Canadian Railroads > Biking from train to train

Yesterday I finished work at 2:00 and thanks to a friend listening in on the scanner, I knew that the CN Pointe St-Charles Switcher would be leaving the Port of Montreal in not too long.

1-I headed up the tower near the eastern end of the Lachine Canal and shot the switcher crossing the eastern end of the Lachine Canal, with CN 7054 & CN 4707 for power. As I was planning to shoot CN 527 next in St-Henri, I used the Bixi bike service to rent a bike and bike the roughly 10 minutes to St-Henri.

2-While passing Wellington Tower on bike I was quite shocked to see cowl CN 2401 heading west on CN's St-Hyacinthe Sub. This section of CN's St-Hyacinthe Sub is normally passenger-only, with VIA Rail, Amtrak and RTM passenger trains passing over the Lachine Canal on the way to and from nearby Central Station. However once in a blue moon freight power will pass this way so that they can reverse towards the Victoria Bridge and wye their power and that qs the case here. CN 527 arrived in Pointe St-Charles Yard with CN 2401 as the sole power, long hood forward. While waiting for the Pointe St-Charles switcher to arrive from the Port of Montreal with cars for them, they decided to wye their unit so that they could run to Taschereau Yard with the power running short hood forward. Here it is backing up over the Lachine Canal on the way to wyeing the power, thankfully I had time to stop my bike and catch them heading back over the canal.

3-After that I finished the bike ride to St-Henri and set up where the CN tracks cross the Lachine Canal. About an hour and a half later, CN 527 has wyed its power and finished its set-off and lift at Pointe St-Charles Yard and is heading to Taschereau Yard with 60 cars in tow.

Michael Berry

---

---

---

While waiting for CN 527 to pass through St-Henri I shot a trio of VIA Rail trains crossing the Lachine Canal.

4-VIA 62 from Toronto.

5-VIA 635 for Ottawa.

6-VIA 67 for Toronto.

---

---

---

Nice pictures Mr Berry ! Just wondering about the passenger ship in the back round, do you have a name???

gaspeamtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice pictures Mr Berry ! Just wondering about the
> passenger ship in the back round, do you have a
> name???

Thanks, the AIDAvita, which I shot in the same spot a few weeks back.

Michael

Nice set.  While back wife rented bikes and rode along the canal? and then further west and had a nice lunch a little local place.  Thing I remember is they gave us locking gear as well as repair kit and pump.  Seems most bike rentals in the States don't believe patrons able to do repairs. 

Bob Jordan

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice set.  While back wife rented bikes and rode
> along the canal? and then further west and had a
> nice lunch a little local place.  Thing I
> remember is they gave us locking gear as well as
> repair kit and pump.  Seems most bike rentals in
> the States don't believe patrons able to do
> repairs. 
>
> Bob Jordan

Thanks. That must have been a small/private bike place. Bixi is a city-wide non-profit organization owned by the city of Montreal and all you get is a bike.

Michael