VIA's Canada 150 Wrap Visits Winnipeg

Canada 150

This year is Canada's 150th birthday, thanks to the British North America Act passed on July 1, 1867 (fun fact: there were more Acts after that, mostly revisions to add more provinces and territories). VIA Rail is wrapping some of its locomotives and cars to commemorate the occasion. Some don't like the wraps, but they're different and we railfans like unusual things.

A few VIA locomotives have already been wrapped, but they are P42 locomotives that don't leave the Ontario-Quebec corridor, so nobody outside those two provinces will see them. VIA wrapped the first F40PH-2 locomotive, VIA 6454, and sent it on the Ocean to the Maritime Provinces.

A few railfans tipped us westerners off that VIA 6454 was going west on the Canadian.

Coming

Acting on that hot tip, I set out early Thursday morning to try to catch VIA 1 coming into Winnipeg with the first "CANADA 150" wrapped locomotive, VIA 6454, leading. I got up at the crack of 5:45. A quick check of VIA's web site showed the train was an hour late, so I hit the road after a quick shower and breakfast toward Dugald and points beyond.

No green signals were seen as I rolled through Dugald. I liked how this signal looked so I stopped to take a photo.

I parked at one rural crossing just east of town. After fiddling with my phone for a bit, I decided the angles weren't great so I relocated. MISTAKE.

As I came up to the tracks a few miles east, I saw headlights bearing down on me.

Quickly I slapped my tripod down, mounted my trusty old Canon S3, aimed it vaguely toward the tracks, and turned the video recording on.

I fumbled with my DSLR as the train rolled by, totally missing focus and not getting a single frame of the train.

I said a few choice words - caught on video but later cropped out - and threw everything in the car and set off in hot pursuit.

I know it's not level - I was lucky to have it pointed at the train at all!

Sadly I was unable to catch VIA 1 and I gave up the chase.

Going

As noon approached, I resolved to do a better job documenting the event. I headed to Carman Junction, where CEMR's tracks diverge from the CN Rivers sub. There's a nice little bend there where you can shoot straight east.

Going Once..

After a short wait, I saw headlights in the distance and got excited, but it turned out to be CN 8011 leading a 2+1+1 container train west.

In the weeds - CN 8011 in Winnipeg

That was OK, but not the Canadian!

I was messaging with Jack Hykaway, who told me that VIA 1 was stopped at Subway. A message that the Canadian got a yellow signal was a welcome sign!

Going Twice..

Headlights in the distance again! Turn on the video camera, raise the "big gun" lens, and... containers. Another CN intermodal. Hello CN 8864... must be SD70M-2 day.

This train crossed over from the north to the south track in the distance, then rolled past me with a healthy dose of Canadian Tire containers.

Red red red - like a Taylor Swift song

Again, nice, but not the Canadian.

My old Canon S3 was doing video duty on the tripod.

The Camera Eye

Hot on the heels of 8864's train was another headlight... FINALLY VIA!

Score!

The silver nose of VIA 6454 was a welcome sight after the squat red noses of the SD70M-2s. My plan was to shoot them head on with my DSLR, then drop that and shoot each car with my iPhone while my video camera rolled on. Too ambitious? We'll see!

Here it comes!!

I clicked and clicked as 6454 approached, scaring a bunch of birds as it rounded the bend on the north track.

Boo!

As 6454 filled my lens, I dropped the DSLR - believing utterly in my camera strap - and banged away with the iPhone to document the consist. A quick swivel to capture Kootenay Park trailing the train and then VIA was gone.

Not bad for a phone shot!

I threw everything in the car and took off in pursuit mode, hoping that they would get a stop signal due to the two intermodals they were following, but that wasn't to be. I roared past Mark Perry and his trusty red truck, trying to catch up to VIA as she was catching up to the second intermodal train. I realized quickly that I wasn't going to catch up on the unpaved road, but VIA was passing CN as they both raced west.



I gave up the chase and turned around to go chat with Mark for a few minutes before heading home, SD cards full and a big grin on my face.

