A Wee Grain Elevator Trip

On August 4 I took a "wee" grain elevator trip as part of my 2014 photography project (you've visited www.grainelevators.ca, haven't you?). I only had Sunday morning and I had an errand to run, to drop off a print to the owner of the Mentmore grain elevator in thanks for him showing me around. I figured I didn't have much time so I really only planned on seeing one new-to-me elevator, in Justice, Manitoba.

I made a spreadsheet to plan my trip (of course! who wouldn't?) and here it is.

You can see I intended to take the Trans-Canada west, then north to Justice, then visit Mentmore, then revisit a few elevators on my way out. I had a dwell time of 30 minutes at Oberon because I wanted to revisit that fantastic elevator in detail, and I planned on 30 minutes at Harte to hopefully catch a train passing the elevator on the CN Rivers subdivision.

I woke up bright and early around 03:15 and hit the road a few minutes early. After passing Portage la Prairie, I noticed I was well ahead of schedule so I made a quick decision to add two more elevators to my list. There is a new Viterra elevator just north of Brandon on the Rivers subdivision, as well as the old Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Forrest. I had thought about including them in the list before but I didn't think I had enough time.

After a quick stop at the highway Esso for fuel and the local Scottish restaurant for drive-through breakfast, I headed north on highway 10. I came across the old Pool elevator in Forrest quite easily.

Forrest with a new top!?

I spent the next 15 minutes photographing the elevator. It is a bit of an odd duck in that the top has clearly been replaced / renewed while the rest of the elevator, and the annex, is quite weathered. It does appear to be maintained as it is not very overgrown and there is an open Shop-Vac in the truck bay.

Drive Through Service

Back on the road, I quickly spotted the new Viterra facility and took a few photos from the highway.

Service at.. a profit

After 17 minutes of driving, I found Justice.

Been searching for justice? Here it is!

Justice has a classic Manitoba Pool elevator with a largeish annex. The single-track CN main line runs past it but there is no siding for the elevator any more.

Your classic prairie elevator

I spent half an hour photographing the elevator and a few scenes around. I was hoping a CN train would happen along but there was no sign of any rail traffic. There was some nice scenery, though.

Thanks for the photobomb, birds!

I carried on east to Brookdale and territory I had covered before on May 31. I stopped in Brookdale to photograph the old grain warehouse, a classic structure I had intended to photograph the first time but ended up forgetting about! The sun was not in a great position but I did what I could.

Ancient grain warehouse

From there I headed north to Mentmore. I dropped the photo off and took a few photos of the elevator from afar.

Jayson Brothers Limited, Mentmore

After that it was a short drive to Oberon.

Grain Elevator Selfie FTW!

I just love the weathered, forlorn look of this elevator. I spent about 20 minutes photographing it from various angles. Here's the office, viewed from outside.

Needs a little work

From there I headed directly south to Harte.

Bye for now

I was about 20 minutes ahead of schedule!

There was no rail action imminent but I did see a crop-duster working nearby, so I went over and photographed it for a while.

How low can you go?

The plane is an Air Tractor AT-402B, a plane custom made for spraying. It is part of the fleet operated by Ken Kane Aerial Spray Ltd. out of Minnedosa, Manitoba.

Air Tractor AT-402B

My scanner crackled to life with CN 114 calling the approach to Harte around 09:20. An eastbound would look great in the morning sun but it would be a "going away" photo for the grain elevator, as the elevator is east of the overpass I was shooting from. I had my old Canon S3 set up on the tripod to record video while I shot stills with my Canon T1i with the 70-200mm f/4 lens.

That's the shot I wanted

That overpass sure rumbled when those containers rolled by underneath. It was almost scary how close they were!

Interesting stuff in the gondolas...

How would you like your scrap steel?

After CN 114 went by, it was quiet for a while. I heard two CN trains exchanging inspection reports as they passed each other, and then I heard CN 403 call a diverging signal at Harte as they took the siding at 10:00. They crawled past the elevator, with CN 2307 / CN 8009 / CN 5480 / CN 5548 for power.

Taking the siding

When processing these photos, I was surprised to see that the conductor was photographing me!

Say cheese, foamer!

Sergeant stripes forever

The reason for taking the siding became apparent when CN 106 called the approach to Harte.

