A Subway Sandwich

On Saturday, December 3, I was driving around Winnipeg just after noon, looking for trains. I first drove around CP's yard downtown, finding a few engines here and there but nothing too interesting. The most interesting unit was CP 5911, an SD40-2 bearing a full height multimark.


Stifling a yawn, I drove down to Main Street... and spied a Park car sticking out of the VIA Rail station. This surprised me, because it was 12:40 and the Canadian should have left at noon. I decided to head over to CN Subway quickly to catch the Canadian.

Subway is at the north end of the CN Fort Rouge yard, and is accessible to railfans from the Co-Op gas station parking lot on Osborne Street just south of the CN overpass over Osborne.

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I waited for the Canadian, but the first piece of "bread" in this Subway "sandwich" was CN 190, with Dash-9 engines CN 2638 and IC 2713. They rolled by at 12:55.


I waited... and waited... and finally the "meat" of the sandwich was delivered. VIA 6417 and VIA 6432 lead the Canadian past the under-construction BRT station over Osborne at 13:15, on the north track.


I shot the Canadian, and as I was getting into my car to leave, I heard the hum of approaching engines. The other piece of "bread" was CN 199, pursuing the Canadian but on the south track. Dash-9s IC 2719 and CN 2680 were the engines on the head end at 13:19.


By that time I had my "fill" of trains, so I headed out... until the evening's CP Holiday Train at least!

PS - I suppose I could have titled this post YAD9 for "Yet Another Dash 9" but it wasn't very clever.

Hello, Ocean

It's been a while, but I have seen the Ocean again. Not the Atlantic Ocean, the VIA Rail Ocean. I am out on the east coast of Canada for the week and I'm taking the opportunity to shoot some trains I normally don't see in Winnipeg, namely VIA trains with Renaissance cars.

I shot this VIA 15 at Berry Mills, NB just outside Moncton, shortly after I landed there on May 6.

The trailing unit was VIA 6411, the former Operation Lifesaver unit. The engineer gave me a toot as they rushed by at track speed.

I also shot VIA 15 at Memramcook, NB on the other side of Moncton on May 8. I wanted to shoot it at David Morris' favourite location, the "Bull Barn", just east of Memramcook.


I thought I had lots of time to get the shot, but I dithered about where to park the car. I ended up jamming it into a disused driveway and jogging up the hill to get the shot. As I finished jogging up, the train was right there ready to be photographed. Fortunately I had the right lens on the camera and got the shots I wanted.

A VIA Chase

David Morris sent along these photos of his chase of VIA 14, the Ocean, from Petit Rocher to Moncton in New Brunswick. The lead engine was VIA 6432 and the date was October 17.

First, Petit Rocher.


Next, this great shot of the Ocean crossing the Miramichi River at Nelson Junction.


He shot it at the station in Rogersville, NB.


Another great shot, a pan near Kent Junction.


Finally, the Ocean comes into Moncton amidst a riot of colour.


Thanks for the shots, David!

See Also

• Chasing VIA 14 and 15
• All VIA Rail posts