Stainless at Sunrise

When I was going to sleep Sunday night, I checked VIA's web site for the current position of VIA 1 and 2, the west and eastbound "Canadian" trains. They have been consistently late all winter and this spring has been no different. VIA 2 is due in at 20:45 on Sunday night, but last night it was showing an arrival time of around 06:30 or around 10 hours late. I decided to get up a bit early on this Victoria Day Monday to see if I could catch it coming in at sunrise. Eastbound trains at sunrise... nice.

I woke up at 05:25 and checked the web site, and sure enough, it was showing a 06:45 arrival. I threw on some clothes, left a note for my wife (who sadly is working today), and hit the highway. I figured I would get to the CN line, then head west to Diamond to wait there for VIA 2 and shoot it in the wide open prairie.

As I took the exit for Wilkes Avenue, that plan was shot all to heck when the lead engines of VIA 2 shot by the nose of my car.

I took a hard right and brought my Civic up to speed in pursuit of VIA 2. Since they were within city limits, they were down to a reduced speed, so it was actually possible to catch up to them. I'm not sure what the speed limit for them is, but I overtook them in the 90 km/hr zone and crossed the tracks at Elmhurst Road.

I pulled to the side, threw the car in park, and jumped out with my camera and sprinted to the crossing. As I arrived, the lights started flashing and the bell started ringing. This didn't deter one approaching motorist, who gunned it through just before the gates started to drop.

I did some quick settings changes - low light, gotta go with ISO 1600, need a decent shutter speed, try 1/800s, f/8 aperture to get enough of the train in focus - fired a test photo, checked it, exposure looked good, let's go...

VIA 6449 at sunrise

VIA 6449 and company looked pretty good in that morning light!

I fired off several frames as the train approached, then banged a shot off for every car so I could get the full consist. There's no art in the recording of numbers, just a quick pan and click for every car to get the number or name off the side.

Skyline 8516

Back to "art" mode for the "going away" photo, the EVANGELINE PARK looking very nice in the golden sunrise.

VIA's Evangeline Park at sunrise

It wasn't the location I wanted, but you take what you can get, and I'm glad I actually caught VIA 2 this time. I tried this stunt a week or two ago and missed VIA 2 by about 30 seconds, so I'm grateful that I "got the shot".

After the adrenaline faded, I headed west along the CN line to see if anything else was around. CN 8875 East was stopped just short of Hall Road, presumably waiting for their turn to enter Symington Yard.

CN 8875 East

That face... these SD70M-2s mean business. There's no curves anywhere, just brute power.

This train wasn't going anywhere for a while. I drove along the train, looking for a DPU engine, but the two at the head end were the only locomotives on the train.

At the highway 334 crossing, I photographed the train all stretched out along the prairie.

Sunrise train

There were tons of red-winged blackbirds around, so I photographed a few of them too. They are very talkative and it was nice to hear them chirping and see them fluttering about.

Red-winged blackbird

I also saw one of these - not sure what it is, but it's cute!

Pretty bird

I decided it was time to head home, so I hit the highway back to home and back to bed for a little while. It was a nice way to start off Victoria Day.

How's your day?

Some Recent Trains

I wanted to share a few trains I saw recently. I parked near Diamond with my laptop at noon time on the 23rd, hopping out to shoot trains as they went by. Not a bad way to spend a noon hour.

First up was CN 103, which showed up just as I arrived near Diamond. CN 2296 was the lead engine.

CN 8837 was mid-train. Note the "new tire" on the rear of the truck.


CN 8012 was pushing on the rear.


About an hour later, the Canadian came rolling along.


This was still a summer consist with 20 cars... not bad.


About 15 minutes later, CN 104 came rolling in with two SD70s for power. CN 5619 was on the head end...


... and Illinois Central 1039 was behind her. I miss the black IC engines but this doesn't look too bad.


I didn't realize they were meeting CN 199 until I noticed that CN 5619 had her headlights dimmed. I wasn't quite in the right place to catch the actual meet.


Nice to see those BC Rail units still kicking around.


That was the end of trainspotting for me for that day. It was nice to get out and exercise my new lens. I'll have to write about the lens soon. :)

Just Barely

It had been a long time since I'd seen a Canadian on the road, so on Thursday I decided to catch it at noon. As luck would have it, I was delayed a few minutes leaving work and ended up sitting at the traffic light by IKEA and watching VIA 1 roll by in the distance. I made up a bit of time on the Sterling Lyon parkway heading west but I was stopped again at a red light at Shaftesbury Boulevard. Darn it!

