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Caption: Back to back heritage units on Via 97 and 98, not bad... Here, Via 97 leans into the curve at Clifton with Amtrak 822 in the lead doing a slow and steady 20mph. With traffic not nearly what it once was here it Clifton, CN removed some of the CTC control switches at Clifton in early 2013. Coming from the east, Clifton now converges to single track at the beginning of the junction. The Stamford Sub merges into the single track section, and the Grimsby Sub then promptly returns to double track before Stanley Avenue. CN was able to remove 2 of 6 CTC switches by doing so, which I guess is saving CN money. Nonetheless, those removed switches are now scattered in the foreground of this photo. The relatively obscured third track in the foreground used to run into a lumber yard just beyond the Stanley Avenue crossing, and they seemed to run for the hills when the Great Recession hit. With Niagara Falls Yard gone too, not much is left, except for the manifests and two daily Amtrak trains. Next weekend, and during the summer, GO service will get going though. Since Niagara is outlined in the Ontario budget now for new permanent GO train service, maybe Clifton will be cleaned up a bit and upgraded a bit, as this is one of the junkiest CTC junctions I've seen.
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I won’t be able to shoot them, but same with Amtrak in Montreal today, supposed to have 184 on the southbound Adirondack and 822 on the northbound. The rotation seems to be that a unit will go on the Adirondadck after going on the Maple Leaf.
LOL, don’t count on Clifton getting cleaned up any time soon Daniel. As for GO service to Naigara Falls I am told passengers will be bussed from Niagara Falls to St Catherines GO/VIA station where they have better parking. It will be hard for GO to keep up any sort of regular schedule when the Seaway is operating as it taks 45 min from when the bridge is requested until it comes down again. Not great if you are a commuter.
@mberry
It does seem that way. I’ve noticed units typically stay under Albany arms for about two weeks before being scattered off again. I’d imagine 184 will make one more return to Montreal after another run on the Leaf and that will be it.
@ngineered4u
Lol, I know. I’ve seen what GO has done on the Guelph Sub, and it hasn’t been much. As for Niagara Falls, I’m not sure where that blip comes from. There’s a massive amount of former industrial land right on the north side of the station that could serve as a parking lot for a Woodstock or Live Aid concert. The current parking at St. Kitts is actually pretty poor, and not too much better than the Falls. Seaway apparently is honoring 4 dedicated scheduled GO train trips, which still leaves 10 others screwed. I doubt they’d even honor those 4 though. It’s too bad the Grimsby Sub isn’t a massive freight corridor, otherwise that would’ve been bridged or tunneled years ago. Personally, I think ships should have to wait, as the line was there decades before the final canal showed up. Perhaps one day a bridge will be built, though I’ll likely have a cane with severe back pain by then. Lol.
Daniel…nice pic. But you sound like your having another Niagara PTSD episode
Lol. Thanks. I’m a history buff almost as much as I am a train buff, so you’ll see a lot of that in future photos I post. For Niagara, unfortunately, most of the recent history is negative.