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VIA Rail

I've done Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa on VIA. If you wanted to do a two night stay from Toronto somewhere and take VIA instead of driving, where would you go? USA is out of the question. Is there anything to see in London, ON? I suppose there's Niagara Falls, but I don't gamble and I've seen the Falls a hundred times. About thirty years ago I took Amtrak to Stratford to see a show, so that's a possibility.
 
Trackside_Treasure said:
A no-whistle crossing. Also, consider whether the plow was 'stuck' on the crossing and couldn't move. Train speed was about 28 mph per the tracker.
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All the more reason to get rid of level crossings on some of our busiest subdivisions.

smallspy said:
The plow was stuck at the time - the operator had exited the vehicle before the train was in sight.

Dan
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Well, that is good.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I've done Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa on VIA. If you wanted to do a two night stay from Toronto somewhere and take VIA instead of driving, where would you go? USA is out of the question. Is there anything to see in London, ON? I suppose there's Niagara Falls, but I don't gamble and I've seen the Falls a hundred times. About thirty years ago I took Amtrak to Stratford to see a show, so that's a possibility.
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Kingston can be a pleasant town to walk around in the late spring. Lots of old [for Ontario] limestone buildings.

London is decent for a budget golfing holiday but the 20+ courses are outside city limits; so you'd probably be renting a car for that. There are abundant riverside bike trails as well but few bike rentals so you'd want to take a bike. In both cases VIA isn't an optimal way to visit London.

Napanee was interesting to walk around for a weekend; it's not really setup for tourists though (restaurants, etc.).

I've not been to Belleville and Cornwall but both seem to attract a few tourists making short trips in the summer.

GO + e-bike [with spare batteries] adds more options for a 3-day weekend. Guelph->Blyth, Uxbridge->Haliburton, Barrie->Penetanguishene, Niagara Falls->Fort Erie, Hamilton->Port Dover [Long Point]
 
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rbt said:
Kingston can be a pleasant town to walk around in the late spring. Lots of old [for Ontario] limestone buildings.

London is decent for a budget golfing holiday but the 20+ courses are outside city limits; so you'd probably be renting a car for that. There are abundant riverside bike trails as well but few bike rentals so you'd want to take a bike. In both cases VIA isn't an optimal way to visit London.

Napanee was interesting to walk around for a weekend; it's not really setup for tourists though (restaurants, etc.).

I've not been to Belleville and Cornwall but both seem to attract a few tourists making short trips in the summer.

GO + e-bike [with spare batteries] adds more options. Guelph->Blyth, Uxbridge->Haliburton, Barrie->Penetanguishene
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I drove solo to Brockville last year and thought it was a cute town for a visit. The train tunnel is something else.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I drove solo to Brockville last year and thought it was a cute town for a visit. The train tunnel is something else.
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Architecturally, I like a lot of the eastern Ontario cities and towns due to their use of limestone. We seriously considered Brockville as a retirement option until family plans changed. I really like its downtown and waterfront. Kinston is nice except the federal pens attract a lot of 'associates'.
 
London has a decent downtown and Western university. They also have the Factory as a new attraction for kids and adults. Not much else to do there. Windsor would be another possibility as it’s across from Detroit and has a casino and a kids water park. Via is a bit far from the core so you’d need to Uber / taxi around unless you stay right downtown.

Another option is Parry Sound in the summer as the Canadian goes there. There is the 30K islands tour and a small northern town vibe.

Belleville is an option if you want to go to PEC but while they have buses to Picton you need a car to explore PEC as it’s huge.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I've done Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa on VIA. If you wanted to do a two night stay from Toronto somewhere and take VIA instead of driving, where would you go? USA is out of the question. Is there anything to see in London, ON? I suppose there's Niagara Falls, but I don't gamble and I've seen the Falls a hundred times. About thirty years ago I took Amtrak to Stratford to see a show, so that's a possibility.
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Out of Toronto, the Stratford Festival's own bus to Stratford will always be more cost-efficient and better scheduled than the VIA offering. (And downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake is also reachable via the Shaw Festival's own bus.)

Niagara Falls is worth a visit IMO: the touristy downtown is walkable and good for an afternoon, especially if you enjoy photography, and there's a reachable city beyond there with some surprisingly diverse restaurants. Get a hotel room with a hot tub, visit the very cool bird sanctuary, and you've got the makings of a weekend trip. That being said, GO Transit offers a better schedule and a more reliable service than VIA/Amtrak.
 
rbt said:
Kingston can be a pleasant town to walk around in the late spring. Lots of old [for Ontario] limestone buildings.

London is decent for a budget golfing holiday but the 20+ courses are outside city limits; so you'd probably be renting a car for that. There are abundant riverside bike trails as well but few bike rentals so you'd want to take a bike. In both cases VIA isn't an optimal way to visit London.

Napanee was interesting to walk around for a weekend; it's not really setup for tourists though (restaurants, etc.).

I've not been to Belleville and Cornwall but both seem to attract a few tourists making short trips in the summer.

GO + e-bike [with spare batteries] adds more options for a 3-day weekend. Guelph->Blyth, Uxbridge->Haliburton, Barrie->Penetanguishene, Niagara Falls->Fort Erie, Hamilton->Port Dover [Long Point]
Click to expand...
Yeah London has some nice trails along the Thames (and Western is a nice campus, as another comment mentioned), but I struggle to see how this would justify anything more than a day trip.

I only just realized you could reasonably do a Guelph -> Kissing Bridge -> Elmira -> St. Jacobs (+ the farmers market!) -> KW & Cambridge -> Paris -> Brantford (absolutely nothing to do here though) -> Hamilton -> Toronto bike trek into 3 days (~220km total), with nearly all of it being on rail trails (and the lakeshore trails for the final bit). I'd like to believe this would give a nice combination of urban and rural attractions, especially for that first half.

My next VIA excursion will be combining Montreal with the P'tit Train du Nord marathon (point-to-point course down a linear park, that appears to have attracted nothing but positive reviews. Plus its downhill lol)
 
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Trackside_Treasure said:
While wondering how many Venture sets would be getting the F40-insurance, in three days it's been only one set. Set 14 with 6413, operating on a regular slot in the rotation. The first day, leading. The next two days, trailing in each direction, so wye-d in Ottawa.
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THE F40 add-ons to Ventures as potential HEP backup seems to be on hiatus.
FINAL TALLY:
  • 6413 with Set 14 Jan 5-9
  • 6408 with Set 19 Jan 9-12
  • 6405 with Set 26 Jan 12-13
  • (possibly 6433 with Set 29 Jan 7+)
  • ...and no F40s after Jan 13.
 
Trackside_Treasure said:
THE F40 add-ons to Ventures as potential HEP backup seems to be on hiatus.
FINAL TALLY:
  • 6413 with Set 14 Jan 5-9
  • 6408 with Set 19 Jan 9-12
  • 6405 with Set 26 Jan 12-13
  • (possibly 6433 with Set 29 Jan 7+)
  • ...and no F40s after Jan 13.
Click to expand...
Maybe they figured that the added fuel costs, axel counts and slowing the train to 95mph wasn't worth it?

I guess we don't have enough spare Genesis locomotives to spare since that would at least allow them to run at 100mph minus the speed restrictions.

Or it could have been a way to gather data. And once sufficient data was gathered they don't need it anymore.
 
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