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This was a rather unplanned trip, as far as sitting down months in advance and planning it out, such as we did with Boston in 2004 and Dave's Visit in the summer of 2005. This trip only had a couple weeks planning, and I didn't know exactly what we were doing until we actually got into Montreal. But, it was one hell of a trip...and the pictures should show that! Enjoy
I had to work Wednesday, so I was out of school that day. Wednesday night and Tuesday Morning I was packing...Peter's and my flight left Halifax International Airport (HIA) at 5-something in the afternoon, but I wanted to get some railfanning in (I'm obsessed, what can I say?) in the Windsor-Junction area, so we left with enough time to catch VIA #15, which is due through Windsor Junction at 1:10-ish. So, I got there, scanner on my belt and camera in hand. I heard #15 call the clear signal in Mill view, which I have since learned is about a half-mile from WJ. There had been a woman walking around to my left, on the other side of the tracks, for a minute or two. I heard #15 blow for the grade crossing a quarter mile away, and turned on the camera. Just then, the woman yelled at me...she asked me where I was from, I replied I was from Falmouth, and went to line up my shot. She said that someone fitting my description attempted to break into her house earlier that morning (5 hours earlier, around 8:30). I told her I wasn't in the area at 8 this morning, and that if she'd excuse me, I had trains to photograph. She yelled that she wanted to question me, and in a slightly more profane sentence, I told her to leave me alone, I wouldn't be caught dead breaking into her house, and that I have better things to do then discuss it further with her. With that, I turned my attention to the train, approaching me at 50MPH. Got a nice shot of VIA #6411, the Operation Lifesaver "Direction 2006" unit.
September 29th, 2005
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After the train went by, the woman was still there. I walked back to the car, and we drove off...she never stopped looking at me all the way out of the driveway. I felt like telling her that if I was going to break into a house, I would have broke into a house that would actually have something worth stealing, but I decided against that route. We ended up arriving at HIA very early, so we got the tickets and went upstairs to relax. I knew we were in a 737-500, but I never did research behind it...I assumed the 737 was a large aircraft, and the ticket said first class, so I was rather excited. First Class my white Canadian ass! And no, it wasn't a big aircraft, either. We were in the 8th row, just in front of the wing, and I swear, had the seats been any closer together my knees would literally have been in my nose. As we flew, we heard that Montreal was experiencing bad weather. Turns out, we were landing in wind gusts up to 90KPH. The last 15 minutes were hellishly rough, and I was expecting a painfully rough landing. Not so...perfect landing, I hardly even felt it. Got on the ground, waited about 15 minutes and Dave shows up with Joanny and Jimmy. We throw our stuff in and go to get supper...just driving the few kilometers from the airport to the restaurant, we saw 3 trains! My camera was in the back, so I didn't get any pictures. After supper, we went to the Best Western in downtown, and got settled in. Dave and I went for a walk at about 11PM to get some drinks, and that was the end of that night. Tomorrow...Bio-Dome and le Stad Olympique!
So, Friday morning, we walked to Nickels to get breakfast....I ordered Pancakes, got French toast. Exchanged the roast for pancakes, and ended up with cold pancakes. I, being too lazy to complain again, ate them. Even though they were cold, they were good, and very filling. We walked back to the hotel, got our stuff together, piled into Dave's Ford Focus, and left for le Stad Olympique and the Bio-Dome. We were going to go up the tower on Olympic Stadium, but the people that run the ride are on strike, but that's OK, I still got a nice picture of the Olympic Stadium. Home of the once-proud Montreal Expos. Next, we went into the Bio-Dome, and toured around. For those that don't know, a Bio-dome is an enclosed building with all the different climates from around the world present under one roof, in separate sections of the building...we went from a temperate rainforest into an artic setting, and everything in between, in 3 hours. And all for something like 12 bucks! I took many pictures of the different animals and stuff...but, animal upon animal on a train website might seem a tad redundant, so, I've narrowed it down to 4, as well as a picture of the stadium.
September 30th, 2005
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After the Bio-Dome, we head off to Aunt Edna's house to let Peter off. Dave and I go off to Riverview (you'll see more of that later), and get settled in. Tomorrow, we're going railfanning in Beaurepaire and Beaconsfield!
