Railfanning With Michael Berry, Part 1

Michael Berry at Diamond

Montreal railfan Michael Berry was in Winnipeg in late August / early September, visiting family with his wife and baby daughter.

He had been in touch with me prior to the trip, looking for some tips on railfanning locations, and we arranged to get together to railfan the Diamond area sometime during his visit.

The Plan

Sunrise near Dugald

Michael wanted to railfan the "famous" Diamond on the CN Rivers subdivision. We Winnipeg railfans often talk about Diamond on the RailsMBSK Facebook group and joke that one of the local railfans is the "mayor" if Diamond, as he is often found there, observing trains with his girlfriend.

Diamond is a good location because it has a lot of trains, it has wide open prairie and it's close to the city... and sometimes CP shows up for a cameo.

He also wanted to photograph the VIA Rail Canadian, which leaves Winnipeg at 11:45 AM (if it's on time) on Monday, Thursday and Saturday during the summer.

A "nice to have" for him was to photograph the Prairie Dog Central tourist train, which had a few departures at 11 AM... and the Central Manitoba Railway (CEMR) if it happened to be around.

Sunrise

Dugald - the start of a glorious day

We arranged for me to pick him up at 07:45 on Saturday September 3rd. I was up bright and early and decided to head out a bit early and catch the sunrise (and maybe the VIA Rail Canadian) at Dugald just east of Winnipeg.

The sunrise was pretty.

I was running a bit short of time but I saw the green signal indicating an eastbound was approaching. I drove just east of Dugald and saw a headlight approaching, so I decided to risk being a few minutes late picking Michael up to get the train. I figured Michael would understand.

CN 111 approaching Dugald

This was CN 2815 and 2927 leading train CN 111. I shot the DPU unit, CN 2821, at the highway crossing then headed into the city to pick Michael up.

Diamond

Old Diamond sign

I picked Michael up, exchanged pleasantries then we hit the road for Diamond. We crossed over a few empty tracks on the way around the Perimeter Highway before arriving at the CN Rivers subdivision. Everything was quiet there, so we took a brief detour over to the Assiniboine River to photograph the CP bridge there.

CP bridge over the Assiniboine River

We returned to Diamond to wait for a train... any train. The nice thing about the CN Rivers subdivision is that you don't have to wait hours for a train. We had arrived at Diamond by about 08:30 and our first train was at 09:30. It looked a bit... familiar.

We meet again, Mr. Bond.

CN 2815 and 2927 leading a container train... hey, that's the CN 111 I saw two hours before! I imagine they stopped in Transcona for a crew change and maybe some fuel, then carried on west to pass me again.

Since I keep talking about Diamond, I might as well show you the actual diamond... here's the DPU locomotive CN 2821 crossing the CP Glenboro subdivision.

CN 2821 crossing the diamond at Diamond

In about 15 minutes, another train came along. Fortunately this one came from the west, so the morning light was much better on this train. Michael positioned himself closer to the actual diamond than I did, and you can see his photo on Railpictures.net.

Here's mine, showing CN 318 splitting the east-facing signals.

CN 8893 and 2140 leading train 318 past Diamond

CN 8893 and CN 2140 were leading a longish manifest train. I amused myself by photographing a few of the freight cars, including these centerbeam flatcars carrying Tolko wrapped lumber.

Tolko, soon not to be made in The Pas

Tolko is topical because they've announced they are closing their mill in The Pas, Manitoba. They are the major employer in the town but unfortunately they haven't been able to make a go of it.

We waited for a while after CN 318 passed, hoping for another train, but nothing showed up except for another railfan. We chatted with him for a while but it was time to head up to the Prairie Dog Central for the 11 AM departure of the steam train.

That's in the next post... featuring the steam train, of course, more steam engines, and repainted ex CN 5232.

NEXT POST

Two Trains

This is just a short post recounting the two trains I saw on Friday morning.

I saw train CN 111 rolling west along the CN Rivers subdivision just after 9 AM. It had CN 2274 in the lead.


One challenge with shooting into the sun like this is to avoid blowing the sky out with the high contrast between the dark train and the bright sky. Typically I would focus on the side of the train, which is much darker than the sky. I used the exposure compensation on the camera to step it down 2/3 of a stop.

CN 2529 was the second unit and has something odd on the side of the engine over the "5". Is it a rear-view mirror?


After the head end passed, I drove west to catch it again. I was surprised to see a train coming the other way. It turned out to be CN 102 and I had just a few seconds to pull over and shoot it.

Note the lack of any class lettering under the "5611" on the side of the SD70I.

I did get ahead of train 111 and shot it approaching Diamond.


I decided to do a pan shot of 2274 this time. I set the shutter speed to 1/80s.


After I watched the train pass for a bit, I saw the mid-train engine, CN 8938.


While I was in the panning mood, I shot this CN container. "We Deliver!"


The train rolled off into the distance, and so did I.

Dirty Pig

No, this isn't a rant against police.