The consists

First CN Train

• CN 8011
• CN 2609
• CN 8829 (DPU in middle)
• CN 8947 (DPU on rear)

Second CN Train

• CN 8864
• CN 5761

VIA 1

• VIA 6454
• VIA 6428
• VIA 8604
• VIA 8123
• VIA 8500
• VIA 8332 Laird Manor
• VIA 8330 Hunter Manor
• VIA 8314 Cameron Manor
• VIA 8401 Acadian
• VIA 8311 Burton Manor
• VIA 8227 Chateau Varennes
• VIA 8708 Kootenay Park

Lessons Learned

• Pick your spot and STAY THERE
• You can't get every shot - I don't have any side shots of 6454 yet
• Take a second opportunity if you can

See Also

• VIA's "Canada" 150 Wrap Sucks!
• VIA Rail's Canada 150 Video
• VIA 6454 Arriving in Moncton, NB
• VIA 916 in Ingersoll, ON

Meet Me At Midnight

CN 2002 in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba

The Plan

I heard there was an early Sunday morning BNSF detour train (CN F306) running on the Letellier subdivision. Since Sunday morning is my fun day, and I'm not afraid to shoot at night, I went out around 11 PM, with my ever-tolerant wife shaking her head at my insanity.

My understanding was that CN 533 was meeting 532 in Morris, and then 533 would meet 306 at Ste. Agathe. Friend and RailsMBSK member Mark Perry was at the controls of 533.

The players:

• CN 532 - Daily Winnipeg to Emerson local train, bringing cars to BNSF
• CN 533 - Daily Emerson to Winnipeg local train, bringing cars from BNSF
• CN 306 - BNSF detour train returning east to the US via Emerson

CN 533

When I left, I wasn't sure if the detour train had left Winnipeg yet, so I drove down to Morris, hoping to catch the 532/533 meet. You may recall that I saw the 306/533 meet in Morris recently.

I was a bit late as I saw CN 533 pulling out of Morris as I approached. I ignored it and went into Morris to try to grab CN 532 before it left, but it was already gone.

Returning to highway 75 I chased 533 north, passing it and setting up at the same rural crossing I shot at the last time I was photographing detours. I didn't take any video here, just my Canon T1i on a tripod... 2.5 seconds at f/8.0, ISO 100. This was just after midnight.

Ghostly CN 2002

Right after the locomotives passed, I took the camera off the tripod, tossed it in my AmazonBasics backpack, tossed the tripod in the back seat, and took off for Ste. Agathe.

As it turns out, I didn't need to rush. They were crawling up toward the switch well after I got there. I set up to take a few photos, intending to photograph the engines as they paused for the conductor to throw the switch to the loop track. Here they are coming to a stop.

Coming to a stop

I tried a few photos - I thought they were good - but it turns out I didn't have the focus. Check out this long exposure (25s) of the conductor walking back to the train after throwing the ground throw switch. Totally not in focus!

Focus? We don't need no stinkin' focus!

Obviously, I didn't use the "live view" trick I wrote about earlier. Oops.

The track at the Viterra grain elevator in Ste. Agathe is arranged like this, as far as I can see.

CN 533 was coming from the bottom of the diagram (south) and went around the loop counter-clockwise. They stopped short of the north switch to wait for the arrival of 306.

There's a road called "Mission Road" that parallels the track at this location. I parked off to the side and walked up to the head end of the train. The two tracks that join the CN line to the loop track are crossed by Mission Road and are signaled with lights - surprisingly!

I took a few photos of 533 sitting there with the pride of the fleet, ex UP Dash-8s CN 2002 and CN 2036. The best of the photos leads this post.

Finally, 306

At 01:47 AM, 306 rolled on by with BNSF 7490 and 7209 leading a long brown string of freight cars. I shot video here on my Canon S3 but it was really bad. Here's  a long exposure of 306 passing by (10 seconds, f/8.0, 17mm, ISO 100).

The rest of the train was mostly brown BNSF hoppers with the occasional leased car mixed in. I popped off a flash on some long exposure shots to see what it looked like.

I think with better timing I could have had several logos show up side by side. I only had one flash at the time and it took a few seconds to recharge before I could fire it again. I was just holding it in my hand and manually firing it at full power.

Once the train passed, I headed south on highway 75 to the same crossing that I had photographed CN 533 at earlier. I put the Canon T1i on a tripod, and after carefully focusing, I put it in video mode. Flashing red battery symbol! Ack!

I grabbed my spare battery from the backpack in my car and swapped batteries. Fortunately I had lots of time.

Here's the video:

Lighting provided by my car's high beams, of course.

I gave up the chase after that and headed home. When I got home, I started the video uploading to YouTube and went to bed.

I think there are a few more BNSF detours yet to go through Winnipeg. I probably won't be shooting any more at night - work and all that, you know - but who knows, maybe I'll catch another one during the day.

Further Reading and Watching

• BNSF Detours, Day and Night
• Grain Elevators of the Letellier Subdivision
• Video: BNSF Reroute: Pumpkins Through the Canadian Prairies
• Video: BNSF Grain Train Resuming Canadian Journey
• Video: Trespassers and a BNSF Detour (Hinton, AB)

VIA's "Canada 150" Wrap Sucks!