We picked up Jimmy around 10, and headed off to find a Pedestrian Bridge that Jimmy and Dave knew about, on the busy Dorval Corridor. We stopped at the hobby shop, "Hobby Junction Express", on the way. I bought an N-scale Atlas Articulated Auto Rack, and Dave bought me an N-scale AC4400CW, as well as some HO stuff for him and the guys back home. We met two trains on the way to the hobby shop...one AMT and a CN Intermodal, and while we were in the store, a CP TOFC/Intermodal went by, as did a CP Mixed Freight train. We were in the shop, drooling over stuff, so we didn't even hear them coming! As we left to get into the car to go to the Beaconsfield Pedestrian Bridge, an AMT Commuter train pulled up to the station. We thought we were going to beat it to Beaconsfield, but it passed us, and we ran into an unexpected problem...the road we were on ended, and we ended up driving around a residential neighborhood for half an hour, trying to figure out exactly where we were going! We ended up eventually finding our way out, and ended up parking in a Couche Tard parking lot and heading up onto the bridge at about 12:15. The Dorval Corridor is unique...CN and CP both have double-track mainlines, and they're no more then 50-feet apart. The pedestrian bridge we were on spanned both mainlines, as well as autoroute20, which was right beside us. For the sake of easy reference, the CP tracks are close to the Couche Tard (the same as a 7-11 or a NEEDS store) and the CN tracks are close to the Autoroute. Tracks are going to be numbered 1-4, starting with #1 being CP, close to the Couche Tard, and #4 being CN and close to the Autoroute. I'd heard from friends that the track speed through there was 90MPH, but I didn't figure I'd see anything moving that fast, this close to a populated area. Boy was I wrong! Every passenger (VIA) Train we saw was doing at least 80, if not 90. While I don't know the CN or CP track speeds in the area, I would bet they're both 75...I'll explain why later.
October 1st, 2005
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October 1st, 2005
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At 12:25PM, a CN train from Dorval came into view on track #3, being lead by CN SD60F #5506. The first shot is of #5506 approaching us from Montreal, and the second shot is of the same train, from the other side of the bridge, going away from us, towards Beaurepaire Station. At 12:40, a VIA Passenger Train was approaching us on track #4, led by P42 #919, with a half-dozen LRC's in tow, shown in the third picture. About 5 minutes later, an AMT Commuter Train was spotted coming into Beaurepaire on track #2, the fourth picture shows the train, with AMT F59PHI #1326 & 4 Bi-Level coaches going by...the engineer gave a gentle tug on the horn for the railfans on the bridge. At about 1PM, a CP Train approached from Beaurepaire on track #2, being lead by CP SD40-2 #5759, with a 9000-series SD40-2F Red Barn in trailing position. Picture 5 is this train approaching us, and picture 6 is the same train from the other side of the bridge, looking towards Montreal. At 1:30, a VIA train approached from Beaurepaire on track #4. Picture 7 shows VIA F40 #6418 and 2 LRC coaches approaching the bridge, doing every bit of the 90MPH Passenger Track Speed. Shortly after, a CP freight approached from Montreal, on track #2. At this same time, a CN train was approaching from Beaurepaire on Track #3. At 1:34, the CP train, led by CP SD40-2 #5823, as shown in picture 8. Picture 9 is facing Beaurepaire, and shows the two trains meeting, CN on the left and CP on the right. And at 1:35, the Montréal-bound CN Train, with Dash9-44CW 2514 (Equipped with Canadian Safety Cab) passed below us. See Picture 10. After that, we moved from the Beaconsfield Pedestrian Bridge down to the Beaurepaire Station.
The first shot at Beaurepaire was luck, more then anything. We arrived at about 1:45, parked the car, and were causally walking towards the tracks when the grade crossing signals came on. We ran to get a shot, and this Montreal-bound CN Stack Train flew by at 1:47, being lead by CN Dash9-44CW #2612 coming down the 4th track, (This time, equipped with a stock EMD Wide cab). The rushed nature of this shot is my excuse for the darkness and sun glair. The second shot we got was of the AMT Train returning on track 2. AMT Cab Car #2002 was leading this time, and passed us at 2:16. I took a picture of the F59PHI as it rolled past on the now-trailing end...this is the same train we shot in Beaconsfield earlier. The 4th shot in the collection is of another CN train on track 4, Montreal-Bound, being lead by CN SD70I #5615, at 2:36. At 2:50, something I really wanted to see showed up...a CP piggy train being lead by an AC4400CW, #9717, shooting past us on track 2. The next shot, #6, snuck up on us at about 3:15. Jimmy, Dave and I were standing around talking near the end of the Beaurepaire Station Platform. We were waiting for a train, but not paying as close of attention as we should have been. I thought I heard bells, and turned to look...the grade crossing signals a few hundred feet away were on, and there was a train coming at us very fast...I yelled train, and bailed off the platform and down a hill to get next to the CN tracks to get this picture of VIA P42 #911 blasting by on track 3. It wasn't until I got home and examined the pictures that I realized that this...THIS was the P42 that most people know! When #911 was being delivered, shortly after the September 11th Attacks, it ran into some problems. It was being towed dead-in-train, and the crew forgot to remove the handbrake, meaning there was a large flat spot on all 8 wheels. A piece of a switch broke loose and struck #911, causing massive Traction Motor Damage, as well as damage to the fuel tank. On one of her first runs, she was involved in a minor vehicle-train collision, which resulted in some damage to the front of #911. I've also heard stories, but I can't find any information to back them up, that state that when EMD first fired #911 up, she put a piston through the engine block. VIA ordered the unit repainted and renumbered to #921. And, as far as I, and any other railfans I've asked, heard, it was done, and #911 was never seen again! The last picture of the day is of the AMT Train returning, again, this time Montreal Bound, with the same F59PHI (#1326) on the head end. With that, being it was around 3:30, and Dave had a couple other things he wanted us to do, we decided to leave one of the most exciting railfanning places I've ever been to!
