Book Review: Trains and Grains (Volumes 1 and 2)

Trains and Grains, at the La Salle, Manitoba grain elevator. Sadly no train came along to complete the picture.

This is a review of Trains and Grains Volumes 1 and 2 by Eric Gagnon. I've been eagerly awaiting these two books since Eric announced them back in September 2017. I love both trains and grain elevators, so it almost felt like these books were written for me... or at least people like me.

I'll put a few disclaimers here - I received these books for free as a "thank you" for writing the foreword for volume 2. I also consider Eric a friend. I wouldn't let either of these stop me from writing an honest review. Finally, I received no compensation for writing this review nor do I receive anything for recommending the books, and Eric didn't ask me to write a review. 

These two books are centered around Eric's visits to Manitoba and Saskatchewan between 1976 and 1986. Eric's aunt and uncle lived in Portage la Prairie and he did a lot of railfanning during the days he was in Portage. Later, he visited many of Saskatchewan's elevators, realizing that they were disappearing fast.

Eric had so many photos to share from that decade that he split them into two books!

Volume 1

Volume 1 is subtitled "Trackside Observations in Manitoba 1976-1986". The first half of the book features trains that Eric recorded in and near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba during that period while visiting his aunt and uncle. Eric is a meticulous record keeper and the captions of the many black and white photos are detailed, interesting and absolutely alliteral, again and again.

The train photos were shot from a variety of angles, most from the ground, with some overhead views from the Tupper Street overpass.

The second half features a variety of short articles, such as:

• Grain car consists
• Details on CN, CP, federal and provincial grain fleets
• Several pages of colour photos
• An article by Mark Perry on "Working CN Grain Wayfreights"
• An article by Charles Bohi on Prairie train stations

The foreword is by Randy O'Brien.

This is a great book, chock full of interesting photos and interesting details. It took me a while to read due to the dense information content, and I plan to read it again to catch the things I missed the first time.

Volume 2

Volume 2 is subtitled "Grain Elevators in Manitoba and Saskatchewan 1976-1986". The first portion of the book talks about the history of the grain industry in Canada, and how grain elevators are built and operate. This section is relatively brief, and more than half of the book features black and white photos of grain elevators from Eric's trips to Manitoba and Saskatchewan to document many of the wooden elevators still standing.

The foreword is by yours truly.

I would honestly consider volume 2 a companion to volume 1. There is a lot less text in volume 2 and I read it much faster than volume 1 because of that. I don't consider it any less valuable, though!

Photography

The photographs in this book are what I would call "documentary". They were clearly taken with the intent of documenting the trains and grain elevators - and the scene around them. These are not "coffee table" picture books full of lovely sunset photos.

That doesn't make them any less valuable - in fact, I would argue they are more valuable than "arty" photos because they thoroughly document the trains and grain elevators of an era long past.

Reference

These books are fantastic reference materials for anyone interested in understanding the mid 1970s to mid 1980s railroad scene, and especially for the modeler (like me) who wants to run realistic trains. I was surprised by several photos - for example, a few stock cars were still in evidence, even though I had thought the railways were out of the livestock business by then.

The grain elevator photos are especially valuable as many of these elevators simply do not exist today, so there is no opportunity to see them in person. Volume 2 in particular provides a way to experience the elevators of the past.

Summary

Both of these books are well worth purchasing by anyone interested in Canadian railway history or Canadian grain elevators.

You can buy the books from Eric at https://trainsandgrains.blogspot.com/ - the order form is there, or you can email Eric using the email at top right of that page.

See my other book reviews

Book Review: Trackside with VIA: Research and Recollections

Research and Recollections Review

As soon as I could, I ordered Eric Gagnon's fourth VIA Rail book, "Trackside with VIA: Research and Recollections". Eric had been writing about his upcoming book for a while at his book blog, and my anticipation was growing and growing. Eric is a good salesman!

Pssst... Read to the bottom for a giveaway!

I placed my order and paid via e-transfer (his first!) and in a few days the book arrived in the mail. As requested Eric had signed the interior, and to my surprise it was numbered Copy #001.

Research and Recollections is a soft-cover perfect bound book with 124 pages plus the title page and table of contents page. The book contains a lot of text, as well as numerous small photos (mostly black and white) and a number of tables. This is not a coffee-table picture book, but it is very accessible and easy to read.

