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Trains In Eastern Canada 8/6-9/8/2000

To accomplish my goal of riding all trains in Canada, and to augment my journey in December 1999 to Churchill and Lynn Lake, Manitoba, planning for what became a thirty-three day odyssey started immediately after I returned from that trip. It took me about three weeks to put the routing together. In Canada, I had to juggle VIA's tri-weekly schedules on the Canadian and Lake Superior trains, Algoma Central's schedule, Ontario Northland's daily-except- Saturday Cochrane-to-Toronto route, Ontario Northland's Big Bear schedule of daily-except-Friday, Quebec, North Shore and Labrador and finally VIA's Bras d'Or once-a-week schedule.

To make this challenge easier, I wrote each schedule on a 3x5 card and until I had the Ontario part worked out, I came up with a creative detour into the northeast United States that would make the rest of the trip work. I called the North American Rail Pass desk to book the VIA and Amtrak trains and each of the other railways for my tickets on their trains. That was followed by calling the Montreal Expos for a baseball ticket during a layover in Montreal and used the tourist guides that I had to obtain my hotel reservations and arranging with Avis for a rental car for the Quebec City-to-Sept Îles portion of the journey rather than a motor coach.

I finished the planning after returning from my Vancouver Island trip in April. The Coast Starlight portion would be a sleeper care of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan that would allow this trip to be 33 days long instead of the 30 allowed on the North American Rail Pass. I finished the school year at McFadden Intermediate then worked a special day class with Rod Stevens, a fellow teacher, for five weeks during the summer before I departed on what would become the longest trip of my life, the majority of which would be on board trains. The week before I left, the former Southern Pacific Coast line had a sinkhole/landslide that closed the line north of Santa Barbara and I waited until the day of departure to find out if the first segment would be all train, or a train to Santa Barbara and a bus to a waiting Coast Starlight at San Luis Obispo.

As the train arrived at Santa Ana and stopped, only one door on the unreserved section opened, forcing all detraining and entraining passengers to use the same door. I walked through an Amtrak California car whose door did not open into a Superliner coach and chose a rear-facing end seat so I could store my luggage, which was on wheels for the first time, and waited for Conductor Randy Wylie to take my first ticket of the trip. I went to the café car for a cup of tea and found Cynthia Weiss, one of the most unique Lead Service Attendants I know. To know Cynthia is to love her. As we proceeded to Los Angeles, I noted that the Highland Avenue underpass in Fullerton should be completed by the time I return, and the new flyover bridge at Redondo Junction would no doubt be nearer to being finished also. A sad note was the long-standing Redondo Junction roundhouse was now a pile of rubble, having been demolished last week; another piece of history lost for all the ages. We arrived on time and I was surprised that our coach door was opened, then walked through a sea of undirected people to my sleeper on the Coast Starlight.

After stowing my bags in my room, I went to the Pacific Parlour Car where I found the always-friendly Larry working. We departed Los Angeles on time and I rode in my room working on a lyric called "Reaching that Feeling" that deals with my drinking saga. I was hoping to write an album's worth of lyrics on this trip as I would love to make an album on that subject. I was done by Simi Valley and rode the Parlour Car until lunch when I had a Train 14 burger and a Turtle ice cream cake for dessert then enjoyed the fresh air at Santa Barbara before returning to the Parlour Car to Guadalupe as I had an east-facing room. The line was going to be shut down again in four days while the Union Pacific found a more permanent solution to the sinkhole/landslide issue. The Coast line was beautiful on this day with a fog bank playing games with the mainland then from Guadalupe to San Luis Obispo, I returned to my room thinking that this was just the first of the 33-day odyssey and I was already lucky to be on this train and not a bus.

I enjoyed the climb over Cuesta Grade from my room as wine-tasting was occuring in the Parlour Car and listened to "Sweet Live" until dinner, which was a Prime Rib of Texas Eagle quality, not Coast Starlight quality, and chocolate thunder for dessert. Following a fresh air stop at Salinas, I watched "Skulls" in the Parlour Car theater then the journey from San Jose to Oakland was spent in conversation upstairs before I called day one of this trip a night at Emeryville and had an excellent night's sleep.

8/7/2000 Day two started as I heard voices in the corridor outside my room before the Cantara Loop and was in the Parlour Car soon after, enjoying a glass of orange juice as Mount Shasta came into view on a perfectly clear morning. It was going to be a great day. I had a pancake and sausage breakfast with the mountain outside my window then had tea and a cinnamon roll in the Parlour Car. I met my second honeymooning couple of the trip as I had dinner with the first one last night. We passed the time talking to Dorris and passed through the tunnel under the state line of California and Oregon, arriving at Klamath Falls early, which allowed for a nice long walk in the fresh air.

The morning was spent napping until Lookout Reservoir since I had not slept to well the nights before the trip in the warm humid air of Southern California, so used this well-known portion of the route for a long cat nap. It was a beautiful clear morning as we made our way down into the Willamette Valley and fresh air was taken at Eugene on a very pleasant afternoon. Leaving Eugene, I watched Madonna in "The Next Best Thing" then had a clear view of Mount Hood as I returned to my room. The rest of the way to Portland was spent listening to the Rolling Stones and other than the sinkhole aspect of this train trip, it was feeling as though I had 'been there, done that'. Since last December, this was my fourth northbound ride on this route. Enough said!

The rest of the journey was after I had the Coastal Classic dinner of grilled pork chops and the usual Turtle cake for dessert for my last Amtrak meal for a while. I listened to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" then the soundtrack to "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier stood out on what must have been the clearest day I had experienced in the Pacific Northwest. We arrived in Seattle fifteen minutes early and I was off into the first taxi to the King's Inn, which had lost my reservation and their computer showed I had never stayed there. Once in the room, I had a good night's sleep.

8/8/2000 I taxied back to King Street Station to wait for my next train.

This Talgo trip could be described as the foggy journey through Washington and the breaking clouds trip through British Columbia. The on-board film was "Return to Me" I always enjoy riding Amtrak Cascades on one of the most unique train rides on the whole Amtrak system. Passing through New Westminster, the Skytrain extension had progressed greatly since April, and we arrived at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver fifteen minutes early.

Following a long line at Customs, I took less than a minute and was first to the automatic teller machine for a supply of Canadian currency, then stored my bags in a locker for two dollars and rode Skytrain to Granville Street station so I could go to Radio Shack for a new tape player, as the new one I had bought for this journey had already had given up the ghost. Back on Skytrain, I rode to Waterfront and had lunch at A&W then went back to Science World for the IMAX film "Above Canada". Afterwards, I rode to King George, the east end of Skytrain, before returning to Pacific Central Station where I collected my bags and prepared to board my next train to Sudbury Junction, Ontario.

I boarded coach 8106, a former Canadian Pacific Railway coach, and chose a large window seat on the right, my preferred seat. We departed thirteen minutes late and followed the usual route to CP Junction, but instead of turning onto the Canadian National routing as I have done previously, the Canadian now travels an all-Canadian National routing out of Vancouver. We stayed on the route of the Amtrak Cascades across the Fraser River to Fraser Junction, then thirty- three new miles of Canadian National's Yale Subdivision to Page before proceeded through Thornton Yard then picking up speed. I had salmon for dinner and ice cream for dessert in the Skyline coffee shop as I enjoyed this new route. The Fraser River parallels the train to the north and was a beautiful sight, as was Mount Baker across the American border to the southeast. The Canadian ran on time until Page, where I saw a stack train on its way east in front of us.

After sitting for about ten minutes, we received a red-over-green signal and the Canadian diverted onto Canadian Pacific's Mission Subdivision, which could mean only one thing, that we would be travelling over the famous former route, but for how far was unknown but of course, every mile would be new. We crossed the Fraser River and stopped at a red signal just before entering Canadian Pacific's Cascade Subdivision and I went downstairs from the dome to inquire with our Lead Service Attendant about why this was occuring. I learned that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific were now operating their main lines in one direction - Canadian Pacific eastbound and Canadian National westbound, so we would be travelling east on the Canadian Pacific to Basque, which was 152.6. miles of new trackage. I felt very excited and lucky and was loving every minute of it, happy and sober.

We passed through the Westcoast Express station at Mission City and I was then back onto new trackage as we travelled past their shops and maintenance facility before making our way over Canadian Pacific's Cascade Subdivision and a while, went past Suicide Creek, the name the locals call Norrish Creek. We crossed the drawbridge at Harrison Mills before catching up to and passing the Canadian National stack train I saw at Page.

We were in the shadows as we entered the Fraser River Canyon and the rugged terrain within its steep walls, with the Canadian Pacific route on the west side and the Canadian National route on the east. Even in the low light, it was a very beautiful and spectacular place. The River tumbled far below as the railroad was built way above its reach and the tunnels and bridges were incredible as we proceeded deeper and deeper into the canyon. Thanks to VIA for having the Canadian leave Vancouver two hours earlier. It was at this point I decided to ride the Rocky Mountaineer next April so I could see the whole route in daylight and continue to Calgary.

As it grew dark, the lights in the dome were too bright to be able to see outside, so passengers asked the attendant to turn them off and after a second request, he did. I had an excellent view both forward and to the side and the night-time ride was truly incredible. The headlight shone on the rock face and through the tunnels with the river shown by the half moon while it was in view. We stopped at North Bend and I wondered what happens to the passengers from Matsqui, Chilliwack, Hope and Boston Bar who presumably would have been waiting on the Canadian National side, or where they bussed around? The Canadian then continued east into the night, crossing the Fraser River at Cisco before I called it a night at Lytton, knowing I would fall asleep on the Canadian Pacific and awake on the usual Canadian National route in the morning.

