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VIA Rail

kEiThZ said:
What view would you get going by Peterborough? It's not even as scenic as Lakeshore service.
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East of Havelock, where there are lakes and rock outcrops, the route is at least interesting. But I would expect TC would not allow occupancy of a dome under catenary, similar to Amtrak's longstanding prohibition on the NEC.

Personally, I'd vote for an open observation car rather than a dome. Not necessarily at HFR speeds, however ;-)

- Paul
 
Between TO and Peterboro it may be more scenic than Lakeshore. Skirts along Oak Ridges moraine for much of the trip (lots of hills and dales and vistas), then nearing and beyond Peterboro you get a massive drumlin field with fantastic rolling hills and eskers. Can't really see this from 35/115, rather from side roads or 7. And surely the rail line. Other than the escarpment there's not much in Southern Ontario offering such. Then yes east of there it's the land god gave to cain.
 
crs1026 said:
But I would expect TC would not allow occupancy of a dome under catenary, similar to Amtrak's longstanding prohibition on the NEC.

- Paul
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I've never understood this prohibition, especially since the Superliners have operated under the wire several times - and they're taller than just about any dome car ever built.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
smallspy said:
I've never understood this prohibition, especially since the Superliners have operated under the wire several times - and they're taller than just about any dome car ever built.
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Nor have I. There are domes in Europe that operate under catenary, and VIA runs the Ocean in and out of Central station under wires.

I suppose it might be fear of the effects of watching pantograph arcing for 200 miles, or maybe a wires-down event would be more dangerous for dome riders (flying glass, cables penetrating the dome, and/or electrical arcing close up) than it is when wires fall on a regular coach roof (from which passengers are fairly well protected). But I'm just speculating.

I just have a nagging suspicion that if HFR comes to be, TC will be all over it with every possible safety rule imaginable.

- Paul
 
44 North said:
Between TO and Peterboro it may be more scenic than Lakeshore. Skirts along Oak Ridges moraine for much of the trip (lots of hills and dales and vistas), then nearing and beyond Peterboro you get a massive drumlin field with fantastic rolling hills and eskers. Can't really see this from 35/115, rather from side roads or 7. And surely the rail line. Other than the escarpment there's not much in Southern Ontario offering such. Then yes east of there it's the land god gave to cain.
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The area around Sharbot Lake looks quite interesting - at least on Google Earth... ;)

crs1026 said:
Nor have I. There are domes in Europe that operate under catenary, and VIA runs the Ocean in and out of Central station under wires.
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Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm neither aware of any dome cars operating in Europe nor VIA Rail operating any dome cars (Park or Skyline) underneath catenary today (note that wires only remain in those sections of Gare Centrale which are used by the Deux-Montagnes and Mascouche trains exclusively)...
 
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44 North said:
Between TO and Peterboro it may be more scenic than Lakeshore. Skirts along Oak Ridges moraine for much of the trip (lots of hills and dales and vistas), then nearing and beyond Peterboro you get a massive drumlin field with fantastic rolling hills and eskers. Can't really see this from 35/115, rather from side roads or 7. And surely the rail line. Other than the escarpment there's not much in Southern Ontario offering such. Then yes east of there it's the land god gave to cain.
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Then a bit interesting east of Glen Tay (Perth) assuming it would follow the CP corridor to Smiths Falls - running in the Rideau Lake area. The Kaladar/Sharbot Lake area is in the Frontenac Ridge which is rocks, trees and lakes, very much like Muskoka, perhaps a bit flatter.
 
One explanation provided in the study I shared was the following:
EU Commission said:
In 1958, travel between London and Manchester had taken four hours, with only just over
six hours before the first arrival and the last departure. In contrast, day trains now operate
between London to Manchester every 20 minutes for most of the day, with a journey time
of less than 2 hours 10 minutes. It is possible to be in Manchester by 08:28 and to stay
until 21:15, allowing a working day visit of 12¾ hours, twice as long as in 1958.
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To make a similar point about Montreal-to-Toronto:
upload_2018-8-31_8-30-59.png

Source: official VIA Rail and CN timetables

Up until the early 1960s, a day trip to Toronto was not feasible by rail for people living in Montreal and up to the early 1970s, it was not practical...
 

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Still nothing on the VIA site or twitter about the forthcoming Toronto bridge works...

CORRECTION: Reservia has this on Toronto-London via Oakville trips:

Travel Advisory! Due to track work being performed by the infrastructure owner between Toronto and Oakville, you may experience delays up to 30 minutes to the departure and/or arrival times of this trip. This is a precautionary message because your train can still leave and arrive as planned. So, before you go to the station, make sure to be informed of your departure and arrival.
 
Urban Sky said:
Up until the early 1960s, a day trip to Toronto was not feasible by rail for people living in Montreal and up to the early 1970s, it was not practical...
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Even though many long for the Turbo Train era, the current trains are still quite a huge improvement in just half a century.

If this keeps up, we'll have high speed trains plying Windsor-thru-Quebec City corridor by 2065.

Baby steps first. Get HFR done!!!!
 
dowlingm said:
Still nothing on the VIA site or twitter about the forthcoming Toronto bridge works...

CORRECTION: Reservia has this on Toronto-London via Oakville trips:

Travel Advisory! Due to track work being performed by the infrastructure owner between Toronto and Oakville, you may experience delays up to 30 minutes to the departure and/or arrival times of this trip. This is a precautionary message because your train can still leave and arrive as planned. So, before you go to the station, make sure to be informed of your departure and arrival.
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It allows purchase of an Oakville-Windsor ticket on those dates, with just the warning about timeliness - which suggests that VIA will detour down the Canpa and not via the longer route along the Halton Subdivision.

- Paul
 
Allandale25 said:
Deal reached for restoration of the rail line to Churchill.

https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/1035658629121298433?s=19
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Gosh, and the Port of Churchill as well. All sold to local interests.

That's tremendous news, as it takes the foreigners who couldn't give a fudge about the community out of the equation. This could be far better for the local community than just repairing the line, as it was suffering badly already, with how much business the port had lost in recent years.
 
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