That's My Fun Day

Head on into Sunday morning

I wish it was Sunday
That's my fun day
My I don't have to run day
- Manic Monday, Bangles

You may have noticed that I sometimes go out railfanning on Sunday mornings. Sunday is indeed my "I don't have to run day" as the Bangles so aptly sang. Saturday morning is usually spent at my son's curling rink and weekend afternoons are family time. Sunday mornings... often they are my time.

This past Sunday (February 12th) was one of those fun days. I woke up at a reasonable hour, had breakfast, then hit the road. I had a notion to visit the CN Rivers subdivision for a bit, then head up to the CP Carberry sub and hopefully catch a train there.

Track 1 - Manic Monday

First catch was an early train on the Rivers, a westbound heading out of the early morning sun. Not the best light, but you do what you can. I parked near Carman Junction and got the photos above and below at that location. The train was led by CN 5708 (SD75I) and CN 2153 (C40-8W) and featured a lot of autoracks.

CN 5708 rounding the bend at Carman Junction

I hopped in my car and headed west to try to catch them around Diamond. It was not hard to get ahead of them, as the road conditions were good. I shot them splitting the west-facing signals.

CN 5708 splitting the signals at Diamond

I didn't chase them any further. I wasn't really sure whether I should head up north to CP yet.

I had a feeling there was going to be an eastbound freight coming along. I'm not sure why I felt that way.

Track 2 - In A Different Light

I went westward a bit along the CN Rivers sub, and at the route 424 crossing I saw a headlight to the west. I looked around a bit for a suitable location and found a snow ridge to stand on to get a bit of elevation.

As the train hurtled closer I saw that it was a potash train, led by another SD75I, CN 5672, and a Dash-9, CN 2536. They were really moving!

CN 5672 and a lot of potash cars in the snow

Fortunately a westbound train in the morning put the train in a different light than the earlier eastbound.

Those PotashCorp hoppers kicked up a lot of snow.

Mmmm, potash

I decided to give chase and maybe get ahead of them for another shot. Since they were an eastbound, the light would be a lot better.

Track 3 - Walking Down Your Street

As I pursued them, it became clear that there was going to be a meet, as the headlights of another westbound were visible in the distance. I had one thing on my mind - to catch the westbound train quickly, then resume the chase.

Dash-9 (C44-9W) CN 2644 was leading the third SD75I of the day, CN 5716, and a solid grain train.

A different light - side light, in fact

The lighting wasn't great and the location wasn't so good either, but hey, I took a few quick shots and I was back on the chase again...

Track 4 - Walk Like An Egyptian

(man, I loved that song)

I passed Diamond, finally catching up to the end of the potash train. As I slowly gained on the train, car by car, I saw another westbound train rolling by on the south track - a container train. I made a quick decision and gave up on the potash train.

A quick U-turn brought me back toward Diamond to get the container train. No cops - maybe they were hanging out at the donut shop. I pulled over down the road and ran out to grab CN 2968 (ES44AC) at the head end of what I assume was Q101, a hot intermodal train.

CN 2968 leading a container train outside Winnipeg

The train rolled along pretty swiftly, and after a few minutes the mid-train DPU came into view, an ET44AC, CN 3069.

CN 3069 mid-train outside Winnipeg

It was turning into quite a nice morning!

Remember these chairs? Still here, apparently.

Another ES44AC was on the tail end, CN 2961. This one was pretty snow covered, which made me wonder if maybe this was the leader on an eastbound train earlier, and was now heading back west.

Ummm, you have a little something on your face.

After that, I figured if I was going to go see CP, I'd better get on with it.

Track 5 - Standing in the Hallway

I headed up the Perimeter Highway to the CP Carberry sub. There were two CP trains there, passing each other on the two tracks!

I was amazed, because it's good luck to see even one CP train these days. One was heading east into Winnipeg and one was heading west. I had no chance of getting the eastbound before it reached the yard, so I went west, young man.

