One Day, Six Trains

On April 25th, I spent some time trackside around Winnipeg and saw a total of six trains.

VIA 693

I decided to head up to the CN Rivers subdivision to try to catch the Winnipeg-Churchill train departing. This is VIA 693, formerly known as the "Hudson Bay". At times it has had a Park car on the rear but I think they haven't had one for a while.

I got to the track and headed east along Wilkes Avenue. As I passed Carman Junction I saw headlights to the east, which I assumed was VIA. I noticed a CN crew working on the signals at the junction so I parked just west of them on the shoulder. Sure enough, it was VIA 693 approaching at a slow speed.

VIA 6434 leading train 693 out of Winnipeg

The train had VIA 6434 / 6418 for power with baggage car VIA 8606, coaches VIA 8113 and 8122, diner ANNAPOLIS (VIA 8404) and sleeper CHATEAU MONTCALM (VIA 8219).

CHATEAU MONTCALM on VIA 693 leaving Winnipeg

Incidentally, I saw almost exactly the same trainset on April 11th, except on the 11th it had a second baggage car, VIA 8600, for some reason.

CN 8015 East

After that, I headed to just east of Diamond and parked. I got my laptop out and banged away on the keyboard, while glancing up occasionally to look for trains. After about half an hour, I spotted a train in the distance, rounding the corner at mile 16. As they passed Diamond, I got out the "big gun" (my 70-200mm lens) and took some shots of the approaching train.

CN 8015 across the prairie

The approaching train disturbed a group of birds, who briefly swarmed in front of the train.

CN 8015 and a cloud of birds

I dropped my camera and took video with my iPhone, so I didn't take any more stills of the train. It was a general freight with a lot of covered hoppers on the head end, a mid train DPU (CN 2308), and mixed freight on the rear.

The video is at the end of this post.

CN 5641 West

About half an hour later, the next train came rolling along.

CN 5641 near Diamond outside Winnipeg

 It was another general freight, with CN 5641 and CN 2145 for power.

The poor birds were disturbed again...

CN 5641 and the birds

There was nothing particularly interesting on the train... the usual graffiti that I won't share.

I decided that was enough, and headed toward home. However...

CP 2240 East

As I rounded the Perimeter Highway, I thought I spotted a headlight on the CP La Riviere subdivision to the south. I exited and drove toward it a bit, and sure enough, it was a train.

CP 2240 and 3016 were heading north / railway east, coming back from working the entire subdivision. They had a set of CP flatcars on the tail end, empty after depositing their loads of pipe near Morden.

CP 2240 leading the La Riviere wayfreight

Enbridge is replacing the majority of its existing Line 3 pipeline, which runs from Hardisty, AB to Superior, WI. In Manitoba it runs through Cromer, Morden and Gretna. The line was originally built in the 1960s and was running at reduced pressure after a rupture and spill near Pilot Butte outside Regina in 1999. The new pipeline is being build adjacent to the existing line and the existing segments will be taken out of service.

Again I recorded video with my iPhone.

I managed to get some of that sticky Manitoba mud on my shoes. That stuff is a mix of mud and clay and is really hard to get off. Often you end up with an inch or two of it layered to the bottom of your shoes.

Manitoba mud

That was it for train watching for a few hours... until...

CN 8949 East

I took my son to his choir practice in the late afternoon, then headed out toward Transcona. I saw a train leaving Symington Yard through Beach Junction, heading east, so I carried on out toward Dugald to get ahead of them. I knew they would have to slow down through the yard so I was confident I could beat them.

In fact I got to a rural crossing on the way to Dugald and had enough time to set up my Canon S3 as a video camera. I then shot the approaching train with my camera, then dropped that and took video with my iPhone and with the S3 as well. This was my first time recording video with two devices at once, and I've spliced them together in the video at the end of the post.

Here's CN 8949 approaching with 8925 assisting. It's starting to get green here in Manitoba!

CN 8949 with a dark nose

After that train passed, I collected my video camera and headed to Dugald. I sat there for a bit near the elevator until it was time to head back into Winnipeg to pick my son up.

CN 730

However, CN wasn't done with me yet. I saw another eastbound train so I pulled off to the shoulder to photograph it. The long string of Canpotex cars with the 2+1+1 DPU arrangement made it pretty obvious it was CN 730, destined for Saint John, New Brunswick and the potash dock there.

CN 3018 and CN 2959 were the head end power.

A little side pan shot of CN 3018...

CN 3018 from the side

I drove on for a bit and found the mid-train DPU... CN 3112.

CN 3112 in the middle of a potash train

Bringing up the rear was CN 2942. This train had some newer power!

CN 2942 on the rear of a Canpotex potash train

No video for this one!

The same train was through Drummondville, Quebec at 09:09 Eastern on Friday, and out of Joffre, Quebec at 17:30. It arrived in Saint John, NB Saturday morning around 10:30 AM.

The Video

So I've been talking up this video all through the post. Here it is, with CN 8015 East, CP 2240 East and CN 8949 East.

I did some editing to cut out a lot of the "watching train cars go by" monotony. I understand some people like to see the whole train, but I don't.. and the CP one in particular was going so slowly that it would really draaaaag the video out. I hope you like the editing - please let me know what you think!

See Also

• Seven Train Day
• Busy Times in Winnipeg
• 14 Miles and 5 Trains

Chasing Trains Through Banff, Part 1 - CP 8646 West

I spent a morning chasing trains through Banff National Park (and a bit of Yoho National Park) earlier this month, and it was fun!