8/9/2000 I was up early and walked back three cars to the Skyline car to wait the hour for breakfast up in the dome and had my standard pancakes.

We slowed for Pyramid Falls then I returned to my coach seat for a little writing and relaxation before resuming the views in the dome at Valemount and a cloud-shrouded Mount Robson later in the morning and the beautiful Moose Lake. The bright sun really heated up the dome so I went back to my coach seat for the journey to Jasper, where there was a layover. I visited KFC and had a picnic on the rock wall outside my coach then walked the length of our twenty-one car Canadian. It was such a nice warm day that I walked over for an ice cream which used up all my pennies. The rest of today and tomorrow I was calling 'rest days' as I had recently travelled that route and relaxed in my coach seat and listened to some good music.

We departed four minutes late and had no animal sightings on this portion of the trip, which made for a nice and quiet ride to Edmonton, arriving there on time where I made a bee line down the platform to the hot dog cart for two giant dogs and ate them on the south end of the platform by the Park Car before reboarding the Canadian to continue east with an on-time departure. Wereversed onto the mainline, which is standard practice for this time of year since if it is a short off-peak Canadian, such as last winter's, then the crew wyes the train in and departs going forward. We made our way out into the green Alberta countryside at a fast clip, passed through Viking without stopping, just as we did Blue River and Valemount this morning. For flag stops, if no names shows on the train's manifest, it does not stop but the engineer keeps a look out for anyone, and also for people who flag down the train to stop along the route.

We crossed the Battle River trestle just before sunset and reached Saskatchewan as darkness took hold.

8/10/2000 Day five started off as I awoke in very eastern Saskatchewan after another good night's sleep on the Canadian. I went back to the dome to wait for my usual breakfast and found the landscape was quite green for this time of year which meant there had been some significant rainfall. We entered Manitoba with me still sleepy so I napped until after Brandon North then sat and enjoyed the journey to Winnipeg. The sky was extremely interesting as the sun's rays passed between the darkening clouds and we were going straight into a squall line of thunderstorms and rain fell for this first time on this trip from Milepost 48 to Milepost 32 of Canadian National's Rivers Subdivision before we reached the tail end of the storm. The Canadian arrived in Winnipeg twenty-five minutes late and I chose to stay aborad while it was serviced to view the servicing operations that occur to the queen of VIA's fleet.

I was glad that I did that as Hudson Bay-bound Train 93 first pulled past the station before reversing into Track 5, allowing me to photograph its FP9As and former Amtrak sleeping cars, as well as our train. We departed forty minutes late and I rode in the dome to Transcona, where I had my worst luck ordering a plain hamburger. Should I had have said "Solo!" as I did in Mexico to have it cooked correctly. After the attendant asked if that was all that I wanted with nothing else on the plate, it came with everything, which was a waste of food and I hate to do that, so I only order what I am going to eat. I returned to my coach seat to wait for the Canadian Shield which would mean that the train had reached Ontario. We made our first flag stop of the day at Rice Lake for two adventurers before resuming our journey across the Canadian Shield.

We stopped at Redditt and swapped eight passengers for two. It was a beautiful sunny August Ontario afternoon as we made our way to the next stop at Amesdale for a two-for-one swap. On the move again, we made it to Sunstrom siding, which we entered for a very hot Canadian National container train that was holding the main line. We arrived at Sioux Lookout for fifteen minutes and I led the mad dash of coach passengers to Subway for dinner. We had been told twenty minutes but in reality, I could have crawled there and back in the true station time of thirty-five minutes. No one was left behind as we departed on time, racing away from the sun through the trees and rocks of the Canadian Shield. The sun descended behind the trees just past Ghost River and the Canadian sped off into its third and last night into the waiting darkness.

8/11/00 Day six and I awoke just prior to crossing the Algoma Central tracks, the same ones I would be on day nine. I was grateful for the three nights that I had the two coach seats to myself, thereby allowing me to curl up and sleep well. Three nights in a coach seat done, with eight more to go on this thirty-three day expedition. I had my usual breakfast in the coffee shop before changing into fresh clothes and looking forward to a shower in Sudbury later today as a sponge bath was only so good. We stopped at Elsas, on the north shore of Lake Kapuskasing, to pick up thirteen passengers and three canoes then made two more pickups near the siding of Missonga and dropped off most of these parties at Foleyet, which had highway access. It was here that I was joined briefly by a man going to Washago who paid his full fare then got up and left and I never saw him again.

As we approached Capreol and after three nights, I put on Aerosmith's "A Little South of Sanity", which fit my mood perfectly and perked me up. It is funny what some good music can do to change your mood and never travel without it. It was hard to believe that my first drunken trip across Canada was done with only a limited supply of music, just my former bottle friends to keep me company. I do prefer the sober way of doing things and thank God I continue to live my life that way.

Before we arrived at Capreol, we stopped at a spot called Camp Grumpy, where four passengers boarded with a lawn mower, something I had never seen before. You never know who you are going to meet or what you are going to see on a train trip. For example, the way coach passengers sleep aboard the train. On Canadian trains, seats are turned so that families can sit together and it was interesting to observe the methods used to achieve sleep. End chairs have space where people can stretch out on the floor and in the two-seaters, one takes the seat with the other the floor. Some people will sleep behind the back of the seats and sometimes the luggage racks are used at the end of the cars. Some passengers elect for the upstairs seats in the dome and in rare instances, there are single passengers such as me, who have two seats all to themselves and that is as good as it gets in coach. It was then a rather quick trip to Sudbury Junction, where I detrained on time after a near-perfect journey on the flagship of the VIA fleet.

The Canadian at Sudbury Junction before it continued its journey to Toronto.

A father and brother, whose son had been on the Canadian from Jasper, kindly gave me a ride into town to the Howard Johnson and my room overlooked the station and Canadian Pacific's yard. I watched a little television before doing my laundry in the motel's work room, which was really nice of the hotel to let me use it. I went for a walk to get acquainted before going to Cactus Pete's Bar and Grill for a steak dinner then went down to the station to wait for VIA's eastbound Lake Superior to arrive from White River. First a Canadian Pacific freight came in from the east then a walk took me to the Holiday Inn's parking lot where a pair of Huron and Central freight locomotives were busy making up their train. Finally just before sunset, the RDCs from White River arrived and I called it a night.

8/12/2000 I slept in late before going for a long walk, had breakfast and watched "Star Trek" then checked out and walked down to the station.

VIA Rail provides passenger service between Sudbury and White River, Ontario using two or three self-propelled rail diesel cars (RDCs). This is classified as "remote service" and is intended to serve communities in this remote area with passenger service, since road access is sparse to non-existent. This section of rail line is part of Canadian Pacific Railway's transcontinental main line and has been in operation for more than a century. Today the RDCs travel over three Canadian Pacific subdivisions: Cartier, Nemegos and White River.

For the first few years of the CPR's transcontinental railway's life, the Sudbury-White River section of track was served by two trains per day – the westbound Western Express and the eastbound Pacific Express. Soon it was supplemented by the seasonal daily Imperial Limited, starting in mid-1899. By 1911, there were three daily scheduled passenger trains in each direction on the CP transcontinental line through northern Ontario: the Imperial Limited, the Vancouver Express and the Western Express. In 1929, the CPR introduced the luxurious all-sleeping-car Trans-Canada Limited, which ran from May 12 to September 28 between Vancouver and Montreal and Toronto. Unfortunately this train was introduced at exactly the wrong time, with a world-wide depression forcing its cancellation within a few years.

In 1944, in the midst of World War II, there were still three CPR passenger trains daily through northern Ontario. The introduction of the all-stainless-steel Canadian in early 1955 changed the intercontinental passenger landscape forever. Train 1/2 was renumbered to 17/18, while the Dominion was relegated to a lesser role. In the April 29, 1956 timetable, 17/18 was truncated to only run between Sudbury and Fort William. The Canadian, Dominion, and an unnamed pair of trains completed the passenger trains through the Sudbury-White River section of track. The September 30, 1956 Canadian Pacific passenger timetable is the first one to show the Sudbury-White River train using RDCs.

This is the only passenger rail service on the route. Various CPR passenger trains like the Imperial Limited and the Dominion, and later the “Canadian“, ran over CP’s tracks through northern Ontario. In 1990, the VIA Rail Canadian was switched to the current Canadian National route and only the RDCs remained. The train provides flag stop service to many remote locations accessible only by rail on the Canadian Pacific Kansas City mainline in Northern Ontario. Stops on the line include Amyot, Swanson, Franz, Lochalsh, Missanabie, Dalton, Nicholson, Chapleau, Nemegos, Kormak, Sultan, Biscotasing, Metagama and Benny.

The middle of the day found me aboard the three-car RDC train from Sudbury to White River on the last piece of VIA-published timetable that I had not ridden. It was a journey I had been waiting years to take and I chose a clean window seat on the right a third of the way through the first rail car. Our train was made up of two RDC-2's and a RDC-4, which is the all-baggage version. Due to Canadian Pacific track work, the departure was three hours late, which had allowed me to sleep in late and enjoy Sudbury a little longer.

