25 Wednesday Sep 2013
Tags
Amtrak, Hipstamatic, iPhoneography, rail, railroad, railway, train, trains, Travel
Some random nonsense captured out the window of an Amtrak train as we idled at the station platform in Olympia, Washington, back in February 2013.
24 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted in Canada, food, photography, trains, Travel
Via Rail station, Moncton, N.B.
Instinct sent my left hand diving into my pant pocket, seeking a cellphone that wasn’t there.
What time was it?
I wasn’t even sure what time zone we were in anymore.
It took another second or two to realize time didn’t matter. Not right now.
As my final night aboard Via Rail’s “The Canadian” drew to a close, about a dozen of us were enjoying a live show performed by musicians Scarlett Flynn and Kevin Howley in the economy class Skyline lounge car.
The train was rolling southward along the Thompson River valley on its way to Kamloops, B.C., having left Jasper, Alberta, that afternoon.
Backpackers exploring Canada, people moving to a new job or to school, or just your garden-variety commuters with time to spare (as was the case for me), together joining the musicians in song.
Forget about trying to find that magical atmosphere aboard a plane.
When the party broke up and we scattered back to our rooms and seats for the night, we were less than 12 hours from Vancouver.
Too bad, I thought. It would have been just fine if time stood still.
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31 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in New York, photography, photowalking, random, trains, transit, Travel, urban
08 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Canada, photography, random, trains, Travel
26 Wednesday Jun 2013
Posted in Alberta, Calgary, Canada, flood, photography, photowalking, trains, transit, urban
Tags
alberta, C-Train, calgary, canada, flood, flooding, LRT, photowalk, rail, railroad, railway, trains, transit, urban
Calgary Transit workers remove debris from the LRT tunnel north of Victoria Park/Stampede station that was submerged to the ceiling during the height of the flooding.
Calgary Transit’s downtown infrastructure took it on the chin during the record flooding over the last week.
Here are some photos I snapped of the damage and of the work being done to get things moving again.
More work done near Victoria Park/Stampede station. And yes, those tracks are really suspended in mid-air!
Floodwaters carried away the ballast beneath the platform at Victoria Park/Stampede station.
Crews work to restore the Cemetery Hill tunnel, above and next two images.
Buses put into service as a C-Train shuttle roam on a very dusty Macleod Trail on June 25.
06 Thursday Jun 2013
Posted in iPhone, photography, photowalking, Portland, random, trains, Travel, urban
Tags
Amtrak, Hipstamatic, iPhoneography, Oregon, photography, Portland, rail, railroad, railway, random, train, trains, Travel, urban
From my trip there a few months ago … Lining up at Portland Union Station for an Amtrak train to Seattle.
25 Saturday May 2013
Posted in Alberta, Canada, photography, trains, Travel
Tags
alberta, canada, Jasper, photography, rail, railroad, railway, rocky mountains, station, tourism, train, trains, Travel, Via Rail
Via Rail won’t let dirty windows ruin a Rocky Mountain vista. Here are some employees hard at work cleaning the windows of Toronto-Vancouver train “The Canadian” during a station stop in Jasper, Alberta.
15 Wednesday May 2013
Posted in Apple, architecture, British Columbia, Canada, fun, iPhone, photography, photowalking, random, technology, trains, transit, Travel, urban, Vancouver
Tags
b.c., british columbia, canada, Canadian Pacific, history, iPhone, iPhoneography, panorama, photography, photowalk, rail, railroad, railway, random, roundhouse, train, trains, Travel, urban, vancouver, Yaletown
This is the former Canadian Pacific roundhouse in Vancouver’s Yaletown district, captured with a sweep of my iPhone’s camera in “panorama” mode.
It was really interesting to try this, because the roundhouse is built in the shape of an arc … so if you’re standing at the centrepoint of the arc and you swivel to capture the panorama, the main subject doesn’t look very distorted at all, while everything else does.
05 Sunday May 2013
Tags
dining car, food, halifax, montreal, Ocean, rail, railroad, railway, train, trains, Travel, Via Rail
To my mind, one of the neat things about long-distance trains is being able to eat in a dining car or café car of some kind.
Above is the type of dining car used aboard Via Rail’s Halifax-Montreal train, “The Ocean”.
Below is a similar scene, captured nine years ago, in a different, older type of dining car that was once regularly used on this train.
Difference between the two: The newer cars don’t have a full kitchen, just a galley where they can prepare simple dishes and heat catered gourmet meals.
Happily, the meals are still served using real dinnerware.
EDIT: I should add that Via Rail’s Vancouver-Toronto western transcontinental, “The Canadian”, still uses those old-style dining cars. The decor has been updated since I took the photo below.
03 Friday May 2013
Posted in Canada, photography, random, trains, Travel
Tags
alberta, canada, Jasper, national park, park, photography, rail, railroad, railway, rocky mountains, skyline, train, trains, Travel, Via Rail
Views such as this is why people like to hang out in the dome-observation Skyline and Park cars aboard Via Rail’s The Canadian. Got this image last month as the train made its way westward toward the town of Jasper.
Ricky Leong 