VIA’s service between Ottawa and the west was (and still is) accomplished by the time-honored practice combining trains from Ottawa over the CP with trains from Montreal over the CN in Brockville, Ontario. Some friends and I headed to Smiths Falls to shoot the morning westbound making its station stop in Smiths Falls, and we then headed to Brockville to record the Ottawa train’s arrival. Exploiting the power of my ’83 Mustang GT, and stretching the posted speed limits by more than the local authorities would have likely tolerated, we arrived in Brockville only to fine that the train had totally smoked us, and was waiting for its connection from Montreal. Later, when the power approached the CP wye in Brockville, we asked the crew how they possibly could have beaten us. We learned that the track speed limit was 70, but with the addition of the crew-supplied ditch lights attached to the nose of the unit, the train was allowed to do 90! That crew was quite proud of those portable ditch lights.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
