Videos of the Grey Cup Train

A few railfans have been posting video of the Grey Cup train... always appreciated.

This is ManitobaTransitVids' video of the Grey Cup train at Rivers, Manitoba heading west as part of VIA 1. Note that VIA 6445 was buried behind the two Canadian engines.


DieselSmoke92 shared this lengthy video featuring a walkthrough of the train.



JJ's Railfan Videos caught the eastbound VIA 2 at two locations in Ontario. VIA very nicely put 6445 on the head end this time, and note the three deadhead cars ahead of the normal Canadian consist.

Great fall colours!

Here's David Othen's lengthy video of the train as part of the Ocean. He caught it at a couple of locations in the falling dark as it approached Halifax, and then has some views of the exterior at the Halifax station.


David noted that this is probably the first "J-train" to ever visit the Maritimes. A J-train features two complete trains stuck end to end such that the locomotive(s) from the rear train are coupled to the end of the first train. Normally VIA would take the locomotive(s) off the rear train and put them behind the engines of the first train. In the Corridor between Quebec City and Windsor, VIA runs J trains fairly regularly but it is rare to see them outside the Corridor. I remember that VIA experimented with running the Ocean and Chaleur as a J train in Quebec but found that it was not worthwhile.

Grey Cup Train Update

The eastern railfans have been reporting on the Grey Cup Train as it made its way to Halifax.

October 7: It is believed that the train was tacked onto the end of Sunday's VIA 2 (Canadian) as it left Winnipeg.
October 9: VIA #2 (Canadian) arrived in Toronto in the afternoon with the Grey Cup Train.
October 11: VIA #14 (Ocean) left Charny, Quebec just after midnight with the Ocean, Chaleur (VIA 16) and Grey Cup train consists. The entire Grey Cup Train was at the end of the combined VIA 14/VIA 16 consist, so the train had 3 F40PH-2 engines, 6 Budd cars (VIA 16), 13 Renaissance cars (VIA 14), VIA 6445, and the 6 Grey Cup cars. Quite a long passenger train for the Maritimes!
October 11: VIA #14 (Ocean) left Campbellton, NB at about 10 AM with the Grey Cup train on the end.
October 11: VIA #14 (Ocean) left Moncton, NB at about 3:40 PM with VIA 6436 and VIA 6432 on the head end, to meet VIA #15 at Evans.

Here are the next few public train viewing dates. Go to http://www.greycuptour.ca/stops for more details.

• October 13: Train at Halifax VIA Rail station (1161 Hollis Street).
• October 14: Train at Moncton VIA Rail station (1240 Main Street).
• October 17: Train at Quebec City VIA Rail station (450 rue de la Gare du Palais).

The original plan was for the Grey Cup train to leave Halifax on Sunday, October 14th at 05:15 as VIA #3, to be at the VIA Rail station in Moncton for the 11 AM opening. It may end up departing on Saturday night instead.

Thanks to everyone in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for their excellent reporting.

The Grey Cup Train, Part 2

Following on my last post about the Grey Cup train, here are some photos of the interior and the festivities outside.

As I said previously, baggage car VIA 8615 had displays showing the history of (Canadian) football and equipment. The next car was provided by Canadian Pacific, CP 103, and contained displays about the Grey Cup game itself, including an extensive set of Grey Cup rings. This is Henry Burris' ring from the Calgary Stampeders' 2008 victory over Montreal.


Nearby was a ring from the Saskatchewan Roughriders from their 2007 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Photographing these was challenging because they were behind plexiglass, which is becoming quite scratched. This is Kent Austin's ring, who won the Grey Cup twice as a quarterback (SK, BC) and once as the head coach (SK).


There is a spot in the car for the Grey Cup to sit in, but as I said before, it was not on the train at this time.


The next car was another Canadian Pacific car, CP 104.


This car had displays for all of the current CFL teams. I tried to explain to this guy that he and his nephew were wearing jerseys for the wrong sport but he was having none of it.


Our Roughrider family had to pose at the Saskatchewan display.


At the end of the car, we faced this obstacle. No entry into the diner for us!


Here is the exterior of VIA 8412 / KENT. This is as far as we were permitted to go to photograph, so I did not get any photos of VIA 8502 or VIA 8208 / CHATEAU DOLLIER.


They did do a nice job decorating the cars.


Back outside the station, there was still a long line waiting to see the train. Note the Canadian Human Rights Museum in the background, still under construction.


We wandered around the displays for a while. Telus had a Fan Cup there, and there were hot dogs for sale, a football toss, a tackling area, and of course the Grey Cup.


We joined the line for the Cup and after about 15 minutes, we had our turn.


Thanks to the CFL, to VIA Rail, to Rona, and all the other sponsors for supporting this great train and display as it travels across Canada. Look out Halifax, the train is coming to see you next!

