Layover at Dorval

After my recent trip to Saint John, NB (see Saint John Railway Scenes and CN 406, Times Two), I hopped on a plane back to Winnipeg. Well, actually, I took two planes... a little prop plane to Montréal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (aka "YUL") and then a jet from there to Winnipeg's James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

I had a three-hour layover in Montréal. I decided that I wasn't going to just sit around playing with my computer or phone. I knew from a past layover that the Dorval VIA / AMT train stations were within walking distance, and since I like to walk, this could be done!

Dorval is on the CN Kingston subdivision and the CP Vaudreuil subdivision.

These Shoes Are Made For Walking

VIA 6414 at Dorval

I was fortunate that I was only a few seats back from the front of the plane, so I was able to deplane quickly and zoom out of the airport. I walked through the acres (hectares?) of parking garages and open air parking lots toward the Dorval train station.

It is a good 15-20 minute walk at a brisk pace.

I was carrying my camera bag (a Lowepro SlingShot 102 AW, if you're curious) and my laptop bag, so by the time I reached the station I was a little warm and my back was a bit sore. No worries!

The AMT and VIA stations are quite close to each other but they are separate. AMT has a pair of tracks with little one story shelters beside them, and VIA has a full train station beside their own pair of tracks. There is a tunnel that goes under all four tracks so you can go to any platform without crossing tracks.

VIA at Dorval

I looked at the AMT schedule - displayed on the station outside - and determined that nothing was coming until 13:02, so I walked over to the VIA station.

VIA 35 showed up very soon after I arrived, with VIA 6414 for power. You may remember that 6414 was the Loto Quebec unit when they were still wrapped, and was derisively labelled as "the Turd".

Spotting the consist at Dorval

In the photo above, you can see the second engineer looking back to spot the train at the right place on the platform.

There was quite a crowd on the platform but it did not take long for everyone to get on or off the train. I elected to shoot video with my iPhone as the train departed.



The consist was 6414 / 3451 / 4177 / 4118. I noted that VIA 3451 had a poppy sticker on it already.

After VIA 35 left, I went inside to check the schedule.

VIA schedule at Dorval

Nothing for an hour. Off to AMT.

Agence Métropolitaine de Transport

I knew I would have a bit of a wait for the next AMT train, but I was hoping for a freight train to come along. CP, CN and CSX all come through Dorval at different times, and on my last visit to Dorval I caught a CP freight.

I paced around by the AMT side for a while, but nothing came along until the scheduled AMT train, led by cab car 3017.

AMT 3017

They sure have a lot of horns on these cars!

I was on the wrong side of the sun but I had decided to stay here because I would have the fence in the way on the other side. Maybe wrong, maybe right, but that's the decision I made. It's important to think of these things if you have time to do so.

After a very brief stop, they continued on their way and I shot AMT 1325 pushing the consist westward.

AMT 1325 at Dorval

AMT 1325 is an F59PHI locomotive.

The End

The next VIA train was VIA 34 at 13:18 and the next AMT train was after that. My flight to Winnipeg was at 14:40 so I thought I might be pushing it a bit to wait for VIA with a long walk to the airport after that, so I set off for the airport.

In the end I was glad I didn't hang around, as the security line was pretty long and I didn't have a lot of time to wait before my flight boarded. It was the right decision.

But Wait, There's More

I neglected to mention earlier in this series that I took a few photos of NB Southern switching in Saint John that week.

GMTX 2639 in Saint John

GMTX 2639 and NBSR 911 were switching the west end of the Dever Road yard (aka "Ponderosa yard"). I took a few minutes to watch them do their thing. There is no really good angle to photograph units here without this upward look to them.

When I last saw #911 in December 2014, it was still HLCX 911. Since then, NB Southern purchased the unit and patched it to be NBSR 911. It still has the crossed out "Union Pacific" on the side, but I'm sure it will be repainted into green and yellow like the rest of the fleet eventually.

NBSR 911

For now, enjoy the patch job.

Just One More Thing

Totally not train related, but I also spotted a couple of cruise ships in the Saint John harbour.

Cruise ships in Saint John, NB

The big one was "Anthem of the Seas", a new Royal Caribbean International behemoth delivered in April 2015. This monster is just over 1/3 km long with a capacity of 4,180 - 4,905 passengers. It has a crane on board to lift a "NorthStar" observation capsule up to 300' above sea level, and an indoor skydiving simulator, as well as many other amenities.

"Anthem of the Seas" in Saint John, NB

The smaller vessel was the Disney Magic. This vessel was launched in April 1997 and can carry up to 2,700 people even though it is not much shorter than the Anthem. The Magic is definitely not as tall!

"Disney Magic" in Saint John, NB

Maybe the excursion train I saw on October 11 had been carrying cruise ship passengers?

