Ride The Rails With Benny Plant

Last year at this time things were much drier and a little warmer. This year it’s a different story. Pine Orchard for example is as mentioned …… “a mudbowl” and the north wind howls through there too. Even though it’s cold, the sun heats up the mud but the wind makes for cold spectating. I guess this is the in between season. Trying to see something without getting muddy while having good sight lines is a challenge. This season we look forward to finding new places to watch and video. We tried a few CP crossings in the fall last year but not much success. Sparrow Lake was great. Easy access and a safe place to park the car. Hopefully we can go there again next year. CN and CP cross somewhere near Mactier so with any luck we can get up there too. This between season stuff makes it seem like a long time before we can sit somewhere and enjoy the whole experience. On top of that our main computer is in the shop for repairs. That means no Microsoft Train Simulator for a while. Bummer.

See ya

As spring approaches, the snow melts and our car becomes a mud-mobile. My dad hates that part. For instance this past weekend Pine Orchard was a mud bowl and my dad did not want to drive into the access road where we usually go to watch. Where there was once nothing but plowed frozen snow was now muddy and ugly looking. So on Saturday night we decided to hangout at a crossing in Aurora where the detector is located (mile 32) between Woodbine and Warden south of Aurora. No mud there however we were completely shut out. Listening to the scanner we heard about problems with a meet in Pefferlaw with 107 and 306. We left to go home at 10:30 and there was nothing happening. The Leafs lost as well. Not a good night. Sunday was a different story. We decided to check out the Pine Orchard siding late in the afternoon. I had hockey at 6:00 so it made sense to check things out at Pine Orchard first then go to hockey from there. To make a long story short, what we missed on Saturday night was made up for on Sunday afternoon. Even though it was still a mud-bowl, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to see “a meet” so in we went (the car is so dirty now). “In the hole” was 451 and coming down the main track at very slow speed was 112. Listening to the scanner we could hear that 451 was worried that he was not completely in the siding. We saw that he was well inside and thus ok for 112 to squeeze by. 112’s conductor had to get off the train and set the switch by hand to continue on south. The picture here shows the conductor getting off the train. As 112 continued on his way, 451 started on his way north. Everybody leaving at the same time. Was fun to watch. There was still more to come. 105 then showed up on the main track and had to wait for 112 to come down from Pefferlaw for the siding here at Pine Orchard. By now it was 5:30 and we had to get to the rink so bummer that we couldn’t see the actual meet take place but maybe next time. The picture here is of the conductor getting off of 112 heading off to set the switch so he can carry on south.

See ya

The people who follow our web site may or may not know that I (Benny’s dad) do some of the writing and editing of what goes into this site. Although Benny and I have been somewhat lax in putting content here on a regular basis, we do enjoy your comments. It would make sense then that the more we post here, the greater the number of comments we will receive. I however, would like to comment about the people complaining about Go Transit.

In my humble opinion (being a dedicated rail fan along with Benny), the people complaining about poor Go Transit service are greatly misinformed about what they perceive to be poor service. If they were to take the time to educate themselves about the rail industry as a whole, they might better understand the nature of moving passenger trains along freight based rail lines.

The rail industry is a huge part of Canada’s (and the States) economic infrastructure. Without the support of this vital industry, the overall economy would grind to a halt. Just think about the divesity of product that moves across North America. From toy soldiers and iPods to compact cars and suv’s. From wheat and lumber to sugar, coffee & tea. It all moves by rail. Even the trucking industry is dependant on the rail system.

Go Transit has to compete for track time with the scheduling of freight traffic. CN and CP own the tracks (more or less). If something goes wrong with a freighter, you can be sure that Go Transit will be affected (and or Via for that matter), especially on the main east/west routes. The Newmarket Subdivision from Vaughan to Barrie is 99% Go traffic and subsequently is always on time. (Consider moving to Newmarket).

The point to be made here is that Go Tranist is a great deal. No wear and tear on your now more-expensive-than-ever car. The oil companies will suck your wallet dry while you sit in slow traffic with your blood pressure rising. Want to get to work on time or earler even? Go to bed earlier. Get up earlier. Take an earlier train. Even if your early train is late, you’ll still be at work early! Have that second cup of coffee while you read the Globe or Star at your desk before the boss gets there. Maybe even take an earlier train home!

Commuter Rail Service continues to expand around the GTA. We need it more than ever. (Be nice to have a rail link to Pearson Airport). Go Transit is getting it’s fair share of track time while competing for it at the same time. The new locos are now more fuel efficient providing greater capacity to haul more people on each trip. New trains are being added all the time. Barrie just opened up after being shut down for 16 years! It’s a sign of the times people.

Benny & I live in Newmarket, Ontario. We watched with great interest as Go Transit rebuilt the Barrie line from Bradford to Barrie. For railfans like us, it was fascinating to watch and listen to the whole process. We enjoyed the inaugural run one horribly snowy day in December. The train was packed with people. Everything was on time even in a blinding snow storm. Go Transit plain and simply….works.

You can always take the car to work and then nine times out of ten watch your Go Train go by while you sit in your thirsty car! Stop complaining. Enjoy the savings and don’t worry. It will improve.

Jeff