We departed about eight minutes late to have a better meet with a freight train outside of town at Larchwood and left the city of Sudbury, passed the slag heaps from the nickel plant and went out into countryside where the acid rain from smelters around Sudbury had killed the vegetation. To stop this problem, the plant built the world's tallest smokestack, which could be seen for miles and nature was slowly restoring the area, something which always amazes me. No matter how badly mankind destroys an area, nature seems to always find a way to come back. After the meet at Larchwood, we went past a few beaver colonies in the lakes along the tracks before passing Onaping Falls, which was best seen from the turnout on the highway. At Levack we met a Canadian Pacific iron ore train before passing more lakes on the way to our first scheduled stop at Cartier.

Our stop at Cartier was longer than normal as our lead RDC would not restart but after several attempts, it finally did. The problem was an overheating engine and a call had been made down line to have a locomotive ready to pull us if necessary. As I always say, "Every trip is an adventure!" The engineer knew not to pass throttle setting 3 and we could keep moving west. We had no problem making it to Star Lake to meet another eastbound freight then further west at beautiful Pogamasing, we met another freight train and miles later at Sheahan, about half the train's passengers detrained and were met by an former military all-terrain transport vehicle called a "duck" by the locals that would take them across the Spanish River to their vacation locations where their adventures awaited.

We proceeded just short of the east switch at Forks where we dropped off all but four passengers with their canoes so they could start their adventures then met an eastbound Canadian Pacific freight that had left a west-facing locomotive for us in the house track at Forks. We pulled down to the west switch then reversed down the siding, stopping next to Canadian Pacific SD40-2 6033 which would be added to our train with a throw of a switch and after an air test, we would be off once more but at a greater rate of speed. Well, that was the plan. Canadian Pacific 6033 was as dead as a door nail and our engineer repeatedly tried to start it but had absolutely no luck so the decision was made to keep going without it and make the best of it. We received our new orders and cancelled the old ones then continued our trip west on Canadian Pacific's Nemogos Subdivision.

I had been riding in the front of the lead RDC since Cartier and noticed how little straight track there is on this very winding main line. At Sinker, a couple of passengers detrained and just before the siding at Drefal, I spotted a pair of black bears hurrying away from the tracks. We followed Lake Biscotasing for over thirty miles and the rest of the passengers detrained from the baggage car at the Biscotasing shelter. The train then used the straighter tracks and picked up speed as we made our way to Sultan, where the crew picked up food from a track gang there before running non-stop to the fuelling pads at Chapleau, where we were refuelled by a truck prior to arriving at the station to change crews.

I detrained for a picture. Canadian Pacific 2-8-2 5433 was on display across from the station.

We left Chapleau and proceeded west on Canadian Pacific's White River Subdivision to Musk siding, on the shore of Windermere Lake, where we met a hot Canadian Pacific Railway container train. We continued west through the Canadian Shield, twisting and turning and finally reached Dog Lake, a lake so big that I would be passing on the other side of it tomorrow on the Algoma Central. We ran to Missinabi where we met another freight train and picked up more adventurers, who were going to Milepost 88, just before the siding at Swanson. The engineer told me that the best time to see animals on this line was the third week in May and for best autumn colours, the third week in September.

In the last fading light of day, we reached Franz and the crossing with the Algoma Central, which is where I would be detraining tomorrow. I returned to my seat and listened to some music as the new passengers who boarded at Milepost 88 were quite rowdy. As we neared White River, I returned to the front end for the remaining miles into town and detrained at the depot, finding a phone that only took a credit card. A woman then asked me if I was going to the Continental Motel and when I said yes, she offered to drive me there as she was here to get two canoes off the train for a group who were going to ride the White River. I checked in and took a waterfall shower before calling it a night.

Starting the day with a waterfall shower was the best way to inaugurate a day of riding trains, which was followed by a French Toast and Canadian bacon breakfast, all of which prepared me for an exciting day. I packed, checked out and received another ride back to the VIA station.

We stopped at the Winnie the Pooh statue along the main highway. In August 1914, a trapped black bear cub was sold to Captain Harry Colebourn in White River and Colebourn named it Winnipeg, or Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over the years, the animal became the basis for the popular literary character, created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods department store, and a bear, Winnie, they had viewed at London Zoo.

The crew was busy reshuffling the RDCs as we arrived so when the train arrived, I put my luggage in the lead RDC's baggage section for an easy drop off at Franz. We departed twenty minutes late but the good VIA crew called the Algoma Central to let them know I would be boarding in Franz and to wait if we were late. We cruised east along the Canadian Pacific main line and even with our passenger pickups along the way, arrived at Franz on time. Our engineer told me that the Algoma Central would be in Franz at 11:30 AM so I went back to my seat and opened the envelope with the Algoma tickets. I looked at them and the timetable and was horrified to see that their reservation agents had given me the wrong information on three different occasions when they informed me there was a northbound train on Mondays.

It quikcly became time for a new plan, which was to ride south as far as I could until we met the northbound train and transfer to it and I would need to find a phone to cancel my room for tonight in Sault Ste. Marie and call the Queen's Motel in Hearst to try to get an extra night there. My goal of finishing all the intercity miles in Canada were thrown out of the window at this point. If the new plan worked, the good news would be I would have a day of rest in Hearst. My 'everything works out if you let it' motto was in for its greatest test. We arrived at Franz and I prepared to be dropped off at the most isolated destination of my train-riding career.

I was dropped off at the diamond crossing and took the time to look around. Down the Canadian Pacific main to the west was a track gang, to the north a meadow, to the east the rock outcrops of the Canadian Shield, which had graffiti on them and to the south, the remains of a water tower with the crossing in the middle of the scene. It was nice and peaceful until a Canadian Pacific truck arrived to let me know that the Algoma Central train would be fifteen minutes later than I had been told. Thank you, Canadian Pacific, for taking such good care of me when I was on your property in the middle of nowhere.

I heard the sound of Algoma Central FP9 1750 (ex. VIA 6502, nee Canadian National 6502) from the north but first, from down their tracks walked a trainman who came to the junction opened a box, pressed a button and the train came into view, stopping right on the diamond and I was picked up to start this leg of my journey. My luggage was taken into the baggage car and I explained my dilemma to an understanding conductor. He was pleased that I had my itinerary, so prepared with all the telephone numbers I needed, we discussed about my options. He admitted that this was not the first time their reservation department had made an error, but was truly sorry that it had happened to me of all people, especially as I had planned such a great trip. We talked about a Monday freight, but that would only get me as far as Hawk Junction, so a ride down the line to meet Train 1 seemed to be the new plan. He then said that I could use the company phone at Hawk Junction to change my hotel reservations, so I was all set. Now, if I could at least get to Agawa Canyon to see it, that would be ideal, but was I asking too much?

I never sat down but chose to ride the vestibule and would take pictures as far as I could south with Train 2 accelerating as I rode on the left side. The day had changed from partly sunny to cloudy with a misty rain as we proceeded south, passing through Dubreuilville with the smell of wood burning from the lumber operations. We surprised a bear that dashed off into large ferns and trees then more lakes were passed and I was really enjoying riding in the vestibule. All too quickly we arrived at Hawk Junction where I went into the station and used the company telephone, calling the Queen's Motel in Hearst, where they were happy to have me as a guest for the extra night, then the Days Inn in Sault Ste. Marie, who were very understanding and just asked if I would stay there in the future. Everything works out if you let it.

Speaking with the conductor, his plan was to take me to Canyon Siding so I will at least see part of Agawa Canyon and detrain in the middle of it. We made our way south and stopped several times to pick up adventurers as I watched the mileposts with the numbers descending as we approached my new destination. As we reached the upper part of the canyon, we stopped at Windy Lake Lodge and a few minutes later at the Chinese Bridge, Milepost MP 114, constructed for China, but was never delivered due to Cold War tensions. Once across it, we entered the most scenic part of Agawa Canyon and the part that the Agawa Canyon Tour Train passengers never see. It was completely beautiful as the train twisted and turned. All too soon, we arrived at Canyon where I had to detrain if I was going to make the rest of this trip work. Milepost 114 from Sault Ste. Marie would play an important part of a future trip.

I detrained and my bags were handed down to me; I left them on the ground and ran to the front end of the train for a picture. The engineer saw me and shouted out of his cab window "Write a letter! That is not right! Write a letter!" I saw my northbound train coming into the siding; so much for having a chance to look around. I took the 360 degree view in very quickly before returning to my bags.

As I photographed my new train arriving, I was relieved to have made it this far, then the train stopped and I boarded the baggage car for the journey to Hearst. Maybe the number thirteen in the date had something to do with my bad luck, maybe not! I walked into former VIA and Canadian National coach 3210 and chose a left window seat to enjoy the view from the other side for the trip north then listened to music and wrote the account of this day so far. It just goes to show that no matter how well a trip is planned, not every trip can go perfectly according to plan and I was already contemplating a winter trip from Soo to Hearst, bus to Cochrane, Ontario Northland to Toronto and VIA/Amtrak home. I enjoyed the passing scenery as the sun tried to break through while we made our way to Hawk Junction for a second time today.

Once there, I walked across the street to a store for an ice cream cone and upon departure, walked to the rear car's vestibule which I planned to ride all the way to Oba. The train's route was the same back to Franz then we crossed the Canadian Pacific main line and onto new trackage in the fresh Ontario air. We continued to pick up and drop off passengers at various bridges and lake sites as we made our way north.

