Just in Time

I went out to shoot the Canadian on May 10. VIA has been leaving before noon these days and I knew I was cutting it close. I decided to head west of Kenaston Boulevard and as I turned off Kenaston, I saw VIA 1 rolling along beside me. I got to Shaftesbury Boulevard before them but the light was red. I shot VIA 6410 passing me as I waited at the light.

They met CN 106 coming the other way with CN 8902 and CN 8920! I hit the accelerator and tried to catch up to VIA. Fortunately the Canadian was not going at full track speed and I got ahead of them by Carman Junction, where I hopped out to grab a quick shot of them.

The customary going-away shot, of course...


I got back in my car and pursued, hoping that they would get a stop signal at Diamond. As it turns out, they did not, but they met another train coming east. This was CN 112. I grabbed a few shots of the train as it approached.


I then turned around and headed back east to get far enough ahead that I could shoot video. I slapped the Canon S3 on the ground with my GorillaPod as the tripod, then put the circular polarizer on my Canon T1i and shot CN 8869.


That circular polarizer really makes the colours pop, doesn't it? Compare that to the previous shot of 8869 above and you'll see what a different a polarizer makes on a bright sunny day.

CN 8023 was the trailing unit.


Here's the video. I like the GorillaPod as it is easy to set up and being low to the ground, it gives a different perspective. Its size makes it easy to bring along. If you ever decide to get one, make sure you get the correct type for your camera. The smaller / cheaper GorillaPods will not support the weight of an SLR without tipping over, and are made for compact "point and shoot" cameras.

Clusterf... pack?

I went out at Thursday noon to try to shoot the Canadian near my favourite spot, Diamond. Just after noon I saw my first train, an eastbound intermodal with CN 2679 and CN 2436.



I headed west to set up near Diamond, only to find a container train parked there. It was CN 199, stopped at a red signal on the south track just east of Diamond. The train had CN 8023 and CN 8956 and was completely blocking highway 334 / Hogue Road.



I was a little concerned about seeing the Canadian with the freight in the way, so I waited at the head end for VIA... and waited.  After a bit, the conductor cut the train at the crossing and the head end pulled forward a bit  to clear the crossing. They completed that... and then they got the green light. I'm sure that was frustrating for them. They stuck the train together and took off.

I headed back east, hoping to see the Canadian even though I had not heard anything about it on the scanner. Instead I stumbled across CN 803 heading toward Diamond. They had CN 2236 as the sole power on this train.



I understood they were going to meet CN 112 so I tried to get the meet as close as I could.



CN 112 had CN 8915 and CN 2449. They weren't going very fast so I jumped in the car and got ahead of them before the Perimeter, then shot them there.



By then I was tired of waiting for the Canadian, so I resolved to head out. On my way east on Wilkes I saw one more train, so I took the shot. I don't know the train number but it had CN 2623 and BCOL 4609 on it. I guess I missed that meet with CN 112.



All of these trains were sighted in 40 minutes. I never did see the Canadian. I heard it left about an hour late, without a Park car on the tail end. Obviously they had some kind of issue with it and had to set it off.