See Also

• Canadian Railway Observations guide to railfanning Montreal (PDF)
• My last Dorval railfanning visit
• Back to the start of this post trilogy

Disclosure: This post contains one or more affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any item from Amazon via that link, I receive a small commission from Amazon at no additional cost to you. Just so you know.

Toasters, Red Barns and Other Nicknames

Railfans spend a lot of time waiting for trains. I'm convinced this is when we come up with nicknames for particular types of locomotives. Here are a few common ones.

The Toaster

Probably the most well-known railfan nickname is the "toaster", a name now applied to most if not all GE locomotives. I believe it was first applied to the Amtrak AEM-7 and P42DC locomotives due to their toaster-like shape, and the fact that GE also makes household appliances like toasters.

Amtrak 58, Philadelphia, 2005

More recently GE locomotives have acquired this nickname for the burn marks on the sides of some locos.

I think it's browned enough

There's a great photo by Stephen Tripptree of a CSX unit belching flame on Railpictures.

I've also heard "techno-toaster" for the P42DC or for a Dash-9. Speaking of Dash-9, I believe that's another railfan term.

Red Barn

The GMD SD40-2F is commonly known as a "red barn" because it is a cowl unit and wears the Action Red of CP Rail.

CP 9021 in Winnipeg, MB

Ten of these "red barns" have found their way to the Central Maine and Quebec Railway, including CP 9021 above. Frank Jolin has some great shots of them on his Flickr profile, including this one.

Big Mac

EMD's SD70MAC, SD80MAC and SD90MAC locomotives are called "Big Macs" for obvious reasons. The "M" is for a safety cab and the "AC" means they use AC traction motors rather than DC.

CP 9109 at La Salle, MB

CP 9109 is/was an SD9043MAC.

Covered Wagon

Pretty much every EMD "E" or "F" locomotive (think E8, F7, etc.) is called a covered wagon. These are called that because they are cowl units, where the shell sits on the frame.

Covered wagon E9A CN 102

Thundercow

I've heard the SD40-2W units called "thundercows" but I don't know why.

"Thundercow" CN 5279 on the CN Family Day train in September 2014

Spongebob Squarecab

This was a new one to me. I can't remember if I saw it on Instagram or Facebook, but it refers to CSX cab rebuilds like this one from Flickr:

It does look a bit like Spongebob SquarePants.

Blue Devils

There are a set of blue locomotives, IC 2455-2466, that were leased to Conrail and Illinois Central. This explains the blue! They are sublettered for IC under the locomotive number but have the big CN noodle. Railfans call them "blue devils" (why devils? I don't know), not to be confused with "blueberries" (the dark blue BC Rail units) and "blue bells" (blue GTW units).

"Blue Devil" IC 2460

Individual locomotives have nicknames too. I won't list them in this post but the most famous VIA Rail locomotive nickname was...

The Turd

You can read some more nicknames here. Weigh in with your own nicknames in the comments!

Recent VIA Trains

I wanted to post the last four Canadians I've seen, since I haven't mentioned them before the last VIA 1 I posted from June 16. Some were hum-drum, some were a bit more interesting.

For the first three I shot the Monday, Thursday and Saturday trains in sequence. I started with VIA 1 at mile 10 of the CN Rivers subdivision on July 4. It had VIA 6458 and VIA 6429 on the head end, with a normal summer consist.


Next, I saw VIA 1 at Kenaston Boulevard (maybe mile 6?) on July 7. This one had VIA 6410 and non-refurbished VIA 6424.


This one was interesting because it had VIA 4121 deadheading behind the engines. VIA 4121 is a coach destined for the Skeena.


For the Saturday train, I got them back at mile 10. This had the Loto Quebec unit, VIA 6414, leading two other engines, 6453 and 6452, on July 9.


I took a break after that and did not shoot the Monday Canadian, but I did get out on July 14 for the Thursday train. I drove up to St. James Junction, stepped out of my car, and there it was, ready to be shot. Perfect timing.


I got a wave from a diner in the Acadian.


Is that enough stainless steel for one post? ;)

Wave On

On June 16 I went up to Wilkes Avenue to shoot the Canadian. I wanted to shoot them at the Shaftesbury Boulevard crossing, just to show how poor that intersection is. There is a traffic light just south of the crossing and there is room for maybe two cars between the tracks and the intersection. Often cars stop on the crossing itself. It's a wonder noone gets hit.

Anyway, I heard that VIA 6414 (the Loto Quebec unit) was leading the Canadian, so I changed my plans slightly and backed away from the crossing to get more of the train in the shot. They were about 15 minutes late.



I shot each car as it went by (to record the full consist) and afterward I noticed that a friendly passenger in Chateau Rouville gave me a wave.



Thanks!



I headed back south on Kenaston, only to find two CP GP9 units ready to cross the road near Lafarge... remember Lafarge's little engine?



