The Ontario countryside in January from a seat in a VIA Rail passenger car

Last week Debra and I went down to Toronto. It'd been 15 years since we took the train there - I usually drive. I was sitting by a window, looking more-or-less south the entire way from Ottawa. The morning of the trip was gray, cold and grim. Not much snow on the ground this year, but plenty cold.

On the way out of the station the train circles by some condos. 

The train passes by many, many snow-covered fields...

... punctuated by forests waiting for spring.

These two diesels were parked at the Smiths Falls yard. Looks like they're waiting for photographer to drop by for a corporate publicity shot :-)

At this point the train was making its way through the Smiths Falls yard.

And there are plenty of barns along the route.

And lots of flags flying adding colour to a dreary day.

We were passed a few times by long freight trains going in the opposite direction.

When were taking on passengers at one station I looked down and saw that up there. The spikes don't quite seem to be too snug against the rails :-)

Once we got down to Lake Ontario the world was starting to look more spring-like. Unusual for January.

And as we went further and further west the snow cover got thinner and thinner.

By the time we got to the edges of Toronto it seemed more like mid-March than late January.

Once we arrived at Toronto's Union Station there were plenty of condos to greet us. It was around -2C when we got off - around 15 to 20 degrees warmer than when we left Ottawa hours earlier.