Little did I know how many rainbows I'd encounter around Rivers!
Warning! This is going to be a long post, and very picture heavy. Let's go.
In Rivers
From Brandon, I headed north on highway 10 past the old grain elevator at Forrest, under the CN main line, and then turned west on highway 25. This road parallels the CN line a few kilometres to the north and I saw a train go by as I was rolling west.I arrived at Rivers and drove through town. I noted a locomotive parked by the former station (more on that later) and I continued to the west end of town.
I saw an approaching container train in the distance, so I set up to photograph and video it by the former Cargill grain elevator(s).
Soon, two of CN's finest, ET44ACs CN 3035 and 3048 rolled past the elevator.
CN 3035 and 3048 passing the Rivers grain elevator |
The skies were pretty interesting that night, as you'll see later.
Recording.... recording... |
Once the train passed, I headed back into town. I stopped by the VIA station to check out CN 2438 idling away.
CN 2438 is one of CN's GE Dash 8-40CM (or C40-8M) units with the "Draper taper" behind the cab for greater crew visibility. Opinions are very mixed on whether the visibility is improved very much, and I don't think many crews like them.
Many of the 55 CN units that were built have the "CN North America" logo on them.
CN North America Logo |
Grant's Cut
The location I wanted to shoot at is nicknamed "Grant's Cut". I don't know why.To get there, you drive east from Rivers on highway 25, then hang a right on Road 120W - basically the first right after crossing the Little Saskatchewan River. Drive straight through the 4-way intersection and keep going and you will cross over the CN Rivers subdivision. This is Grant's Cut (Google Maps).
Looking north |
This is the view to the west...
Looking west from the overpass at Grant's Cut |
Double rainbow! What does it mean? |
So, nice broad curves to the east and west... and an overpass with no traffic. A lovely location! One other nice feature is that you can look straight down the track toward the east...
Mile 140.8 |
CN 347
I was really hoping the rainbow(s) would stick around for the train's arrival. How cool would that be?I've had some luck with rainbows and trains in the past. I just barely included a rainbow with a CP SD40-2 back in August 2014 and with a CP GP38/GP9 pair in Winnipeg. Back in 2010 I was railfanning in the Calgary area and caught a sunset rainbow at Keith.
Alas, it didn't happen here. The rainbow was gone by 19:03 and the train didn't arrive until 19:06. So close!
The sun was very spotty indeed. Notice the train rolling through the rural crossing and the "sucker hole" of sunlight here.
Catching the sun |
Here they are just about to take the curve... in the dark.
Back in the dark |
Taking the curve at Grant's Cut |
The weather was so strange that night. Here's a shot of them a few seconds later and it looks like a beautiful day!
Gorgeous evening!? |
I've heard CN 347 called a "sail train" because of the appearance of the empty cars, and also because they have a sail effect and create a lot of wind at ground level for trackside crews who have to inspect the train as it passes.
No CN crew has ever said anything nice about this train!
As I said, the light was very variable and part of the time the train was in relative darkness. Challenging for photography and video!
After that train passed, there was a lull for almost an hour.
Green = GOOD |
Or maybe I heard the engines before the signal lit.
I can't remember which came first, but either way... TRAIN.
I knew it was coming from the west, which is not great light for evening photography, but what can you do? Take pictures anyway, that's what!
Oil Train
CN 2957 East |
I think the above photo turned out pretty well for shooting somewhat toward the sun. It took a fair amount of processing in Lightroom but I like that side glint.
The going away shot shows the dark and foreboding clouds and some rain on the horizon... plus a little shadow selfie.
Going away |
Dark clouds? What dark clouds? |
There was a tail end unit, CN 3041, with another buffer car between the locomotive and the tank cars. You can see it in the video I compiled.
I hung around another 10 minutes or so but it was starting to get late (8:15 PM) and I wanted to check Rivers out one more time. The clouds were still pretty dramatic... and if you look closely, you'll see a wee little rainbow on the horizon just left of centre.
Not your normal clouds |
Back to Rivers
Time for.. a crew change.. Apologies to the Little River Band |
They were stopping at a rural crossing and there was a CN vehicle there.
I suspect they were doing a crew change there to avoid blocking crossings within the town.
CN 2242 was the sole power on the head end of this long freight train. It had a lot of autoracks.
I was at the highway crossing on the edge of town.
