Four Railways, Fifteen Minutes

I went up to Wilkes at noon today to see the Hudson Bay. I decided to shoot from next to the Kenaston overpass. While waiting for VIA to roll along, I noted a CN local switching the former intermodal yard on the west side of Kenaston. They were pulling about a dozen cars out of there onto the south track.

Soon enough the Hudson Bay came into view and rolled along in the lovely sunlight at 12:15.


The train had two engines (6458 and 6456), baggage 8600, coaches 8110 and 8120, diner York and sleeper Chateau Levis.

Here's the Hudson Bay passing the CN local, which was running slug forward.


The CN local rolled by right after that, with slug 266 leading and mother 7269 trailing at 12:17. Note the crewman on the slug. The mother-calf units are equipped for remote operation.


During this maneuver, I had been hearing horns from the south, meaning CP was on the La Riviere subdivision. I drove down Wilkes to the CP crossing and there was CP 1128 coming north to cross the diamond at 12:24.

As you can see, the problem with shooting CP here is that you are shooting toward the sun. CP 3028 was trailing with 48 freight cars.

Finally, BNSF decided it was time to head over to Fort Rouge, so I shot BNSF 2001 from a distance at 12:30 before leaving the area.


Four railways in 15 minutes. This is why Winnipeg, and especially the St. James Junction area, is a great railway hotspot.