After several introductory pages (including a foreword by Tim Hayman and a dedication to the author's father) the book launches into a series of trip reports. These really set the tone for the book and draw the reader into the world of VIA Rail in the 1980s. Eric is a meticulous record keeper and it shows in his stories. The level of detail - what he ate, what he paid for it, for example - is impressive, yet it doesn't detract from the stories. In fact, I would say the details add to the stories and really place you in the moment.

These stories take up about 40% of the book, and include black and white photos related to the stories, as well as several "triVIA" boxes featuring.. well, trivia about VIA Rail.

After the stories are numerous research articles, from vice-regal cars to sleeper car swaps in Winnipeg to the IC3 Flexliner trial, and much more. Maybe the book title should really be Recollections and Research to be in the proper order! These articles are very engaging and each could easily be expanded into a quality magazine article.

Guest contributors Tim Hayman, Mark Sampson and Mark Perry have their own sections in the book. Maybe in book five Eric might invite a transplanted Easterner to contribute... what do you think? ;)

After the guest contributions follows what is, in my opinion, the weakest part of the book. There are 26 pages of consist information, a full 20% of the book. I know Eric loves consists, and so do many other railfans, but for me that was 26 pages of fast forwarding. Maybe that's why I read the book so fast the first time!

This section is followed by 10 pages of colour photos, six per page. Many are Eric's but other photographers are also represented. Full advantage is taken of the colour to show VIA's many wraps, from Home Hardware VIA 6429 to the Grey Cup train to today's Canada 150 wraps. A huge variety of VIA equipment is shown, including F units, RDCs, the blue and yellow fleet, Renaissance... VIA certainly has had quite a variety!

The final few pages of the book include some reference material and tables to finish it off.

Summary

I think by now you can tell that I really like Research and Recollections. The stories at the front really give a good flavour for what travelling on VIA Rail was like in the 1980s, and the many research pieces and photos - especially the colour ones - provide a great deal of deep information on many aspects of VIA past and present. I'm not interested in the consist tables, but I'm sure many people are. Even if those pages were completely blank, I'd still recommend this book!

It's affordably priced at $35 for Canadians, shipped, and $40 shipped to the US (prices in Canadian dollars); contact Eric for international shipping costs. You can download and print the order form, or Canadians can send Eric an Interac e-transfer to his email address, listed at top right of this site.

If you are a Canadian railfan, you need to buy this book.

Giveaway!

I like this book so much that I am going to do my very first giveaway in almost 12 years of blogging. The winner will receive a free copy of Trackside with VIA: Research and Recollections, shipped to any address within Canada or the US. Here are the rules:

• Everyone on my mailing list by the end of Monday, May 8, 2017, Central time will be eligible. If you're not on my list yet, you have a few days to join!
• I will randomly choose one person from my mailing list and email them to get address information.
• If for some reason I'm not able to contact the winner, I'll draw again.
• If the winner is outside Canada or the US, we'll talk.

Join my list if you're not already on for a chance to win!

Good luck!

This review was written on WestJet flight WS 202 from Calgary to Winnipeg. I was not asked to review this book and I have no financial incentive to promote it.

New VIA Rail Book!

Noted VIA Rail expert Eric Gagnon has published a new VIA Rail book called "Trackside With VIA: Research and Recollections".

This is the fourth book he's published and I think it's going to be a great one. Like Eric's other books, it's likely to be chock full of data, odd consists, and plenty of stuff you didn't know about VIA Rail.

The official launch is Monday, April 24 but you can order your book now with this printable order form, or by sending an e-transfer to Eric's email listed at the top right corner of his site.

The order form has the pricing, which is $35 for Canadian addresses, including postage, which is a good price in my opinion.

I was the first e-transfer customer so I have been anxiously checking my mailbox for my own copy to join its three brothers? Sisters? What gender are books?

You can read my review of Trackside with VIA: The First 35 Years or my 10 Questions for Eric Gagnon.

I highly recommend you go buy the book if you have any interest in VIA Rail!

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?

