The 2014 CP Holiday Train

I saw the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train in Winnipeg last night. You might remember I saw the combined Canadian-US train in mid-November. CP 2246 was the leader then and it was the leader of the Canadian portion last night.

I arrived at the site off Molson Street just after 8:30 PM and it was already very busy there. I parked a block away and walked down to the west side of the "parking area" to video the train arriving. There was a pretty good crowd there but they thinned out as the train approached. I must say the volunteers weren't really keeping people off the tracks as well as past years. Here's the train arriving:
Once the train stopped, most people went to watch the show. I set up to photograph the tail end but I had to wait a bit for people to move before I could get the shot... the theme of the night.

For those who are interested, I locked the camera to ISO 100 to get the best quality then adjusted the shutter speed to suit. This particular photo was a 2 second exposure that ended up being f/4.5.

I changed my camera battery, as the first one succumbed to the -20C temperatures. Batteries don't last long in the cold!

After photographing this end, I walked up past the show to the head end. Here's a really bad photo of the stage... I held my camera up by the tripod to get it above the crowd, with the timer set to fire after a few seconds.

Recall that the stage folds down - this is what it looked like when it was closed in mid November:

Here's a few views of the head end.

I really need to watch out for over exposure and the above photo was a bit over exposed. You notice it at night when the number boards on the loco are too bright and become fuzzy.

I had to hop in front of the camera for a shot. Here I used a flash to light me up and you can see how it light up the "CP" wreath on the front of the locomotive.

Another view with the flash lighting up the CP on the nose.

I chatted with a few local railfans (hi Mark, Larry, Morgan) at the head end while trying to stay warm waiting for the train to leave.

I set up on the other side of the street to video the train leaving. Here's the video... sadly the battery on my camera gave up the ghost and it stopped recording midway through the train.

Here's a video taken by +Taylor Woolston on the other side of the train. I didn't even know he was there!

The train was in Portage la Prairie late this afternoon and is continuing west to Vancouver on December 18. Here's the schedule.

PS - My friend +Lauri Novak discovered that the US version of the Holiday Train was passing near her and got out to see it.  Check out this rear view!

CP Combined Holiday Train Passed Through Winnipeg

As you probably know, the CP Holiday Train runs each year to raise food and funds for local food banks across Canada and the USA. I've seen it twice here in Winnipeg and I hope to see it again on December 3rd when it passes through.

The equipment is kept in Calgary and needs to be moved to Montreal to begin the journey. A little birdie told me on Friday, November 14th that the combined Canada-USA train was outside Portage la Prairie at noon waiting for CN 302 to pass before it could proceed east. I had some time so I jumped in the car and headed for the CP main line to try to catch it.

I knew it was probably an hour's travel from Portage to Winnipeg and I ended up approaching the CP Carberry subdivision at 1 PM, so I was cutting it fairly close. As it happened, there was a CP container train rolling east so I photographed that.

One locomotive? No problem!

I was a bit concerned that I had already missed the Holiday Train. I waited a few minutes then proceeded westward toward Meadows. I sighted the grain elevator at Meadows and noted a headlight beside it. As the train and I converged, it was clear that this was in fact the Holiday Train. I pulled over and photographed it.

The first 10 cars and the first 4 passenger cars are the US train, and the rest are the Canadian train. The train was pulled by two of CP's shiny "new" GP20C-ECO engines, CP 2246 and CP 2249. I understand one will power each train, although there is some question of whether one GP20 will be able to haul the train through the Rockies by itself.

You can see that the locomotives are already decorated with the lights. I assume they will have a wreath on the nose like CP 9815 always did.

After photographing them once, I sped off to try to get them again. I captured this long-distance shot of the whole train just west of Rosser.

Thank goodness for the wide open views of the Prairies!

I got ahead of them east of Rosser and photographed them again, this time shooting every car to be sure of the consist.

I think this next car is a generator car to provide power for the train and especially all the lights.

Here's a little photo showing the connection between cars. You can see a power cable in addition to the usual brake hose connection.

The next car is one of the stage cars. Musicians perform at every stop. The giant silver door folds down and becomes the stage. The musicians stay on the train between stops, which is why the passenger cars are required.

The ERNEST "SMOKY" SMITH, VC car. You should read up on "Smoky" or "Smokey". He was the last living Canadian to be awarded a Victoria Cross. He died in 2005.

The MOUNT ROYAL, a sleeper, I believe.

The KILLARNEY.

The VAN HORNE brought up the rear.

Just for reference, here's what the VAN HORNE looked like in 2011 when lit up at night.

I decided to get them one more time before giving up the chase, so I positioned myself east of the Viterra grain elevator at CP Makwa and also set up my "video camera" aka Canon S3. Here I switched to my wider-angle lens to get a broader view of the train.

That was it for the Holiday Train for now. I hope you enjoyed the photos!

PS here is the full consist.
CP 2246
CP 2249
CP 220305
CP 220009
CP 220592
CP 220219
CP 220127
CP 220300
CP 424959
CP 424977
CP 401754
CP 401750
CP 220031
CP 220332
CP 220037
CP 220476
CP 220225
CP 220451
CP 220458
CP 220508
CP 42901
ERNEST "SMOKY" SMITH, VC
N.R. CRUMP
MOUNT ROYAL
STRATHCONA
DOMINION
BANFFSHIRE
KILLARNEY
VAN HORNE

See Also

• The 2018 CP Holiday Train (Whitemouth)
• The 2017 CP Holiday Train (Portage la Prairie)
• The 2016 CP Holiday Train (Deacon Road)
• The 2014 CP Holiday Train (Winnipeg)