Canadian Railroads > Backing the Ocean: Sainte-Foy to Joffre

As a follow-on to my recent post here on the Station and Ferry at Levis, Quebec......

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4978034

VIA's Ocean now crosses the St. Lawrence River on the historic Pont de Quebec to serve Quebec City at the suburban Sainte-Foy Station.

https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/image-image.aspx?id=13400#i1

Here the westbound Ocean has arrived in Joffre Yard at 6:30am and with the F40s leading....heads forward through Charny and out across the Quebec Bridge to Ste.Foy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/20 02:25 by ghCBNS.

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Arriving at Gare Sainte-Foy for a 15 minute servicing stop and operating crew change.....

(VIA provides a shuttle to/from Gare du Palais downtown)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/20 04:26 by ghCBNS.

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Now to return to CN's Halifax-Montreal mainline on the southshore of the St. Lawrence.....we have to back-up 3 1/2 miles to Joffre Yard. Here a crew member takes a rear seat in the Park Car's Bullet-Lounge for the back-up move:

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At Charny we take the east leg of the wye. The track on the right goes to West Junction and is used by the eastbound Ocean as well as all Quebec <> Montreal Corridor trains.

After Levis Station closed in 1998 and until 2012 when the Ocean started running over to Ste.Foy.....Charny was the stop for Quebec City and the Ocean just backed into or out of there using that track on the right.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/20 02:55 by ghCBNS.

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And continue backing around the wye and into Joffre Yard.

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Now we head forward.....passing the east leg of the wye we just used......then accelerate through West Junction....across the Chaudiere River with the tops of the bridges and skyline of Quebec in the distance and onto Montreal.

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So envious of people in these cars.  Remember great old days in 70's when Amtrak and Rio Grande still ran these great domes.  

Thank you for graphic description and great photography plus a map. 

 

Could they avoid a back up move by taking the CP west to Trois Rivières and on to Montreal?

sums007 Wrote:
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> Could they avoid a back up move by taking the CP
> west to Trois Rivières and on to Montreal?

That's the Quebec Gatineau Railway now. It's freight only and would require upgrading. Back in the day......CPR passenger trains took around 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 hrs between Quebec and Montreal.

The Ocean currently takes around 3 1/2 hrs now via the Drummondville Sub including the back-up move (corridor trains can do it in 2 3/4 hrs)....so no advantage and IMHO the back-up is really no big deal. Took about 13 min until we were moving forward again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/20 11:53 by ghCBNS.

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Was the train running much later than normal the day you took the pictures?  I seem to recall it being pretty dark in Ste-Foy when I've been there on the Ocean, but I always seem to travel during the shortest days of the year too.

GTD

cn6218 Wrote:
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> Was the train running much later than normal the
> day you took the pictures?  I seem to recall it
> being pretty dark in Ste-Foy when I've been there
> on the Ocean, but I always seem to travel during
> the shortest days of the year too.

About a half hour late at Ste Foy (this was two days before the time changed).....and an hour late at Montreal. This was just after the protests so we met a couple of additional freights. Most times I'm on the Ocean we've been pretty close to OT into Montreal.

Thanks for the great images and appreciate the map.  Map helpful to this midwest guy who has been on the Ocean only twice back in the days when the train did not go over the river.

sums007 Wrote:
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> Could they avoid a back up move by taking the CP
> west to Trois Rivières and on to Montreal?

The backup move seems to be handled quite efficiently, and really doesn’t take that long.  Dwell time in Ste. Foy takes most of the time due to high ridership and the need to a double stop.

Dave

What is the equipment now being used on the Ocean?  Is it all Budd or a mixture of both?   From the pictures it looks like some Ren cars on the headend.

Nothing is being used right now.  The Ocean is shut down because of Covid-19.

But since the new year, one set has been mostly Ren, with a Park car and possibly a Chateau sleeper for the crew, while the other has had Budd baggage, coaches, accessible Ren coaches, service cars and sleeper, and then some Budd sleepers and Park car.  Having Ren equipment for both diners allows them to stock the same meals for both sets of equipment, and accessible equipment is available for both trains, which wouldn't be the case if one was all Budd.

GTD

hogtrain Wrote:
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> What is the equipment now being used on the
> Ocean?  Is it all Budd or a mixture of both?  
> From the pictures it looks like some Ren cars on
> the headend.

Nothing running right now with Covid-19 but there are two consists.

The day I rode I was on the Budd/Ren mixed:

two F40s
one Budd Baggage
three Budd Coaches
one Ren Transition
one Ren Service Car
one Ren Diner
one Ren Service Car
two Ren Sleepers
one Ren Transition
three Budd Chateau Sleepers
one Budd Park Car

The other Ocean consist is all Renaissance except for the Park Car