So, I guess the via train was late on Monday night because the engine caught fire. I have heard this not only from Darryl, but other commuter sources (since I wasn't on). And not only did it catch fire, the train stopped within a few hundred meters of a station, but was unable to let anyone off so they could arrange other transport. Lateness factor: about 4 hours.

Now, this isn't the end of the horrible monday night. There are some who didn't get off the train when given the option, thinking nothing else could go wrong. It just so happens that this night was to get worse. Just outside of a small place called Copetown, the train hit a deer. Normally, the train would stop, clean off the bits and make sure it wasn't human, and move on. Unfortunately this time the deer rolled under the engine and tore apart all the electrical wires. It took the engineers another hour to put everything back together.

You would think one SNAFU would be bad enough for a week, wouldn't you? But today it turns out that CN Rail (whose tracks VIA uses) had a train derail. Enter commuter clusterfuck. This time it didn't only affect VIA, but GO Transit (the commuter trains) as well. Darryl just told me his train was about 90 minutes late (not to shabby for what happened), and I waltzed in about the same time as normal, but I took an alternate route. A route which involved bumming a ride with a friend to Oakville, finding out NO trains were runnign at all, nor any buses, then catching a cab to Aldershott (another train station) and finally riding the last leg home with my mother.

Grand I tells ya. Grand.

 

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