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Caption: VIA 6437 and 6440 cement themselves in the history books as the first F40PH-3s to use the brand-new Davenport Diamond Guideway after 3 years of construction, leading the Wednesday VIA 1 departure from Toronto Union. Just moments prior they had rolled past the ex-Canadian General Electric water tower which can be seen peering over the horizon, now a historical artifact on the property owned by Ubisoft, which purchased the building associated with the water tower to be used as a studio some years ago. Further to the left, you can see one of the recently retired searchlights for Davenport, which saw its last moments of action on March 31st. As sad as it was to see history go (as well as a beneficial wild card in delaying important CP trains for slow railfans getting trackside), I was lucky to find this angle during the last day of Davenport Diamond GO operations. When I got here today, my initial plan was to use the digital viewfinder and extend my arms in the air to clear the fence out of the shot, but fears of human error encouraged me to eventually make the difficult climb atop the ~7ft tall wooden fence bordering Davenport Village Park to get this slightly aerial view.
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Interesting location to capture. What are the two rails in the middle of the new track for?
Very historical picture Eric, what with not only showing the first Canadian to traverse the new Northern Diamond grade separation, but also showing the diversion track and diamond (the track still with some shine on the rails) along with the signals that protected the diamond. It won’t be long before they disappear for ever. Am intrigued with the first few cars behind the motive power – where is the “buffer” baggage car ? Perhaps the first passenger and two dome cars are dead heading west with the usual baggage car out of sight behind them. Well done and thanks for sharing, John
@Kevin Flood it’s a common feature on passenger trackage designed to prevent derailed trains from falling off the ballast. I’d assume in this context it is to prevent downgrade trains hitting the curve from striking construction or from falling off the bridge in case of derailment.
@railwayguy I believe the buffer car is the one adjacent to the trailing 6440. There was a second one blocking the view from the park car as usual. From what I understand, its fairly standard for the canadian to bring a pair of dome cars to supplement the park car.
Thanks Eric, but still wondering where the baggage car is located. The Canadian consist includes always includes a baggage car for checked baggage, express and supplies for Northern Ontario remote stops.
@railwayguy, reviewing my footage from this morning the baggage should be the 3rd car in the consist inclusive of the buffer and exclusive of the locomotives. In the picture it’s sandwiched between the two dome cars. Thanks again for the kind comment earlier.
@KevinFlood, the two rails in between the main tracks are called Jordan rails or gauntlet tracks. You will find them (on CN anyway) on all bridges and tunnels. I was told by the track department that the ones going into tunnels are to prevent railcars from taking out the abutments. I have recently seen these Jordan rails on the tracks where pedestrian bridges are as well
The sad part is that searchlight signal was only put in place last year as this overpass was being constructed
An update on the retirement of the Davenport Diamond, as of this morning signals 45 and 46 on the Newmarket have been retired, that includes the searchlights seen on the left of this image. I don’t have exact details on what remains or whether they have been removed, but one can assume they’ve likely gone ahead and placed some garbage bags over the signal mast.