Page 18 - January Februray 2009

Canada 2008 – Part 2: Toronto to Montreal Ian Lampkin
It had been 16 years since I last visited Toronto, and little has changed at Union Station as the station still retains its train shed, which surprises me with all the high-rise development around the station. Would have thought developers would have put in a concrete raft and offices on top by now. Let’s hope the train shed doesn’t disappear.
Our train to Montreal consisted of Via Rail LRV coaches with a P40 on the front. Many of these coaches have been refurbished and our 1st class coach even had wireless internet fitted. Various online ticket prices similar to the UK are available depending on how far in advance tickets are booked. At the time we booked, the cheapest standard ticket available was a similar price to the cheapest first class which gives out free food, in our case breakfast and free drinks including alcoholic ones. The train left Union station promptly.
We pass numerous GO commuter trains on their morning rush- hour run into Toronto. The train is much faster and smoother than on the previous train journeys earlier in the week, which I suppose is only to be expected as this is Canada’s “mainline”. Numerous CN freights are also passed; it is good to see that the passenger train has generally the right of way on Via/CN lines. At Blainville our train stops short of the station and the rear Ottawa portion is detached. Our portion then pulls into the station. Just before we depart Blainville the Ottawa section pulls into a platform alongside us. Food and drink service attendants keep us well fed and watered on the 4 hour 50 minute trip, and the train keeps to time all the way to Montreal, where we pull in alongside overhead electric commuter trains. These are the only electric surface trains in Canada. We disembark and take the steps up from the underground platforms to the concourse, so no good photos taken here.
After checking into our hotel we take a walk to revisit Montreal’s Gare De Windsor. On our last visit in 1992 this grand stone-built station still had its overall roof over the concourse and a few platforms still in use for rush-hour commuter services. Amtrak’s “Adirondack” service to New York used to leave this station until the mid 1980s when it was rerouted to the main station. In recent years the tracks have been removed but the station has been restored along with the concourse and a walkway to the new hockey stadium, built on the old platforms also leads to the new replacement station where numerous commuter trains are ready for the evening rush-hour services. This station was also called Gare De Windsor but apparently, people were going to the old station by mistake, so it was renamed to Lucien-L’Allier (AMT ).
Next morning we are at Montreal’s main station again and board the 07.00 service to Quebec City. Our 3-hour trip is in the Regional Eurostars that never entered service in the UK that Via Rail purchased a few years ago for services north of Montreal. They are mainly used on the Quebec City service but are also used on the “Ocean” that runs from Montreal to Halifax.
The interiors in standard class that Via Rail call Comfort Class are 2 + 1 seating, with all but a handful of seats airline style and facing forward. The whole train is turned at each end of the run as these seats can’t be rotated as per most North American coach seats.
As we leave Montreal we cross over the river on a long multi- span lattice girder bridge. As we get about two-thirds across the bridge there is a gap and a double-track junction goes off before more bridge spans commence again. The two lines go either side of the lock gates, presumably to allow trains to take whichever route has not had to be lifted to allow ships to pass, thus not holding up train services. On the land side of the lock, both routes converge. We carry on past morning commuter push-pull service with F59PHi locos. We also pass numerous CN freights; our train picks up speed on the double-track section. The Regional Eurostar coaches make a very comfortable ride – presumably different suspension to most trains this side of the pond. The only thing about this service that it lacks is a decent cafe car, as there is only one attendant who does just one round
through the train and then presumably back in to attend to first class as he was nowhere to be seen later on in the trip – the cafe car was empty.
The line goes to single track further along the line and we pass more freights waiting in sidings. Towards the end of the journey we diverge off the main line and negotiate the outskirts of Quebec City, eventually and on time, curving round into the modern Via Rail terminus platforms under an office block.
Now is the chance to see what was hauling our train, which turns out to be an F40PH, no longer seen on Amtrak but still in regular use on Via Rail. The modern station concourse links into the older station buildings where the ticket offices and refreshments are located. The bus station is a modern structure also attached to the old buildings. Walking out the front of the station and looking back we see a wonderful looking building with the modern office block behind which is over the platforms. We are off to walk around the compact but initial steep climb into the old town, which is well worth the visit.
Our return that evening is on LRV coaches that are the same as the coaches we were on from Toronto to Montreal the day before, and again we are on time back into Montreal.
Our Man in Tallahassee!
Today we leave Montreal and Canada on Amtrak’s “Adirondack” to New York.
Departure is at 9.30 am and we arrive at 9.00 am to see a massive queue for the train. An Amtrak attendant is talking to someone near us saying we all have to fit into two coaches. We get down onto the platform and there are four coaches and a cafe car, all Amfleet coaches, so just a little bit of humour from the Amtrak man methinks.
Despite the number of people we are squeezed into just two coaches but we get a couple of reasonable seats; the other coaches are apparently for people getting on later in the journey. Anyone who has travelled on Amtrak will know that when boarding an Amtrak train at its origin, it is first come first served for seats. The train staff will then generally assign seats to passengers at intermediate stops. Amfleet coaches do have a few rows of seats that have no window, so it’s wise not to be last in the queue.
We leave Montreal on time and cross over the river and then branch off the line to Quebec City onto a much slower route, in actual fact a crawl through outlying suburbs then neighbouring towns before picking up just a little speed to the border crossing at Rouses Point, New York state. There is a booked one-hour stop here for US border control to check identities and search the train, which they did pretty thoroughly, and we left one hour 20 minutes later.
The cafe car attendant was a great character, keeping many people entertained with her humour. When realising we were English she engaged in quite a lengthy conversation.
The line passes through some heavily wooded scenery on one side and Lake Champion on the other. We run alongside the lake for over an hour or so. Part-way along the lake we stop at Port Henry where we are allowed off the train for 5 minutes or so, giving the smokers a chance to light up but for me to take some photos of the Alco along with some freight cars and a caboose sitting on a length of track next to the unstaffed little station building. It’s a sunny but really hot day that hits hard when stepping off an air-conditioned coach which we boarded on a much cooler morning in Montreal.
We are soon back on board and on our way, eventually arriving about 3 hours later into Albany Rensselaer station, passing one of Amtrak’s main workshops just beforehand. This station has been totally rebuilt in recent years. It’s a long time since Amtrak trains used to go the other side of the river into Union Station in the centre of Albany. There is a loco change here to a P42 which has third rail pick up to allow it to pass through the tunnels into New York’s Penn station, giving a chance to get some photos of the loco change.
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