10 Questions For Eric Gagnon

Railroad magazine used to have a regular feature highlighting an "Interesting Railfan". I thought I would run a similar series with some railfans who have agreed to participate. I'm asking each railfan 10 questions, some standard and some customized for the particular person. I hope you enjoy it. (see all in the series)

Eric Gagnon is brave and has agreed to be Interesting Railfan #1. I've never met Eric but we have corresponded fairly often and commented and linked to one another's blogs quite often. Eric runs the very popular Trackside Treasure blog and has published three books on VIA Rail, and is super knowledgeable about VIA Rail and many other railway topics.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm married to Karen with two children - Andrew, 25 is a paramedic, and Erika, 20 is a third-year nursing student. We live in suburban Kingston, where I hop aboard Kingston Express bus service to and from Kingston General Hospital weekdays, where I have been a medical laboratory technologist in the pathology laboratory since 1985.

2. Why do you like trains?

Genetics. And drama. As a kid, we rode CN steam fantrips and spent time trackside in Lachine, Quebec where we lived until I was five. There's nothing like the noise, rumble and drama of an approaching train that passes in a flash! We have always had HO-scale model railway layouts wherever we've lived. When I was twelve, I became a railfan in earnest. I've been compulsively taking notes ever since!

3. Where’s your favourite place to railfan?

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Hands down. (I guessed that - Ed.)

Portage la Prairie, 1984, by Eric Gagnon

4. If you could railfan anywhere, anytime, where and when would it be?

My dream vacation of camper trek across North America, stopping trackside wherever there are scintillating sights or sites. Anytime? Portage la Prairie in the 1970s during the pre-VIA era of F-units, GMD-1s and grain boxcars!

5. What’s your favourite railway?

CN or BN.

6. What’s with your abundant alliterations?

I worship and wallow in words. And it's fun to follow frenetic, flowing phrases fast and furious. See also...Retro Railfan Reports on Trackside Treasure!

7. I've noticed your frequent “spring cleanings”. Just how much “stuff” have you accumulated?

Depends who you ask. Karen says too much. I say not enough. I once read that a man spends the first 50 years of his life accumulating 'stuff' and the last 50 years trying to dispose of 'stuff'. I believe this to be true. At the same time, I'm constantly pruning my collection to make room for a newly-acquired item or two. Or ten.

Ballast train near Portage la Prairie, MB, 1984, by Eric Gagnon

8. What’s your favourite railway ephemera?

Train orders or train consists. They tell as much or more of a story than photographs. They bring together time, place, rolling stock and/or locomotives. And they concisely reveal much about train operations in a particular era.

9. Do you have any more books in the works?

Yes. I'm currently thinking through two projects that are quite different from each other. I like creating and shipping ideas.

10. Coke or Pepsi?

Coke. Real Coke. 42g of sugar in a can! Ice cold. One per month tops.

Thank you very much, Eric! You can find Eric at his Trackside Treasure blog or on Facebook (apparently I was the one who lured him to the dark side Facebook).

More to come - see all in the series!

My Railfan Five Challenge

Eric Gagnon over at the excellent Trackside Treasure blog threw down the gauntlet and challenged myself and three other bloggers to share five photos from our railfan journeys.

Unlike Eric, I haven't been a railfan for most of my life. Eric said he started in early 1976. At that time I was living in Moscow, USSR and riding trains but paying no more attention to them than I would to a bus or a car.

It wasn't until late 1998 or early 1999 that I really became a railfan. It started after I visited the Salem and Hillsborough Railroad in New Brunswick. Something clicked and I started paying attention to trains.

ONE

The first photo I'm sharing with you was taken in what was then Chatham, NB and is now part of Miramichi. I was driving north to Belledune or Dalhousie when I spotted a pair of red locomotives across the river. I actually turned around and drove back to cross the river to see these engines - you could tell I was a railfan by that action. I was a bit confused because they looked like CP Rail engines to my new railfan eyes but I was 75% sure that CP didn't have any track in New Brunswick any more*.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this "NBEC Rail" thing. It was NBEC 1866 and NBEC 1867 working the Loggieville Subdivision, but I didn't know anything about them. This was the first railfan photo I ever took. I had a Minolta Maxxum 5000i film camera at the time and I'm surprised I actually had it with me.

* actually, CP still had a small section of track near Edmundston.

