CEMR 4012 and 4013

I mentioned that I saw CEMR 4013 at the CEMR shops a week ago. Geoff Sockett sent me a photo he took of CEMR 4013 and 4012 in Hantsport, Nova Scotia back on snowy January 16, 2006.

They were working the gypsum train at that time, I see.

CEMR's units 4011-4014 were built for CN as GP9s, numbered 4594, 4597, 4494 and 4567 respectively. They were rebuilt to GP9RM specifications with chopped noses and 1800 horsepower, and renumbered to 4011/4008/4013/4001.

CEMR sent 4011 through 4014 to the Windsor & Hantsport Railway in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2005. 4012 and 4014 came first, followed by 4011. 4013 was the last to arrive, in late August. They displaced the ex-CP MLW RS-23s that were working on the W&H.

4013 had a major failure on April 11, 2008 that wrecked the engine and main generator. 4012 was still operational in June 2008 but suffered a main generator failure soon afterward.

CEMR 4012 and 4013 left the Windsor & Hantsport Railway on March 5, 2009. They were in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for a day or two, then arrived in Toronto on March 13. They finally arrived in Winnipeg on March 21. I do not know the present condition of the units.

Thanks for the photo, Geoff!

Busy Day in Winnipeg, Part 2

Shortly after my last post, I spotted a westbound in the distance on the north track. Soon enough, CP 115 came rolling by at 17:00 with CP 8504 and 9810 on the head end, and CP 9783 midway through the train.

I kept an eye on the crossing arm after the train went by, and sure enough it was bouncing. The arm had gone up as normal, but it kept oscillating about 30 degrees from vertical back to vertical for about a minute. I called the CP number on the crossing to report it and they took the details down and said a maintainer would be dispatched.

With no more trains due to arrive for a while, we headed out. I drove around North Transcona for a bit and went up Risque Avenue (love that name) to the CEMR shops. I took a few shots through the fence. I saw CEMR GP9s 4010, 4013, 4001, 4002, ex-CP 5396 and snowplow CEMR 2.




We headed down south after that. Rolling past Symington Yard again revealed humpyard set CN 7511, CN 501, CN 504 and CN 7528 hard at work. I spotted a northbound train coming off the Sprague Subdivision but I was in no position to take a good photograph. The train had CN 2537, CN 5667, and CN 5661 for power.

That was a much better way to spend the afternoon than sitting at home!