The consensus among experienced Alberta railfans was that the best way to railfan the area was to pick up an eastbound train in Field, BC, or a westbound near Exshaw, AB, and chase it through the Banff-Lake Louise area. I resolved to grab a westbound near Exshaw, chase it to Field, then chase an eastbound back toward Calgary. That's kinda what I did...

Come along for the ride...

Background

But first, a little background. My wife attends an annual weekend conference in Calgary, and normally this conference is in the late fall. I go with her to keep her company when she's not conferencing, and I do a little railfanning on the side. The problem with railfanning in the late fall is that the days are short.

However, in 2016 her company decided to hold the conference in early June, when days are just about as long as they get. Great!!

No-Train Friday

We like to arrive early on Friday so we can go out to Banff, an area we love dearly. This year we arrived late in the morning, grabbed our rental vehicle and hit the road for Moraine Lake.

Moraine Lake, enshrouded in fog

Moraine Lake is near Lake Louise, a vastly more famous lake, but Moraine Lake has its own beauty to it. There isn't a famous hotel there but it has lovely green water and great views all around.

Unfortunately the weather was poor on Friday and it was quite overcast. You can see from the photo that the mountain tops were shrouded in fog / cloud, and it was raining off and on. We didn't let that stop us from going for a little walk and exploring the area, but it definitely put a literal damper on our enthusiasm for long walks.

While we were in the area, we visited Lake Louise too, and it was similarly enshrouded. There were a lot more tourists at Lake Louise but it was not as busy as it is when the sun is shining! We visited the shops at the chateau and took the back road to Banff. I stopped at Morant's Curve but there were no trains around. We visited the waterfall behind the Banff Springs hotel and threw a few rocks in the Bow River, as per tradition, then headed to the Grizzly House in Banff for our traditional fondue. Highly recommended for the good food, great service, and tacky 70s decor!

On our way back to Calgary, we talked about what I was going to do Saturday while my wife was at the conference. I wasn't keen on railfanning in the mountains if the weather was going to be the same as it was on Friday, so I decided to check the weather when I awoke Saturday morning and decide whether I was going to hang around the city or head into the Rockies.

Chasing the Westbound

It was a beautiful, sunny morning in Calgary when I awoke. I showered quickly, kissed my wife, and beat it out of town toward the mountains! I was full of enthusiasm for the great shots I would get, and hopeful that CP would actually send a few trains through while I was there. Past experience has shown that there can be periods of several hours where no trains run.

My plan was to follow the Trans-Canada until I neared Exshaw, then cut over to take highway 1A/Bow Valley Trail (which parallels the CP main line) into Banff and go from there. I took the exit to Seebe and found an overpass over the CP Laggan subdivision. I decided to sit and wait there for a little while and find a train. If it was a westbound, I would follow it through Banff and beyond. My intention was to go all the way to Field, BC and then chase an eastbound train back to Banff and call it a day.

I parked on the shoulder and spent some time walking around, looking for decent photo angles. I was really wishing for an eastbound train, since it was 7:15 AM and the sun was still low and in the east.

After about 20-25 minutes of waiting, I heard a distant horn to the east, indicating a westbound train. All right, show time! I decided to shoot it "going away" to the west to get the best light on the train.

CP 8646 West came rolling along with CP 9369 and a long Canpotex potash train.

CP 8646 and 9369 near Seebe

I do love the Rockies.

CP 8949 was a mid-train DPU. I shot that but the photo was nothing special.

However, I heard an end-train DPU roaring toward me, and that excited me because that would provide that "eastbound" train I wanted! I jogged up to the overpass to get a more overhead view of the loco going away. Here's CP 9834 shoving her heart out.

CP 9834 near Seebe

I was super happy with that photo! :)

I ran back to my car and headed back to the Trans-Canada to try to beat the train to Canmore. I didn't know any good spots to railfan in Canmore but I knew that I could get to the tracks quickly near the tourist information bureau, on the west side of the town. I did that thing and was there seconds before the train came through.

CP 8646 West in Canmore

I made sure to include the CANMORE station sign in the shot.

Here's the mid-train DPU locomotive, CP 8949.

CP 8949 in Canmore, Alberta

I was really liking the sun and weather!

I didn't hang around for the last unit, as I already had a good shot of it and I wanted to try for another spot before Banff.

Previously I had noted a few spots where you could see the track from the highway, and I thought I might try a shot there where you could get the train with sun on the side and the mountains in the background. At 100 km/hr it was easy to get ahead of the train again and I found a good spot to pull over and take a grab shot. Keep in mind the tracks are on the south side of the highway so I was shooting across four lanes... still, this was my favourite shot of the entire day.

Even Railpictures liked this one!

I was very happy with everything in that shot.

However, note something... the low cloud and deep shadows. Uh oh...

I got to the station in Banff before the train and set up to shoot CP 8646 passing the station. The angle of the sun is all wrong there but I made the best of it. Warning - some fairly heavy editing in the photo below.

CP 8646 in Banff

I ducked under the station awning to capture a few shots of the train zooming by. Stay back from the yellow line!

Canadian Pacific in Banff

Here's our old friend the mid-train DPU again.

At this point I decided to leave off the chase of CP 8646. I had bagged it at four different spots and I didn't think I would get anything new out of it. I made the decision to roll west on the Trans-Canada and come back to Morant's Curve from the Lake Louise exit, rather than try to chase 8646 along the slow 1A / Bow Valley Parkway.


In the next post, the weather sucks, but I get lucky at Morant's Curve, then head to Field to chase an eastbound back!

In the meantime, why not read about my visit to Banff in 2010 or my return in 2013?