I saw CN 111 heading west out of Winnipeg around noon on Thursday, March 15. I was waiting for the Canadian near Diamond. I had my Canon S3 on a tripod waiting to video it, and shot a few long distance shots of the approaching freight before turning the S3 on... and having it turn itself off and complain about low batteries. Drat.

CN 2676 was the lead engine, with CN 2677 behind it. Funny to see two engines in numeric order.


This was scrawled in the dirt on the rear of CN 2676.

I guess it was an editorial comment about CN's maintenance practices.

Farther down the train, CN 2663 was the first DPU engine.


Oddly enough, there was a second DPU engine right behind 2663, ex-BC Rail engine BCOL 4645, yet another Dash-9. Four in one train!


I was interested to hear that they were detouring! They told the RTC that they were detouring through Dauphin (rather than going through Melville SK) and the RTC said they would pick up their pilot in Portage la Prairie. They need a pilot when the crew is unfamiliar with the territory, much like ships need pilots to enter unknown harbours.

CN had a 22-car derailment on the Rivers subdivision about 40km east of Melville at about 03:30 Thursday morning. VIA 1 and 2 were delayed so I never saw VIA 1 on Thursday.

Clayton Chaloner reported that he saw CN 101, CN 401, CN 111 and two others detour before the derailment was cleared. Canada Newswire reported that the TSB was sent. The Regina Leader-Post reported that the derailment site was clear by 6 PM Thursday and that the derailed cars were empty tank cars. 40km east of Melville is around Bangor or Atwater on the CN Rivers subdivision.

EDIT: Corrected engine type of BCOL 4645. Thanks Zartok!

Morning Trains

I spent some time in the morning of July 27 near Diamond, just west of Winnipeg. I've been there a lot recently because I like the area. It's wide open so there is little to get between my lens and the train. Also, there is not much car traffic out there. Finally, the train crews have to call the signals approaching Diamond so I hear them on the scanner well before I see them.

The first train I saw was CN 112, with CN 8911 on the head end and CN 8814 pushing on the rear. The top photo shows them passing the east-facing signals just east of the CN-CP diamond.



Right after the train passed, I ran up to the private crossing to shoot CN 8814 going away. Note the lit red marker lights.



About half an hour later, train CN 782 came along. This featured two Dash-8 units, CN 2429 and CN 2432. For this one, I shot from the north side of the tracks for a different perspective. Since it was cloudy, the sun was not an issue.


After about another half an hour, a westbound train came, CN 111 featuring CN 8904 and CN 8856 on the head end and IC 2715 as a DPU engine.


About an hour later, I headed east on Wilkes Avenue but stumbled across this westbound freight train. Three Dash-9 engines were the power: CN 2650, CN 2503 and CN 2671.


But wait... there's more! I also shot an eastbound freight just west of St. James Junction. This one had ex-BC Rail Dash-8 BCOL 4643 leading, with SD75I CN 5792 trailing.


Five trains in just over 2 hours was good enough for me!

Deer Me

I was out shooting trains on the morning of July 12.

First I saw the tail end of CN 304 heading toward St. James Junction. It had CN 2276 on the head end but I never actually saw it.

After a bit of waiting, CN 111 came rolling past Carman Junction on its way out of Winnipeg. I was shooting into the sun but I did my best. When cropping this photo of CN 2325, I noticed the deer on the left side of the photo!


I hope the deer made it away safely.

After about 20 minutes, CN 840 came rolling the other way. Since it was eastbound, the sun was nicely on the nose.


Here's the video.

A Meet At Speed

Early in the morning I was parked west of Diamond (itself west of Winnipeg), just past the bend in the track (map) around mile 16.9. I had my laptop out, doing some editing, with an ear to the scanner for traffic. After a while I heard CN 111 calling the signals as they approached Diamond from the east. I hopped out of the car, crossed the tracks, and set up the video camera and waited for them. As I waited, I heard CN 304 call a clear signal approaching Diamond!

Soon CN 111 came around the bend.


Looking westward, CN 304 was visible hurtling toward the meet on the south track.


Closer... closer... I wasn't sure which would reach me first but I was hoping it was CN 304 on the south track, so 111 wouldn't obscure the head end.


With a series of honks, CN 304 hurtled by me and met 111 just to my left / east.


CN 111 blew by me going west, and I watched the trains zoom past each other in front of me.


After a bit, DPU CN 8015 roared by on CN 111.


Soon CN 304 was receding in the distance while CN 111's containers were still rattling by. Within a few minutes, 111 was also fading into the distance.

Here's the video of the meet.


I hope you enjoyed my little narrative. I really enjoyed photographing and taping this meet!

Busy Day

I was trackside a couple of times on July 7 and had a lot of luck catching trains. There were no really unique engines but there were a lot of trains.

I was just east of Diamond at 8 AM and soon enough CN 111 rolled out of the sun with CN 2285 leading and CN 8906 trailing, and CN 2334 in the middle of the train, on the south track.

I was shooting directly into the sun here, so I had to do some significant editing to get a usable photo.