After I parked, they took off and I took a quick video of them running north on the La Riviere subdivision.



The paint scheme on 8213 for some reason reminded me of a recent post on Adam Walker's blog featuring CP 8216 in Ontario.

Some Recent VIAs

I know I haven't been posting at my usual frenetic pace. Work has kept me very busy and the blogging has fallen by the wayside a bit. I have still been shooting trains every now and then, and here are a few of the VIA trains I've seen in May that I haven't already blogged about.

Back on May 5 I was out at noon to shoot the Thursday Canadian. This one had a Rocky Mountaineer car on it, coach RMR 3251. This was the first "summer" Canadian so it was much longer than the usual 9 or 10 cars of the winter version.


As I recall, they stopped for a signal short of St. James Junction, so they were going pretty slowly when they passed me.


The next VIA I saw that I haven't blogged about yet was May 26's Canadian. This was another Thursday VIA 1. This was an entirely ordinary Canadian with no deadhead cars, shot at Waverley Street in Winnipeg.


What made this one special was the meet with CN 114. I was worried that 114 was going to block my shot of the Canadian, but the RTC gods were smiling and 114 was on the north track. VIA 1 shows up at 2:30 minutes in the video.


Finally, I shot both VIA trains this past Saturday, VIA 1 and VIA 692. First, the Canadian at mile 10 of CN's River subdivision.


This had old friend VIA 1721 deadheading behind the engines and ahead of the baggage car.


The other old friend was VIA 6414, the Loto Quebec engine.


The weather turned pretty sour during the day Saturday, and there was some lightning and rain (and a tornado watch!) when VIA 692 returned to Winnipeg from its long trip from Churchill. I shot the Hudson Bay at Diamond.


Check out the video, and the lightning at 0:16.


Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

An Old But Ugly Friend

Thursday's VIA Canadian had an old friend on it. Not a pretty friend, but an old friend.

I shot VIA 1 at about mile 9.5 on the CN Rivers subdivision as it was leaving Winnipeg.


The lead unit was VIA 6443, a refurbished unit, but the old ugly stepsister was the second unit, the Loto Québec VIA 6414.


Maybe I'm too harsh, but most railfans think the Loto Québec wrap is the ugliest wrap VIA has ever had.

I first saw VIA 6414 in the Loto Québec scheme in Amherst on the eastbound Ocean on November 3, 2006.


I saw it the next day in Halifax as the second unit on the outbound Ocean.


That was it for a couple of years, until May 26, 2008 at Nepisiguit Junction outside Bathurst, NB where it was leading the westbound Ocean.


Anyway, enough about that brown unit. One unusual car in the consist was VIA 1721, one of the three ex-BC Rail cars that VIA purchased.

As usual you can view the complete consist in my sightings database.

New VIA Videos

Here are two clips I took on May 26, when I was in the Bathurst area.

First, VIA 15, led by Loto-Quebec 6414, comes to a stop at Nepisiguit Junction so the crew can reline the switch to the Nepisiguit Subdivision. The NBEC ore train usually leaves the switch against VIA as they proceed up the sub. There were quite a few bugs around at that time of night.


Next, the same train leaving Bathurst. Less bugs this time!


Finally, the next day (May 27) I caught VIA 14 leaving Bathurst with the Telus unit 6429 on point.

CN and VIA in Nova Scotia

The kids and I set out for a little railfanning this morning around 9:00. We went by HIT and Rockingham Yard, and I was surprised to see both empty. I talked with David Othen, and after checking the signals at Millview (dark), we concluded that both 148 and 120 had not arrived.

After a short break to feed the kids, I spoke with David and we headed to the Halifax Ocean Terminals (HOT) to wait for 148. We watched GP38 units 4728 and 4722 push some container flats into HOT at 11:00.


At 11:25 CN 148 came into view, led by CN 5729 (SD75I). It had to stop to change the switch and I got this shot. I took video of 148 rolling by the switcher.


We went to a park for a while, then came back to see VIA 15 leave on time at 12:38, with the same consist I saw yesterday on 14.


Finally, we went to HIT and saw CN 120 pushing its consist at 13:04.

VIAs in Nova Scotia

I shot VIA 14 at Amherst today at 13:07. VIA 6415 led Loto-Quebec 6414 and a Renaissance consist with no Park car.


A lot of railfans don't like the Loto-Quebec look. I don't know - I could take it or leave it. At least it's something different.


Later, I heard on the CBC that a VIA train hit a car at Brookfield, NS. I passed by there at 15:22 on the TCH. From the highway I could see VIA 15 was stopped past the crossing, and the CN local (headed by an SD40?) was trapped on the cement spur. I understand VIA 6411, the Operation Lifesaver unit, was the leader. Isn't that ironic...don't you think?

Fortunately both women in the car survived.