TWO

This one was taken in the fall of 2007. Until that time my railfan photos were usually roster photos, or generally unplanned photos taken whenever I saw a train. To me, this photo marks the start of when I began to intentionally seek out photogenic locations for trains. I credit David Morris for this. I went on a few railfan trips with him and he had a set of locations that he liked to use, and I could see why one would want to step away from the yards and photograph trains in a nice scene.

I took this photo with the intention of photographing the VIA Rail Ocean with fall colours. I went to this location at the west end of one of the Miramichi River bridges, hoping to get some foliage. I had never been to this location before but fortunately it delivered the goods.

(buy this print)

THREE

After my Minolta Maxxum broke (the mirror jammed, photographing an Ontario Northland engine in Saint John), I bought a Canon S3 and used it for several productive years. The VIA Rail photo was taken with that. I still have the S3 and use it for video now. It's not HD but it works.

In 2010 I decided it was time to move to an SLR. You may remember on my blog that I talked about my decision. In the end I went with a Canon T1i DSLR. The following photo is the first ralifan photo I took with that camera, unedited.

I was delighted with that camera, and I still am... although I'm hungry to get the Canon 7D Mark II. I'm going to have to save my pennies!

FOUR

I decided in 2012 that I should try to sell my photos online to make a few $$$ toward more camera purchases. The following, "Bridge Over Tranquil Waters", was my first sale, three packs of postcards for a decent amount of money.

Since then I have sold a few prints here and there, made a few commercial sales, and I look forward to more.

FIVE

This last one is just a favourite of mine. I like the Rocky Mountaineer and whenever I'm in Banff* I look for it. I first photographed the Rocky in 2010 and I managed to catch it again in 2013. This photograph was taken at Muleshoe between Banff and Lake Louise. I left Banff ahead of the train, intending to shoot it at this location, and got there about 5 minutes ahead of the train. After scrambling down a hill and firing off a few test shots to adjust for exposure, I was ready. The Rocky didn't disappoint.

(buy this print) (see the video)

* I say "whenever I'm in Banff" like I go there a lot. I think I've been there five times in my life, but we're on schedule to go back in 2016!

THE CHALLENGE

I'm going to challenge four other bloggers to come forth and share their own Railfan Five.

• Jim at Jimbaux's Journal
• Gene at Rusted Rail Images
• Michael at The Beachburg Sub
• Robert at Oil-Electric

Go have a look at their blogs! Thanks again to Eric for the challenge. I'll be donating to the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Detective Work

I had an inquiry from a woman whose grandmother took a train from Winnipeg west to Vancouver in early 1983. She was asking about trip times and also whether the Winnipeg Union Station downtown said "VIA" or "CN" on it.

Getting the trip times is easy enough. I have a VIA Rail system timetable dated November 15, 1981 (effective to April 24, 1982) and another dated May 29, 1983. The times for the Canadian in both are the same so I think it's a safe assumption that it did not change in between.

VIA 1 arrived in Winnipeg at 10:00 AM daily and departed at 13:30, on CN to Portage la Prairie and then switching to CP tracks for the remainder of its westward journey. It arrived in Brandon at 16:50 and departed at 17:05. The Canadian then passed through Regina, Calgary and Banff before arriving at Kamloops at 22:30 and departing 15 minutes later at 22:45. It finally arrived in Vancouver, BC at 07:00, almost two days after arriving in Winnipeg.

The Super Continental had been cancelled in 1981 (only to return briefly in 1985) so it had to be the Canadian that her grandmother took.

Here are the two relevant pages from the November 15, 1981 VIA Rail System Timetable. First, page 32 (Montreal - Toronto - Sudbury - Winnipeg).

Next, page 33 (Winnipeg - Regina - Calgary - Banff - Lake Louise - Vancouver).

Click on either page to see a larger version.

Her other question was whether the Union Station in Winnipeg showed CN or VIA. Since CN owned the station until 1986, it was a good question. It turns out that the station did show CN until at least June 3, 1986 when Eric Gagnon took this photo.


Click on the photo to see Eric's original blog post about laying over in Winnipeg.

Mark Perry found a photo on Flickr of Union Station from 1967 prominently featuring the CN logo.


I love this kind of detective work!

