A Tranquille Afternoon

I was in Kamloops, BC early in May this year. My plane landed early Sunday afternoon (May 10) and I decided to spend the rest of the day railfanning. After discussions on the excellent BC Railfans group, I planned to head a few kilometres west from the airport on the CN Ashcroft subdivision to catch some CN action. On the flight in I shot a photo of the CN yard using my iPhone.

Facing north

First I went to a local store to get some A) sunscreen and B) water. It was hot.

Heading west on Tranquille Road from the airport, I found an eastbound train )(CN 2245, CN 2641) stopped on the south track at the Ord Road.

I waited there for a while, but they weren't moving and nothing else was coming. I carried on west to the mostly abandoned town of Tranquille, where I found a grain train (CN 2277, CN 5547) arriving from the west.

They pulled up and stopped.

Note the deteriorating buildings behind the train, leftovers of the sanatorium that was built in Tranquille at the beginning of the 20th century.

I walked around for a bit, photographing this and that... like this Western Meadowlark.

"@stevetraingeek Welcome to Kamloops #lol #stuffbirdssay"

Eventually I heard a horn from the east and CN 8827 and CN 2697 rolled into view.

We'll be coming around the mountain when we come / we'll be driving 8,700 horses when we come

They came to a stop just before the crossing, which is just off to the right of the photos.

Stopped again.. *sigh*

After they stopped, a crew member dismounted from 8827 to give a quick rollby inspection as the grain train started up.

"Pleased to meet you"

After a bit, he climbed back on and 8827 started rolling too.

I walked up the hill a bit to get this shot of 8827 West rolling through the rock cut west of town.

I decided to head a bit farther west. I drove down the road visible in the photo above, then walked for a bit to try to get closer to the rock cut. I knew I wouldn't be able to walk up to it but I thought I'd try a different view.

As I was walking, another westbound train came rolling along. CN 5676 and CN 2169 powered a stack train.

Here's a heavily cropped view of the rock cut showing the signals. You can see the south track does head off to the tunnel on the left.

After that, I decided to head over to Kamloops to see what was happening on CP, grab some supper, then see the Rocky Mountaineer come in. Next time!

PS Here are a couple of other aerial photos I took en route to Kamloops.

Cowtown from the air

Yep, blades are still there.

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