Dash-9s by the Dozen

Well, OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. But here's five I've seen in the past couple of months.

I saw CN 532 rolling south along Pembina Highway on February 29. I chased it south until I got ahead of it south of St. Norbert. CN 2684 was the sole power on the train. This is not uncommon - many times 532 has only one engine, as the Letellier sub is pretty straight and flat.


Next up is CN 2659, lead engine on an eastbound train in Winnipeg ahead of powder blue IC 2458 on March 21. IC 2458 is a Dash-8 so it doesn't get included in the count.


It's amazing how the snow disappeared in three short weeks.

Six days later, I shot CN 2671 on another eastbound through Winnipeg. I was waiting in my car because it was pouring rain, and I jumped out to shoot the lead engines (CN 2290 and CN 2332) and then waited for the DPU engine (2671). As it happened, during all this jumping out and into the car, I dropped a set of keys. I was fortunate enough to find them again when I returned a few hours later!


The last two engines were on yet another CN container train coming into Winnipeg, on April 7. CN 2533 was the lead engine and I shot it as they passed Diamond heading east.


I decided to head east and get another shot of the train. I was ahead of it by Carman Junction so I stopped there and shot it passing the switch to CEMR's tracks at the Junction.


Sister Dash-9 CN 2536 was the DPU power on the train, pushing on the rear. Note the red light above the ditch light, indicating the rear of the train.


I hope you have enjoyed this view of a few of the Dash-9s that pass through Winnipeg.

Busy Times in Winnipeg

I went up to Wilkes Avenue at noon to see the Canadian. Little did I know how busy it would be! I saw a westbound container train stopped along Wilkes Avenue, so I headed to Waverley to see the head end. Scanner traffic indicated it was CN 102, stopped on the south track to wait for VIA 1. Down by Fort Rouge, the headlight of CN 301 was visible on the north track.

The Canadian had to go by 301 on the south track, then cut over to the north track to pass CN 102. Here they are cutting over and passing me.

Its consist was engines 6401 and 6408; baggage 8605; coaches 8143 and 8125; Skyline 8501; diner 8414 Palliser; Skyline 8516; sleepers 8308 Bliss Manor, 8321 Draper Manor, 8336 Monck Manor, 8302 Abbot Manor, 8220 Chateau Papinea, 8209 Chateau Iberville; Skyline 8510; diner 8411 Imperial; sleepers 8334 Macdonald Manor, 8335 Mackenzie Manor, 8341 Thompson Manor; and 8710 Prince Albert Park.

As you can see from the video, there were a group of kids clustered around the signals. School was off today so they apparently had nothing better to do than dance around on the tracks and throw stones at the trains.

Right after VIA 1 crossed Waverley Street, CN 102 throttled up. It made quite a nice thrum as it passed me. SD75Is CN 5721 and CN 5643 provided the power for a relatively short train.

As 102 passed the kids west of Waverley Street, some of them stoned the train. I took quite a few photos of them and I will be submitting them to the CN Police.

Next, CN 301 headed west on the north track in pursuit of VIA 1. CN 2631 and CN 8817 made a good show of it. I glanced east and saw another train coming! This was another container train, with CN 2659 and CN 5686 pulling a long train. They rolled past 301 and I enjoyed the view of two trains passing right in front of me.

Amazingly, these four trains, VIA 1, CN 102, CN 301, and the other CN eastbound, all passed within 20 minutes. Winnipeg is a great train town.