July 16, 2011:
I got up at 8:00 am and got dressed. I went to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. In the restaurant, I could see the Sudbury train station. I also saw the Sudbury-White River RDCs pull in. I went back to my room and found my room key to not work! This is the third trip in a row where my room key didn't work! I went back to the lobby and got it fixed. I went back to my room and finished packing. I then checked out and walked to the train station and took some photos of the RDCs.
Today's train had the same RDC-2s from yesterday. I also saw the same engineer from the day before and spoke with him. I asked him why the train was late yesterday. He said they were delayed because of a freight train with distributed power which had problems and they had to “reboot the train” a couple times. He also told me of a small component on the 6205 and 6215 was broken which meant the toilets weren’t working which was one reason 6202 was in the train.
Another VIA employee asked if I was getting on. I said no. When the train departed, I filmed it. I then took one last photo of the RDCs.
I then walked to the bus terminal but boarded a bus a few blocks from the terminal. I got off and took some photos in the terminal.
I then saw my bus which was a Nova LFS. I got on and we soon left. The bus took a roundabout route and at one point, the driver had a layover at a mall. After a few minutes the driver got back on the bus. We soon left. A couple minutes later, I got off at my stop. Moments after my bus left, I saw two people I know from the TTS stop in their car. They gave me a ride to the garage. I had been hoping to get a ride to North Bay. I also saw Orion 5 #943 which would be our charter bus. I photographed it.
They asked me why I had my suitcase. I told them I was expecting to go to North Bay after the charter. They said they were staying the night in Sudbury. This presented a huge problem for me because I was hoping to get a ride, but I didn’t have anywhere to stay in Sudbury. I did leave my suitcase in the trunk of the people who gave me a ride in from the street. I then photographed Sudbury Transit's two other Orion 5s as well as retired Orion 6 #984 which was missing several parts including wheels!
While the three Orion 5s are operational, they are deemed as spares and presently all lack fareboxes.
I headed back to 943. I spoke with other people on the charter. Someone pointed out the bus was leaking coolant. A mechanic came out to check it out. He said the bus couldn't go out with the coolant dripping like that. TTS president Kevin Nicol said that when Hamilton Street Railway GM Articulated bus #518203 left for Seashore, (see my last trip), it had a coolant leak and they had found lots of bottles of coolant so when the bus left Hamilton, it had 10 gallons of coolant, but it wasn't enough to get the bus to Maine. Bus #518203 was left in Rochester for a couple days until it could be fixed before it made it to Seashore.
At one point, I saw them start up one of the other Orion 5s, but they apparently weren't much better. We began to wonder if we would have to take some other model bus instead of an Orion 5 which would have been a disappointment. However, our driver, Dave skilfully reversed 943 into a maintenance bay. A little while later, it emerged. The verdict: 943 was fixed so it could go out on the charter after all. We boarded the bus and headed out an hour later then we planned.
Our first photo stop was at Cambrian College. I took some photos.
Someone else on the charter had found a lawn sprinkler that was left on a traffic sign. There was water still in it so it looked used. They fooled around with it and said they'd take it, but they put it back where they found it. I took some more photos of 943 and a service bus.
We then departed Cambrian College. Our next photo stop was on a residential street. We photographed 943.
Our third photo stop was on a street going downhill. We took some photos.
Some residents asked what was going on. I explained what we were doing. We then stopped in front on Street in front of a courthouse. We took some photos.
I was wondering if anyone would give us trouble taking pictures because in the United States, photographers have been hassled and/or arrested for taking pictures of courthouses and other federal buildings even though there's no law against it. The American Civil Liberties Union has gotten involved, but these incidents continue. However no one gave us any trouble.
We then departed and stopped at the intersection of Brady and Minto. We took some photos of 943 and some in service buses.
Our next stop was a block west of the downtown Sudbury train station. Genset 2101 and GP9 8200 were doing more switching. Fellow charter goer David Vincent ran out to photograph them. I photographed the locomotives and 943.