It took a while to catch up to it, as you have to slow to 50 km/hr through Rosser and the road isn't parallel to the track all the way along. I got ahead of it before Meadows and elected to shoot it with the elevator. Here's the "coming" shot as they approached the Paterson grain elevator, which was off to the left of the photo.

CP 9371 West through Meadows, Manitoba

Since it was morning and the sun was in the east, I couldn't shoot a conventional "passing the elevator" photo without some severe backlighting. I decided to try this shot instead. I'm fairly happy with it.

CP 9371 and the Meadows elevator

Note the birds deserting the elevator as CP 9371 and CP 8702 rumbled by.

I moved around a bit to try different angles as the seemingly endless container train rolled by. I shot the DPU locomotive, CP 8828, from more of the sun side.

CP 8828 passing the Meadows grain elevator

I tromped through the snow to get the last shot of the tail end of the train passing the elevator. Good thing I had my winter boots on!

Container train and grain elevator

I see that CP is carrying Canadian Tire containers again. For a while they were on CN... maybe they are on both now. Anyone know?

So that was fun, but it was time to start heading home.

Track 6 - Return Post

I passed through Rosser again - 50 km/hr grumble grumble - and as I approached the Viterra elevator by the Perimeter Highway, I saw headlights on the rails. Another train!

The funny thing was that the headlights were high on the hood, not in the nose like Canadian locomotives have. At first I thought it was an American locomotive like a Norfolk Southern engine, but it turned out to be CP 2304 running long hood forward.

CP 2304, running long hood forward

CP 2304 is a GP20C-ECO locomotive, one of the rebuilt Geeps featuring a standard cab and an 8 cylinder 710 prime mover. I'm not sure why it was running long hood forward; I'm sure the crew wasn't big fans of the reduced visibility.

I'm quite sure this locomotive and train were headed to Portage la Prairie. The train had the following cars:

• CRYX 5362, 5349, 5359, 5353, 5590, 4037, 4033, 5374 - Cryo-Trans refrigerated cars, likely for McCain Foods in Portage;
• TGRX 854834 (lettered for Richardson) and GACX 10003 (lettered for GATX) - for the Richardson plant on the west side of Portage;
• TILX 793096 (Trinity Industries Leading) - refrigerated car for Simplot just west of Portage; and
• CRYX 5381, CRYX 5377, CRYX 5364, and CRYX 5296 - probably also for McCain

CRYX 5296 and other refrigerated cars

Often there is a CP locomotive stationed in Portage la Prairie, but I understand that recently the crew either takes the locomotive from Winnipeg to Portage or taxis from Winnipeg to Portage.

I didn't chase the train, but instead headed south. I had some time left so I thought I'd touch base with a few grain elevators and maybe get lucky and catch one more train.

Track 7 - If She Knew What She Wants

There was nothing moving on the CN Rivers sub, nor the CEMR Carman sub, so I headed down the CP La Riviere sub toward La Salle and Domain.

The La Salle grain elevator

The La Salle grain elevator looked much the same as the last time I saw it. The elevator has a bit of a lean toward the track, but it's had that for several years at least. Hopefully it doesn't get worse.

I went to the south end to shoot and a few snowmobilers were zooming by, so I caught one of them in the photo.

Snowmobiling in La Salle, Manitoba

I'd say this looks like fun, but I haven't been on a snowmobile since I was a child. My dad was involved in two snowmobile incidents and let's just say that they didn't exactly endear me to snowmobiles.

1. While we were living in the Soviet Union, we were staying at a dacha [cottage] outside Moscow for a few days. My dad borrowed or rented a snowmobile, which happened to have a broken windshield so it had a jagged edge on it. While driving it, he managed to get into an accident and cut his chin on the windshield, requiring stitches... without anesthetic, of course, because this was the Soviet Union.

2. Back in Canada - either before or after our trip to the USSR, I'm not sure - we were visiting my mom's parents at their farm outside Fredericton. My dad had a snowmobile and I was on the back, and we headed out to run over the farm land. My grandparents had a few hundred acres so there was plenty of room to ski or snowmobile. I did a lot of cross-country skiing there.

