Passenger Power in Calgary

I'm finally finishing up my Calgary trip from last month. You may recall I looked at Alyth Yard on October 28. After that, I decided to see if anything was left in Ogden Yard. Ogden has been closed down after 100 years of operation.

There are a few engines still around, for example CP 1400 and CP 9000.


CP 1400 was retired in February 2012 and has been cannibalized for parts.

This is the first "red barn" (SD40-2F) that I have seen with the "dual flags" CP Rail logo on it.


After taking inventory of the few engines in Ogden, I noticed CP 8854 rolling past. You may recall it had just come off the Red Deer subdivision. I guess they ran right through Alyth Yard and were heading out on the Brooks subdivision. I barely got ahead of them and caught this "from the car" shot at a crossing.


I then headed up to CN's Sarcee yard. There I saw CN 1409, CN 7078 and GTW 5945 rolling past the gas station there. Note the operator riding the point of CN 1409. Love those GMD1s!


Here's GTW 5945. I'm told these are actually GTW units, not owned by Alstom, despite what it says on the engine.


That was certainly fun. I went back toward Alyth, but while passing Ogden Yard, I saw this.


CP 1601 was putting the heritage engines (CP 4107 / CP 1900 / CP 4106) away. Jeff Keddy and I saw them the previous day in Alyth, and I guess they were being moved.

After the crew uncoupled, CP 1601 (and CP 1527) rolled away and left the engines there.


Sweet heritage units.


CP 1539 was also around. Note the two cabooses and I think CP 8217 on the far right.


Here's CP 1527 going back onto the main line.


I was running out of time, but I ventured back to CN's Sarceee Yard just in time to see a train coming off the  CN Three Hills subdivision. I paused to capture CN 5677 and CN 8938 bringing the train in.


I would say it was a very productive morning of railfanning in Calgary!

Alyth and Ogden

On October 5 I shot some engines at the Ogden Shops and at Alyth yard in Calgary, Alberta. I didn't have much time before the sun set, so it was a quick visit.

These are the units I saw at Ogden. The most notable was CP 5745, with "Expressway" painted on the side. Here's a video with 5745 leading, from 2009.

Over at Alyth, I didn't see anything like the Royal Canadian Pacific train I saw last time! These are the units I saw.

I saw a few old GP9 units there, CP 1557 and CP 1601. Nice to see the old warhorses still at work.



I saw CP 1601 in Calgary back in June.

I noticed a little box just below the overpass.

This is where all the SBUs (Sense and Brake Uunit, the thing that goes on the end of a train) are stored, I guess. It makes sense that there is a place at the exit to a yard for an SBU to be stored, so they can be put on outgoing trains.

Jackpot

As I mentioned in my previous post, after a bit of early evening railfanning outside Calgary, I was not done with my train chasing for the night.

After a quick stop at my hotel, I decided to go see the Ogden Shops in Calgary. The directions are easy - go to the Ogden Road and you'll see them. I saw the shops, and shortly thereafter I saw CP 1601 and CP 1648 running light toward them.

Both of these units are GP9s. 1601 wears the short lived CP Rail System livery while 1648 sports faded CP Action Red with the multimark.

I saw a boatload of units at the Ogden Shops. You can view the day's sightings for a complete list of what I saw. It's not the easiest place to shoot without trespassing. I didn't get many decent shots because of this, but I did see a few interesting units, such as CP 1000. This unit was built as an SW1200 for the Milwaukee Road, before being acquired by CP's SOO lines and eventually being turned into a slug in 1996. It still has its cab (unusual for a slug) and sports a very simple lettering scheme.

Note the lack of exhaust stacks (slug=no engine).

That was all very exciting, but I decided I wanted to see the famous Alyth yard while I was here too. A short drive brought me to the Blackfoot Trail, which goes over the north end of the yard. I found a place to park and started to walk toward the overpass when I saw... classic passenger cars... on CP... this could mean only one thing.

The Royal Canadian Pacific was in town!

I sprinted toward the overpass while uncasing my camera and ripping the lens cap off.

They headed out just as I reached the top of the overpass, so I shot this video of their departure with my Canon T1i.

After they left, I took inventory of the yard. CP 9808 and 8871 were running light.
CP 6065 and 6614 were working hard shunting the yard. CP 9808 and 8871 ran past them to couple onto their train.

There were lots and lots of engines on the south side of the overpass. Unfortunately there is no walkway on that side, but I was able to take inventory of most of the units there. As I said, you can view the day's sightings to get a complete list.

That was a special moment for me to see the Royal Canadian Pacific train. I'm glad I was lucky enough to catch it.