BNSF Switcheroo

Long-time Winnipeg resident BNSF 2756 headed south to the USA for its yearly maintenance and checkup on  Wednesday. Green and white GP39V BNSF 2968 has replaced it. I have yet to see BNSF 2968 but I did catch BNSF 2756 on its way out, quite by accident.

I had stopped by Portage Junction Wednesday afternoon with the hope of seeing some action. I saw CN 5726 was in the Fort Rouge yard with another engine behind it, but I couldn't see the engine coupled onto 5726. The roofline looked a bit odd.

Soon after I arrived, CN 2450 led a westbound freight train through Portage Junction. I took a few shots of CN 2450, the sole power on the grain train. I don't know what happened to this side of the engine but it definitely stands out.


I shot CN 2450 one other time, November 20, 2010, and it had the same "mark" then, so it is not new.

As CN 2450's train rolled on past on the south track, an eastbound CN intermodal came up on the north track. I didn't catch the engine numbers but it was quite a long train. Once the last grain car went through the Junction, CN 5726 pulled out and began shunting. Much to my surprise, BNSF 2756 was the second unit!


These two were the power for train CN 532 to Emerson. BNSF 2756 was online and rumbling away as they put their train together.


I couldn't stay to watch CN 532 leave, but I was glad to get a few parting shots of 2756.

Later, I caught CP 1532 and CP 8205 working the Fort Whyte area with some covered gondolas.


Finally, I saw CN 8898 leading CN 2440 and an eastbound train near mile 10 of the CN Rivers subdivision.


BNSF 2756 has been the Winnipeg engine for almost a full year. It came in mid-January 2011.

Passing Gear

This morning I was traveling along Wilkes Avenue and heard that CN 115 was coming, and CN 111 was going to overtake her before Diamond. I stopped around mile 8 and saw the headlights of 115 in the distance on the north track. CN 115 poked along at a jogging pace...

Note the piles of new ties by the tracks. The Herzog machine has been busy distributing the tie bundles for the upcoming work season.

Here we see the problem with shooting westbound trains in the morning.

Beautiful light on the sides, but the nose is totally in darkness.

The going-away shot is much better lit.

The paint is falling off poor CN 2501. Even the SD60 CN 5533 is in better shape.



CN 115 continued trundling on and on, probably frustrating many morning commuters as it blocked crossings all along Wilkes. I didn't count the cars but there were well over a hundred.

Eventually the end of CN 115 came into view, and beyond that I could see the headlights of CN 111 in the distance.


111 covered the distance at a much quicker pace. CN 2274 and 8898 were the sole power on a short CN 111.

I had thought I would have video of train 111, since I just let the Canon S3 continue recording all the way through CN 115. Unfortunately, it stopped recording before 111 was done... because it hit the maximum video size of 1 GB. Who knew there was a limit? I was too busy clicking away with my T1i to notice that the video had stopped. Dang it.

I'll spare you the highly-backlit shot of lead engine 2274 and just show the going-away shot.


PS - Apparently there is a CHDK hack that removes the 1 GB video limit, and provides other goodies like RAW files, motion detection and scripting. I haven't tried it and of course I do not warrant it will do anything good or bad for your camera!

EDIT: I added the video of CN 115.