Recent Canadians

Here's a couple of Canadian trains I saw recently. I have to credit David Morris for encouraging me to get out and shoot, because he does love the stainless steel and enjoys receiving my photos. David is a passenger train "nut" and is a good resource about the Atlantic and Ocean, but more importantly he is a good friend. I'm happy to do it.

OK, first train - Thursday's Canadian with a little surprise on the head end. I went out to St. James Junction to shoot this one, and chatted with a couple of railfans who were already there. When I saw VIA 1 in the distance, I knew they had a couple of deadhead cars, just by the height of them.


Note how the two Canada Geese photobombed me!

The two Rocky Mountaineer cars were RM 3213 and RM 9523.


While tagging this post, I realized that this was not the first time I've seen RM 9523. I saw it on April 14 2011, also westbound on the Canadian. VIA 1 looked a little different that day because it still had the unrefurbished engines on it.

The background is different, too, because a small strip mall has sprung up on the north side of the tracks since spring 2011.

Saturday's Canadian was a pretty normal one. I shot it at Carman Junction at mile 8.2 of the CN Rivers subdivision. CEMR's track can be seen branching off to the right. Note the "Clear to Stop" indication on the right (south) track. I didn't stick around to see what was coming next.




Here's the video. It's quite low because I only had my GorillaPod tripod with me... use what you have!


In doing a bit of Googling for this post, I stumbled across this lovely blog post referencing Carman Junction. A photo by frequent commenter (and blogger) VW Busman was prominently featured. Check it out!

Recent VIA Trains

Here are two VIA trains that I haven't blogged about.

First up is VIA 1 on February 13th. I shot this one from the overpass by mile 10 of the Rivers sub. I wanted to get some height but I'm not happy about the pole line in the foreground.


I'm also not happy about the tilt in this video. I had checked it briefly but obviously not well enough. Do listen to the end of the video to hear the crew call the signal and the hotbox detector.


I already mentioned the VIA 1 from February 23. The next was on March 1!


After a friendly wave from the left-side engineer, they headed off into the... cloudy gloom.

Some Recent VIAs

I know I haven't been posting at my usual frenetic pace. Work has kept me very busy and the blogging has fallen by the wayside a bit. I have still been shooting trains every now and then, and here are a few of the VIA trains I've seen in May that I haven't already blogged about.

Back on May 5 I was out at noon to shoot the Thursday Canadian. This one had a Rocky Mountaineer car on it, coach RMR 3251. This was the first "summer" Canadian so it was much longer than the usual 9 or 10 cars of the winter version.


As I recall, they stopped for a signal short of St. James Junction, so they were going pretty slowly when they passed me.


The next VIA I saw that I haven't blogged about yet was May 26's Canadian. This was another Thursday VIA 1. This was an entirely ordinary Canadian with no deadhead cars, shot at Waverley Street in Winnipeg.


What made this one special was the meet with CN 114. I was worried that 114 was going to block my shot of the Canadian, but the RTC gods were smiling and 114 was on the north track. VIA 1 shows up at 2:30 minutes in the video.


Finally, I shot both VIA trains this past Saturday, VIA 1 and VIA 692. First, the Canadian at mile 10 of CN's River subdivision.


This had old friend VIA 1721 deadheading behind the engines and ahead of the baggage car.


The other old friend was VIA 6414, the Loto Quebec engine.


The weather turned pretty sour during the day Saturday, and there was some lightning and rain (and a tornado watch!) when VIA 692 returned to Winnipeg from its long trip from Churchill. I shot the Hudson Bay at Diamond.


Check out the video, and the lightning at 0:16.


Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Last Post and Last Canadian for 2009

I went out to do my railfan duty today and record the last Canadian (through Winnipeg) for 2009. I went west down Wilkes Avenue and stopped at a convenient crossing to wait. It was -22 Celsius (or -32 with wind chill) so I decided to set up the tripod and then get back in the car to wait.

TIP: don't leave your tripod in the trunk in this weather. The fluid head on the tripod was practically frozen and it took a lot of effort to move it into the right position!

The Canadian came along about 10 minutes late.

The train had engines 6442, 6407; baggage 8609; coaches 8118, 8119; Skyline 8512; diner Fairholme; sleepers Fraser Manor, Bliss Manor, Cameron Manor, Chateau Lemoyne; then Tremblant Park.

On my way back to Kenaston I saw another westbound train in the distance. I couldn't decide where to park, and in the end I had to shoot against the sun. CN 5620 and 5613 led a train that was all tank cars.


That's it for this year. Thank you for reading, and I hope you come back for more train news, photos and video in 2010 and beyond. My family wishes you the best in the years to come.

PS - my son Jamie wants to say hi. ;)

VIA Videos

Here is my little video of the Hudson Bay from yesterday.


Kevin Gaudet shot a couple of VIA videos recently. Here is VIA 14 (the eastbound Ocean) at Memramcook on July 31 with 6442 and 6414 (Loto Quebec).


Kevin also shot VIA 15 at Gort (just outside Gordon Yard, in Moncton) on the same day. This train had VIA 6400 & 6425 for power.