The road speed limit is 80 km/hr (50 MPH) for several kilometres, while track speed is 35 MPH so it is possible to make up some ground. The road speed limit goes up to 90 km/hr/55 MPH after Elmhurst Road but unfortunately for train chasers, the rail speed limit goes up to 45 MPH at mile 8.3 and 60 MPH (80 MPH for passenger trains!) at mile 9.8 just short of the hotbox detector at mile 10. If VIA has a clear signal, there is no catching them after the hotbox!

Fortunately for me, the VIA crew didn't seem to be in a huge hurry after Carman Junction, so I was able to slowly pull ahead by mile 12. As it happens, they had a CLEAR TO LIMITED signal approaching Diamond. Trains get this signal when they are changing tracks at Diamond. The Diamond interlocking is at mile 14.3 but the important thing is that there is a STOP sign at the intersection of Wilkes and Harris Road. I will not blow through a stop sign so I knew I had to get my shot before then, or there was zero chance of getting anything but stainless in the distance.

So I hastily pulled over a few hundred metres short of the stop sign and jumped out, camera in hand. I grabbed the above shot of the lead engine, VIA 6415, and then started recording the consist using the classic Bill Linley method of photographing every car. The train had 22 cars, including a deadheading WATERTON PARK just behind VIA 6431.

The trailing car was TREMBLANT PARK, with someone taking my photograph!


Here's the "going away" shot as they cross Harris Road and approach Diamond.


I did not make any attempt to pursue, of course!

Fellow railfan Manny Jacob shot the train later on in Portage la Prairie.


Afterword: I have reworked the home page of my site. I'm trying to streamline the navigation and feature my photography more. I'd appreciate your comments, good or bad.

EDIT: Revised the signal indication that VIA would have seen.

A Busy Noon

Thursday March 28 was a busy railfanning day. I went out at noon to see the Canadian and I ended up seeing a little more.

First, I saw a short CP local rolling north on the La Riviere subdivision at Kenaston Boulevard. CP 8216 and CP 3132 were pulling some tank cars and cement hoppers from the local industries. They were quick about clearing the crossing so they didn't hold traffic up for very long.

I went up to the Rivers subdivision around mile 8 and waited for VIA 1. After some time, I grew bored and headed west to see what might be out at Diamond. I passed the track gang that was hard at work replacing rails. They have been doing this for the past few weeks and look like they are just about done.


Just west of Diamond, I found CN 316 sitting patiently on the north track, waiting for their light. 316 had three engines, SD70M-2 CN 8868, SD60F CN 5528 and GP40-2LW CN 9418. The Geep was a nice find for me, as I rarely see GP40s anywhere and in fact I've only seen eight of CN's GP40 engines.


As I headed back east past Diamond, I saw VIA 1 coming quickly, so I grabbed this shot at the crossing just east of Diamond.


Note one of the track workers on the other side of the Park car.


I was heading back east, satisfied, when I saw a set of headlights coming. It was a westbound general freight train, and I shot it around mile 7. It had CN 5726 and CN 2187 for power and had a lot of wood products on board.


That was great... but I saw more after work...

PI Day Trains

Thursday, March 14 was "PI day" (3.14). I went out at noon to try to get the Canadian at Portage Junction in Winnipeg. I saw CN 7044 and CN 1435 working Fort Rouge yard. They were likely the "local" train gathering cars before working the Fort Garry area.


CN 7044 is equipped for remote control and the crew were using that while shunting. While I was watching them, CN 2256 came rolling up on the south track at the head of CN train 199. They stopped with 2256 halfway around the curve at Portage Junction.


I realized this was going to block my view of the Canadian, now imminent, so I went to my car and headed over to Waverley Street to get them there. I was about a minute ahead of VIA 1 and got the shots.



Kokanee Park was on the rear of the Canadian.


I saw them pass through St. James Junction and there was a CN train stopped on the south track near the golf dome. The headlight was not on, indicating the train was unoccupied.


CN 199 was going to be there a while, I guess, as the engineer was out enjoying the view from the "front deck".


I went over to see the parked train. It had CN 8844 and CN 8012 ahead of this engine, faded CN 4761.


