Sarcee and Alyth Yards

After our view of Carseland and our chase on the Brooks subdivision, Jeff Keddy and I returned to Calgary to do a quick yard check. First we visited the CN Sarcee yard on 50th Avenue SE. The majority of the yard is visible from 50th Avenue but there is really no place to park except on side streets. So we parked, and walked back to take some photos.

There were two pairs of engines parked in the yard. CN 1650 and GTW 5945 were at rest. Both of them are odd ducks, in a way.


CN 1650 is one of four SD38-2s owned by CN. It is a former Northern Alberta Railways engine. I had never seen an SD38 before. As far as I can tell, it is basically an SD40-2 without a turbocharger.

It was coupled up to GTW 5945. This engine is clearly labeled "Owned by Alstom" but is also clearly labeled G.T.W. I didn't get a good photo of it... on Saturday, anyway.

The other pair of engines were interesting too, CN 7078 and CN 1409. CN 7078 is a remote-control GP9 and I saw it in November 2011 in the same place. CN 1409 is a GMD1, one of my favourite engine types.


I think it was moving when we first saw it but the crew parked it while we parked, probably "going to beans" aka having lunch.

After hitting a local hobby shop, we headed over to CP's Alyth yard to see if there was anything interesting there.We drove over the north end of the yard on the Blackfoot Trail and then went down Alyth Road (SE), which parallels the yard for a bit. There was the usual collection of GP38s, SD40s, and AC4400s but there was one MP15AC, CP 1445. Judging from the photos on RR Picture Archives, it has been in Calgary for a while.

There is a great map of the yard right beside Alyth Road.


A nice find was CP 4106, 1900 and 4107 in the yard.


That was the end of our railfanning for Saturday (October 27). However, I did do some railfanning on Sunday...