We paralleled Oba Lake for a good thirty minutes, crossing two of its branches on floating bridges. Considering what should have been major disappointment over the whole incident, I know in my heart that God must not have wanted me to get to Sault Ste. Marie on this trip, so I was enjoying every minute of my new plan instead. I was seeing the most straight track I had seen in days and the train was making a good pace as it travelled north and I met members from the Bluewater Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

That pace came to a halt at Oba where we crossed the Canadian National mainline and a Canadian National freight waiting, but we crossed with no problem until we came to the north end of the little yard, where a southbound Wisconsin Central freight train was on the single track main in front of us. We reversed off the main into a yard track to let the owning railroad's train continue on its way to Hawk Junction. While all this was occuring, a westbound Canadian National freight sped west through Oba, making it a busy place, unlike in the past when I had been through here on the Canadian.

Once underway again, we continued north through the forest until just south of Coppell, where farms dotted the landscape. We stopped at Coppel where a track gang had taken up residence before we returned to the trees and as we approached, Hearst the trees of the Taiga began to be mixed in with the other species. We turned left where the tracks of the former Canadian National line to points west came in and entered the trackage of the Ontario Northland for the rest of the journey to the platform in Hearst. I rode the baggage car into town and was the first passenger off the train, ending an improvised day of train riding.

The Queen's Motel was right behind the station and within minutes I was in my room then walked over a couple of blocks to John's Restaurant as recommended by the southbound crew and had an excellent steak dinner. As I was waiting for my meal, I called home and left a message about the change of plans then returned to the motel and used the sauna before calling it a night.

The next morning, I had planned on being at the southbound departure back to Sault Ste. Marie, but slept in instead. However, that was until Ontario Northland started banging around cars so I arose and went outside to watch. I had the best French Toast of my travels at the Companion Hotel across the street before finding the bus depot where my 3:00 AM bus for Cochrane would leave. I went shopping for postcards and after writing them, mailed them at the post office then spent the afternoon reading the variety of material I received from the southbound conductor and felt really fortunate that I had been able to see as much of it as I did in spite of the snafu with the reservation department. I went to KFC for an early dinner before a dip in the sauna and pool then returned to my room for a film, music and word fill-in puzzles as I waited for the Ontario Northland train to return.

All day long, I had been watching the giant gantry crane lift and move logs around the mill on the north side of the tracks with its giant clamp reaching down, grabbing a group of logs and moving them about. The freight finally arrived and I was off to bed with a 2:00 AM wake-up call so I could get to the bus station.

With a shower and check out, I was off on foot for the bus station on a cloudy morning and the luggage cart was a brilliant improvement to my travelling techniques. A stop was made at Tim Horton's for a maple-filled doughnut and a large chocolate milk then I arrived at the bus station and a family offered to go and get me coffee which I politely declined. I learnt that I was not looking for a bus at all, but rather a silver van. Their daughter took the van yesterday but did not make it due to a major highway accident and I was glad that was then and this is now.

The van arrived with the two of us boarding and the driver joking that we should make it today. We started out onto the highway with me in the rear seat trying to sleep and I might have had a few winks before arriving at the station in Cochrane where I walked to the Northern Lights Motel about a mile down the main highway. The office did not open until 7:00 AM, but the restaurant, was so I had another French toast breakfast. A picture had come off the wall last night and landed right on the beer dispensers, which deposited their contents all over the floor below. The waitress said "Anybody suffering from a hangover, this smell would make them sick!" I laughed inside as that cannot happen to me anymore. I was in front of the motel's office reshuffling my bags when the owner saw me and opened, checked me in and I left my luggage in the room as I started another rail adventure.

I had first read about the Ontario Northland in Passenger Train Journal and after that, wanted to ride their railroad. I walked back to the station where a freight train was getting ready for its run and the motive power for all the day's trains were brought to the front of the depot. I received permission to walk down to the dead line in the yard and found Temiskaming and Northern Ontario 4-6-0 219 in really sad shape.

The power for the Polar Bear Express was FP7 2000 and a GP38-2. The crew reversed down to retrieve their train and then had to pull down a track, throw a switch and reverse down a track before approaching the depot. Since my ticket did not have a car number on it, I had to find out which coach they wanted me in and since the response was "any one you want!", I boarded car two and found a large window seat in this former Canadian National coach. It filled up quickly and departed right on the advertised bound for Moosonee.

The conductor collected the tickets very quickly and I asked about vestibule riding, to which he advised me to go ahead of the smoking car because it had dutch doors, which pleased me greatly. We left Cochrane behind and crossed the Abitibi River, which is named after the region that the VIA train to Senneterre is named after. All major and minor streams are marked by signs on each side of the tracks in both directions. We passed through Gardiner then crossed Sucker Creek, both east and west Jawbone Creeks followed by Trappers Creek before Island Falls. As is so common on routes through Canadian forests, we passed many areas that had been burnt and nature was reclaiming them and the first was from a forest fire in 1976. Back into the unaltered trees, a passenger spotted a bald eagle soaring high above its nest when the train passed. We paused at Ferndale as lunch was taken to the head-end crew and I walked the train at this point and again met the members of the Bluewater Michigan Chapter of the NRHS, who had also been on the Algoma Central with me. We shared stories and because I was wearing my Bananafish Tour shirt, discussed Mexico at some length.

At Otter Rapids, our train crew dropped off the train to protect the last road crossing before Moosonee and from here, there were no more roads. To the east was the Otter Rapids Dam and Generating Station then we passed the location of the original James Bay Beach and entered one of the largest wetlands in the world. Passing through Coral Rapids, there was a dummy standing in front of a residence on the east side of the train then at Ranoke, we met Ontario Northerland Train 622, the southbound Little Bear mixed train. The bar car was opened which showed a video called Life Around James Bay and awhile later, the children on board were invited into that car for a sing-along. A brief shower occurred as we neared Onakawana as the tracks were crossing over an area of large lignite deposits. Following that brief spattering of rain, I wondered if more would be on its way later. It began to get really dusty as the train kicked up the sand from along the tracks which was very hard on my face, so I retreated inside the coach until the worst of it was over.

We crossed Onakawana River then entered an area full of Tiaga trees, making me feel as though I was back on the Lynn Lake mixed train in Manitoba. There was a large amount of tangent track on this railroad and the Ontario Northland took full advantage of it with good track speed, crossing the wild and fast-moving Moose River on the longest bridge on this part of the railroad. Lesser streams were then crossed with those being the Okwagawana, Cheepay and Sturgeon Rivers and we passed over these rivers on upside-down bridges installed that way so that the ice floes could pass freely beneath. Maidsman Creek was bridged a short time later and I wondered about its origin, followed by Kwetabohigan and Hancock Rivers. We then crossed Stone Creek on the edge of Moosonee and stopped at the Ontario Northaldn station 186 miles north of Cochrane.

Ontario Northland FP7 2000, nee Ontario Northern 1502, built by General Motors Diesel Division in 1951. The sky became threatening as we arrived and I knew it would be just minutes until the downpour, which occurred with a full vengeance complete with lightning and booming thunder. I put on my three dollar poncho that I had bought at the Army-Navy store in Orange, Calfornia in case this happened after seeing this occur on that video and made my way to the Two Bay Tours office to pay for my visit to Fossil Island at 2:30 PM. I ventured into a craft store for postcards and walked back to Mike's Chips for the best charbroiled hamburger I had ever had. Just think, I had to come all the way to Moosonee to find it. I returned to Two Bay where the sun had come out and was being eaten alive by insects until I applied Muskol insect repellent which took care of the problem; everyone else standing there wished that they had some. Be prepared is still a motto that I follow from my Boy Scout days.

Before leaving for Fossil Island, we were given a water safety briefing before our group boarded three freight canoes and we set off, circling around a sand bar before travelling up the main channel of Moose River. We stopped twice where points of interest were pointed out to us before arriving at Fossil Island. Everyone fossil-hunting along the shore and I had the best luck of anyone finding fossils since I had walked the furthest along the shore away from the group. We returned to a small fire where we each received a cup of traditional Indian tea and Bannoch bread. The sky was turning dark before my eyes and the wind began to blow fiercely so I knew it would be pouring again within minutes and put back on the poncho just before the sky let loose and drank my hot tea while the largest raindrops I had ever encountered fell from the sky.

Our party raced back to the canoes, although I was fine, and we all put tarpaulins over us for the trip back to Moosonee via Moose Factory, which is on the east shore of Moose River. The rain ended a few minutes after our departure and the weather certainly changes fast in these parts as we were back in the sunshine when we stepped off the canoes, although there was a solid sky of black to the east. Back at Moosonee, I went straight to Radio Shack for new camera batteries as my shutter was stuck open, something I discovered on Fossil Island. I mailed the postcards before touring the former Temiskaming and Northern Ontario baggage car 1909 which houses a museum behind the station and almost broke my neck slipping down the wet stairs as I exited, then visited the depot before boarding my train for the return to Cochrane.

I stowed my bag on my seat and went to the dining car so I could write this story at a table and wait for dinner which was served upon departure. We departed on schedule and within twenty minutes, I was eating the best roast beef dinner I ever had on a train, which was as good as my mother's excellent meals back home. I was given a pair of Ontario Northland dining car menus as I paid for my meal then spent the rest of the journey writing postcards with the exception of going to the bar car to order a Coca-Cola and to listen to the entertainer play "Chattanooga Choo Choo" before there was a beautiful sunset. It has been an excellent but very long day and I was thinking of a shower and bed. We arrived at Cochrane only about ten minutes late and after I mailed the postcards at the station, I walked back to the motel and called Maureen Angle, that great science teacher I work with at McFadden Intermediate, to tell her of my luck on Fossil Island, about the piece of the Canadian Shield and the trout information from the Algoma Central that I was bringing her. She was going to be teaching the students about trout in the Classroom Program again this year, so anything I find about trout I always collect for her. I then retired for the night and had planned a 5:00 AM wakeup call.