We piled back into the car, and drove towards the St Lawrence Seaway locks at Beauharnais (ba-horn-waa). Dave and I have been there many times before, and were looking forward to seeing some ships go through. Last time I was there, you could get right to the very edge of the lock...I reached out and touched the hull of a MASSIVE CSL (Canadian Steamship Lines) ship going through and got anti-fouling paint on my hands...didn't come off for a week! We arrived, and drove up to the locks...what we saw made us use language that we probably shouldn't have, and language I won't go so far as to retype here. A 15-foot-high Chain link Fence had been erected all around the locks, with strings of barbed wire on the top of the chain link fence! So, feeling rather "peeved" about this, we headed for home. Tomorrow is a trip to Exporail in Delson/St. Constante!
Despite the fact it's actually in St. Constante, and is now called ExpoRail, force of habit dictates that I call it The Delson Railway Museum. However, since that's too long a title for me to type out over and over, I'm going to call it ExpoRail on here, for the sake of simplicity
The weekend we were in Montreal was some sort of cultural fair in Delson, which meant that admission to the park, and ultimately, the museum, was free. Not that the prices are too bad, to begin with, but free-ness only sweetens the deal! We, again, picked up Jimmy in the morning, and drove towards the Museum. I hadn't been there in about 5 years, neither had Dave, and Jimmy was last there when Dave was, so none of us really knew where we were going! Well...no shock here, but we got lost. Ohhhh boy did we get lost! We found some AMT trains parked on a siding, and some other freight, and eventually found our way to the museum. What we did there is rather foggy, at best...we walked around a lot, and I don't remember exactly which picture was taken when. So, they're just listed below. If you hover the mouse over the picture, it should come up with a description. Netscape Users, I've had problems with this, you might, as well.
October 2nd, 2005
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Something I thought might be of particular interest here, especially to those who get a good laugh out of other people's misfortunes and mishaps, is a story of what happened to the trio of us in the cab of 9400, that CN FA1 I got some pictures of. It was one were you were permitted in the cab, and back into the engine room. I took a picture of Dave in the engineer's seat, and we got up to leave. The three of us leaned against the back wall of the cab, to let some other people come in. Just then, an alarm bell goes off. I've heard it before, when a prime mover is about the start, so I looked around to see what was going on. Above my right shoulder, on the wall, was the GenField Switch, the switch that one eventually uses to start the locomotive. Just then, the prime mover revved up and started running. I was like "SHIT!", and ran out the door and down the stairs moving faster then a ballast train 10 minutes in front of the 20th Century Limited! I didn't think I leaned against the switch, but I figured that if that locomotive goes through the closed door of the building, I want pictures! I got outside, and walked around for a few seconds. Just then, I hear the prime mover rev again. I look into the cab, and there's a kid sitting in the seat. I'm thinking to myself this can only end badly. Just them, Dave comes out of the locomotive, and asks me to come inside....we walked back into the engine room, and saw a board with some writing on it, to the effect of "A locomotive engine room is a loud place when the prime mover is running...press this red button to get a taste for it, and remember, it can be over twice this loud when the prime mover is in throttle Notch 8". I was kind of happy about that, but at the same time, felt like a total ass. Dave later admitted he questioned what was going on, too, so I felt like slightly less of an ass. Both being educated railfans, we SHOULD have realized there was no way a museum would leave a fully-operational unit in fully-operational condition in a public place, and let people into the cab. But, at the time, when that alarm bell went off, common sense and straight thinking went straight out the cab windows!
One more picture of interest might be CP 7000...I have no idea what it is...anyone with information, please pass it on to me, I'll post it here, and you will get full credit for it!
After we were done touring the museum, we bought gifts for each other and family members (or in my case, Joanne) at home, and then decided it was time to go railfanning. We went outside the museum, up to the CP/AMT mainline, and waited. Nothing in sight. Then, one of us got the bright idea to go check the AMT schedule for train times...just our luck, nothing runs on Sunday. That would explain the trains a mile or two further down the line, however, tied up in the siding. Those are probably the trains that run by Delson on the weekdays. Well, we decided to head for home, figuring we wouldn't see anything in Delson.
There are more pictures to be uploaded here, but I'm waiting for them to arrive from Dave...he took some that I didn't get, so I want to use them on the website. Until then, this should keep you busy for a while. When I get the next batch of pictures, I'll finish the story! Until then....
All images present within this page are copyright of Siderod Design in their respective years. Anything not falling under the Siderod Design copyright is subject to the copyright of its original owner, and is used with permission. If you would like to contact me if you have any questions, please use the "contact me" section at the bottom of the page.
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