Canadian Railroads > The "Chicken Coupe" Leads the Ocean

"Chicken Coupe" (or Coop, if you prefer) was one of the nicer nicknames for VIA F40 6414, when it wore the Lotto Quebec promotional wrap back in 2009.

6414 and one-of-a-kind rebuilt 6400 were leading the westbound Ocean past mile 13 of the Bedford Sub, at Bedford Quarry, NS on Boxing Day, 2009.  This was another "extra" holiday train, so was operating as "615" rather than just number "15".

GTD 

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Wondering if someone can fill in the history.

Why am I thinking the Ocean went to three days a week AFTER 2010? Was it prior to that, and hence the "extras" allowed the train to operate back at five to six days a week? I mean, VIA Rail Canada wasn't running the ole "extra" train as in private rail days where one section went out and then a second "extra" section followed behind right? Just trying to get my bearings on when the Ocean went tri-weekly. Again, I thought it was after 2010, that it went tri-weekly, but gladly will stand corrected. Thanks!

August 2013 - Chaleur was suspended
2004 - Ocean goes Renaissance

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wondering if someone can fill in the history.
>
> Why am I thinking the Ocean went to three days a
> week AFTER 2010? Was it prior to that, and hence
> the "extras" allowed the train to operate back at
> five to six days a week? I mean, VIA Rail Canada
> wasn't running the ole "extra" train as in private
> rail days where one section went out and then a
> second "extra" section followed behind right? Just
> trying to get my bearings on when the Ocean went
> tri-weekly. Again, I thought it was after 2010,
> that it went tri-weekly, but gladly will stand
> corrected. Thanks!
>
> August 2013 - Chaleur was suspended
> 2004 - Ocean goes Renaissance

I'm going from memory here, but I believe it was around the end of October 2012.  The government, after having given VIA a lot of infrastructure money, cut the operating budget of VIA forcing some cut-backs. Many stations became "self-serve"; a term used at the time which sounded better than removing station agents.  Several come to mind: Amherst and Sackville in the east and Cornwall, Woodstock, Chatham, Aldershot, Niagara Falls in Ontario.

I haven't time to go digging through a pile of timetables right now, but I believe the off-peak Canadian was reduced to twice a week at the same time as the Ocean was reduced to three times a week.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/20 10:40 by DrawingroomA.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
>
> I haven't time to go digging through a pile of
> timetables right now, but I believe the off-peak
> Canadian was reduced to twice a week at the same
> time as the Ocean was reduced to three times a
> week.

The Dec 10, 2012 is the first one showing a 3/week Ocean and 2/week in winter Canadian.

So the original picture refers to an "extra" holiday train. Did this run onteh Tuesday when the Ocean usually didn't run (it was still operating six days a week at this point, except on Tuesdays), or is this referring to the "extra" train that's running "behind" the regular scheduled "Ocean." That's what I am trying to understand. I also realize that the Ocean sometimes didn't run on all holidays.......so that could be an "extra" too........  Just trying to clarify. 

And that's what I thought - 2012/2013 was the change when the Canadian and Ocean even more reduced frequencies - three to two for Canadian, and six to three for the Ocean. 

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So the original picture refers to an "extra"
> holiday train. Did this run onteh Tuesday when the
> Ocean usually didn't run (it was still operating
> six days a week at this point, except on
> Tuesdays), or is this referring to the "extra"
> train that's running "behind" the regular
> scheduled "Ocean." That's what I am trying to
> understand. I also realize that the Ocean
> sometimes didn't run on all holidays.......so that
> could be an "extra" too........  Just trying to
> clarify. 
>
> And that's what I thought - 2012/2013 was the
> change when the Canadian and Ocean even more
> reduced frequencies - three to two for Canadian,
> and six to three for the Ocean.

For the past many years VIA has annulled the Ocean on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Of course, if those days should be a Tuesday the train wouldn't have run anyway. An extra train was often operated on a Tuesday to keep the service at six times a week. I'm not aware of an extra train running behind the Ocean. Since the reduction to three times a week the extra run(s) were slotted in for days when it was expected to be busy. I believe there were no extra trains last year. Corrections and clarifications are always appreciated.

I called the train an "extra" because it used the 600-series number, but something tells me they were operating on a slightly different schedule, rather than a different day of the week, and that was the reason for the number change.  My main desktop computer is acting up right now, so I can't check the time stamp on that picture, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was an hour earlier (perhaps to make up for all the inevitable double stops) than usual. 

The Ocean was also regularly leaving at noon instead of 13:00 for a while because of permanent slow orders in New Brunswick for a year or more.  ghCBNS probably has all the timetables to confirm when this actually happened.

GTD