, the Bytown Railway Society booth staffed by Paul and Les was well-stocked. One tank car for my HO scale Hanley Spur layout thanks to Peter. Plethoric photos from Liz. Konversation with Kevin.

A few days later, it was great to meet Courtenay at the Associated Railroaders of Kingston March meeting. Her generosity led to a break-out post on the historic Bajus Brewery, removing it from solely existing in the ignominy of the Industrial History post. The Hanley Spur Industrial Approach presentation went well and no-one threw anything. Well except helpful comments and questions!

Silty synergy: I planted a swamp, along the Great Cataraqui River. Thank you, Michaels, for your 69-cent cattail inspiration and Allison for your recycled calendar photos!

Postscript: Flexliner in VIA Service

VIA's Flexliner was a very photogenic little train during its time in Canada in 1996-1997. I've taken this wintry opportunity to scan some slides of the Flexliner that have been languishing in my collection. These slides were taken in a variety of locations. January 26, 1997 at Hamilton (top photo).

 A snowy February 12, 1997 at London (above and below)

 February 17, 1997 coming and going at Poplar Road (above and below)

March 3, 1997 at Ottawa (below) with fuel truck nearby. Note the stored Park car - photos of these classy cars taken by the same photographer are in this post.

Running extra...

A busy few days ahead. I'm presenting a PowerPoint to the Associated Railroaders of Kingston (ARK) March meeting Tuesday night. Hello, Denny's club sandwich! Topic will be....Kingston's Hanley Spur - the prototype, my modelling, and our ARK Hanley Spur module group. 

This weekend is the 30th annual Kingston Rail-o-Rama both days at the Ambassador Resort Hotel...

...staffing the ARK table for couple hours on Saturday with Dave, Andy, Paul, Alex and Raul, then it was over to Liz Reid's table and finding some amazing photos from Tim Reid's collection, supporting Bereaved Families of Ontario; Paul with printed material at the Bytown table, Bob's switching layout, good ol' Peter Macdonald and a Rutland boxcar (a little too late?) at Michel Bellehumeur's table; irrigational lunch with Binghamton's own Kevin Ingraham where we discussed archives, books, Crosscuts and militaria. 

Speaking of home layouts, I'm operating a steam double-header on the Cataraqui Northern Lines in the winter of 1971-72. Though the steam and diesel locomotives aren't turning any wheels these days, that Athearn Texaco tankcar TCX 270 with sprung trucks is currently spotted at Imperial Oil downstairs! L.C. Gagnon photo scanned by David J. Gagnon.

Ten years later, Turbos were in their last summer season in 1982, meeting at Kingston (online auction site photo).

CP Switches Kingston's CN-CP Interchange, 1979

My Dad and I arrived at Queens CN-CP interchange on the morning of April 16, 1979 just in time to see CP's wayfreight from Smiths Falls arriving (PHOTO 1). He snapped several photos from the end of Rigney Street, off Counter Street, and would have had his negatives to get them in the correct order in the photo album in which they are preserved for posterity. I wanted to discern what the order of operations was, once the train arrived in Kingston, switched the remaining CP-served industries and the interchange with CN's Kingston Sub.

I've done my best to fill in the gaps and try to ascertain the switching moves made, as a means of better understanding the typical use of this CN-CP interchange which at this time often hosted colourful cars that we would photograph even if we didn't catch CP switching the interchange. Now back to the action...

CP 8030 brings its train to a halt on the lead or runaround track along Dalton Street then cuts off the switcher. A yellow insulated car, CP Rail 50-foot combination-door boxcar, another yellow insulated car and a block-lettered CP hopper comprise the train ahead of van CP 434064. The switcher heads into the CP Express spur (PHOTO 2). Two bulkhead flat cars, a covered CP gondola and two forty-foot CPR and CP Rail boxcars are on the spur. The bulkheads were brought to the interchange. It appears the gon and the boxes were left on the CP Express spur - the two boxes are seen in the distance on one of the tracks along Dalton Avenue (PHOTO 11).

The two bulkheads were taken into the Superior Propane spur and coupled to an empty white Procor  tank car. The tank car is placed on the north end of the van on the runaround track, for the trip back north to Smiths Falls (PHOTO 3). In this black & white photo the cars that CN left for CP are spotted: three boxcars, covered gon and a flat car loaded with JC Crane Rentals vehicles. They're visible as the train heads in from under the Division Street overpass to add them to the train as well (PHOTO 4 & 5) and the bulkheads will be left fot CN.

A close-up view of the cars going to CN on the near track, and coming from CN on far track (PHOTO 6). CN's Kingston Sub mainline is in foreground. A close-up of CP 8030 as connections are made (PHOTO 7). That yellow insulated boxcar, along with cars to its left: the other insulated car, CP combination-door boxcar, probably the CP hopper and definitely the two empty bulkheads were coupled to the forty-foot double-door CP Rail boxcar already there going to CN. The complete train is now pulled out of the interchange, back under Division Street with one crew member on the last car and another one ready to line a switch (PHOTO 8). Unphotographed was a westbound CN freight at 1035 behind CN 9414-5044, many fallen-flag US-road boxcars [SCL, B&M, C&O, D&H]; covered hoppers [D&H, SSW] and auto racks [N&W] and caboose 79215

North of Highway 401 At McIvor Road, we set up to catch the northbound train at speed (PHOTO 9& 10) as it heads towards Jackson Mills thence Harrowsmith, Verona an eventually Smiths Falls.

While we were watching CP switching, CN 4561-79595 with ditchlights blazing, emerged from CN's Aluminum Spur via the Queens south service track, aka Queens 4. This engine would have been stationed (no pun intended) at CN's Outer Station to perform local switching. Of course, neither of these operations remained the same. CP abandoned its track in 1986 and CN now sends a turn from Belleville thrice-weekly to switch the two remaining industries in Kingston. 

Running extra...

Thanks to my brother Dave, host of the Rolly Martin Country blog and slide-scanner extraordinaire, there are now more of my Dad's photos available to share. My Dad's slides were kept in meticulous, numbered, captioned order, which makes subsequent scanning, handling and sharing much easier. Not every date is recorded, but only those modelling a specific date on their layouts, for instance, would need to know....the specific date.

Speaking of the interchange, here is a 126-format print I scanned, taken by my Dad likely in April, 1979. A typical CP covered gondola, BN and CP boxcars await movement. Interestingly, I also photographed the BN boxcar that day, recording the date as Saturday, April 21, five days after the switching sequence shown in this post. The car number as BN 161060, the covered gon as CP 344327 and the combination-door boxcar as CP 202396. Out of the frame was CP insulated car CP 166062.

One more just for fun. Somewhere in the world, someone is asking, "Gee, I wonder if a Hellenic Air Ltd. Super Constellation was ever parked across from a waterbomber, near the Atlantic Aviation hangar at Montreal's Dorval Airport in the summer of 1971?". And now they now.