So Many Photos, So Little Time

I'm so far behind in cataloguing my train photos. I've been busy on a bunch of other (non-train) stuff and yet I keep taking train photos, so my virtual "to be filed" stack gets larger and larger. I know, I know, it's not a bad situation to be in... so here is a dump of some photos I've taken recently, without much commentary.

On July 31, I shot an eastbound intermodal at Diamond in the late afternoon. CN 2248 was the sole engine on the head end and CN 2338 was farther back in the train.




On August 14, two SD60s brought CN 781 west out of Winnipeg. CN 5548 was the lead engine, followed by CN 5516. I quite like how this one turned out.


On August 21, I took the kids for a drive because we were all bored. We ended up in and around Transcona and saw a few trains. First, we saw BCOL 4607 sitting by itself in the CN Transcona yard. I don't know whether it was dropped by a train or was left as additional power for a soon-to-arrive train, but it was all alone.


I drove up to CEMR's yard to see what was up. On the way I saw CEMR 4002 pushing a set of tank cars back toward their yard. Technically CEMR was on the Pine Falls subdivision, so that was the first time I'd seen a train there.


In behind CEMR's shop, the hulk of CCGX 4010 is being slowly stripped. Here it is, clearly showing half of the 16 cylinder holes.


CCGX 4010's hood lay on the ground nearby.


Finally, we have CN 199 heading out of Winnipeg on August 23. First, here it is just west of Carman Junction with CN 8874 leading.


Ex BC Rail unit BCOL 4601 was trailing. Note the shiny clean section on 4601... wonder why?


I got ahead of them and shot them approaching Diamond. I decided to do a bit of a pan shot for this one.


I shot some video of 199 here.


As a little extra, here are some crossing gates at sunrise. This was shot just south of the floodway on the CP Emerson subdivision.

July 2

Here's a few photos from July 2. This was a holiday here so after hanging around the house for a while, I loaded the kids up and went out to shoot trains. I headed toward CN's Symington Yard but was distracted by CN 103 rolling into the yard from the CN Sprague subdivision. I shot them just north of the Perimeter near Tinkertown. I didn't have much time to set up and I wanted to try a pan shot. This is the best of them.


Continuing on, I passed the yard and headed up to Transcona. CN 114 was rolling through on the main line, passing CN 112 that was sitting in the siding being refueled. 112 had CN 8899 on the head end.

You can see the grain facility on the left and the Fort Garry hotel in the far distance.

Here's CN 114 passing CN 112.

I really wish I have a better telephoto lens! To be fair, this is shot from a bit over half a kilometre away...

I took another shot as they drew closer.


I decided to chase the train. We headed east along the Dugald Road and were able to get ahead of it. I debated with myself whether I would try a grain elevator shot in Dugald but when I saw a nice field of canola, I knew I wanted to shoot the train with the canola in the foreground. Here it is.


I heard that CN 112 was getting ready to roll, so I took a few photos of it but did not wait around. I wanted to see some CP action. I headed north. All was quiet on CP so I had a quick look at the CEMR yard. I saw that CP 1532 and CP 1594 were parked in the CP North Transcona yard, and CEMR had engine 4000 in front of their shops... but more interesting was CCGX 4010 as viewed through their fence.


I'm no expert but I kinda think this is the end of CCGX 4010.


I last saw her in action just about two years ago:


I returned to the Day Street crossing of CP and saw headlights in the distance to the east. I parked and waited for the train.. and waited.. and waited. It was approaching but taking its sweet old time getting there. Finally it revealed itself to be CP 8761.


That was it for the day. I guess that was enough!

Finally, the Canadian

I went up to Wilkes Avenue today at noon to shoot the Canadian, for the first time in over a month (since May 27!). I saw a friend of mine waiting for the same train, so I parked by him at mile 10 and we chatted while waiting for VIA.

First up was CN 801, however, with CN 8011 as the sole engine. 8011 on 801... quite a coincidence.

After that went by, we waited... and waited... and waited for the Canadian. Finally we heard that it had a mechanical problem and was stopped. In the meantime, we saw the CEMR train in the distance starting down the Carman subdivision.

The Canadian did show up, quite late.

VIA 6412 and 6427 were pulling 19 cars under the lovely sky.

Immediately afterward, CN 108 came the other way with CN 2673 and 8825 and a mile or two of containers. The problem with the mile 10 location is that you are too close to the tracks for eastbounds to shoot the whole train... too much stuff in the way. So, a closeup of the engine was in order.


We went our separate ways after that. I went south, just in time to catch CEMR crossing the Perimeter Highway at Oak Bluff. CEMR 4000 and CCGX 4010 were bringing a portion of their train to switch Oak Bluff.

Nice sun, eh?

It was nice to get out and take some shots on this beautiful day. Today's sightings

Parade

On Monday (April 26) I worked from home in the morning, and intended to work from my office in the afternoon. I drove up Wilkes Avenue at noon, planning to catch the Canadian on the way. I did see VIA about halfway between Kenaston and the Perimeter, right on time. The Canadian was extra-long, with 3 deadhead cars on the head end and 13 cars in revenue service.


Full consist.

Right after that, I was brought into a conference call. Rather than drive while talking on my cell phone (have you signed Oprah's No Phone Zone pledge? Neither have I), I elected to pull over. While I was on the phone, several more trains rolled on by.

CN 199 followed VIA out of the city, with CN 5641 and CN 2401 providing the power. The container traffic was on the head end here, with the miscellaneous junk trailing. I was able to step out of my car, take a shot, then get back to the call.


Shortly after that, an eastbound rolled by with CN 8907 and CN 2423. It may have been CN 198 but I'm just guessing. 198 often rolls into Winnipeg around noon. No photos for that one.

The fourth train was the twice-weekly CEMR train heading for the Carman subdivision. CCGX 4010, CEMR 4001 and CEMR 4000 pulled about 70 cars. I took a few shots through the windshield and this is the best of them.

Soon after that, my call was done and I continued on to the office. Maybe I need to relocate my office...