 |
| Rio Grande - really? |
The CEMR Carman Sub
We drove down on highway 3, paralleling the Central Manitoba Railway (CEMR) Carman subdivision for most of the trip. I noted cars at the Sanford grain elevator and some tank cars and a few ex Illinois Central ballast cars parked in Brunkild. At the Pioneer grain elevator outside Brunkild, there were some maintenance machines and an ex Amtrak ballast hopper working on the elevator tracks.Carrying on down highway 3, the Sperling grain elevator was still gone (sigh) although there were tank cars stored in the village. The Homewood grain elevator is alive and well and the Carman warehouse had a lot of grain cars at it.
 |
| Stored potash cars and the fair |
The Fair
I saw one place advertising a schnitzel sandwich so I had to have that. It was greasy but tasty!
As you can see from the lead photo in this post, I couldn't help railfanning the toy train.
After we visited the petting zoo - very popular with the kids - we had ice cream and then hit the road. I decided to head back through Elm Creek / highway 2 to cover a different route.
CCGX 5202
On our way out, I stopped to photograph the CEMR train. It was not positioned for photography so I had to shoot a bit against the sun. Here's a photo I processed with HDR to get as much detail as I could. |
| CCGX 5202 and CEMR 5396 in Carman |
CCGX 5202 is an SD38AC originally built in 1971 for the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad as BLE 865. It was acquired by the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railroad as DMIR 200 in early 1993 and retired in April 2008. It bounced around a couple of small companies and Cando Contracting acquired it in August 2015 (more info).
This loco has been painted in Cando's sharp "swoosh" scheme and looks quite nice. Note the "SD38AC" designation, the plaque "Rebuilt with pride by CEMR Winnipeg", and the Buzz Lightyear sticker.
That was nice to see. Hopefully I'll see it in better light soon.
Barnsley
On the way up highway 13 to Elm Creek, I stopped briefly to photograph the two lovely grain elevators in Barnsley. They looked very nice in the setting sun's light. |
| Barnsley Grain Elevators |
Elm Creek Switching
As we approached Elm Creek, I could see the highway was blocked in the distance.. by grain cars! It turned out that the CPR was in town. I drove through town and found the head end at the wye. |
| Two of the new ECO units |
The light was better on the other side..
 |
| CP in Elm Creek, Manitoba |
They started pulling, so I grabbed a photo I had been planning for a long time... the train by the giant fire hydrant.
 |
| CP 2238 and the giant fire hydrant in Elm Creek, MB |
Homeward Bound
We headed home without waiting for the train, as it was getting late and I didn't want to push my luck with my family. We passed the lovely elevator in Culross - no cars - then Fannystelle - no cars - then Starbuck - cars - then back onto the Trans-Canada Highway and home.This was essentially our route:
5 comments:
This brings me back lots of memories back in Swan River when I was kid. When the Northwest Roundup was in full tilt, the valley had lots of railway activity before CN ripped up the Erwood sub and the Cowan sub.
All those branch lines used to have lots of activities....around Neepawa was a tremendous amount of switching and small trains going in all directions..I worked there in 1959 and 1960....now only the station/museum remain..the rails are all gone...sad..same goes for many other branch lines out of Dauphin, Belmont etc...
Hi Jeff, it was pretty quiet when I was in Swan River in the summer of 2015. I guess it's even quieter with the Cargill elevators gone. I wish I could have been there when all the lines were still there!
Hi Cornergas, I'm going to have to visit the station/museum soon! Looking at the old timetables, I can see a lot of lines converged at or went through Neepawa.
Nice photos Steve! Glad you got the giant fire hydrant shot.
Aren't small town fairs nice? I grew up in Calgary, going to the Stampede and it was always crowded. Since moving and experiencing the small town fairs....it's great!!
Post a Comment