The Dufresne Grain Elevator, and CEMR

I was browsing through Flickr a few days ago and stumbled across this photo of CN train 342 at Dufresne, Manitoba. It's a very sharp photo, but what really attracted me was the grain elevator. I had no idea there were any grain elevators on the CN Sprague subdivision. I decided that I had to go check it out, and on Sunday June 30, I did.

Dufresne is located about 30 km southeast of Winnipeg, just off the Trans-Canada Highway. The kids and I drove down there and found it easily enough. It's hard to miss a grain elevator on the Prairies once you get within 10 km or so of it.


There were some beat-up gondolas and side-dump cars parked beside the elevator, and the smell of creosote was strong in the air. Clearly the elevator is not being used, but a little research shows the elevator wore the Agricore logo as recently as 2006, although the elevator tracks were pretty overgrown by that point.

I went around to the sun side and took a shot there, to illustrate the trackage there.


Sadly no trains were evident and the signals were all dark.

The most recent data I have for the Sprague subdivision shows the following for the area around Dufresne:

120.7	Hotbox detector	-
130.9	DUFRESNE	6,690
133.1	Hotbox detector	-

The siding is evident as the middle track in the above photo, and it does appear to get some use, although by modern standards 6,690 feet is a bit short.

Looking back in time, the CN Assiniboine Division Employee Timetable #72 from April 24, 1977 shows a bit more information.

The siding was just a bit shorter (6,390 feet) and the hotbox detector at mile 133.1 was not there in 1977. The more interesting information is that there was a siding at Ste. Anne at mile 126.2 (not present now) and two spurs in Ste. Anne to service the Co-Op and also Cominco.

Also notice the Railliner trains, #687 and #686, which ran three times a week up to May 21. I assume they were cancelled after that. They were relatively speedy, scheduled to take 3 hours and 10 minutes to cover the 145.7 miles between Navin and Rainy River.

Anyway, after taking all the photos I wanted, we proceeded back to Winnipeg. There were three hump sets of GP38-slug-slug-GP38 visible in Symington yard, two of which were active. I carried on up to Transcona but the yard was devoid of any power. Off to see what was going on at CP and CEMR...

CP was dark but I spotted headlights on the CEMR Pine Falls subdivision just outside their yard. There is a chemical plant there that takes tank cars and I could see an engine with some tank cars. I took a guess that they were going to push the train into the CEMR yard, so I carried on down Day Street. I was surprised to see there was an engine on the other end of the train too. CEMR 4001 had two crew and was pulling the train into the CEMR yard.


After about a dozen tank cars, there was CEMR 4002 on the other end! It had a crewman riding the end of the engine.


I had a quick look at what was inside the yard, as much as I could see from Day Street. New acquisition CCGX 4119 was there with CEMR 5396, and ex-CN GP9 JLCX 7059 was there too. I saw that engine several times in its former life as CN 7059.

Not a bad afternoon of railfanning, all things considered.

Smoking like an Alco

I went to St. James Junction in Winnipeg around noon on April 12 to shoot the Canadian, and as often happens I saw a couple of bonus trains.

As soon as I arrived, I noticed headlights to the east. The other railfans there told me that was CN 199 (seen above). It had CN 5762 and CN 5723 for power. I was going to say that this was the first time I'd seen a pair of SD75I engines on CN 199, but that's not true.

Anyway, VIA 1 came trundling along about 15 minutes later with VIA 6405 on point.


I want to point out two things about this photograph. First, VIA 1 is crossing over from the south to the north track in this photo. Second, note the headlight in the distance behind the Canadian.

After the Canadian passed, that headlight turned into the CEMR train heading toward their Carman subdivision. As they passed a CN maintenance truck, they opened it up and belched a cloud of smoke that would make an Alco proud.


I decided to give chase and headed down to Wilkes Avenue to catch them crossing the road. I beat them easily and had time to turn around, park well off the road, and wait for them to make their crossing.


Those old Geeps still look pretty good!

June 29 Sightings

I saw a couple of trains on my way to and from the airport on June 29.

First, a CEMR train was waiting at the beginning of the Carman subdivision to enter the CN Rivers subdivision to go east at 10:26. CEMR 4001, 4011 and 4002 were at the head of a long grain train.

CEMR 4011 recently arrived in Winnipeg from the Windsor & Hantsport Railway in Nova Scotia. I reported back at the end of April that 4011 and 4014 were being readied to go back home, with the purchase of the "new" GE units for the W&H. They left in May and 4011 was in Winnipeg at the beginning of June.

On my way back, I saw that the CEMR train was still waiting there at 11:30. As I rounded the city on the Perimeter, I saw a CP train heading north on the La Riviere subdivision. I shot it just as it crossed the Perimeter by the BrettYoung seed plant.

CP 1128 and 3028 are old friends, commonly assigned to the La Riviere subdivision. I have seen them a few times.

Big CEMR Train

I saw the twice-weekly CEMR train rolling across the prairie yesterday just after lunch. They pulled up to a crossing just north of the Perimeter Highway to wait for the conductor to show up. Their normal practice is for the conductor to stay at Carman Junction to reline the switch for the mainline, then get a taxi to the head end.

I talked with the friendly engineer for a few minutes. They had 107 cars and 6400 feet, and were to do a bit of switching at Oak Bluff before taking a block of 100 grain cars farther down the line. The engineer used to work on the now-defunct Southern Manitoba Railway.

Here's a quick video I took of the train pulling up to the crossing. Those GP9 engines make a distinctive noise.

CEMR, VIA, BNSF, oh my!

I went to the St. James Junction area today at noon to see the Hudson Bay. I heard that BNSF 2001 was at Fort Rouge last night, so I was hoping to see that too. I got more than I bargained for! I set up at the Waverley Street crossing.

At 12:17 I saw a westbound freight round the corner at Portage Junction. It turned out to be CEMR 4001, ANY 5232, and CEMR 4002 leading the westbound freight to the CEMR Carman Subdivision.

I had a look at the photos afterward, and I see the engine crew were gesturing as they went by.

I'm glad they had TWO fingers up!

Right after that, a CN local went down the Letellier sub to switch the industrial area around Chevrier. They had one engine (likely a 7200 series GP9), one slug, and about a dozen cars.

At 12:25 the Hudson Bay (VIA 693) made its appearance.

The consist was 6456, 6445, 8600, 8110, 8100, York, Chateau Radisson.

Finally, at 12:40 the BNSF transfer went east to Fort Rouge with BNSF 12580 leading and BNSF 2886 pushing. By then I was out of time so I couldn't wait to see 2001 return. Here they are, with a fairly long train.

A New Find

I was driving on the Perimeter Highway on my way home after work late this afternoon. Suddenly I spied something to the right, on the CEMR line... an engine! I quickly pulled into Agrico at Oak Bluff. The engine and a caboose were on their siding. I went into the office and asked if I could please photograph the train. They agreed as long as I was quick, since they were closing up. I zipped down and took a few shots!

The gentleman inside said that CEMR was having a traveling barbecue to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

I was glad to finally photograph a CEMR engine. Thanks again to the folks at Agrico for their cooperation.