Book Review: Trackside With VIA

I received Eric Gagnon's book, "Trackside with VIA: The First 35 Years", with eagerness. I read it in one sitting and I definitely enjoyed it... with a few reservations.

Eric is the author of Trackside Treasure, an excellent blog on Canadian railways. Eric has also been chronicling the production of this book on another blog.

I'm going to start by saying what the book is not.

• It is not a coffee table picture book.
• It is not an exhaustive history of VIA Rail.
• It is not a Greg McDonnell book.

So... what is it?

Physically, it is a 114-page book, containing mostly text with some black and white photos, soft cover and perfect bound. Eric is selling it for $25 (including shipping in Canada).

Trackside with VIA is divided into six sections, by "era", plus a bonus section:

• 1976-81 / Beginnings
• 1982-86 / Potpourri
• 1987-90 / New Power
• 1991-95 / End of Steam
• 1996-00 / Transition
• 2001-11 / Renaissance
• Western Trips

Each section has a page of text talking about the changes in VIA during the period, together with a half dozen or so black-and-white photographs. The real meat of each section is a list of trains he saw during that period, with times and locations and all the engines and cars he noted for each train. We railfans call these "consists". These are a treasure trove for train researchers, as well as anyone wondering what kinds of engines and cars VIA hauled at various times in its life.

The book also includes a foreword by Jason Shron of Rapido Trains, paint transition data (for the modeler, provided by Jakob Mueller), a brief VIA roster, train schedules in the Ontario-Quebec, the various Canadian/Super Continental routings, and recommended readings.

I think Trackside with VIA is a book by a railfan, for railfans. This book will appeal to VIA Rail enthusiasts, and train enthusiasts in general. I don't think the "general public" (whoever that is) would really enjoy it, and they are not the intended audience.

The book is well written, with very few typos, well laid out, and it is professionally printed. I love the cover - it is very reminiscent of VIA timetables from days gone by. This is a quality product.

I said I had a few reservations. Most have to do with how the consists are presented. They are basically a wall of unadorned text, page after page. For example, the 1982-1986 consists are 17 pages of text arranged in six columns. There are no photos on the consists pages and no adornment of the text at all.

Eric made the conscious decision to not list train numbers unless he was sure of the number. I understand his reasoning but it makes it hard to locate trains such as the Canadian.

I found there were some gaps in the list of VIA engine and car numbers in the rear of the book. As an example, there is no information in the list for what type of car VIA 3250 was (my 1989 Trackside Guide tells me it was a coach with a snack bar).

I don't want it to seem like I hated the book. I like it and I will use it often for reference. But the consist pages were a little off-putting at first, and it has taken a few reads to get used to them.

I recommend Trackside with VIA: The First 35 Years to anyone with a serious interest in railways, especially the history of VIA Rail. As Eric notes in his recommended reading section, there have been very few serious books on VIA Rail. Now there is one more.

Highball!

Link to purchase

Trackside With VIA

Eric Gagnon, author of the excellent Trackside Treasure blog, has published a book, Trackside With VIA: The First 35 Years. The book details many of the interesting VIA Rail consists he has seen over the years, with photos and commentary. The book is self-published and available via this order form. The cost is $25 and shipping is free within Canada.

I've placed my order!

More on CN 6765

I have written before about CN/VIA 6765, because I have a number board from her. Eric Gagnon of the fantastic blog Trackside Treasure sent along the times he saw that unit, as well as two pictures he kindly shared with me (and now you).

Eric first saw the unit on July 18, 1976 on an eastbound passenger train. At that time it was in red and white CN colours. Here's one of Eric's shots from July 24, 1976 just east of Napanee, Ontario on train 44.

He saw it a few more times, the last on September 11, 1976. At that point it must have been repainted to the blue and gold VIA colours, because the next time he saw it on December 19, 1976 it was in the VIA livery.


He saw it in and around Kingston, Ontario many times in the next few years. Here's a shot at the Kingston station with CN 6618 and CN 6530 (all in VIA colours) on March 24, 1977.


It was on the Canadian several times in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The last time Eric saw it was on August 29, 1986 on an evening eastbound train.

Thanks for the information and photos, Eric. Make sure you go read his blog - it is my favourite train blog.