Saguenay part three

Here are the lockers inside the station:

And here is me trying to put a Loonie into it:

So clearly these lockers have been disabled. I believe there ought to have been a key in one of the two lock slots that allows for the door to be opened to then put in the Loonie to then release the key, but all of the keys were removed. I figured out the likely reason as the day progressed; here is the interior of the station on the Via Rail side of it, including even a baggage door that I could have used had there been an employee:

So with the service desk closed, and with the café on the other side closing at 15h, there is no one to assist with these lockers should there be a problem with them and they would be inaccessible after 15h. So as a result, after having breakfast at the Auberge and packed up and given the guy there my key, I walked to the station to learn that I would have to have my backpack with me the whole day until the train was to leave at 22h50.

It turns out that adjacent to the station was Parc Jean-Allard which I had not yet explored. As it was so close I didn't mind carrying my backpack with me to check it out. The park ended up being a steep hill that had steps to gain access to the top, from which a large part of the town of Jonquiere can be seen.

From there, since I had many hours to pass, I walked to the Riviere aux Sables, there is a path that runs along the river and more or less where rue Ouellet joins the path there was a bench with a tree that put the bench in shade and would have kept it in shade until the evening. So I sat there and read my book for three hours. I could just barely make out the water from where I was sitting, as can be seen in the first photo.

While sitting on the bench, there were quite a number of people walking in either direction, pretty much all of whom I would exchange 'Bonjour' with.

At around 12h30 I left this spot and went back to the station, to the café side and ordered a drink and a poutine, although they didn't have poutine sauce so there was BBQ sauce put on it instead. Then I hung out inside the station until at around 15h30 I was kicked out as they were locking it up. It was during this time that I finished the book I was reading; I've made a note that if I was to do this again I would bring books that add up to 700+ pages as this trip, the two books I had came close to only ~450 pages.

I spent the remaining time on a bench outside the station in the shade, and then on the platform where the train would arrive.

And then at around 22h30 our train pulled in:

It was only the engine at the front, a baggage car in the middle, and a single passenger car at the end. The passenger car could likely have seated 80 passengers at capacity, but we were only six getting on in Jonquiere and at maximum 18 as more passengers got on before others got off. When there were no Via employees nearby I snuck into the baggage car and took these two photos:

I haven't any idea what all of the equipment on the left side is for, but to see how enormous this is from the inside without hardly anything in it was pretty amazing. Moments later a Via employee told me that this part of the train was for employees only and so I left immediately.

We left on time at 22h50 and I managed to sleep for perhaps an hour or maybe 90 minutes but I was simply too uncomfortable. I ended up re-reading a book I had on my mobile device and eventually watched the sky brighten. At Hervey Junction the Senneterre train was to join ours, however, it was delayed by perhaps half an hour. Where it joined us we were in CN Yards and there was a freight train ready to go. So we waited to see if it would go in front of us, but it did not end up leaving, and sixty minutes later we ended up leaving ahead of the freight train. The Via worker then let us know that now our arrival would be at 11h45; but we ended up accelerating along the way and we pulled in at 11h20. I then took public transit home and after unpacking, had a nice long nap.

Outside of summer season the trains run through the day, rather than through the night, so if I was to do this trip again, I would go outside of summer season. Here is the schedule of arrivals and departures when not on the summer revised schedule:

I did quite enjoy the experience, I built over 100 Resource mines while I was there and there was plenty of room to build more.

I did not end up seeing that ePlancul woman at all and broke the news to her that we could move to WhatsApp or I would reduce to one message per day through ePlancul. As predicted, she was not happy about this at all; but I certainly wasn't happy that I expected to meet her in person while there and this didn't happen. So I suggested to her that I would certainly be willing to go back to Saguenay by train, only I couldn't afford to pay for lodging a second time this year and would ask to stay with her. In turn I also invited her to take the train to come and visit me and I would be happy to host her in my apartment.

So overall, apart from not meeting her, I thought it was a great trip, even if my credit card didn't seem to work there. I would be happy to do it again.

Saguenay part two

Today I waited for the rain to stop and took the 9h45 #3 bus from Jonquiere terminal to the Chicoutimi terminal. Getting on the bus with me at the start were three geriatrics of which one occupied 98% of the talking space; she was an unbelievable talker who went on non-stop. As more people came on the bus, she said hello to them and they to her and she continued.

It turns out that #3 bus route doesn't simply end at the two terminals, it does a loop, so when it got to the Chicoutimi terminal not everyone disembarked. This confused me but I ended up exiting and only later came to understand that the people waiting on the bus were going to a stop on the other side of the loop the bus does.

