Chasing Trains Through Banff, Part 3 - Field to Canmore

This is the third and last in the series. In part 1 I chased a train from Seebe to Banff, and in part 2 I chased from Morant's Curve to Field.

In my last post, I was just grabbing a sandwich at a deli in Field, British Columbia when an eastbound grain train was doing a crew change. I was just barely able to get down to the one crossing before CP 8775 East rolled through. I hope the crew didn't think I was trying to beat them to the crossing... I guess I was trying to get there first, but only to park, not to cross.

CP 8775 leads the charge

I amused myself with photographing some of the grain cars while waiting to see if there was a DPU locomotive. I assumed there was because one loco for so many grain cars - in the mountains - seemed a little crazy.

I don't know who CLEVZz is but it's all over this DME car

There was in fact one DPU, on the rear.

CP 8613 brings up the rear

This was one of those situations where the "going away" shot was better than the "coming" shot. I'm glad the sun was peeking out now and then.

I went back to the town proper and there was another train pulling into Field from the west. This was a container train led by CP 8768 and 8807. I shot the head end and then took off in pursuit of the eastbound grain train.

My understanding is that the whole area by the Field station is off limits, based on the signage I saw, so I did not approach it. The above photo was taken from a picnic area in the town. I'm not sure how close you can get to the tracks without trespassing - you can see there are no fences to mark the boundary.

I headed for the Spiral Tunnels overlook to try to catch CP 8775 going through the tunnels. You may know that there are actually two spiral tunnels in the Kicking Horse Pass. The public viewpoint is overlooking the Lower Spiral Tunnel.

The place was pretty full of tourists, and the train was just through the lower tunnel mouth when I got there. I took a few photographs and I was marveling at how much this was overgrown - as bad as Morant's Curve from the previous post.

Here's CP 8775 about to cross over her train.

CP 8775 in the Spiral Tunnels

There might be an angle to actually see both tunnel mouths at the same time, or it might be too overgrown by now. It was too crowded to be able to choose your angle. I basically inserted myself between a couple of people to get the shot, then got out of there and kept going east.

I wanted to catch the train by Wapta Lake, where I had paused earlier in the morning, so I drove just past the lake and parked at the pull-out there.

It's all scenic around here

That's the little car I was driving there on the right.

I jogged back to the lake to await the arrival of CP 8775 East. It took a while for them to finish climbing the 2.2% grade but they showed up in fine style and I got the shot I was looking for.

CP 8775 by Wapta Lake / Cathedral Mountain

It would have been nice to have some sunshine, but at least the track wasn't shadowed and there was some light on the train.

I overtook them en route to Lake Louise, and I found a spot where the track paralleled the highway for a quick grab shot as they rolled by. They were proceeding at a good clip by this point.

Roadside grab shot

Nearer to Lake Louise, the track goes under the highway at Stephen (hey, my name!) and splits into two tracks. Originally there was a single track between Stephen and Lake Louise, but the grade was up to 1.8% and CP wanted to reduce this. A new track was built north of the original to reduce the grade to just over 1%.

I was surprised to see my first train of the day, potash train CP 8646 West, sitting in the siding at Stephen and under the highway. They weren't making good time!

I found a safe spot to pull off and walked back to photograph CP 8775 East passing CP 8646 West. By this time it was raining and I had a few water droplets on my lens. I really need to get a lens hood for my 18-55mm lens.

Waiting for Godot, I mean, CP 8775

CP 8775 came peeking around the curve.

Peek!

They rolled by and kept heading east. I think this would be a nice location with better weather, and maybe a slightly better angle. Everything is fenced off so you can't go down and wander around, which is probably for the best.

Two trains passing in the rain

There was another train waiting between Stephen and Lake Louise, an intermodal train with CP 8725 mid-train.

I dropped into Lake Louise very quickly and spotted this unusual car on the spur track there. Apologies for the poor lighting conditions - I was in a hurry and didn't take any time to get a decent angle.

CP 421372 at Lake Louise

I asked what this car was on RailsAB, and I was told it is basically a giant air blower to force air into the Spiral Tunnels to help the workers there.

In the background, CP 8775 East is rolling past, so I wasn't able to get any shots of the train here.

I elected to take the Trans-Canada Highway east toward Banff, rather than trying to keep up with the train along the 1A / Bow River Parkway. The weather was getting worse and worse and making any time on the 1A is difficult.

At the highway 93 intersection I took the exit and went to the tracks near Castle Junction. I decided on a telephoto shot - I had been using my wide angle 18-55mm lens all morning - so I broke out the 70-200mm and popped this one.

CP 8775 up close and personal

After the head end passed the crossing, I hopped back in my car and returned to the Trans-Canada. I wanted to catch them at the Banff station and that would be it for my train chasing.

At the station, I decided to shoot video with my iPhone.