Anyway, at one point I fell off the back and my dad didn't notice for a while, so I was left alone in the "wilderness" for a while until my dad noticed and came back for me. I wasn't interested in snowmobiling after that.

Track 8 - Let It Go

After La Salle, it's a short drive over to Domain to see the ex Manitoba Pool grain elevator there.

I love these Prairie town signs

I'm pretty sure the elevator is privately owned now. I've seen single grain cars spotted at the elevator so it is still in use.

The Domain, Manitoba grain elevator

That was the end of my "fun day" morning. I hope you liked it, and I'll leave you with a question:

What is your favourite Bangles song?

Leave a comment and tell me why!

Spring Break Railfanning (Guest Post)

This is another guest post by Taylor Woolston... another Winnipeg railfanning tour by bicycle!

On Wednesday March 30th, 2016, it was the third day of Spring Break, and I decided that I would go and railfan the BNSF Manitoba Railway for a bit. BNSF Manitoba is a is a shortline that owns a few miles of tracks in Winnipeg.

They bring cars to and from CP's Westview Yard at "Garbage Hill", and CN's Fort Rouge Yard, and they also serve a few industries, including ADM, which is right beside their engine house. They usually start their operations at around 10 AM.

After waking up and having breakfast, I packed up my equipment and rode off on my bike towards the BNSF. Being around an hour early, I decided to make a stop at St James Junction, which is a short hop from the BNSF. Here, the CN Rivers Subdivision crosses the CP La Rivere Subdivision. When I got to the junction, I noticed something north of the diamond on the La Riviere Subdivision, but I couldn't figure out what it was; however, it was coming my way. Before it could cross, it had to wait for a couple of CN trains to cross the diamond.

Right after the second CN train crossed, the thing on the CP La Riviere Subdivision crossed over, heading south. It turns out it was some kind of self-propelled rail crane, with a couple of flatbeds surrounding it, CP in front and SOO behind.

Once it passed by, I made my way over to Grant Avenue to get set up for BNSF. As I rode past the ADM area, I noticed that they were already active, moving tanks around. I got to Grant Avenue, set up, and waited. Then I noticed something to the north, there was a CP train coming!

As CP came closer and closer, and the BNSF was finishing up and getting ready to go, I wondered which one would pass by first.

In the end, BNSF passed by first with BNSF 1523 (GP28-2) and 7 tanks in tow.

I was very relieved to see that their caboose, BN 12580, was on the tail end to "complete" the train.

The BNSF freight met the CP train a little bit north of here, and just a few minutes later, CP passed by with CP 2304 and 2211 (both GP20C-ECO's) hauling a relatively long train south. This was most likely the train that goes to the Altona, MB area.

Once it finally passed, I packed up and biked north. I crossed the combined rail and foot bridge (which is very useful, and you can get very close to the action!) across the Assiniboine River, looking for a spot to try. After a few minutes, I realized that the BNSF was approaching! I decided to bike back across the bridge, and set up near Wellington Crescent. A couple minutes later, they came into view with the caboose leading mostly tanks heading south.

Immediately after they passed, I packed up and gave chase, which is not easy on a bike! Slowly, bit by bit, I passed them, and I was able to beat them to Taylor Avenue.

I noticed that their signal onto the CN Rivers Subdivision showed Slow-to-Stop (Red over Flashing Yellow), which indicated that they would probably be stopping at Waverley Street, so I gave chase again. Sure enough, BNSF stopped short of Waverley Street. After a little while, a westbound CN train roared past. Once that train passed, BNSF got clearance to Fort Rouge Yard, and they passed by.

After that, I decided to head back north to Wellington Crescent and look around for a shot there. After waiting for awhile for BNSF to return, I could hear some horn blowing coming from the north. It sounded like it was coming from the St James Industrial area.

After thinking for a bit, I decided to take a risk and abandon the BNSF, and ride up north to see if there was anything going on. I went up to Saskatchewan Avenue, which parallels a CP spur that serves a few industries. There is also the ex-CN Oak Point Subdivision, which CP uses a few miles of to serve a few industries.