VIA's "Canada 150" wrap SUCKS.. or so many railfans say.

What do you think?

The Scheme

Our great country is turning 150 years young this year. The federal government has many plans for celebrating this birthday and one of those is for VIA Rail to decorate many of its locomotives and passenger cars. So far several P42 locomotives have been wrapped and one F40PH-2 (VIA 6454), as well as some LRC passenger cars.


The wraps feature a giant yellow VIA on the head end with "CANADA 150" on a red rectangle, and four city names on the rear - with different cities on each side.

The passenger cars have a similar wrap.

Note that some cities are duplicated across units or cars.

Here's VIA 3351 wrapped, featuring "Halifax", "Stratford", "White River" and "Montreal".


There are some subtle differences between cars, beyond the names on the sides. Some early cars and locomotives had white numbers but apparently they are now using black numbers, which stand out better. Also later locomotive pilots and underframes seem to be being painted black instead of silver.

VIA 6454 at Berry Mills, New Brunswick - photo by Matt Landry

The F40PH-2 wrap looks good on the side but I'm surprised that the nose is plain silver with no adornment other than a small "VIA" and Canadian flag. Maybe future F40 wraps will be a little different.

Here's a video showing VIA 6454 near Moncton.

Eric Gagnon has been keeping track on his blog. I don't want to try to duplicate his efforts. I want to go meta and comment on the commentary swirling around the railfan forums.

How Do You Feel?

I'd say that the majority of railfans either dislike it or really, really HATE it.

The Haters

A few people question the actual design:

Where are the Canadian flags or the Union Jack, as we are celebrating Canada's 150 years?

Or:

The scheme design would appeal to me a lot more if instead of that *CANADA 150* banner down the flank it simply had the 1867-2017 maple leaf symbol in its place.

Some people really, really, really don't like it.

it would insult a circus if I suggested that it looks like a circus train. Mickey Mouse would have been kicked out of Disney Land if he ever designed such a crappy paint job.....or "Wrap-job". Via Rail I thought was trying to be a "Class Act", but this wrap job is plain and simple "GARBAGE"

Tell us how you really feel! ;)

The Likers

Some people do like it.

Personally, I think it does exactly what VIA wanted it to do. It's bright, bold, and indisputably eye-catching.

Some are picking the lesser of two evils:

Good job by VIA wrapping the LRC cars. The more they cover the ugly teal green the better!

Nice to see something other than the Ren scheme!

Nicknames

Some railfans have taken to calling the scheme the "silver banana"... which I guess is better than the railfan nickname for the Loto Quebec unit VIA 6414.

I think Eric Gagnon is trying to champion "Roll Up The Wrap To Win" combining the wrap with Tim Hortons' famous contest. Good luck with that.

You win! Or do you?

My Comments

I'm very surprised by the hate being levied against VIA Rail and this wrap.

Railfans love something different, whether it is an Illinois Central unit still in "death star" black, or VIA's Glenfraser car vs. a normal VIA LRC car, so why wouldn't you like to see some cars and locomotives in a different scheme? Most people liked it when VIA wrapped the F40s with the Telus or CBC wraps, for example, although nobody liked "the Turd" / Loto Quebec.

I always liked the Operation Lifesaver unit

I think people don't like it because they feel VIA could have done it better.

To that I say, be thankful that VIA did anything at all. VIA Rail has a very hit or miss record of commemorating Canadian milestones. They did commemorate Canada's veterans with the Veteran's Train and Canada's war brides the next year, but those were local initiatives. VIA completely ignored the 100th anniversary of the Ocean. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe VIA doesn't have a good history of remembering history.

Double Spiderman 2! Is that Spiderman 4?

I would also say to some railfans - who do you think you are? VIA isn't going to check with every railfan to see if they approve any upcoming wraps or plans. I've noticed that some railfans seem to think that VIA, or CN, or CP, need to check with them before repainting anything. What the heck?

We're people who sit trackside and photograph trains. We have no influence, nor should we. We're lucky that we live in countries where we A) can photograph trains without being harassed or arrested, and B) have the time and money to be able to enjoy our hobby. Sheesh.

If railfans had designed it, "VIA" would be in CP script, the car would be half maroon and half blue and yellow, with the British Union Jack superimposed over the Canadian flag, and every train would tow a replica of the Turbo. I'd try to Photoshop that hot mess together, but I can't bring myself to do it.

As my mother-in-law says, "it is what it is" so enjoy it or hate it while it's around. At least it's not the Turd.

At least it's not this

Leave a comment - how do you feel about it?