That was all the trains I saw on PI Day. I guess one could say I saw 3.14 trains if you count the GP9/GMD1 combination as 0.14. ;)

Seven Train Day

I saw a fair number of trains on Thursday, January 17... seven, I think.

It started in the morning when I was driving to work. A local CN train was working the cement plant off route 90, in what is known as Fort Whyte. Remanufactured GP9 CN 7254 and slug CN 200 were paired up and working via remote control. I ended up standing on a snowbank to shoot over the fence for this shot.


Note how the sun was just barely high enough to light them up!

EDIT: I was wondering what the "T" on the side of CN 7254 was for. Gord Hilderman of cnrphotos.com kindly told me that "The T stands for Trimmer locomotive, shims are placed between the top of the trucks and the bolster so the pilots and fuel tank don't hit and get caught up in the group retarders at the hump." He went on to point out that there can be an "H" instead like CN 7211 (photo, blog post). Thanks, Gord!

At noon, I went out to try to catch the Canadian. Since it doesn't run on Saturdays during the winter any more, Monday or Thursday are the only days to catch VIA 1. I went down to St. James Junction to wait for them. Soon enough a headlight showed to the east, but it was CN 101, not VIA, coming at me. I stood on another handy mound of snow to shoot CN 2257 leading the train.


That was the sole engine on the head end, and there was no more power until CN 8963 brought up the rear.


Right after that, a CP local came rolling north on the La Riviere subdivision. The light is always wrong for a northbound here, but I did the best I could.


It didn't seem like VIA was coming, so I headed out, but not before catching a glimpse of the CEMR train heading to Carman Junction. It had CEMR 4001 leading and CEMR 5396 trailing.

On my way home from work, I caught a glimpse of a CP local heading south on the La Riviere subdivision at route 90. It had CP 1590 and CP 8205 leading some tank cars for the gas facility near the Perimeter. A few minutes later, I spied CN 2549 East rolling along the Rivers subdivision, so I picked a spot to stop and I snapped this photo.

It had a lot of potash cars on the head end, but the rear was mixed freight. The second engine was CN 2106 and the third was BCOL 4644.

I heard that VIA 1 was coming... very exciting! I headed down to Carman Junction to wait for it. In the past few days a CN maintenance gang has been replacing rail on the south track around miles 8-10 and they were just heading to the stub track just west of the Perimeter Highway. It was interesting to hear the hotbox go off over and over. "CN detector. Rivers sub. South track. No alarms. Speed. 8 miles per hour. Temperature. Minus 19 Celsius."

Soon enough the Canadian's headlights were visible in the distance. They approached, and in a flash they were past on the north track and heading out of town.


It's getting down to the winter consist!


I didn't hear why it was delayed, but I suppose it was held up in Ontario due to the blockades that were held on Wednesday.

The Canadian: Ghost Train Crossing Canada

Jeff Friesen has a very interesting project. He is taking the Canadian across Canada to photograph it in some very beautiful settings.

Of course I mean the 1955 Canadian Pacific Canadian. And he's carrying it in a Co-Op bag.

How? He is photographing the Rapido Trains Canadian model in some very beautiful locations all across this great country. Check out his gorgeous gallery. My favourites are the Canadian at Lake Louise and the train going under the waterfall. You can buy prints, too.

Photo gallery

VIA Cuts Happening

This is a sad day in VIA Rail's history. Friday marked the last day* of almost-daily service of the Ocean to the Maritimes, and today will be the last Saturday Canadian passing through Winnipeg until next May.

Earlier this week, the last runs of VIA 86 and VIA 89 (London-Toronto) and VIA 90 and VIA 95 (Niagara Falls-Toronto) took place. The only passenger trains through Niagara Falls now are the daily Amtrak Maple Leaf trains.

The cuts are happening.

Want to do something about it? Write your MPs, your MLAs, your mayors, write the paper, speak up. At the very least, join National Dream Renewed or Save Our Trains in Northern NB on Facebook. Join Transport Action Atlantic or the national Transport Action (former Transport 2000) and support their efforts.

At least the Maritimes is finally getting a regional bus service back. Of course, the Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe area has been without bus service for almost 4 months now because the drivers are locked out.

Public transit is in serious trouble in Canada and especially in the Maritimes. It's time to speak out. It's time to use it... or lose it.

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.