I set up to record the meet. CN 106 rumbled past with CN 8948 as the sole power on the head end, and CN 8944 as DPU in the middle of the train.

Pleased to meet you

Mid-train blues

CN 403 was rolling before 106 was past, anticipating a quick alignment of the switch so they could leave, and they got it and were on their way at 10:12. So was I, as my schedule said it was time to leave!

I passed Oberon again and took highway 5 south to the Trans-Canada, then headed east toward Winnipeg. As I passed MacGregor I saw two consecutive CN westbound trains. In both cases I pulled over to the shoulder and photographed them from the highway, as I didn't have time to do any more than that.

1. CN 2120, CN 2619, CN 2125
2. CN 5620, CN 2011

From a distance...

Passing Bloom, I noticed that poor CN 114 was stopped there. Clearly they didn't get too far after Harte before having to stop for westbound traffic.

Between Bloom and Portage I saw another train, with CN 8934 and CN 2528.

Love that zig zag!

I went around Portage and kept going. I saw I was making good time so I cut north to the Rivers subdivision just before Headingley, so I could drive alongside the CN tracks between mile 20 and mile 11 and hopefully catch just one more train. I met Brian Schuff at Diamond and we saw a CN train carry on westward  with CN IC 2699 and CN 5452 on the head end and CN 8846 pushing on the rear.

Just a few more trains and I'll be right home to you

Not bad for a (long) morning's work... 3 new grain elevators and 7 CN trains.

PS if you're interested in purchasing any of my prints, my best photos are available on pixels.com. If there's one you want that's not there, contact me and we can work it out.

August 1

On August 1 I had some good luck catching trains. I headed out to work earlier than usual in the morning so I could see if any trains came by. I went out to Diamond and parked. The first train came along at 7:23 AM, CN 302.


Nice light on the nose of this eastbound train.
The engineer gave me a nice two-finger wave as he passed by.


CN 302 was met by CN 403, which came by my location 20 minutes later. I shot them coming through the signals at Diamond. As you can see, it is challenging to shoot a westbound train early in the morning!


Note the interesting cargo on one of the flatcars. Progressive Waste Solutions owns BFI and a couple of other waste disposal companies.



The video works better than the still photo, I think.


Here's my video camera, duly recording the train going by. My scanner is on the ground under the tripod.


On my way along Wilkes Avenue, I saw CCGX 5232 and CEMR 4001 parked with a short train at the end of the Carman subdivision. I'm pretty sure that train sat there idling for a whole day before it finally carried on to CEMR's yard.

Later in the day, I went home via Wilkes Avenue and I managed to catch CN 314 at Hall Road just west of the Perimeter Highway, pretty much exactly where I shot the previous train.




I knew CN 314 was being followed by CN 114, so I went a bit west to Diamond to get 114. I was surprised to see how much "junk" was on the head end of this supposedly intermodal train.



You can see I was pretty near the CP tracks crossing CN at Diamond. I didn't have time to record the entire train but I captured the "gist" of it.

What a fun day!

NBEC Videos a-plenty!

Chris M, aka clam502, took a video of NBEC 595 with NBEC 1813 returning to Campbellton from Dalhousie. I enjoyed the sound of his child yelling "here comes choo-choos!" Nice to see the kids enthusiastic about trains!


Michel Boudreau, aka NBECMich, took a few videos in the Bathurst area of NBEC 402/403 (the mainline freight) and NBEC 597 (the local shunter).

First, here's NBEC 597 with 1821 as power, leaving Bathurst for Superior Propane in Beresford with 3 tank cars. Poor Michel got a bit shook up by the horn.


Next, NBEC 402 became train 403 in Bathurst. They had no traffic for Miramichi so they didn't need to go there. Power was 6900 and 6904.


1821 came back light from Beresford, just before 403 left for Campbellton.


Thanks for posting those, guys! Someday I'll be trackside again, I promise...

NBEC and VIA Videos from NBECMich

Michel R has posted a few videos from the Bathurst area. Welcome!

Here's NBEC 402 arriving in Bathurst with 6902 leading, on January 30 2008.


This one shows the Bathurst shunter, train 597, moving some cars around in Bathurst with NBEC 1821 on January 15 2008. It's a bit long but worth watching. I like the overhead view.