Pardon the incorrect caption at the beginning of the video.

I played with panning shots as the containers rolled by. The trick is to set a shutter speed slow enough to show motion but not too slow that it blurs the target. Here I used 1/10 second.

Here are some good tips on panning shots.

Soon after they passed, I heard them talking to CN 304 so I swung the cameras around to get the eastbound 304. It was led by SD75I CN 5607 and ES44DC CN 2241, on the north track.

The morning sun is much nicer on eastbounds! This train had quite a few CN 197xxx hopper cars, often used to carry gypsum out east.


Soon after that, CN 347 rolled past on the south track with CN 5683 and CN 5763.



Again, sorry for the caption mixup.

So that was three trains within an hour. I left trackside for a while, but I was back by the Rivers subdivision at noon to catch the Canadian... and more...

Recent Trains

After all the excitement of the Coors Light Silver Bullet Express, yesterday and today featured more mundane trains.

On Tuesday I forgot my laptop's power cord at home, so I had to do the Drive of Shame to go get it. Fortunately, I saw trains on the way. Outbound I saw CN 198 from a distance. They were passing the former Winnipeg Intermodal Terminal, soon to be a shopping plaza near the future IKEA.

The train had CN 2507 and 5672.

About an hour later, I was back and saw CN 111 near the same location. CN 8813 and 2659 were on the head end, and CN 8943 was a bit over halfway back in the train.


The train had 154 platforms... pretty normal for that train.


Today (Wednesday the 13th) I saw CN 2651 at the beginning of the Letellier subdivision, ready to head south to flood-threatened Morris and Emerson. With a few horn blasts, they were on their way.


It was easy to jump ahead of them on Pembina to get this video behind the Rexall at McGillivray.


Not as exciting as a wrapped VIA unit, but the trains keep on rolling.

Passing Gear

This morning I was traveling along Wilkes Avenue and heard that CN 115 was coming, and CN 111 was going to overtake her before Diamond. I stopped around mile 8 and saw the headlights of 115 in the distance on the north track. CN 115 poked along at a jogging pace...

Note the piles of new ties by the tracks. The Herzog machine has been busy distributing the tie bundles for the upcoming work season.

Here we see the problem with shooting westbound trains in the morning.

Beautiful light on the sides, but the nose is totally in darkness.

The going-away shot is much better lit.

The paint is falling off poor CN 2501. Even the SD60 CN 5533 is in better shape.



CN 115 continued trundling on and on, probably frustrating many morning commuters as it blocked crossings all along Wilkes. I didn't count the cars but there were well over a hundred.

Eventually the end of CN 115 came into view, and beyond that I could see the headlights of CN 111 in the distance.


111 covered the distance at a much quicker pace. CN 2274 and 8898 were the sole power on a short CN 111.

I had thought I would have video of train 111, since I just let the Canon S3 continue recording all the way through CN 115. Unfortunately, it stopped recording before 111 was done... because it hit the maximum video size of 1 GB. Who knew there was a limit? I was too busy clicking away with my T1i to notice that the video had stopped. Dang it.

I'll spare you the highly-backlit shot of lead engine 2274 and just show the going-away shot.


PS - Apparently there is a CHDK hack that removes the 1 GB video limit, and provides other goodies like RAW files, motion detection and scripting. I haven't tried it and of course I do not warrant it will do anything good or bad for your camera!

EDIT: I added the video of CN 115.

Three Trains, One Lunch

Train observers know there is an ebb and flow to train traffic. Each railway and each location have their own daily rhythm, determined by when trains are scheduled to run and when they actually do run. Things are often busy on CN here in Winnipeg around noon... which is convenient for train watchers like me.

Yesterday (February 28) I heard there were a couple of westbound freights getting ready to roll in Winnipeg, CN 111 and CN 115. I went up to the CN Rivers sub just before noon to try to catch one or both, and of course VIA's Canadian.

I arrived at the CN main line and picked my spot, just east of Diamond. I parked the car and ate my lunch while keeping an eye out. CN 111 was the first to pass by, with CN 2220 and ex-BC Rail unit BCOL 4601 on the head end.

Nice to see some ex-BC Rail units are still in their old paint scheme.

CN 8844 was a DPU engine in the middle and CN 8886 was pushing on the end.


Shortly after that, I heard CN 314 was starting to move at Diamond just west of me. I worried that they would get in the way of the Canadian, whose horn I could hear to the east of me. Fortunately the Canadian came first, and they were on the south track anyway. They had two refurbished engines, VIA 6406 and 6452.

They slowed as they approached Diamond, waiting for the signal to change.

I hopped in the car to go shoot CN 314. The Canadian rolled out of sight and CN 314's two engines worked hard to bring the train up to speed.

Train 314 had IC 2712 and CN 2657 for power.

I then drove back east to get a shot at a crossing. I went for something a bit more "arty".

I knew CN 115 was coming soon, probably followed by "CN 525" aka the CEMR train to the Carman subdivision, but I was out of time.

As usual, the day's sightings are in the database.