Caption: Early morning weekday at Toronto Union Station. It's 7:43am and a dull pink hue from the budding sunrise casts itself over a cold winter scene downtown. Switch heaters hum quietly and the odd clicking of switch points being lined by the nearby Scott Street tower TMD can be heard against the general faint downtown noise.

Three GO Transit F59PH's can be seen under the drafty train shed: 535 on Track 4 about to depart with eastbound #406 to Pickering, an unknown unit on Track 3 (likely on #477 departing for Burlington soon), and another unknown unit on Track 1 (possibly #832 recently arrived from Richmond Hill). Soon the endless clickity clack of additional F59's and bilevels passing their way through multiple slip switches on the ladder tracks right outside the window would follow, as more morning trains arrived from the east and deadheading equipment moves departed for their next runs.

Down at Union Station it's just starting to get busy, with sleepy commuters flooding the GO concourse off recently arrived Oshawa, Hamilton, Richmond Hill, Oakville and Milton inbound trains, some ordering breakfast at the McDonalds, grabbing a coffee from the Second Cup, a paper from one of the Gateway Newstand kiosks, or maybe a tasty snack from Mmmuffins or The Bagel Shop before hitting the PATH network or subway to work or school (it's a bit too early to hit up the Cinnabon or LCBO, unless you're a certain kind of person).

Outside it's mostly quiet at the nearby Union Station bus terminal as stray GO buses lay over, including a 1600-series Prevost and some MCI D4500's (and it would remain mostly quiet until the rush hour trains stopped running and afternoon bus runs picked up). A TTC 6200-series GM/MCI "Classic" on the 6 Bay route waits at the bus stop on Bay Street outside the GO concourse entrance. Residents in the "few" (compared to today) surrounding condos are starting to get ready for work, and patrons staying at the Royal York Hotel are hitting their alarm clocks before dressing for important meetings downtown. Part of the John St. Roundhouse and coaling tower are barely visible and sit deserted, as the whole rail museum thing hasn't happened yet. Work continues on the Yonge Street viaduct rehabilitation project below, and traffic on Bay and Yonge is sparse with the Gardiner moving well for now. Skydome/Rogers Centre report: the dome is definitely closed today.

The Canadian: on-time with VIA 6404 & 6432 leading. Amtrak Maple Leaf: on-time departure with P32AC-DM 702(!). CN local for switching the Toronto Portlands: eastbound with GP9RM's 7080 & 4100. Union Pearson Express: didn't exist yet. Number of MP40's seen: didn't exist yet. Northlander: still existed, but missed it (drat).

Apparently it was to be very snowy in the afternoon and there was a very important computer science exam at the Ramsay Wright Zoological Laboratories to attend around the same time, thus the early trip into the city allowing plenty of review time (and avoiding any potential GO bus or train delays).