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MONTREAL
MONDAY 22nd JULY
STCUM #406 emu at Deux Montagne
I bought tickets for Deux Montagne, attempting to speak in French but
receiving an answer in English. The trains are made up of three two-car emus
sets in unpainted metal. The line from Montreal Gare Centrale runs through the Mount Royale Tunnel, the
reason for its electrification early this century. It is only in the last three
years that the original locos and coaches have been replaced. It has been
reelectrified
and totally rebuilt at 25 KV AC. The line runs through the suburbs for about 10
miles and has a respectable off-peak service and appears well used.
Montreal Windsor station with STCUM gallery double deck train to Dorien
Back in Montreal I walked across to the Windsor station, the old CP
terminal, which is now used by the suburban diesel services to Dorion. The train
was a three car double deck push-pull set built in the 1950s and propelled by an F
unit in the silver and blue livery of the STCUM (Montreal passenger transit
authority). I alighted at Dorval where the CP and CN main lines parallel each
other. There is a VIA station on the CN and a suburban station on the CP.
STCUM #1301 FP7 at Dorval on a Dorien to Montreal Windsor train
A freight headed a St.L&H SD40-2 #5532 and a SD40 and GP40 leased from HLCX roar west through Dorval
I spent about five hours there with 24 trains passing. A French Canadian
enthusiast was there as well so I gleaned plenty of information from him. The
traffic was a mixture of VIA, STCUM and heavy freights, these latter largely on the CP.
An eastbound freight at Dorval headed by CP Rail SD40-2 #5567 and three more SD40s, the second being a Norfolk Southern loco.
STCUM rush hour commuter train on the CP tracks
STCUM GP9 #1313 on a Montreal Windsor-Beaconsfield
VIA LRC-2 #6917 at the head of a Montreal - Toronto service leaves Dorval on the CN tracks
I returned to Montreal and walked to the student hostel, about 10 minutes from the station. Montreal, as the first large American city I had seen was less intimidating than I expected because the eyes concentrate on the street level and not on the towers. The most obvious difference then is the width of the streets.
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