Branchline Goodness

I was heading home on Wednesday afternoon when I heard two different CP freights ask the CN RTC (Rail Traffic Controller) for permission to cross the CN Rivers subdivision. How is that possible?

Well, if you look at the Rivers subdivision, you will see that CP crosses it in four different places!

1. Mile 4.8 - CP La Riviere subdivision at St. James Junction
2. Mile 14.3 - CP Glenboro subdivision at Diamond
3. Mile 56.2 - CP Carberry subdivision at West Tower in Portage la Prairie
4. Mile 237.2 - CP Yarbo subdivision at Code

My scanner is pretty good but it won't hear anything from Portage la Prairie when I'm in Winnipeg!

I was a few kilometres from Diamond but I figured I'd better give it a shot to catch one of the rare Glenboro freights. As it happened, I was there in plenty of time to set up the tripod and take video and photos.

CP 5957 was leading a short freight northward / eastward. I took a few shots "into" the sun as they approached.


I tweaked the heck out of the above photo. I think I went overboard on the sky and it is too blue. I might have another go at it later. It's hard to shoot toward the sun like this and not end up with A) the sky blown out to white, or B) the ground becoming very dark. Landscape photographers will use multiple exposures and HDR but you can't do that with a moving train!

Here's a closeup of the lead engine, CP 5957, as it approached the road crossing.




The trailing engine was CP 6022.


I've only seen two other freights on the Glenboro sub, one in January 2010 and the other in July 2010.