Next, two VIA videos. This one shows VIA 15 arriving in Bathurst with the Operation Lifesaver unit (6411) leading on January 5 2008.


Finally, VIA 15 leaving Bathurst on December 29 2007. It still seems weird to see a stainless steel train without a Park car on the end. It's like a sentence without a period at the end

NBEC 402 videos

YouTuber clam502 has posted a couple of videos of NBEC mainline freight train 403 on YouTube.

Here it is in Charlo. Be patient - the train shows up around 00:50.


And a close view of the train coming into Campbellton.

NBEC this afternoon

I went up to Miramichi for the Miramichi Model Train Show, and on the way there I heard NBEC 403 preparing to leave Miramichi for Campbellton. I rushed to the yard only to see the power disappearing in the distance at 14:43. Train 403 had CFMG 6902, 6910, 6908, and 6907 leading 24 loads and 36 empties, including the 17-car Ultramar Tank Train set at the rear. 6907 is going to Campbellton for servicing overnight and returning tomorrow.

After the show, I returned to the yard to try to find the yard power. They were nowhere to be seen. I heard them on the scanner shunting, but after checking the lower yard, UPM, and finally the port, I figured they must have headed over to the other side of the river. Then I heard them call a foreman to tell them they were tying up and going off shift, so I figured they must have returned to the yard. They had.

NBEC 1856 and 1816 were parking by the depot when I arrived. I spoke with the very friendly engineer and he told me NBEC is purchasing 6 new 3500HP units, possibly as a replacement for the SD40 units they have. I'd like to see that!

Notice the shiny new front end on 1856. It was involved in a grade crossing accident near Noel, Quebec on July 14. It has also received the SmartStart upgrade so there are some new stickers on the hood and the handrails and roof have been repainted.


Contrast that with good old 1816.

NBEC sightings, 2004/01/28

That's right, January 28 2004. I thought I'd write about a few old sightings for a change.

I passed through Miramichi at about noon on the 28th and saw NBEC 403 pulling up to the crew shack. The power was CFMG 6902, NBEC 4214, NBEC 4210, and CFMG 6909. The rumbling as the engines passed me was quite impressive, as you can hear in this video.


NBEC 1821 and 1814 were idling in the yard as train 578. CFMG 6903 was idling away.



When I passed through again around 15:00 train 403 was gone, and CFMG 6903 was making up its train to take to Moncton.

Northern NB Trains

I had a little trip to Dalhousie on Tuesday the 9th and managed to catch a few trains en route.

When I passed by the UPM-Kymmene plant at 09:45, switcher 711 was shoving a cut of boxcars into the plant. One would almost think it was a steam engine by the huge plume of white smoke it was emitting. I'm no mechanic but it seemed highly unusual. There were six boxcars in the outside yard.

The string of NB Southern log racks I saw on July 15 doesn't seem to have moved.

VIA 14 arrived at Miramichi at 10:06 with 6416 and 6432 leading 18 Renaissance cars and Evangeline Park. They departed at 10:14. Listening to the scanner, they had a slow order at mile 48 (near Rogersville) and were cleared only to mile 33 (near Harcourt).



When I passed by Bathurst at 11:10, I heard 402 working in the yard over the scanner.

I left Dalhousie around 17:45, after verifying that the Dalhousie local was not around. I heard a squawk on the NBEC channel so I went up highway 134. There are some really nice places for train photography along the stretch between Dalhousie and Belledune.

At mile 138.26 the track crosses the highway in Jacquet River, and the crossing lights were flashing. I quickly determined that there was no train around, so I called the NBEC emergency number and informed the RTC that the lights were stuck on. He thanked me and issued a notice to train 403 over the radio. Then he asked 403 for a position check and they were at mile 134 - almost on top of me!

I beat it back to the bridge over Jacquet River and waited for 403. They came at 18:32 with 6906?, a C424 and another SD40 leading about 88 cars. I shot video from the highway, and it turned out OK if a little wobbly. I think it would be a great spot for still photos. There's an ancient iron bridge over the tracks just north of the river that is a great place for getting an overhead shot.


In Miramichi, 1816 and 1819 were shut down on the "main" at the Ultramar facility with a string of boxcars behind them.