404 on 4/04

I went out at noon Monday to shoot the Canadian. After a miserable rainy Sunday it was nice to be out in the bright sun. I set up just west of mile 10 at the Perimeter and I didn't have to wait long before VIA 1 came along.




You may know that VIA 6429 used to be the Telus unit. Here's the only time I saw it on the Canadian, back on October 19, 2009.

Now it's another refurbished unit. I think there are only two wrapped VIA engines left - Loto-Quebec 6414 and one Spiderman unit.

As you may have noticed in the video, VIA 1 called a "clear to stop" signal so they were set to stop at Diamond. I was quite surprised by this, so I jumped in the car and tried to get ahead of them. Unfortunately, due to the wet weather on Sunday the road was quite muddy and I couldn't get a decent speed on. They did stop briefly before Diamond before starting up again. I came abreast of them just west of Diamond and pulled over to get the going-away shot before they pulled away. I did notice that Strathcona Park was the trailing car.

Note the mud in the foreground!

I headed back through the mud at a more sedate pace. I heard CN 404 call a clear approach signal to Diamond, so I knew they would not be long. I set up to catch them at about mile 11 and here they are.

Matched GE ES44DC engines CN 2329 and 2339 provided the power.

It was nice to see CN 404 on 4/04!