The Grey Cup Train, Part 1

On Saturday, October 6, I took my kids to Union Station in Winnipeg to see the Grey Cup train. It was scheduled to be open for viewing from 11 AM to 4 PM. We parked at 10;30 and the line was already quite long.


At 11 sharp they opened the gates and we started shuffling along. By 11:07 we were crossing under the entrance archway. They had quite a greeting party out.


The Winnipeg Blue Bombers cheerleaders were doing a great job welcoming everyone.




We lined up inside the station. As we slowly made our way through the station, VIA was calling passengers to board the westbound Canadian. It took until 11:43 until we climbed the inactive escalator to see the Grey Cup train on track 3. Here's VIA 6445 proudly at the head of the train.


You may remember that VIA 6445 was the lead engine on the Coors Light train too.


VIA 6445 was one of the last refurbished engines for VIA. I had expected that it would not be refurbished until after this gig, but it is obvious that it is a refurbished engine. In fact, you can see that they applied the Grey Cup decals right over the refurbished logos.


You can see the refurbished colours on the rear of the engine.


The next car was VIA 8615, and that's where we boarded.


Here's a sneak peek of what was in the car. VIA 8615 had an excellent display of the history of football, especially Canadian football.


On part 2 of this I will continue on through the two CP cars and then out to the Grey Cup itself, which was not actually on the train!

PS: Here's a great series of photos of the Grey Cup train when it was in Vancouver.

Grammar extra: Nothing drives me crazy more online than people using "sneak peak". This is wrong. It is SNEAK PEEK. Grrrr.


READ PART TWO

The Grey Cup Train Approaches

The Grey Cup train has been heading east for several days. The train has been traveling on Canadian Pacific Railway tracks and therefore had a CPR engine on the head end, CP 8711. The complete consist was:

• CP 8711
• VIA 6445
• VIA 8615
• CP 103
• CP 104
• VIA 8412 Kent
• VIA 8502 Skyline
• VIA 8208 Chateau Dollier

It arrived in Minnedosa, Manitoba on Wednesday, October 3 and John Longhurst was there to record it. His blog entry is here. Here's one photo from his blog entry.

CP 8711 and the Grey Cup train. Photo by John Longhurst.

It carried on to Portage la Prairie on Thursday, October 4 (a very blustery day) and Manny Jacob recorded it in great detail here and here. He got the shot I would have tried to get, the VIA Rail Canadian passing the Grey Cup train.

The Canadian passes the Grey Cup train. Photo by Manny Jacob.

Here's an excellent pacing video of the train between Red Deer and Calgary.

The train is open to the public at Union Station in Winnipeg on Saturday October 6 from 11 AM to 4 PM. I plan on being there for some of the festivities. Here's the complete list of stops. From Winnipeg the train apparently will be going directly to Halifax, Nova Scotia while the Cup will travel to Newfoundland before going to Nova Scotia.

Grey Cup Engine Wrapped

A few pictures have emerged of the engine slated to lead the Grey Cup train. The above shot was at an unveiling event. That's the CFL commissioner, Mark Cohon, with the microphone.

The engine is VIA 6445, newly refurbished and now wrapped for the Grey Cup train. You may remember VIA 6445 was the lead engine for last summer's Coors Light train. This is the first wrap of a refurbished VIA engine.

Here's a photo of the complete 4-car train train from the Grey Cup tour.


Follow this link to see other photos of the train, such as this showing the baggage car. All four cars are decorated. I understand the first and last cars are VIA cars and the middle two are CP cars from their heritage fleet.


There's a beautiful photo of VIA 6445 at Railpictures.ca that I cannot show you because of their inane no-embedding policy.

The consist headed out of Toronto on the Canadian on Thursday August 30, with VIA 6445 behind the two Canadian engines and the four cars behind the Park car. Manny Jacob did an excellent job photographing them at Portage la Prairie and also at Kearns where VIA 1 was stopped to wait for a CN freight train. Check his story out here.

Grey Cup Train

The Canadian Football League has announced that it will have a Grey Cup Train touring the country this fall. The train will start in Vancouver, BC in September and will stop at all eight CFL cities, as well as other cities like Moncton and Halifax, before ending up in Toronto in November. Clearly it will be laying over in cities! TSN says the train will have at least three cars, one carrying the Cup, a museum car, and a team car. TSN and other sites have a little computer rendering of the train, provided by the CFL:

This will probably be the first wrap of a refurbished F40... unless VIA is keeping one of the unrefurbished engines for this train.

Here's a video produced for the trip. Apologies in advance for the random zooming in and out. What's up with that?


Keep an eye on http://www.greycuptour.ca/ for more information. The tour is sponsored by Rona.