Most of the CN Oak Point Subdivision was abandoned in 1996, but a few miles in the city survived, which CP now uses as a spur. I didn't see anything at all going on, then I noticed that the switch that leads to the Oak Point was set to go to the former branch line. With the track layout, I knew instantly that there must be something up there!

I rode up a few streets, until reaching the area where King Edward Street (Route 90) crosses under Oak Point and the CP Carberry Subdivision. From there, I was able to see a CP locomotive doing some switching near Brookside Blvd, which is where the track ends.

After awhile, they appeared to be done switching and were heading away from the industries, so I decided to ride away and set up somewhere. While coming up here, I noticed a small wooden bridge where the track crosses over Omands Creek and I decided that I would set up there. When I arrived, they were in view, but still a fair distance away from me. Eventually, they very slowly passed me with CP 4428 (GP38-2) pulling 3 cars at around 5 MPH.

When they passed, I immediately packed up and chased them back to Saskatchewan Ave, where a curve takes them off the Oak Point Spur, and back onto CP's main lead for the area. The CP crew stopped before coming around the curve, which helped allow me to get set up again. After a couple minutes, they came around the curve. Once they came off, they threw the switch back and pushed the cars back towards a siding.

Afterwards, I decided to head home. I rode south down Empress Street, when I heard a train horn. From the north. You might think it was just the local freight I just saw, but the horn was completely different, it was a horn only used on GP20C-ECO's. At Omands Creek, I took a look, and sure enough a train was coming south on the CP La Riviere Subdivision. I setup on a nearby foot bridge, and captured CP 2317 (GP20C-ECO) and 3068 (GP38-2) leading a local made up of hoppers and a few tanks.

That was the end of a great day of railfanning, made up of lots of branchline action, some caboose action, and even a little mainline action!

Thanks for the guest post, Taylor! You can see Taylor's other guest post here and please go visit his YouTube channel.

A CN Grab Bag

I had a backlog of CN photos I took in July, so here they are...

Here's CN 2304 leading a westbound train near Diamond just after noon on the 4th of July.


Two days later, I shot CN 5691 near the same location.


On the 13th, I shot CN 8959 at the head of a slow-moving westbound intermodal train. It had fellow SD70M-2 CN 8891 in the middle and a third SD70M-2 CN 8907 pushing on the rear.


Finally, on the 28th I shot CN 199 just west of St. James Junction, with CN 2321 leading and CN 2690 trailing. Here they are near the Junction, crossing over from the south to the north track.


Finally, here they are passing my location.

The Three Hundreds

Not 300 the movie... this is about two trains numbered in the three hundreds. Specifically, 301 and 304.

On the evening of June 10th, I was standing on 156th Street NW in Edmonton just north of the Yellowhead Trail. This is the east end of CN's Bissel yard, on the CN Edson subdivision.

I saw train 304 was waiting to head east across Edmonton, with CN 5761 and CN 5703 at the head of a train consisting mostly of paper products.

After a while, they got their light... yellow over yellow, meaning "Clear to Slow" - proceed, approaching next signal at slow speed. They slowly pulled out of the yard and went under me.

As they did that, CN 301 came around the corner east of me, and passed under me on their way west. This train had CN 2304 and IC 1027 on the head end.

CN 301 had engine 2238 mid-train... nice to see!

Once those two had passed, I went back to my car and headed east. I saw CN 304 threading its way past Calder Yard. I went to East Junction, where the CN Vegreville subdivision meets the main line, and where I railfanned back in 2004. I waited by a baseball field and soon enough 304 came along.

It was getting dark, so I decided to head back to the hotel. On my way, I noticed that CN 304 had stopped on the high bridge over the North Saskatchewan river. I went to the wye just east of the river and waited. After a few minutes, they started up again and I took this shot of the "Canadian National Railways - Courtesy and Service" logo with the train in the background.

It was getting pretty dark by then!