Someone noticed the back doors were a bit finicky. However, they soon were working okay. Our next photo stop was the New Sudbury Centre mall. We would be having lunch at the food court. I photographed 943 before I went inside the mall. The bus was then moved to another area of the parking lot.
I bought lunch at a Taco Bell in the food court. After lunch, I made my way to the other end of the mall and photographed 943 in the parking lot.
We got back on the bus and left. We headed east and drove on an overpass just north of VIA's Sudbury Junction train station. Our next photo stop was in Falconbridge. We posed the bus near a water tower and photographed it and a service bus.
We repositioned 943 to get a better shot of it and the water tower. I took another photo.
We then got back on the bus and we headed out. Our next photo stop was the Sudbury airport which is in the middle of nowhere. Presently Air Canada Jazz, Bearskin Airlines, and Porter Airlines fly into Sudbury. We photographed 943 with the air traffic control tower in the background.
As we left the airport, we saw a Bearskin Airlines plane take off. We then posed 943 with a sign by the airport.
We then headed into Capreol. We posed 943 at the stop where I had boarded a bus into Sudbury the day before. We took some photos of 943 and an in service bus.
I also photographed two CN SD40s that were in the process of building a train as well as some old passenger coaches.
We then headed to the Northern Ontario Railway Museum I took some photos of some of the equipment in there including CN 4-8-2 #6077 which is a sister to my friend Jason's favourite steam locomotive #6060.
We then got back on the bus and left. I was hot and thirsty. We did a video run by of our bus then stopped at the Blezard Valley loop for our next photo stop.
After we left, we made an impromptu stop at a McDonald's for a washroom break and allow us to buy something to drink. I bought a large Coke because I was very thirsty! I took some photos of 943.
We then headed back into Sudbury and posed the bus by a water tower.
We then moved the bus a couple blocks and posed it by some rocks. We photograph 943 and a Nova LFS that was signed up “Charter”.
Our next photo stop was by the Big Nickel which is a major tourist attraction in Sudbury. We posed 943 with the Big Nickel in the background.
We then posed 943 with a factory in the background where routes 701 and 940 go.
Next we posed 943 at a loop used for extra buses when the Regent University has classes in session.
We then drove to Regent University and posed in front of the campus.
We then got off by the Bridge of Nations to film 943 driving over. The Bridge of Nations is right near the hotel I stayed at.
We then headed back to the garage. An older Sudbury Transit bus stop sign was raffled off. I took a couple photos after I got off the bus.
Our driver, Dave pulled out Orion 6 #985. I photographed it.
I then photographed Sudbury Transit's other two Orion 5s and the retired 984.
I then photographed Nova LFS 971 inside the garage.
I got my suitcase back and registered with TTS president Kevin Nicol for a charter next month in Niagara Falls.
I heard Ryan Tilley say that I may have a ride to North Bay tonight after all because the person I would have been going up with changed their plans. I grudgingly accepted the fact I had to take a midnight bus to North Bay. I photographed D40LF #954 before I left.
I walked to a bus stop but found the next bus wasn't for awhile. I thought I could get another bus sooner, but I couldn't find a stop. I eventually gave up and phoned a taxi from a Shell station. The cab soon came and took me to the bus depot.
I saw the bus depot was closed from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. I phoned home to let my mom know what was happening. I walked over to a nearby Burger King for dinner. I was a bit annoyed with the fact I had to take a midnight bus.
By the time I returned, the depot was open. I bought a ticket to North Bay. I then found a table in the waiting room next to an AC outlet and worked on this report some more. I bought a drink from a vending machine.
I looked on my ticket and saw my bus was scheduled to arrive at 1:50 am; earlier than I thought. I went back to the burger king, but it was closed. I walked back to the terminal.
A couple buses arrived. The bus I would ride arrived after 11:30 pm. Boarding began around 11:45 pm I photographed the bus before I got on.
The bus I was on was one leased from Greyhound's American division. It had leather seats and AC outlets by each seat. The bus was quite full, but I was able to get two seats to myself. I was seated across from a mother and her daughter and near a group of people.
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