Busy Times in Winnipeg

I went up to Wilkes Avenue at noon to see the Canadian. Little did I know how busy it would be! I saw a westbound container train stopped along Wilkes Avenue, so I headed to Waverley to see the head end. Scanner traffic indicated it was CN 102, stopped on the south track to wait for VIA 1. Down by Fort Rouge, the headlight of CN 301 was visible on the north track.

The Canadian had to go by 301 on the south track, then cut over to the north track to pass CN 102. Here they are cutting over and passing me.

Its consist was engines 6401 and 6408; baggage 8605; coaches 8143 and 8125; Skyline 8501; diner 8414 Palliser; Skyline 8516; sleepers 8308 Bliss Manor, 8321 Draper Manor, 8336 Monck Manor, 8302 Abbot Manor, 8220 Chateau Papinea, 8209 Chateau Iberville; Skyline 8510; diner 8411 Imperial; sleepers 8334 Macdonald Manor, 8335 Mackenzie Manor, 8341 Thompson Manor; and 8710 Prince Albert Park.

As you can see from the video, there were a group of kids clustered around the signals. School was off today so they apparently had nothing better to do than dance around on the tracks and throw stones at the trains.

Right after VIA 1 crossed Waverley Street, CN 102 throttled up. It made quite a nice thrum as it passed me. SD75Is CN 5721 and CN 5643 provided the power for a relatively short train.

As 102 passed the kids west of Waverley Street, some of them stoned the train. I took quite a few photos of them and I will be submitting them to the CN Police.

Next, CN 301 headed west on the north track in pursuit of VIA 1. CN 2631 and CN 8817 made a good show of it. I glanced east and saw another train coming! This was another container train, with CN 2659 and CN 5686 pulling a long train. They rolled past 301 and I enjoyed the view of two trains passing right in front of me.

Amazingly, these four trains, VIA 1, CN 102, CN 301, and the other CN eastbound, all passed within 20 minutes. Winnipeg is a great train town.