At about the 2:25 mark in the video, you'll see me move, since apparently I was standing in the middle of the access road and someone wanted to use the road. Ooops. :)

After recording their passage, I got back into my car yet again (I wonder how many times I got in and out of that car?) and headed toward Calgary. I passed the train as it ground toward Canmore, and just for fun, I shot it one more time near the tourist information building in Canmore. Not a great shot, but what the heck, it's digital, play around!

Getting a little arty with CP 8775

There's a bike path parallelling the tracks at places between Banff and Canmore. I tried to capture a cyclist and the train and I really like how this one turned out:

Bikes and trains

OK, that was the end of my chase of CP 8775.

After that I went to the city and visited some of the fine Calgary train stores!

Thanks for reading along; I hope you've enjoyed these chases through Banff National Park. I love the area and always look forward to visiting the Rockies. Thanks to CP for sending a few trains along to liven things up!

Further reading:

• Back to part 1 - CP 8646 West
• Banff in 2010
• Banff in 2013

Chasing Trains Through Banff, Part 2 - Morant's Curve to Field

I was in the Banff area in early June chasing trains. Part 1 is here.

After photographing the potash train CP 8646 West at Banff, I drove on the Trans-Canada Highway to Lake Louise, then took highway 1A back a few kilometres to famous Morant's Curve.

It was fairly overcast there, alas. One thing I noted immediately is how overgrown it is getting, especially on the western side of the curve.

I had my scanner with me so I strung the antenna up and sat back in the car to read my magazines and listen to the scanner. I could hear an end-of-train squawk* quite clearly, which was a good indication that a train was nearby.

Soon an eastbound train came rolling along, with CP 8741 at the head of an empty sulphur train. Check out how overgrown these shots are!

Unfortunate tree placement...

Careful timing here to actually see the nose of the locomotive...

Compare that to this photo from 2010:

It's amazing how much it has grown in 6 years.

Anyway, back to CP 8741. Almost the whole loco...

Here it is, finally...

CP 8741 at Morant's Curve

It's very disappointing, really. I understand a few railfans have complained to Parks Canada. I think it is a jurisdictional problem between Parks Canada and CP. Something should be done, or this famous spot will become like the Spiral Tunnels - overgrown and pointless.

At least the east view is still relatively unobscured.

Sultran sulphur cars at Morant's Curve

I wasn't sure if CP 8741 was the sole power on this empty Sultran train, but the approaching roar of another locomotive put that to rest. Familiar ex-Olympic unit CP 8876 was pushing on the rear.

Ex Olympic locomotive CP 8876 at Morant's Curve

I've seen that unit three times now. Once it was leading a grain train in Banff back in 2010 and I saw it in Winnipeg this January as a mid-train DPU.

CP 8876 receded into the distance, and I returned to my magazines. I heard some chatter on the scanner about trains at Eldon and Massive, the two sidings to the east of Morant's Curve on the CP Laggan subdivision. It sounded to me like there was a westbound coming.

By this time, a few tourists had stopped and were waiting for trains too. There was a family that I think was from the Netherlands, a pair of British gentlemen and a few Japanese tourists. I chatted with the British gents, the only ones who appeared to be able to speak English, and waited for the next train. They told me that they were hoping for a train soon as their wives were getting impatient to get on with the touristing. Sounds familiar!

A group of canoeists came padding along the Bow River and I amused myself by photographing them. I was helped by a rare moment of sunshine.

Canoeists on the Bow River

A couple of the canoe photos actually made decent stock photos.

By this time the British gents were packing it in. Just as they walked toward their cars, headlights appeared to the east. I ran over and told them, so they came back to see... our old friend CP 8646 West, the potash train from my last post.

CP 8646 at Morant's Curve

The "amateur" railfans were quite pleased with this and took lots of photos. The British gents were quite impressed by the length of the train. I haven't railfanned in England but I know their trains are a lot shorter than our multi-mile trains.

Railfans at Morant's Curve

I took a couple of shots to the east, trying to catch the train between the encroaching foliage. I managed to catch the rear DPU in a gap:

You can see the fog was really rolling in by this time.

I decided to carry on with my original plan and head to Field, BC to try to catch an eastbound train to follow. I drove past Lake Louise and soon discovered this very cool mountain (Cathedral Mountain) across Wapta Lake, with the track running along the lake. I paused here for 15-20 minutes, hoping for a train, but nothing came along, so I continued on past the Spiral Tunnels to Field, BC.

I arrived in Field and stopped at The Siding Café to grab some lunch. I ordered a ham deli sandwich, and while that was being made, CP 8775 East was getting ready to leave Field.

CP 8775 at Field

I know this isn't the classic photo of Field with the station in the photo, but I was in a hurry and I don't know Field very well! :)

In the next installment, you'll see a quick grab shot of another train at Field, then we'll chase CP 8775 east through the Spiral Tunnels through Banff to Canmore!

Read part 3