Thursday, March 24, 2011

VIA Rail With Rocky Mountaineer

I was out running errands at noon and figured I'd try to get the Canadian at Portage Junction today. When I arrived there, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and BNSF 2756 was ready to head back to their yard "running light" (with no cars).
BNSF 2756 in Winnipeg

I positioned myself to look straight down the mainline track. The nice thing about Portage Junction is that you can get fairly close to the tracks without trespassing. Soon I saw a headlight in the distance as the Canadian ran past Fort Rouge.

Here they are, passing under the signal tower.
VIA 6406 under signal tower

Notice the big hump behind the engine? It was Rocky Mountaineer car RMRX 9527.
VIA 6406 and Rocky Mountaineer car

I shot each car as it went by, to record the car numbers. A gentleman in Skyline 8517 was chuckling at this idiot standing on a snowbank with a camera.


They rounded the corner at Portage Junction and headed toward Waverley Street and points west.
VIA Canadian in Winnipeg

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3 comments:

Karl A. said...

I'm glad that you caught 2756. I love the GP39Es.

Unknown said...

Steve question for you when the second unit is behind the car how do they run them together without the MU cable?

Steve Boyko said...

Hi "J" they have a super long MU cable that they run through the Rocky Mountaineer car to connect the two locomotives.