GTW and YAM

I was driving on the Perimeter Highway over the CN Letellier subdivision in Winnipeg when I spied CN 533 coming home. It was really the most remarkable coincidence, as there is only a short stretch of track visible to the south, and there was the head end of 533 rolling along, with two engines including a grey one leading!

I exited at Waverley Street and headed up to Bison Drive, intending to get well ahead of the train to photograph this mysterious grey engine. They were going a lot faster than I thought, as the gates were coming down at the crossing as I approached it. I ended up stopping and clawing for my camera as the train approached. Good thing I keep the camera on the passenger seat. (Doesn't everyone?)

Here's the grey engine.


This engine is former Grand Trunk and Western (GTW) 5948, an SD40-3 now owned by Alstom and lettered GCFX 5948. It was apparently originally built for the Kansas City Southern railway.

The above shot was through the windshield, and I rolled my window down to take the "going away" photo below. You can see where the large white "CN" on the side has been painted over.


On my return from my errand, I noticed that there was a CN freight train parked just west of Diamond outside Winnipeg. The train had IC 2703 on the point and was apparently waiting for a westbound freight before heading into Winnipeg. I set up my video camera to point at 2703 for the meet... and then they rolled ahead a few hundred feet! Maybe they were shy.


In good time the westbound train arrived. It was led by a Dash-9.


The crew of 2703 were on the ground to inspect the train.


Not bad for Yet Another Meet!


Here's the video.

Oh yes, after 2703 started rolling, I headed out to get another shot of it. First, a pacing shot.


They were not going especially fast yet. I decided to nab them on the other side of Diamond and call it a day. Here's that shot.


You can see they were crossing over to the south track here.