The wakeup call never happened, but since I was already up, it did not matter. I showered in the waterfall, rearranged the luggage once more and called a taxi on this cold, windy and rainy dark morning. Since the northbound train was running late, an Ontario Northland yard crew would take our southbound train to the point where the two trains would meet and swap trains to get back to Cochrane. We departed on time but had to stop to let off a mother who had helped her daughter board. I curled up on my pair of seats and slept as all these early mornings had caught up with me again. We made the crew change as I rested and was wide awake by Matheson and saw the first rolled haystacks of the trip south of there before returning to the typical Canadian Shield scenery of rocks, trees and lakes and at Swastika, we met a northbound freight train.

I was at the rear door of the coach as we crossed high above the Blanche River and used this location for all photography on this journey. Our train was made up of an FP7au, EGU (auxiliary power unit manufactured from a F7B), two former GO Transit single-level coaches with a snack car in between. The bathrooms had needle disposing units, the first time I had seen them on a train. I asked about them and learnt that a female car cleaner in Cochrane was cleaning the rubbish and was pricked by a needle, had all the tests and thank God that they were all negative, so the railway came up with this system to solve this problem. It makes one wonder just how many people are at risk performing their daily jobs.

We paused at Englehart before we passed through the yards and crossed high over the river of the same name then left the Canadian Shield for the clay belt, an area of agriculture. The rain had stopped and I was napping so it was a very windy day outside the peacefulness of the train, which looks more like a scene in Wisconsin than Milepost 130 of Ontario Northland's Temagami Subdivision. We reached New Liskeard and upon departure, Lake Timiskaming came into view with Quebec on its eastern shore, although the train's route was away from the shore up on the rolling countryside. We stopped outside of Cobalt for track work and with all the slow orders we had already had up to this point, we an hour late and this would not help.

I had a forty minute connection in Toronto for the train to Montreal and if we missed that one, there was another one an hour later, but on a much slower schedule. The one that I was ticketed on runs the route as an express at 4:06 PM while the later one departs at 5:02 PM making most of the stops, hence I chose the former. If we miss both, there was always the Enterprise, the new overnight service that VIA just started and I would have to cancel my hotel in Montreal and see about getting space on that train. The good news was that the Anaheim Angels were in town. Who knows what will happen? It was all the joys of train riding and everything works out if you let it.

We passed the station at Cobalt, which sits on the west shore of a small lake in a nice setting and our route returned to the Canadian Shield.

We went into the siding at Latchford for another northbound freight led by Ontario Northland SD75I 2104 built by General Motors Diesel Division in 1999. The line up to Porquis was signalled but it was deactivated about eight years ago as a cost-saving measure and the line was operated by the Occupancy Control System. Water, water everywhere; first a lake to the west then another one to the east. We arrived next at the beautiful stone station at Temagami and past Lake Temagami to the west as we departed town and from here to North Bay, there was more Shield scenery and more sections of straight track.

Our train arrived at North Bay with our Ontario Northland crew leaving and a new Canadian National crew for the journey over the that railway to Toronto. The pause allowed time for this photograph then we switched off Ontario Northland and onto Canadian National tracks. About forty minutes later, we passed through Trout Creek whose church steeple was reminiscent of an ice cream cone, then we traversed Viaduct Creek on a lofty bridge and just prior to stopping at the boarded-up South River station, we passed the remains of a coaling tower. Further south, we crossed the Magnetawan River several times before Huntsville while following a freight train which was slowing us even more. At Novar, Milepost 155.7, the dispatcher allowed him to pass and he cleared the north switch but being too long for the siding, we came into the siding and as we pulled down it, he reversed so he could clear the south switch to allow us to get by, then we were off to the races again. Three-and-a-half hours to go 150 miles; that 6:00 PM train was a maybe now!

I learned from the Ontario Northland lounge car attendant that when the railway bought these cars from GO Transit, they were gutted to the car shells, thereby allowing them to completely redo the interiors in any manner they chose. It was decided to convert them into ten coaches and four snack cars and they did an excellent job as the cars were really enjoyable to ride. We crossed over the Muskoka River and continued to our next station stop at Gravenhurst and performed the station work from the siding as we were going to meet a northbound freight train. Could this be the nail in the coffin? We were delayed a further thirty minutes and after Washago, the Canadian National conductor gave out fifty percent off coupons valid for a future Northlander trip. I would probably use mine on that now-planned December trip but now know not to try to connect with any train in Toronto from this one. When we reached Washago, we were then on Canadian National's Bala Subdivision, which ended my new mileage for this part of the trip. We will be on this subdivision into Toronto Union Station. The only question left to be answered was: What time will that be?

The sun was finally out as the Northlander paralleled Lake Simcoe which was very choppy from the wind. I went to the snack car and watched all of the "Jaws" then saw the Toronto skyline from about twenty miles out. We waited for two GO Transit commuter trains to pass and I now knew what to do in Toronto. We arrived exactly two hours late and I detrained after a wonderful day of riding and learnt an excellent lesson. Never plan to do too much in one day. Spread it out so that it is relaxing and stress-free.

I would now see if my overnight train plan to Montreal would work out. There were no customer service agents to direct the detraining passengers and to use a favourite joke of the Amtrak agent in Solana Beach, California, Karen Lizzi, "Go find it!" I joined the queue at the VIA ticket window and waited my turn, relieved to find out that it all worked out and I had the first lower berth of my train-riding experiences at a third of the price of tonight's room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. I called their reservations department, told the tales of my train journey today and the room was cancelled. I checked my luggage in the baggage room for the evening and was free to explore.

I had met Bill on the train that had come from Timmins and suggested that we go to the baseball game at the Skydome so we walked over, only to learn that the Blue Jays and Angels had played a day game, so we walked down to the shore of Lake Ontario to enjoy the view. As we walked around, there were statues of moose all around the city with various corporate identities and design patterns painted upon them. This was a year-long project called Moose In The City which involved placing 326 life-sized moose sculptures throughout the city, decorated by local artists. The project was conceived by George Cohon, the founder of McDonald's Canada, who was inspired by a similar display of cows in Chicago. The moose in front of Union Station had train tracks on it.

Bill suggested that we go to Yonge Street so we did and on the way, found the Hockey Hall of Fame which I would visit on a future trip. Our walk took us by Massey Hall, a concert venue, before we had dinner at Burger King then we went to Eaton Center looking for a cinema but we had seen everything being shown so we returned to the station where I reclaimed my luggage and waited inside the VIA 1 Lounge until boarding, a welcome relief from the stale warm air inside the station, considering how cool, nice and windy it had been outside.

I boarded VIA Rail sleeper 8333 "Lorne Manor", nee Canadian Pacific 14333 built by Budd Company and AMF Transport in 1955 and stowed my bags at the end of the car, taking only my backpack to my lower section which was already made up for my night's rest. I walked back to sleeper-buffet-lounge-dome-observation 88709 "Laurentide Park" and ended up giving a tour of its features to a few passengers then returned to my section, buttoned up the curtain and was off on my trip to dreamland. During the night, we travelled down the Toronto-to-Montreal main line on a much slower schedule than the daytime trains. After Anatole, the train entered a siding and sat for some time so it would reach Montreal at a decent hour and give sleeping car passengers a good night's rest.

I awoke in the morning at Milepost 37 and walked back to the Park car for my continental breakfast and rode the dome the rest of the way into Montreal, noticing that our F40PH-2 was one of the three painted in the Kool-Aid scheme, which was a nice early morning treat. I detrained and was now back on schedule, thinking 'everything works out if you let it' was true once again. I had a McDonald's breakfast and waited for my next train.

Commencing in August 1974, this train is operated by Amtrak between New York City and Montreal. The scenic route follows the Empire Corridor through the Hudson Valley with major stops in Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Albany–Rensselaer and Schenectady. North of Saratoga Springs, the route runs between the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain until crossing the Canada-United States. border at Rouses Point. Trains take approximately eleven hours to travel the 381 mile route.

The rear two cars filled up with passengers and I had a Canadian seatmate, Sean, who worked in North Carolina. We sat in total darkness for about ten minutes before exiting the station and the lights came on. It was a dreary day out, or so it seemed until I discovered that these cars have very tinted windows so any photographs would have to be from the vestibule window or rear door. We crossed the St. Lawrence River and stopped at St. Lambert for a few more passengers then proceeded down the rails to Candiac with Sean and I talking before we crossed the border into the United States and stopped for Customs. The agents were very quick and to the point and I was only asked two questions.

Sean and I continued to talk to Plattsburgh, New York where I decided to ride the vestibule all the way along Lake Champlain. The lake was beautiful today and it was clear all the way across to Vermont. The Adirondack proceeded to CP 132 where we were delayed twenty-five minutes waiting for our northbound sister train. I returned to my seat after the south end of lake and caught up with the news before listening to some music for the rest of the journey to Albany-Rensselaer then crossed the Hudson River and arrived at the station where I went to an automatic teller machine for some American currency.

We departed forty minutes late and I was on the inland side as we proceeded south along the Hudson River. If you want Lake Champlain on your side of the train, sit on the left side leaving Montreal, but if you want the Hudson River, then sit on the right. Boarding in New York, just reverse that last statement. The Hudson River looked beautiful across the train and I was enjoying the inland side as we sped south. After we left Poughkeepsie, I grew tired of the tinted windows so rode in the vestibule to enjoy the true light along the Hudson River. Leaving Croton-Harmon, I went to see our conductor about my connection in New York with our tardy running and he said that once we were on the Amtrak connecting line to Penn Station, he would call the station and I asked for a public address announcement with a favourable response as soon as he found out. Train 148 would be holding on Track 10. Now the only question was on what track would the Adirondack arrive? Track 5!

