Trackside Log for Monday, March 23, 2009

It was the Monday after the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade and it was back to work for our hosts Ken and Kim and time for Sam and I to start our trek home. First we drove to Farnham, Quebec to see if anything was there. Farnham used to be home to a variety of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic power but in the last couple of years it has all been moved to other locations. Today the yard was void of locomotives so Sam and I continued on.

Our next destination was Rouses Point, New York. My GPS (nicknamed Flo) decided that the best way to get there was to cross the border at Alburg, Vermont. Now I've crossed the border between Canada and the United States over one hundred times from coast to coast and never had any significant problems. Today was the day. We were pulled into the office to fill out paper work and have the car submitted to a search. I have no idea what prompted this, but in the end nothing came of it. What a bother. Anyway, when we got to Rouses Point, New York Canadian Pacific train 252 south was just clearing customs. I think they took less time than we did.

• 1328 Rouses Point, NY - CP 252 south - CP 8730-CP 8751

I decided to photograph the train again in Plattsburgh so Sam and I hit Interstate 87 and made our way to the rather amazing Delaware & Hudson station there. It wasn't long until train 252 arrived.

• 1422 Plattsburgh, NY - CP 252 south - CP 8730-CP 8751 (photo)

I considered photographing it again, but it stopped to switch along the way so I went to Port Henry to find the former CP 1800 which is on display there.

• 1600 Port Henry, NY - display at station - CP 1800 (photo)

To be honest I was getting a bit frustrated with the way things were going that day so Sam and I made the decision to blast back to my home for the night. The border crossing back into Canada at Fort Erie was a breeze by the way. Overall the long and winding road trip to this year's parade was good. The trains certainly weren't plentiful, but they were interesting. I normally capture the GPS data during trips like this. Click these words to see a map of our route.