Trains, Trains and More Trains

See part 1 for the first part of my grain/train-fanning day of November 9th.

After photographing some grain elevators, I was heading home. I had just passed Glossop when I saw a train heading east, the same direction that I was. I overtook them and photographed them east of Newdale.

I was surprised to see CP 8756 again. Clearly trains don't move fast on the CP Bredenbury subdivision...

Since highway 16 parallels the tracks, I was able to get ahead of them one more time before they descended into Minnedosa.

You probably can't see it here but the conductor is grinning at this crazy railfan.

I had never been in Minnedosa so I decided to head in to see the station and maybe catch 8756 one more time. I followed a road in and found myself in downtown Minnedosa. I spotted the station.. with a little surprise in the yard!

That's CP 3020 at the head of CP's TEC (Track Evaluation Car) train.

Nice to see the TEC train again! The last time I saw a TEC train was in New Brunswick in 2007. CP has two TEC trains as far as I know.

It wasn't long before I heard CP 8756 blowing for a crossing. Soon they rolled past the boarded-up station.

After they passed by, I went over to photograph the TEC train.. from the public road, of course.

The train had CP 3020, CP 424994, CP 65 and CP 64.

Here's the Minnedosa station, by the way. It's a nice looking structure!

Apparently CP still owns it. Earlier this year a local group was negotiating with CP to purchase it but that fell through. I don't know the current status.

I spent a moment photographing the display train consisting of a wooden caboose, CP 431970, and FP7 CP 4038.

Then it was off for home! I didn't see any trains on the Minnedosa subdivision. GMTX 407 was still parked by the Dundonald Pioneer grain elevator.

I spotted a pair of CN trains passing each other by East Tower in Portage la Prairie. I barely got ahead of the eastbound train at Oakville.

After it passed, I carried on toward Winnipeg. I cut up to Diamond and photographed CN 5784 East splitting the signals there. I though that would be my last photo of the day.

However... notice the green signal in the above photo? It turns that that the Hudson Bay VIA 693 was rolling along on the other track. I took this terrible photo to document the power (VIA 6456/6449) but there was no opportunity to chase it to get a better photo.

I hope you enjoyed this extended grain/train excursion. Remember to read part 1 if you haven't already!

For other grain elevator tours, please view:

• Grain Elevators of the Glenboro subdivision
• A Grain Elevator Loop, part 1 and part 2
• A Wee Grain Elevator Trip
• In Search of Grain Elevators, part 1 and part 2
• Grain Elevators of the Letellier subdivision
• Elevators of the Carman subdivision

VIAfatigue

Here's a couple more VIA trains... and then maybe I should write about something else. Is there such a thing as VIAfatigue?

When I went to see the Grey Cup train in Winnipeg, the Canadian was sitting there in the station as well. Soon it would continue its journey westward as VIA 1. The head end was poking out of the train shed with VIA 6456 and VIA 6429 on the point. Note the Fort Garry hotel on the left. It's very nice that there is still a metal staircase (from the Forks ground level below) provided for railfans like me to climb up and take shots from the legal side of the fence. I'm sure the staircase is there for another reason but I'm happy to use it.


When we were inside the train shed waiting to board the Grey Cup train, I stole a few photos of the Canadian.


I was surprised to see that Chateau Bienville was sitting by itself on the back track. I don't know if it was a defective car dropped from the Canadian or some kind of spare kept there. I wouldn't think the latter, as the spares would normally be kept at the Winnipeg Maintenance Centre.


Here's the Canadian leaving, with Banff Park on the rear.


A few days later, I caught the Canadian heading out of town on October 11. There were still some fall colours in the trees but they were definitely fading. Here VIA 1 is just rolling through the Shaftesbury Boulevard crossing.


A closer view of VIA 6405.


ReveLstoKe ParK was bringing up the rear, with its weird lettering.


Off they go on the south track.


They were going slow enough for me to get ahead of them just after the mile 10 hotbox detector and take this video. Listen to the end for the hotbox message.

Recent VIAs

Here are a few recent VIA trains that I've seen.

On April 23 I shot the Canadian rocketing out of Winnipeg. I was near Diamond but I didn't have a lot of time to get ready. I got this shot of VIA 1 but did not get the full consist, since the train was zooming along at 60+ MPH.

That was fast!

On May 5 I had a busy day of railfanning (to be detailed in another post) and I made sure to see the Canadian first. This time I was at St. James Junction.