I played my Resources game through most of the first two or three hours, looking to build mines wherever I could discover resources. Near the end of doing this I found yet another hydro electric dam, this time on the Chicoutimi river:

Along the river front on the old port of Chicoutimi there were stages and food trucks and other things in preparation for some festival that is coming imminently. Near the center is this fountain / scultpure:

Soon after I took that photo some darker clouds started to come in and I could hear thunder, it was just after noon and I was starting to wane so I walked down (as I was up a hill) to Subway to get lunch. Again I tried my credit card and it didn't work, fortunately I was able to get more cash yesterday evening. It rained very lightly and for a short while and the dark clouds had moved on by the time I had finished lunch. Having eaten also gave me some energy, so I decided to then do the Sentier du Parc Riviere Moulin. It took about half an hour of mostly uphill walking to get to the entrance I was aiming for, doing so had me pass through both the Chicoutimi CEGEP campus as well as the UQAC campus. Here is the sign at the entrance I used, the 'vous etes ici' indicates where I was:

Perhaps twenty or twenty fives minutes of walking (I was heading north) further there was a spot to get off the path to get to a lookout to see this:

Along the path at one point was this collection of large river rocks with the subsequent photo showing that they had to dynamite a portion of this trail to create it:

Further down there were more rapids of the Riviere du Moulin. Also, from where I took that photo if I turned to the right to look straight across there was this enormous rock wall.

And here is where I exited the trail, you can see the 'vous etes ici' is now at the north entrance.

To get back into the more central part of Chicoutimi was quite a walk, early along that way I saw where this Moulin river joins the Saguenay river, at a very leisurely pace compared to the flows I saw earlier. Below is a photo facing south from the bridge over it followed by the north view.

As mentioned in part one, my train home tomorrow leaves at 22h50, so I asked the guy here at the Auberge if I could leave my bag here during the day after I check out; he said that he and his family are leaving soon after I check out and so it won't be possible as no one will be home. So on my way back from Chicoutimi I went into the Via Rail station here in Jonquiere and saw that they have lockers. There aren't any instructions on how they are to be used apart from on each locker there being a spot to put in a Loonie with instructions to put a Loonie in and that instructions are on the inside of the locker. There is a café in that same building and I asked the employee there if she knows anything about the lockers and she said she didn't.

Not having used this type of locker before I am a little nervous that I could possibly get my bag into a locker, but then never get it back out again. So my plan is, having two Loonies, to do a test run with one, to pretend to put something in it, close it, pretend to have left for the afternoon on a walk, to come back and open it to get what I had pretended to put in. If that all works I would then do it for real with my bag with my second Loonie. If it does work and that same lady is there, I will explain to her how it works so she can help future travelers.

The local ePlancul woman indicated that tonight doesn't work for her either. My whole reason for contacting her was to meet her in person here so I will be breaking the news to her tomorrow near time of departure (just in case she does manage to meet with me tomorrow evening) that I won't be going ahead with her unless she switches to WhatsApp. She won't be happy about this, and neither am I, really, but I can't afford to continue on ePlancul with someone whom I can only see by taking an eleven hour train ride.

image

As in a previous recent post, I noticed some modern architecture houses as I was walking around Jonquiere yesterday.

A common feature of these houses is windows that but up right against the corner of the house, you can see that in the first photo above. Also, having right angle decoration built into the facade, like the light brown stripe that is at the top of the exterior wall of the second house. Modern houses also tend to have alternative exterior cladding, such as the bottom photo that has a stainless steel grid surrounding each panel.

Bazillions? Maybe not quite as much

As I am sitting here on the balcony of the Auberge I am staying at in Jonquiere:

I have thoughts about the housing crisis that is an issue throughout Canada, and probably includes Saguenay. There are very few residential buildings here greater than four levels with the majority of them being two, so my idea is to hire a handful of architect/engineering firms to produce for me a manufactured timber based six-plex plan that is four or five levels high. I would want different plans so that if they end up close to each other they do not look like cookie cutter buildings.

I would maintain ownership and would rent the units for 10-15% under market rates. I can imagine doing this in cities this size all across Canada. With five different six-plex plans the volume of reproducing each numerous times for all of these mid-cities would hopefully drop as mass production and efficiencies come into play. So perhaps I would also buy or build a company that produces the manufactured mass timber construction parts for these buildings to have better vertical integration.

The advantage of these mass timber buildings is that they are quick to build, have significantly less waste, store mountains of carbon and being in Canada we have a strong forestry sector so imports would be reduced.

Perhaps I could get government investment as this housing crisis is being exacerbated by the federal government's immigration plan.

