A Train and a Crane on the Plain

This one has been sitting in the queue for a while... back on May 6 I was out near Diamond west of Winnipeg when I spotted a train coming around the bend. The train itself was fairly ordinary, CN 8879 leading a general freight train with a lot of tank cars, but it was what was on the south track that was interesting.


Yes, that's a self-propelled crane pushing a gondola. Not something I see every day!


In good time the crane trundled closer to me. You can see it was pushing two gondolas and pulling a flatcar.


The fellow driving the crane seemed to be enjoying his job!


CN 50472 is an Ohio model DE 400 crane built in 1976 and it is capable of lifting 40 tons. You can see it in action at Eric Gagnon's excellent Trackside Treasure blog as a pile driver.