The conductor advised me to take the short escalator up and I did just that, but at Track 10, there was not one going down so I struggled up the stairs when out of the blue, a black gentleman lifted the rear of my cart and helped me to the top. I said "Thank you!" and he responded "God bless you." I was completely awestuck by his friendliness and helpfulness, someone in New York City did what I would have done in that same situation. To him I will always be thinking that God would bless him. Getting down to Track 10 was easy then I boarded through a rebuilt Acela Regional car which I would examine later.

We departed fifteen minutes late and after the conductor lifted my ticket, I went to the café car for a cup of tea. There were two reasons why I was going to New Haven, Connecticut. The first was to get on the Twilight Shoreliner earlier to sleep and secondly to see the nighttime New York skyline from the Hell's Gate Bridge on the way, something all travellers should see. Stretched out in my window's view was the Brooklyn Bridge to the south, the World Trade Center and the entire skyline of Manhattan Island. It was truly awe-inspiring. I spent the rest of the early evening listening to music and relaxing while enjoying the miles as the train made its way to New Haven.

This train replaced the Night Owl on July 10, 1997, as Amtrak's dedicated overnight service on the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak equipped the train with a Viewliner sleeping car, replacing the Heritage Fleet equipment used by the Night Owl. The new train also featured a Custom-class coach and the specially-branded "Twilight Café", which served hot meals and was restricted to sleeper- and custom-class passengers. Finally, Amtrak extended the southern terminus from Washington, DC, to Newport News, Virginia and moved the departure time from Boston from 10:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The Twilight Shoreliner provided a second daily frequency between the Northeast and Newport News, supplementing the Old Dominion.

Following a brief stay in New Haven with telephone calls and after playing with an Internet kiosk, I took the elevator up to Track 3 and stood out in the night sky with the same crew that brought me here from New York. The train arrived about ten minutes late and I boarded Business Class in a dinette car. The business end of the car had 2/1 seating so I chose a single seat and settled in for the night, using the little pillow similar to the ones in the Pacific Surfliner cars at home and managed to sleep for most of the night. I woke up only when the train stopped for a prolonged period of time such as New York and Philadelphia.

8/18/00 I awoke at New Carrollton to a rainy morning with the train following a MARC commuter train to Washington, DC at a reduced speed and we arrived there thirty minutes late.

I had wanted to ride from Washington to Baltimore (Camden) on the former Baltimore and Ohio line, but due to our late arrival in Washington, DC, a round trip was out of the question. However, I had a backup plan just in case, a trip to Dorsey with a thirty-two minute layover and MARC tickets were available by pressing the MARC button on the Amtrak self-service ticketing machines. We departed on time as I rode in a coach that was about to be retired once MARC worked out the problems with their brand-new bi-level coaches. The train left the Northeast Corridor and proceeded up the valley to our first stop at Riverdale. There was nothing really scenic about this line but it was still new trackage for me. What caught my eye was the small CSX yard in Laurel and the large Laurel Racetrack that the train passed. All too quickly, we arrived at Dorsey and my ride was over.

Two trains at Dorsey station before I was off into the station to change clothes then read the MARC weekly newspaper as it started to rain hard. I waited for it to ease and made a mad dash to a shelter just before the next downpour then boarded Train 851 back to Washington and read a Washington Post that I found on a seat. We arrived at Union Station all too soon and it was time to solve the first problem of the day.

The heel was coming off my shoe and a shoe repair store would not fix it because it was wet. At the drug store next door, I bought a tube of Crazy Glue and went to the bathroom to use a hand dyer to dry the sole before I glued it back on. The total cost was $2.37 versus $10 the shoe place wanted and I walked by their store and had a good laugh. I next visited the post office in the station for stamps, a newsstand for postcards and the food court for some buffalo chicken wings then changed my Metroliner ticket to an earlier train to eliminate a five minute connection in Philadelphia to Atlantic City. I went to the waiting area to wait for the fastest train in North America, Amtrak's Metroliner.

The Metroliners were extra-fare high-speed trains between Washington, DC and New York City which started in 1969. They were briefly first operated by Penn Central Transportation (successor to the Pennsylvania Railroad, which originally ordered the equipment), then by Amtrak. Service originally ran with Budd Metroliners, self-powered electric multiple unit cars designed for high-speed service. These proved unreliable and were replaced with locomotive-hauled trains in the 1980s. The trains had reserved business-class and first-class seating. The fastest trips between New York Penn Station and Washington Union Station were scheduled for 2.5 hours, though some midday trains around 1980 had schedules as long as four hours.

Amtrak AEM-7 922, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1981. As I walked out to the waiting train, I was about to live out another of my dreams since I had always wanted to ride a Metroliner and when I made my reservation well in advance, it should have been one of the new Acela high speed trainsets, but with all the problems in production and online testing delayed the start of the Acela service. I was now really happy to finally have this opportunity.

I found a seat and decided to enjoy the ride without any musical or other distractions. We departed Washington on time and sped up only as far as Baltimore Washington Airport before following a MARC commuter train at reduced speed all the way to Baltimore due to lack of track space to pass him. Once past Baltimore, the Metroliner lived up to its name and I was now travelling at the fastest speed that I have ever attained on a train, 135 mph! I was really into it as we sped to Wilmington before making a high-speed assault to Philadelphia. We arrived just eight minutes late after a slow start and I was completely impressed and grateful for the experience. Somewhere in my future was an Acela Express and a higher speed ride.

The line out to Atlantic City was my next new line. As I came up the escalator into the station, one of the wheels on the luggage cart broke and all I could do was drag it across the floor. Two Red Caps saw me struggling and when I asked for their help they said "We have better things to do!" and started laughing at me. I asked "So that is how you treat your guests?" and they turned around with neither of them wearing a name tag, pointing at me and burst into really loud laughter as they walked away. Since there were no luggage carts to be found, I had to drag my bags across the floor leaving a scratches. I visited a Dunkin' Donuts then picked up some SEPTA timetables for future reference and carried all my bags downstairs to Track 5.

I stood there for only about five minutes when the New Jersey train for Atlantic City arrived and I boarded, having to disconnect everything to put the luggage on the overhead racks. We departed on time, passing the Amtrak yard with three future Acela trainsets waiting for their day to start service, then crossed the Schuylkill River and the rain came down harder again and I was glad to be inside a train instead of being out in it. We skirted the ugly area of Philadelphia and at Shore Junction, turned off the Northeast Corridor and onto some new trackage as we made our way to Atlantic City. We crossed the Delaware River and entered New Jersey, stopped at Cherry Hill with the Garden State race track to the north then at Lindenwold, the train filled with connecting passengers from the Port Authority Transit Corporaion, otherwise known as PATCO, which also has a stop in Lindenwold which was visible from our train.

The countryside turned into forest as we made stops at Atco, Hammonton, Egg Harbor City and Absecon where a large group of passengers detrained then we crossed the Intercoastal Waterway and through the rain, I could make out a few of the high-rise hotels in Atlantic City.

We arrived at the Convention Center station on schedule and I photographed the train before dragging the luggage through the station and out to the taxi stand.

There was an overhang where jitney buses board but taxis are not allowed to use and their stand was out in the pouring rain. One taxi came and went then when another arrived, a man and I shared a cab first to his hotel, the Trump Marina and then mine, the Flagship Hotel, as the pouring rain continued. Everything fell apart as I took my luggage out of the trunk and a bell boy helped me get it all inside. I checked in but had no assistance with my bags to the room so I once more carried everything then walked ten blocks to a hardware store where I bought a hand truck and three bungee cords then returned to my hotel as the weather improved and took everything up to the room.

I went for a walk along the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk and stopped to collect some beach sand for Mrs. Angle which I put in a film canister then visited the Trump Casino where I acquired twenty dollars of quarters and played the slots and won $108 before losing all of it, which was my plan. I had a buffet dinner before I going a lovely walk along the boardwalk back to the Flagship Hotel and was in one of the best moods until I returned to my room and found the long cord from my luggage cart gone. It was on the bags when I checked in and was tied on tight. The only reason I could fathom for this was that an employee ripped me off. I called the front desk to complain and they said to come downstairs and the hotel maintainer gave me a piece of rope to replace it. Thank God I had bought the three bungee cords. I packed everything before I went to bed and as soon as I lay down, the roof started to leak followed by the window opening by itself and I could not close it. To make matters worse, the toilet then ran and the shower started to drip. I called it a night and knew I would never stay here again as it was the worst hotel experience I had had. Starting with the Twilight Shoreliner this morning to everything else, this might be my most unlucky day of train travel.

I awoke early and checked out with everything falling apart as I waited for a taxi. When it arrived, I just threw everything into the trunk and off we went. The traffic signals in this town at 5:30 AM could drive a person crazy since all the cross streets had greens signals while the main road was red. Stop and go, stop and go, et cetera. I was glad I gave myself plenty of time to make my train then once at the station, repacked the hand truck before rolling to an elevator up to the station. What a difference from dragging the bags to rolling the bags. I finally had some good luck as I made the 5:56 AM train and found a place for my luggage. The journey back to Philadelphia was relaxing and stress-free and I was even able to watch the sunrise, something I love doing since I have been sober. Back at 30th Street Station, I enjoyed two vanilla cream doughnuts and dried my shoes and socks from yesterday's rain in the bathroom with the hand dryer.