Nice to see the big summer trains again.


Here's the video. I shot it with my Canon S3 mounted on my GorillaPod so it's pretty low to the ground.


Finally, I shot the Hudson Bay VIA 693 leaving Winnipeg on June 20. This was taken just west of Shaftesbury Boulevard. This is a very typical 693 with two engines, a baggage car, two coaches, a diner, and a Chateau car.


The going-away shot... notice the large backup light on the end for the long backup move into Thompson.



It's been a while since I've shot VIA 693! I'm much more interested in the Canadian because A) it's much longer, and B) the equipment varies. The Winnipeg-Churchill train tends to have two units and exactly the same type of cars on it every time. Not quite as interesting but hey, it's a train, it's all good!

Avoiding the Skunk

I wanted to shoot the VIA Rail Canadian on Thursday, January 5. I decided to shoot it at Portage Junction to get a more-or-less head-on shot. I drove up there and parked in the loop at the end of Angus Street, then walked over to the new Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor. I heard locomotives and saw CN 404 roll by with CN 5677 and CN 2139 for power.

The unfortunate thing was there was a container train parked on the south track, blocking the shot. This meant that I would not be able to shoot the Canadian unless the container train moved.

I waited for a few minutes, and I heard some discussion between the RTC and the crew of CN 101 (the container train). It was decided that 101 would follow VIA 1, so they were going to stay. I decided to try for Waverley Street instead. As I was leaving, the Fort Garry switcher rolled up to Portage Junction to wait their turn to get out. It had slug CN 264 leading GP9 CN 7243. I understand the Fort Garry switcher had a 70xx series GP9 with a GMD1 earlier in the week!

I drove to the parking lot behind the Winnipeg Humane Society by the off-leash dog park. I jogged down the road to the tracks and arrived there maybe 30 seconds before the Canadian. The unfortunate part about it was that I couldn't shoot the whole train without getting too close to the tracks, so I had to satisfy myself with a shot like this.


After the Canadian passed, I walked back to my car and drove over to Waverley Street to get CN 101.Unfortunately a CN foreman was parked where I normally set up on the south side of the tracks, so I set my tripod up on the north side of the tracks instead. CN 101 rolled into view, I started recording, and... something blocked my shot.


The BNSF switcher rolled across my shot! I know one of the guys who works at BNSF and that was him shouting, "Hello Steve, happy new year!" as the caboose rolled by. At least I was able to get a video of BNSF 2968, by accident!

CN 101 had CN 2312 leading, with CN 8934 part way through the train and CN 8909 on the rear. CN 199 was working in Fort Rouge, but I didn't have time to wait for it.

After I posted this video on YouTube, user wheels069 commented that he shot the same train later on in Alberta!


Everyone sing, "It's a small world after all!"

Busy Day

This past Thursday, December 1, I went out to shoot the Canadian as I often do. I stopped just west of Carman Junction on the CN main line.

Very soon CN 101 showed up, racing ahead of the Canadian. Often if I have time, I fire off a test shot to check the exposure before actually shooting the train. I tried to do that with 101 but the camera didn't work. I looked at it and the door to the SD card slot was open... and there was no card! I knew right away that I had left it in my computer at home. It's not like this was the first time this has happened.

Fortunately I was about 10 steps from my car, so I sprinted over and pulled one of my spare cards out of my camera bag and jammed it in the camera. I raced back and had just enough time to shoot 101. Whew.

CN 101 had CN 8902 on the head end.


CN 8890 was a DPU engine about 1/3 of the train back, and CN 8840 was pushing hard on the end. Three SD70M-2 engines on one train!


The Canadian came along shortly after that. It had 3 engines instead of the usual 2... 6456, 6442 and 6405, all rebuilds. It is getting rare to see an unrebuilt engine on the Canadian now.


I heard them say they had an "advance Clear to Stop" for Diamond. That meant they were probably going to meet a train at Diamond, so I gave chase. The road was a little slippery so I was driving well below the limit. I heard someone tell VIA that they were "good on the north" so that told me they had already met someone. Sure enough, there was a CN train heading east on the north track. A quick, safe U-turn later and I was chasing CN 5730 East. I got ahead of them twice, once at Charleswood Road to get the still below and then again to get the video below.


You can see it was kind of a gray day. The sun was teasing me when VIA was imminent, but by the time CN 5730 came by it was hiding again.


