Return to Banff, Part 2

My family camped in Banff, Alberta in July 2013. In part 1 I described a successful early morning of railfanning in Banff and at Morant's Curve. Here I complete the tale, still at Morant's Curve near Lake Louise.

After the three CP trains rolled by, there was a lull for about an hour. During that time I walked up to the small parking lot near Morant's Curve to look at the interpretive display.

At 08:18 CP 9724 started around the curve.

You can see that the sun has finally reached the track!

Here's the video:


That was exciting... but I decided it was time to head back to Banff to try to catch the Rocky Mountaineer. On my way there, I saw a bear up the hill from highway 1A. I took a couple of really long shots before continuing on.

Once I rejoined the Trans-Canada Highway, I spotted a westbound CP freight waayyy in the distance. I stopped at a scenic viewpoint and took a couple of photos of CP 8877 West.

I arrived at the station in Banff to find a large crowd of people waiting for their train. At a few thousand dollars per person, there was a lot of money spent on the Rocky Mountaineer!

They came to a stop and the passengers started boarding. It didn't take very long for everyone to get on board.

This is my favourite photo of the Rocky Mountaineer in Banff.

I like the "swoop" theme they have on their train now. Contrast that with the red-white-blue scheme they had in 2010:

Note that 8012 was the second unit in 2010, and it was the leader on the Rocky Mountaineer in 2013.

I didn't hang around to see them leave as I wanted to catch them "on the road". I took this near head-on photo and headed west.

In 2010 I had waited at Banff for the train to leave, and ended up sprinting to get a shot of the Rocky on the road. I wanted a bit more time to set up so I left before the train. I drove to Muleshoe on the 1A and parked at the scenic outlook, and headed down toward the track with my cameras and tripod.

I set up the tripod and put the Canon S3 on top, then fired a few test shots with my T1i. Given that the sun was off to the left but ahead of me, the lighting was tricky. I ended up using an exposure bias of -1.3 stops to keep the sky from blowing out. It's always a good idea, if you have time, to fire off a test shot or two and see how it looks and check the histogram to ensure it's not over- or under-exposed.

The Rocky Mountaineer rolled along and I captured this photo - exactly what I was looking for.

Compare that to 2010's photo, taken with a different camera, fog, and not as much preparation, but in the same location.

The Rocky Mountaineer was going at a good clip, as shown by the video:


Those domes look very comfortable!

That was the last train I saw in Banff. We did go up the gondolas to Sulphur Mountain, always a fun trip.

Here's a few random landscape photos to show you just how beautiful Banff is.

Cascade Ponds

Lake Louise

Moraine Lake

I can't wait to go back... maybe in 2016.

See also:

• Back to part 1
• 2010: Morant's Curve, Rocky Mountaineer, Waiting for Rocky

Don't Try This At Home

I was out with my son and we spotted a CN crew working the Fort Garry industrial area. This is by the former Manitoba Sugar plant. GP9 CN 7044 and GMD1 CN 1405 were shuttling some cars around on and off the main line, under the tender care of the CN crew with their remote control devices. While we were waiting and I was photographing, a deer came running into the field by the tracks, intent on crossing over. Unfortunately, the train was in the way. After a minute or so, the deer ran under the train car. Fortunately the train had stopped for a minute and the deer made it safely.

Don't ever do this. Trains can move at any time in any direction.


Here's one of my favourite engine types, a GMD1.

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!

Matt and CN 406

On Wednesday night, I met up with Matt aka saintjohnrailfan near the Rothesay train station. We set up for CN 406 and shot the breeze while we waited. In good time we heard the horn blowing in Renforth and she came around the corner at about 18:16.



Before CN 406 came, a young couple with their boy arrived and sat down to watch the train. I think they might have placed a penny or two on the tracks. I remember doing that when I was a kid in Shearwater, NS.

When 406 came, they were given an enthusiastic wave from the onlookers.



Matt was taking video (see his videos) and captured this great video. I was very sad to see the deer run out in front of the train at about 1:00. One of them didn't make it. :(  I hadn't noticed them at the time as they were far away from us.



As the train passed, Matt and I said our goodbyes and I took off to try to catch CN 406 around Hampton. I got my directions a bit confused and ended up exiting the highway at Bloomfield. I backtracked a few kilometres and ended up on Odell Loop Road on an old iron bridge over the tracks. As you can see, I was shooting directly into the setting sun. Still, it was fun to chase the train.



It was great to see Matt again after so many years... I remember meeting him by the Staples near Rothesay Avenue quite a few years ago. Hopefully it won't be so long before I see him again!

Deer Me

I was out shooting trains on the morning of July 12.

First I saw the tail end of CN 304 heading toward St. James Junction. It had CN 2276 on the head end but I never actually saw it.

After a bit of waiting, CN 111 came rolling past Carman Junction on its way out of Winnipeg. I was shooting into the sun but I did my best. When cropping this photo of CN 2325, I noticed the deer on the left side of the photo!


I hope the deer made it away safely.

After about 20 minutes, CN 840 came rolling the other way. Since it was eastbound, the sun was nicely on the nose.


Here's the video.