I asked to be taken down the elevator to Track 5 and was standing at the end of a large crowd then boarded the first coach and pushed my truck to an open space at the far end of the car before I chose a rear-facing seat. This route was the last one that I was going over for a second time on Amtrak, meaning that I have been over every route at least twice. The train was completely full as many people were on their way to the Yankees game or just a day in New York City. We departed fifteen minutes late and made good track speed to Trenton, where I see one of my favourite signs in the country: "What Trenton Makes, The World Takes." We continued north, stopping at Metropark, so at least I had the opportunity to see the old station before a new one was constructed. Newark came quickly next before the conductor announced "New York, New York so good they named it twice!" I detrained briefly into the madness of a Saturday afternoon at Penn Station. Let us just say crazy for venturing into it at all.

Leaving New York twenty minutes late, I took this photograph as we made our way up the grade to the Hell's Gate Bridge before napping most of the way to New Haven, where our new engineer refused to take the cab car since it had a broken engineer's front window. F40s were put on both ends of our train and we departed forty-five minutes late. As we proceeded north through Connecticut, I bought my late lunch/early dinner (or linner as I call it) and enjoyed it most of the way to Hartford where we met the southbound Vermonter before crossing the Connecticut River and paralelling its east side into Massachusetts. We arrived at Springfield, home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and our next crew change point then departed and continued east to Palmer, where we would be switched off the former Conrail main line (now CSX Transportation) before reversing direction to travel north on the New England Central.

Prior to reaching Palmer at Milepost 92, we stopped for a westbound CSX freight followed by the westbound Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited, running hot on the freight's heels before we could cross over to the north track to be in the correct position at Palmer where the engineer switched ends. Since the last two cars were going to be closed at White River, I moved three cars forward at Amherst. I found a Washington Post, along with a New York Times, and read them then went to the club car and talked with an older gentleman about the demise of the Montrealer which ran through to Montreal on the same route we were on. The border crossing and Customs were a large part of that discussion. I then moved up one more car at Brattleboro, Vermont.

It was a beautiful trip along the Connecticut River, one that I hope to make someday when the trees are in their full autumn colours. Approaching Bellows Falls was very interesting as we went through a tunnel under town before stopping at the station with the Green Mountain depot on site then crossed the Green Mountain Railroad's track and the Connecticut River into the State of New Hampshire, bound for Claremont. This is the only Amtrak stop in the state, although when the Boston-to-Portland, Maine service starts, the state will acquire more Amtrak stops along its coast.

The Vermonter crossed the high bridge over Sugar Creek before it reached and crossed the Connecticut River back into Vermont for the last time. Looking north up the river, I could see the longest dual-line covered bridge in the world. Our next stop was the smoking stop at White River Junction, which I used as a photo stop and popped into the station so I could add it to the list of stations I had been in and saw Boston and Maine 4-4-0 494 hidden under a tarpaulin being cosmetically restored.

As we departed, we followed the White River northwest across Vermont with the clouds blocking out the light needed for photography. We paused at Randolph as a group of senior citizens detrained slowly and if I reach their age, I hope that I was still moving at least that well. The sun had set before we made our three remaining stops to St. Albans, Vermont, at which we arrived five minutes late.

I was first off the train with the help of Kat, our conductor, and onto the waiting Greyhound bus with the bus driver making a very favourable comment about my luggage setup. We drove on Interstate 35 to the border, where we were ordered to take everything off the bus and go inside the border station to be inspected. I was questioned more than I ever had been and it was obvious this agent had never met a train rider before. We resumed our journey north on Quebec Highway 133 and passed Phillipsburg, which bought back memories of that wild cab ride to catch the southbound Vermonter when I was finishing the entire Amtrak system. There was no need for any Quebec maps tonight as the rain started and lasted until almost Montreal.

It was a beautiful approach to the lit-up skyline of Montreal from the bus then stayed at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and had a problem at check in with the girl taking care of me never telling me why. I had a good night's sleep and the next morning, visited the automatic teller machine for more Canadian money followed by a McDonald's breakfast and waiting for the next train.

Today was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and they were having a large party at my brother Jon's house at home in Santa Ana so I would call at the pre-arranged time of 5:00 PM. As I waited at Gare Central, the memories of last summer's trip came back to me and Gaspe, Halifax, Jonquiere and Senneterre all re-warmed my heart and I felt really good once more about all the places I have been and all that I have seen. I boarded VIA Train 620, sat back and enjoyed the high speed LRC's performance and the Montreal-to-Quebec City line was the best due to its many curves then sailed along to Ashton Junction where we went into the siding for VIA 621. The day started sunny but as we made our way northeast, storms were brewing and I had hoped for dry weather while I took care of things in Quebec City. We passed through one really heavy shower with the rain cascading off the train but crossed the St. Lawrence River and stopped at Sainte Foy in bright sunshine.

VIA Rail LRC (light, rapid, comfortable) 6903 built by Bombardier in 1980 at Gare du Palais, where new troubles awaited.

It started when I could not find the rental car pickup phone number, but a very nice VIA station agent helped me and I called and was told "We do not pick up people. Take a taxi to us and we pay the first six dollars!" "Okay, but that was not what your national reservation sales department said", I responded. I had to fight to get a taxi to the Quebec Hilton and Avis within then walked out to a Chevrolet Malibu in the pouring rain and drove to the hotel, where the next major dilemma took place.

As I was checking into the Quality Hotel, I looked into my wallet for my bank card and it was gone. I had used it in Montreal and must have left it in the machine. Great! I acquired my room using another credit card and went upstairs to search my luggage for a card which I knew was not there. What would the person do who found it? I called my brother Jon for the phone number to cancel it and after a long wait with "Hot Cards", I managed to have it cancelled. If someone had found it, they would have had six hours to run up charges with nothing I could do about and it was Sunday, so I cannot call my bank. I called one of my other credit card companies increased my credit line $500 which would get me through the rest of the trip and it became another case of everything works out if you let it.

Still upset but knowing that life goes on, I went to a French-speaking laundromat and had to run in the rain to a store for detergent then returned to do my wash. Upon returning to the hotel room, I spread everything out to repack it once more then walked back to the station to find out the amount of time I needed when I returned to Montreal next Sunday morning and walked through a mostly closed mall before visiting a Dunkin' Donuts for a snack. At 5:00 PM, I called the party and sang the Flintstone's "Happy Anniversary Song" to both of my parents who were very happy to hear from me then called my friend Heidi in Oregon, who was struggling with a decision she had to make and was always supportive of me wherever I am on a trip.

Returning to my room, I was not feeling all that well and with all the early mornings and the stress that I had been under today, I put myself to bed and slept through to the next morning and woke up feeling like my old sober self.

I checked out and started the drive northeast on Quebec Highway 138 for the 652 kilometer/405.1 mile drive to Sept Îles and my next train ride in two days.

I stopped at Baie-Saint Paul at a McDonald's for breakfast then drove non-stop to the Tadoussac–Baie-Sainte-Catherine Ferry crossing of the Saguenay Fjord which was beautiful and someday want to take a cruise on this fjord. Back on the highway, I travelled to Baie Comeau for lunch, petrol and the telephone call to the bank. Whoever had found my card spent $268 Canadian in fraudulent charges and the bank put a hold on all of those charges and we went through the list I had prepared earlier this morning. This just proves that no matter where you travel, you will find dishonest people and it was in Canada this time that I did. I hoped that it would also be my last but was grateful that they really did not take me to the cleaners.

I next drove to the harbour and found Donohue, Inc., a rail barge service which brings cars from Matane Wharf across the St. Lawrence River on the Gaspe Peninsula to the industries at Baie Comeau and were the industries' rail connections to the rest of North America. Back on the highway, I drove northeast, passing through a tunnel before I stopped at a viewpoint and climbed the stairs for the view. Further north at Rivière-Pentecôte, I found a sandy beach and took more sand samples for Maureen Angle. At Port Cartier, there were no signs of the Cartier Railroad, then ten hours after leaving Quebec City, I arrived at Sept Îles and checked in at Motel Seven, which took the American Express card so my luck had changed. I found the train station, took a KFC (called PFK in Quebec) dinner back to my room, watched some television and called it a night with another excellent sleep.

Sleeping in late by my standards, I back-tracked to Clarke City to find the Arnaud Railway armed with only a map from the hotel and found the access road with no problem and after about a forty minute wait, a train reversed out of the plant with a pair of RS18s spliced by a Quebec North Shore and Labrador SD40-2GLC. After a quick photo session, I drove back to Sept Îles and Tim Horton's for a snack before I proceeded east down the highway 222 kilometres (137.9 miles) to Havre-St.-Pierre. The two lane road flirted with the shoreline and for part of the way, through virgin forest. It was open and unspoiled land and I could imagine it just as the first settlers saw it. About two-and-a- half hours later, I arrived at Havre-St.-Pierre with the tracks of the Romaine River Railway (formerly Quebec Iron and Titanium Company) leading me into town. Their 1951 S-4 4 was on display in front of their offices.

The company's passenger train led by one of their MP15DCs, that they use to take the employees out to the mine, along with a pair of GP9s in the distance. I drove back to Sept Îles, stopping for some rocks for Maureen and dodging the thunderstorms that were all around me. The lightning was pretty spectacular. Back in town, I had another PFK dinner and saw a Quebec, North Shore and Labrador (QNSL from now on) wreck train leaving town which made me wondering where it was going, then went to the QNSL depot, more of a Quonset hut, to wait for my next train.