Later, I was heading home when I heard that CN 532 was leaving Winnipeg for its daily trip to Emerson. I saw it from the south Perimeter Highway, so I drove through St. Norbert to shoot it. I waited just south of St. Norbert... and waited... after a while I saw movement on the track, and it turned out to be two deer! This was the best of the photos I took.


The telephoto lens does exaggerate bumps in the track but there is quite a dip in the tracks here.

CN 532 came rumbling along and scared the deer away. I only took a few shots in the falling dark and this is my favourite. Mmmm, lens flare.


Truly a busy day!

Today's Canadian and BNSF Transfer

I shot the Canadian for the first time in a while. As you can see, it has grown to a respectable size.

Right after VIA passed, the BNSF transfer train pushed out of their yard onto the CN main line to proceed to Fort Rouge. As you can see, the ditch lights were not on.

The Canadian and the Hudson Bay

I shot a "twofer" of passenger trains early this week. The first was the Canadian on Monday. I decided to head to Waverley Street to shoot it, given the mild weather. It's no fun to stand there in -30C temperatures, believe me. I parked and started jogging to the tracks. Just as I arrived, I saw the Canadian and the crossing lights came on. I barely had time to get my camera out! I guess they made very good time from the station.

Consist

On Tuesday I went up to Waverley a few minutes earlier to ensure I had time to set up. As I parked an eastbound CN freight was rolling through the crossing with CN 8852 and CN 8869 for power. I think it must have been CN 114, given the time and the mixed freight on the head end followed by containers. One unusual thing in the consist was a few trailers on flat cars (TOFC), something you don't see very often these days.


The Hudson Bay (VIA 693) was very prompt on Tuesday.

Consist

It's great to be in a city with two passenger trains... especially when both have the stainless steel cars. :)

The Race is On

There was a little race Monday (Oct 27) at noontime. I knew the Hudson Bay (VIA 693) was due soon, but I also knew CN 199 was ready to roll at Fort Rouge at the same time. I was curious how it would pan out. Normally westbound VIA trains are on the north track.

The RTC put CN 199 on the north track. As it rolled toward me, I could see the headlights of the Hudson Bay behind them. I couldn't imagine that the RTC would make VIA tag along behind the freight, and she did not. The Hudson Bay was on the south track, rapidly overtaking the container train on the north.

CN 199 passed me first, with CN 5731 and 2721 leading a long container train.


Within two minutes, the Hudson Bay was rolling by on the south track.


The train had the regular power, VIA 6413 and VIA 6456, on point, with baggage car 8600, three coaches (8106, 8110, 8100), diner York (8418), and two Chateau sleepers (8221 Radisson and 8223 Rigaud). I heard the previous Hudson Bay had a dome car... I keep hoping to see one on this train.

You can see the head end of CN 199 in the photo above. No doubt VIA was past CN before Diamond.

I think that's the first time I saw two trains passing in the same direction... it was very interesting.

CEMR, VIA, BNSF, oh my!

I went to the St. James Junction area today at noon to see the Hudson Bay. I heard that BNSF 2001 was at Fort Rouge last night, so I was hoping to see that too. I got more than I bargained for! I set up at the Waverley Street crossing.

At 12:17 I saw a westbound freight round the corner at Portage Junction. It turned out to be CEMR 4001, ANY 5232, and CEMR 4002 leading the westbound freight to the CEMR Carman Subdivision.

I had a look at the photos afterward, and I see the engine crew were gesturing as they went by.

I'm glad they had TWO fingers up!

Right after that, a CN local went down the Letellier sub to switch the industrial area around Chevrier. They had one engine (likely a 7200 series GP9), one slug, and about a dozen cars.

At 12:25 the Hudson Bay (VIA 693) made its appearance.

The consist was 6456, 6445, 8600, 8110, 8100, York, Chateau Radisson.

Finally, at 12:40 the BNSF transfer went east to Fort Rouge with BNSF 12580 leading and BNSF 2886 pushing. By then I was out of time so I couldn't wait to see 2001 return. Here they are, with a fairly long train.

Today's Hudson Bay

The Hudson Bay was a little late today, but it eventually showed up with two units and a whopping five cars.

The train had engines 6456 and 6458, baggage car 8601, coaches 8113 and 8132, diner York and sleeper Chateau Levis. A passenger in the sleeper waved as he went by.


Looks like they will have beautiful weather for their trip, finally.