I decided to do something a little different and shoot with my "long lens" (70-200mm) to get a telephoto look, then use my iPhone to take a quick wide angle snap as the train passed.
The problem with the telephoto / long shot was that there were a few shrubs (visible in the photo above) that prevented a nice full train shot, and then there was the crossing gate itself to get in the way. I'm not 100 percent happy with the shot below.
Making the best of a bad angle |
I prefer the iPhone shot I took a few seconds later.
The iPhone wins! |
Backlit in Rivers |
Not this time.
I had a notion to get them on the bridge just east of town.. before Grant's Cut. I knew I couldn't beat them there but maybe I could get a silhouette shot against the sunset. Worth a try!
Silhouette shot |
I drove back east along highway 25. Looking to the south I could see a container train slowly rolling west in the distance.
There was another rainbow. Of course.
Rainbows were definitely the theme of the night.
Did you know that "rainbow" comes from the Latin arcus pluvius, meaning "rainy arch"?
In school everyone learns ROYGBIV, the seven colours decreed by Sir Isaac Newton. I always knew it was VIBGYOR - not sure why - but I think Roy G. Biv is a lot easier to say.
Here there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow... just a container train. Nice enough for me.
The photo to right was with my telephoto, cropped in. Check out the wide angle photo below.
That's a big old cloud |
Taking a LEAP
Another rainbow... |
When I got there, I very quickly saw CN 2242 approaching from the west. I took a video of the train (see bottom of post) and then took a few photos of the area.
This is "Leap", a new control point / set of crossovers on the Rivers subdivision. It has all new shiny LED signals. This is part of a 9 mile stretch of double track between Knox and Levine.
There used to be a Manitoba Pool grain elevator here, at "Smart". It was demolished in 2002.
While admiring the signals, I was surprised by a westbound train.
I was so surprised, in fact, that I didn't have time to adjust my settings and shot a full two stops too dark!
Fortunately, I shoot RAW files so there is enough information in the file to recover a decent shot, despite underexposing the image so badly.
RAW FTW |
I liked the going away "glint" shot.
Glint FTW too |
This post has been picture-heavy already, so I'm not going to post any photos of the cars, but I did want to mention that it had not one but two 2001 Census hopper cars (DCLX 7490 and DCLX 8096).
Photos by Last Light
It was getting pretty late by this point, so I went back up to highway 25 and then down highway 10 past Forrest. I couldn't resist stopping to take a few photos of the old Forrest grain elevator.Forrest grain elevator at sunset |
I was sure I was done taking photos by this time (9:36 PM), but as I passed the Brandon airport, the old T-Bird on display at the highway caught my eye.
Fine, just one more photo...
Then I was truly done for the night.
The Video
Here's my video combining the two trains at Grant's Cut with CN 2242 at Leap.I hope you like it. I am trying a new video editing program, Hitfilm Express. So far I like it - and it's free!
Summary
It was a good night. I:- Explored two new locations (Grant's Cut, Leap)
- Photographed five trains
- Photographed two grain elevators
- Saw a bunch 'o' rainbows
- Got a bonus plane photo
PS - hey, do me a favour and sign up for my mailing list! I'll send you a weekly summary of photos I post on social media (if you opt in to that) and occasionally I'll send you reminders of blog posts like these. That's it. Thanks!
PPS - check out George Dutka's White River Division blog! He posts a great mix of model and 1:1 scale trains.. always worth a read.
5 comments:
Great photos Steve! Love all the rainbows and dramatic skies with and without trains!
One of the very first things I was told after getting my Nikon was to shoot in RAW. I always do but don't have much editing skills yet.
Thanks, Jenn! I could not stop taking photos of the sky. :)
The editing skills come with time. You'll be happy you shoot RAW because you can always go back and re-edit some favourites and make them even better!
When I worked for CN we called center beam flats "sail boats" because the wind would push them around the yard.
"Sail boats" - that must be why crews call CN 347 the "sail train"!
Great photos! Hard
To imagine the length of these trains where I live - old abandoned line to Owen Sound - my rail fanning is vicarious now. The skit and clouds are something else. Your opening phot is excellent but I enjoyed them all. Nice to hear about the Churchill line - saw a post about some motor cyclists who followed the rail and didn't think the damage was as bad as has been
Rreported. Your last comment about nothing being done until it is sold is probably accurate. It looks though, as nothing will be done until next year unless they get going - the window for fixing the road is limited by the weather!
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