Rail Train!

On Tuesday afternoon I was driving west along Wilkes Avenue when I spotted a train heading west as well. I could only see the rear but it seemed a little odd. As I caught up to it I saw that it was a rail train and it had two cabooses on the rear!

I passed it at about mile 10 and kept going. I passed Hall Road and got far enough ahead of it to shoot it just before route 334.


CN 6014 was the sole power on the train. CN 6014 is an SD40u (an SD40 remanufactured in early 1995 to SD40-2 specifications) and apparently has been doing ethanol train duty recently, given this video from Michigan and this one from Illinois.


I shot a few detail photos of the cabeese as they rolled by. First, BCOL 1873, an "engineering use only" "crew transporter". This caboose was built by BC Rail's Squamish shops in 1973.


On the tail end was CN 77014, all decorated in Operation Lifesaver colours. It is a Pointe St. Charles caboose built in the 1970s. Modelers, you can buy this caboose as an Athearn ready-to-run model (and was an Overland brass model).

I'm not sure when this was repainted but in March 2002 it was still in red yet in April 2008 it was in OL paint. There are a couple of pictures of it on RailPictures, one from May 2007 in OL colours too.


They had a "Limited to Clear" signal at Diamond so they slowed for the track change, and I got ahead of them again to shoot this video.


That was a very exciting catch that I was fortunate to see.