This railway originates at Sept Îles and runs 358 miles almost due north, passing through the western part of Labrador to Schefferville, Quebec. The line branches westward to Labrador West at Ross Bay Junction. Construction on this line began February 2, 1950 on the dockside in Sept Îles, Quebec.

Hollinger Airline company gave birth to this railway and was the largest civilian airlift in history. There were 17 aircraft, 13 landing strips, 82 pilots and co-pilots who came from New Zealand, Britain, Montreal, Winnipeg, Halifax and Toronto. The planes operated on a tight schedule up to 90 flights per day. They carried up to 14,000 pasengers and 200 million lbs. of freight. Everything was transported by air, even large machinery was cut in half to fit into the planes, then welded together at the other end.

6,900 men from Quebec and Newfoundland worked on the line and were stationed in 18 different construction camps. As the workers moved up the line, they mvoed their camps with them by tractor. There were very few accidents on this line, considering the number of man-hours worked and the hardships of the north. In case of an accident or sickness, the men were flown back to the main camp (Sept Îles did not have a hospital). The Iron Ore Company of Canada had an excellent policy with espect to their workers being sick, planes were flown from wherever necessary to transport them to a hospital.

Construction of the first hundred miles of the railway required blasting of mountins and filling valleys. 600 tons of dynamite was used between mile 12 and 17 to blast one million cubic yards of rock. After concurring the rock, water was another headache. They built 19 bridges and trestles using some local lumber. Muskeg along Ashuanipi Lake created some problems, which they eliminated by using swamp buggies and helicopters.

Ross Bay was reached during the winter of 1952-1953. Menihek Dam (three miles long) was built to supply power for the mine at Knob Lake in Schefferville. They used 190,000 bags of cement and 7,000 gallons of petrol a day. A fleet of tractors travelled over land six miles a day, northward bringing large equipment to complete the dam. This was too big to pass through the tunnel so it was necessary to detour overland during the winter. The drivers slept on the tractors (near the motor) in sleeping bags to keep warm. During the winter of 1953-54, they were completing two miles of railroad per day. Every sixty seconds, a new rail came down on ties that were laid the night before.

I boarded QNSL's RDC-2 which was leading two RDC-1s and we departed on time, passing through the large yard which took about twenty minutes to escape and proceed north on their main line. We passed Arnaud Junction before entering the first tunnel then exiting onto the Moisie River bridge just as night took full control and a half moon cast enough light to make out rocks and trees. I had a pair of forward-facing seats so stretched out across them and slept my way to Labrador City. At 3:30 AM Atlantic time (half an hour later than Eastern Time), we arrived at Labrador City where the train was wyed so we could pull straight out again later in the morning for the return journey to Sept Îles. Canada has five time zones.

I walked off the train setting foot in Labrador for the first time and went in search of a hotel room, first at the Two Seasons Inn, which was full so the owner called the Carol Inn, which did, so I walked there; not bad for not having a reservation. The train was scheduled to arrive two hours later than we did, at 5:30 AM, and if that had been the case, I would have just stayed at the station. By getting the room, I was able to have a few more hours of sleep and a shower. I slept until the sun had risen before walking to McDonald's for breakfast then found a drug store and went postcard shopping and it was really good to hear just English spoken everywhere. I was quite surprised to learn one of the channels on their cable television was Channel 5 from Los Angeles. I checked out and walked back to the QNSL depot on a delightful morning and all in all, my brief visit to Labrador City was wonderful. The city was clean and I was really surprised and impressed by what had been built out of the Labrador wilderness.

I boarded the same RDC-2 about an hour-and-a-half early, photographed the train and tried to call home but neither of the phone cards that I had would work on the company's phone. A trainman gave me a route and history guide of the QNSL and I caught up with my writing while waiting for our 12:00 PM Atlantic departure. Labrador is really part of Newfoundland.

We departed on time and crossed an arm of Little Wabush Lake and were travelling on the Northernland Subdivision. Off to the south was the Wabush Mine which was seen before our train ran along Flora Lake (Mileposts 32 to 34), Moose Head Lake (Milepost 28 to 29) and Michael Lake (Milepost 25 to 26). We crossed the Labrador Highway three times and at the last one at Milepost 24, it diverge to Goose Bay after we paralleled it for miles. I would cross it further north tomorrow on my way to Schefferville. We zipped by Opocopa siding at Milepost 21 to 23 before running beside Demille Lake at Milepost 20.

The trees were my old friendly Tiaga and on the north side of the track was the former ballast pit used to build the railroad bed for the branch line and the Wabush Railway yard, as well as constructing the Labrador Highway. At Milepost 17, the tracks rose fifty feet on a causeway above an arm of Lake Shabogamoo which was to the north. Near Milepost 15, we passed one of that lake's bays then next was Lac Grande Hermine (French for ermine, the white winter coat of a weasal), a twelve mile long lake shaped like a weasel on the north side before we crossed an arm of it on a fill. At Milepost 9 was Lac Emerillion then we crossed Ashuanipi River on the only bridge between Labrador City and Ross Bay Junction before encountering a stretch of double track before the junction with the line from Schefferville prior to making our first station stop at Ross Bay Junction.

The south switch at Ross Bay Junction was in a metal tunnel to keep it snow-free in the winter. Off to the west was Ashuanipi Lake and to the east, at Milepost 221 of the railways' Wacouna Subdivision, was a microwave site built in 1958/1959, when Labrador City was started, The line from Sept Îles to Labrador City is all CTC-controlled, while the line to Schefferville is OCS or Occupancy Control System. We came to Ashuanipi siding and were stopped by a dark signal which meant that the tracks must be inspected and a delay up to two hours could occur. They used helicopters to inspect the tracks and our ordeal at Milepost 203.6 lasted two hours and twenty-five minutes.

To pass the time, I did three word fill-in puzzles, read Rail Ventures system highlights, took a few pictures, talked in the vestibule about hockey and just enjoyed the Labrador sunshine. We finally received a green signal and were underway towards Sept Îles once more. Dry Lake next appeared to the east with Lake Ashuanipi still off to the west and we travelled near this lake for thirty-five miles then proceeded to Oreway, where we went into the siding to go around a southbound loaded ore train. The remains of the main terminal of the railway were here and scheduled to be demolished soon.

All this area of Labrador is muskeg with the stunted trees of the Tiaga that I had seen since Labrador City. There was a large burnt area between Dollivar and Seahorse and where we met an empty northbound ore train. We had slowly been slowly climbing into the mountains and reached the highest point on the railway at Little, Milepost 142, which is 2,066 feet above sea level, according to a sign on the left. All water that flows to the north goes to the Arctic Ocean, while water that flows to the south empties into the St. Lawrence River. We crossed the border into Quebec at Milepost 142.

Eric Lake was off to the west at Milepost 138 then we travelled past the siding built for Quebec Hydro, whose substation could be seen through the trees. We arrived at the former siding of Mai at Milepost 128 where there was a collection of railway buildings and stopped here for passengers to board. Our route had left the first part of the mountains and we were now in the hills. To the west near Milepost 122 was Lac Dufresne, where the train rolled through the hilly countryside and there was another fire zone near Chico siding. Just before Milepost 104, we passed the site of the wreck to which that the wreck train seen yesterday had been dispatched and the crew was cleaning up an Arnuad Railway ore train and I would check the progress over the next two days as we would pass through here again. This area was mountain railroading with a constant downgrade all the way to Sept Îles and both railways operate very long trains.

We stopped at a river to let a passenger off before passing Waco siding at Milepost 100 with the wreck train parked in it then returned to the mountain for the most scenic part of this journey, the Nipissis River Canyon. The view from the right was the best through the canyon from Milepost 79 to Milepost 57. At Premio, Milepost 80, the south switch was covered by a steel tunnel then a close watch was kept out at Milepost 68 for Tonkas Falls and I saw it twice.

Milepost 65 brought the 1,046 foot tunnel complete with lights and an abandoned tunnel closer to the river, which had been in operation for nine years but since there were small rockslides, which caused a major concern that the tunnel would cave in, the second tunnel was built further into the mounta. The canyon rockfaces were spectacular at Milepost 52 on the left side of the train and we were stopped for another northbound ore train at Nipissis.

While we were waiting, I observed a sign in the vestibule stating:

"Notice to Passengers: It is strictly forbidden to stand in the vestibule or between cars when the train is moving". This was nothing out of the ordinary, except that it went on to the local native language translation, which was:

And of course, there was a French version as well. The things I do while waiting for a train to arrive!

The long delay was bringing this journey to an end and we were nearing the south end of the canyon past Nic-Man siding and a little further down, the Nipissis River joined the Moisie River in its journey to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Just past Teller, we exited the gorge by crossing the Moisie River on the railway's longest bridge at 785 feet long and 155 feet high, before plunging into Tunnel 1, which was 2,192 feet long and had a height of 186 feet. It seemed as though there was already a cave there when the railway built the tunnel. We crossed the causeway across Lake Emerillion at Milepost 9 then passed through Arnuad Junction at Milepost 8, where that railway picks up its train to go to Point Noire.

We passed under Quebec Highway 138 and entered the QNSL yards where the train was wyed before it reversed through the north side of the yard to the depot and I detrained, knowing that I would be back here at 9:00 AM. This ended a great roundtrip on the QNSL to Labrador City. It was PFK again for dinner, a check-in back at Motel Seven, a shower, a little good television and a well-deserved rest.