Canada Day Train Ride

 Canada Day Reminiscences

As always, July 1st is a very special day in our nation.  

I have always found enjoyment spending time with my family getting out and about all over our fair city on this once a year occasion.

While I know this posting has nothing to do with large scale railroading, think of it as an interesting "recess break" from our garden posts!

A neighbour of mine here in Elmvale Acres snapped this cool photo of the Snowbirds as they did their flypast three times over our neighbourhood.

This was the actual juxtaposition of the shot she took.

The Snowbird pilot on the right was a childhood friend of my daughter in Kindergarten.  We teased our daughter that they were childhood sweethearts.  At any rate, my wife, Lisa, got word from Eric that they would indeed fly over his former home here in Elmvale Acres.  His grandfather is Erik Nielson, former Member of Parliament and Minister of National Defence...brother of actor Leslie Nielson from those hilarious Airplane movies back in the 1980's!

You can read about Erik by copying and pasting this link into your computer's browser.

http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/snowbirds/standard-template-biography-snowbirds.page?doc=captain-erik-temple/koeirral

Later in the day, we decided to take a "Free Ride" aboard the new light rail service seeing as none in our family had been on the actual train before.

We got in the car and headed over to the Blair Road station with its many buses...

...where we spotted a train on approach to the terminal.

Inside the station.

On the roll now aboard the train, we pass the new towers at Blair.

They look pretty fancy, in my books!

I chose to sit at the rear of the train in order to look out the back as we progressed westward.

That's the 174 on the right.

Video action out from the Cyrville station.

We meet an eastbound.

The 417 is now seen to the right.

More video footage.

We have ducked under the Queensway and now are south of the fast moving traffic.

Check out the crossovers.

Let's see some video of that.

Another train passes us in the opposing direction.

Note the line heading off to the right at Belfast Rd.  This takes the train into the maintenance facility near the Train Yards.

We check it out on video.

Lisa looks out the window as we approach Tremblay Station.

This is where passengers can depart our train to head over to Ottawa's VIA station.

We check the video!

The interior of the cars are clean and tidy.  The handrails are washed down on a frequent basis due to the pandemic.

A route indicator inside the car.

At every station stop you will find an employee with a whistle who ensures everyone has boarded the train safely.  I've never seen this before on other urban rail systems.

I will post more of this interesting train trip tomorrow.  I hope everyone enjoyed a Happy Canada Day as we continue to grow as a nation in caring and compassion.

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada