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What is the problem you are trying to fix here?
There's an agreed volume of 10 per direction through Smith Falls crossing over CPKC tracks. In the Montreal direction, adding more trains is also constrained by track capacity. However, if VIA could assemble westbound J-trains the second sets of LEs could be rostered from Kingston, together with LEs for 651/650, that should save money and might allow for some pathing on the Kingston Sub to be horse-traded. This would require considerate dispatching of train making the join, (eg 67+645 and 69+59) and an extension eastwards of the Brockville platform, so the Ottawa train can "sneak up" from Chelsea once the Montreal train has worked the station, without having to pull everything forward and block Perth Street.
Indeed, the number of slots through Smiths Falls, Coteau and the Lakeshore is unlikey to increase above pre-Covid levels (i.e. 10, 12 and 16* tpd, respectively), which denies any benefit of jaying more trains…
Jaying is not realistic for Westbound trains, as they are too prone to delays, which will then add additional delays to the other train. This is especially the case if LE shifts end in Kingston. Also, the way how I believe that LEs are paid, it doesn’t really matter whether they work only to Kingston or all the way to Toronto…
That could be possible, but the question is who would pay for it. Also, serving Brockville should be easier post-HFR, as the number of Ottawa-bound trains would significantly decrease from their pre-Covid number of 10 tpd…
Going to automated couplers would be nice, but that ship has already sailed, plus would introduce a whole new set of concerns that, while are not likely insurmountable, are still problematic and just avoided by leaving well enough alone.
Coteau to Montreal was 12 tpd (6 from Toronto and 6 from Ottawa*). The capacity between Brockville/Ottawa and Montreal is constrained by the Coteau Yard (and the adjacent interlockings), which prevents increasing that number, even though you could probably trade OM for TM frequencies (and the inverse)…
After having lived in the Netherlands where trains regularly couple and decouple automatically at station platforms along their routes, it's funny/sad to see brand new Via trains where the crew needs to get on the ground and manually fiddle with hoses to uncouple trains.
Ha - I was on that train in early May!
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Q-35-O-28-Q | Q-33-O-26-Q | M-31-O-38-M | O-45-T-48-O |
| Tue | Q-35-O-38-M | Q-33-O-26-Q | M-31-O-28-Q | O-41-T-48-O |
| Wed | M-31-O-28-Q | Q-35-O-38-M | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-41-T-48-O |
| Thu | Q-35-O-28-Q | M-20-Q-37-O | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-41-T-646-O |
| Fri | Q-35-O-38-M | O-22-Q-39-O | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-43-T-668-M |
| Sat | M-622-Q-39-O | O-24-Q-29-M | Q-37-O | M-633-O |
| Sun | O-28-Q | M-633-O-26-Q | O-24-Q-29-M | O-43-T-646-O |
tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com
Interesting combination. It has the buffers and chain hooks but what looks like a swing-away North American-style coupler.
maybe it was a car that was used when the flying Scotsman was in North American because it had to be fitted out to run here and to be able to connect with North American equipment.
