But first, on the way to the airport I paused at the BNSF yard in Winnipeg to shoot BNSF 2322 and make sure it was still there!
Then I flew to Windsor. I arrived in the early evening and poked around a bit in Windsor before heading out. I saw the VIA Rail station and took a few photos, but there were no VIA trains scheduled for a few hours.
Here's a view of the station. This station is currently being replaced by the building in the distance to the right. You can read about the new station here.
I went inside to take a few photos. The station agent said it was OK as long as she wasn't in any of them!
There are a few upgrades in the existing station. It has wireless Internet, and these new e-ticketing machines.
Here's the arrivals and departures board. Four trains each way per day, not bad for the western end of the Corridor.
I left Windsor and headed east. On my way, I decided to make a quick stop in Essex to see the historic train station there. Of course, it was dark so I took some long exposure shots. This was my favourite, of the 1909 Essex Terminal Railway caboose.
Here's my best night photo of the station. Note the grain elevator silos in the background. They had a light on in the entrance and that made it difficult to get a balanced shot. I should have tried an HDR shot.
In part 2 I relate how I tried to shoot a VIA Rail train (missed), a CP train (missed), and finally a VIA Rail train in Windsor (got it) as well as more photos of the Essex train station during the day. Read on
4 comments:
Hi Steve,
I have to use those e-ticketing machines when heading for Toronto on VIA No 651. Why? Because VIA pulled the station agent from the Kingston station, due to the lack of trains after 651's departure until over 2.5 hours later. Someone unlocks the door, you scan your confirmation email, and out pops a ticket.
The first time I boarded without scanning, I heard the on-board staff tell someone that the confirmation email was NOT a ticket.
Some of those Toronto-Windsor trains represented some of VIA's last blue & yellow consists, and often rated four locomotives. Some interesting stuff going into my second VIA Rail book.
Thanks for sharing,
Eric
I find it strange that you can't print an E-ticket at home. Or can you? You know that airlines accept your home-printed tickets.
I'm looking forward to your second VIA Rail book!
I'm not sure about home printing of VIA tickets, Steve. The e-ticketing kiosk spits out the ticket that is similar in appearance to what the agent would print out at the counter. With one major exception - the e-ticket is in two pieces: one stub and the other perforated with two travel portions, whereas at the counter it prints out joined.
They sure are compact (and so far in my experience, reliable) pieces of machinery.
I'm looking forward to the second book too :) Today it's been transformed into a series of post-it notes - it's coming together!
Eric
Great photos! That's a nice station that VIA is building in Windsor. I do like the vintage 60s CN-built terminal there, but it appears that VIA has finally outgrown it. It's encouraging to see that kind investment in passenger rail infrastructure.
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