I saw CN 111 heading west out of Winnipeg around noon on Thursday, March 15. I was waiting for the Canadian near Diamond. I had my Canon S3 on a tripod waiting to video it, and shot a few long distance shots of the approaching freight before turning the S3 on... and having it turn itself off and complain about low batteries. Drat.
CN 2676 was the lead engine, with CN 2677 behind it. Funny to see two engines in numeric order.
This was scrawled in the dirt on the rear of CN 2676.
I guess it was an editorial comment about CN's maintenance practices.
Farther down the train, CN 2663 was the first DPU engine.
Oddly enough, there was a second DPU engine right behind 2663, ex-BC Rail engine BCOL 4645, yet another Dash-9. Four in one train!
I was interested to hear that they were detouring! They told the RTC that they were detouring through Dauphin (rather than going through Melville SK) and the RTC said they would pick up their pilot in Portage la Prairie. They need a pilot when the crew is unfamiliar with the territory, much like ships need pilots to enter unknown harbours.
CN had a 22-car derailment on the Rivers subdivision about 40km east of Melville at about 03:30 Thursday morning. VIA 1 and 2 were delayed so I never saw VIA 1 on Thursday.
Clayton Chaloner reported that he saw CN 101, CN 401, CN 111 and two others detour before the derailment was cleared. Canada Newswire reported that the TSB was sent. The Regina Leader-Post reported that the derailment site was clear by 6 PM Thursday and that the derailed cars were empty tank cars. 40km east of Melville is around Bangor or Atwater on the CN Rivers subdivision.
EDIT: Corrected engine type of BCOL 4645. Thanks Zartok!