I personally wouldn't want to be in the property management business, but I would have within my company a branch that does this centrally for all of the properties. I could definitely see AI handling a majority of tenants concerns or our having to deal with them. For example, the AI would automatically for each tenant send their annual renewal notice at precisely the correct time and be able to receive the notice from the tenant and act accordingly. The AI could be programmed to give tenants a limited amount of leeway or flexibility with rent payments until a threshold is met at which time a customer service agent is involved. For things like repairs, plumbing or electrical, the AI could vet the request and if everything required was provided, notify the worker who will do the repair directly. For noise complaints from neighbours, the AI could send a notice to the person being noisy that a neighbour, not specifying who, has complained.

Ideally a ground source heat pump centrally provides both the heating and cooling throughout the building, if not ground, than air. And perhaps solar panels on the roof that has been optimally designed for the building's location with respect to the roof design and angle.

I have more ideas about this but I believe this is enough for today.

UPDATE: I was in Chicoutimi the next day and there were a number of 10 level residential buildings; so my vision of doing this could be greater than six-plex and greater than 4-5 level.

Saguenay part one

Late last year I looked into what kinds of vacations could I take that do not involve owning a car, so that limits me to airplane, bus or train. Of course for train our only option here is Via Rail, and that is when I discovered that there is a train that goes two or three times a week back and forth between Saguenay and my city.

I booked this week off work and booked my train tickets and lodging months ago. Originally my trip there was supposed to leave at 7h30 and arrive at 18h52 and my return trip on Thursday was leaving Saguenay at 8h58 and returning at 19h46.

Due to the rails being affected by summer heat, I received a notice of a schedule change for both train rides from Via Rail. Now my trip there was to be 15h15 -> 2h13 next morning and my trip home will be 22h50 -> 9h38 the next morning. While arriving after 2am is not great, departing on Thursday at 22h50 means I get a whole extra day there.

My apartment was getting warm and so I left two buses earlier than I needed to to get to Central Station which is air conditioned. I arrived there without a problem, an hour before my 15h15 departure, which then became a 15h30 departure, and the time kept getting bumped up piecemeal like that until:

Right at the top you can see boarding 17h with departure at 17h05, however, the time shows 17h03 and we still hadn't begun boarding.

We were only about 20 passengers in our 601 railcar and only a handful in the 603. This made it so that boarding was very quick and we ended up truly departing at 17h09.

603 was going to Senneterre while 601 was going to Jonquiere, so the two trains are joined together and share the first eight stations, and then 603 separates to head west while 601 continues north. Well, we got to a certain spot where the engine for 603 encountered some kind of problem, so in order to separate the two trains we had to go to the nearest double-track which was behind us by about 20 minutes. So somewhere near Hervey we went backwards for 20 minutes and then finally we passed the 603 train and were on our way again.

I disembarked the train at 4h41 this morning and had no trouble walking to the Auberge le St-Georges where I am staying. Once I found out that my arrival would be significantly delayed I emailed them, and they accommodated this delay by putting the keys in a mailbox out the front door that I was able to get to let myself into the building and into my room.

The Auberge is adjacent to the Riviere aux Sables and on it within the Jonquiere area are two hydro power facilities.

At the second one, which was higher up the river further away from the Saguenay river they had these machines at the top that would, I suppose, automatically raise or lower the baffle in order to control the level of the water behind the dam. I could hear one of them in motion as I was passing, but I was unable to see any difference in the flow rate below.

I did considerable walking around Jonquiere today spending four hours walking without hardly ever stopping. I walked through the campus of CEGEP de Jonquiere, on the multi-purpose path along the Riviere aux Sables, and a fair distance down Rue St-Pierre and Blvd Harvey.

On the train ride here I bought a couple of snacks and my credit card didn't work to pay for them, though, it is possible it failed because of our train being out in the wilderness. At the Auberge this morning my credit card failed but he had an alternative way of keying in the number that allowed it to charge successfully. At A&W for lunch today my credit card failed. Fortunately I brought cash with me as a back up, which worked for the train and A&W, but it also means the amount of cash that I brought is now greatly diminished. Presuming my CC won't work at all this trip I will get more cash. Fortunately my plan for tomorrow already was to take the #3 bus to Chicoutimi and there is my brand of bank there (there is none here in Jonquiere).

I have been messaging the ePlancul woman who lives here that I am hoping to meet, and she said she is having a bad day at work and doesn't want a first date with me to be on such a day. Hopefully she changes her mind or that it does work out for tomorrow.

Due to my poor sleep on the train and my late arrival this morning I am going to have a nap and then maybe go for another shorter walk after the sun sets.