Stored Cars in Mossleigh, Alberta

Stored cars at Mossleigh, Alberta

This past summer I was headed to Lethbridge for work, and decided to take a slight detour between Calgary and Lethbridge and go via highway 23 rather than the more direct highway 2. It doesn't add much to the trip and it was a new route for me.

The small town of Mossleigh, AB is less than an hour out of Calgary and hosts the Aspen Crossing excursion train / campground / restaurant complex. It also has three grain elevators and a lot of stored cars on the grain elevator siding.

After visiting Aspen Crossing I went over and photographed the elevators and as many of the cars as I could see without trespassing.

My understanding is that most of the cars are not owned by Aspen Crossing but are being stored there. Several of them used to be stored in De Winton, AB.

Stored railway equipment in Mossleigh, AB

Here are the pieces of equipment I saw.

8454

Parrish & Heimbecker 8454

8454 was originally CN 8454 and is an MLW S-3 built in January 1952. It worked at Manitoba Paper, Pine Falls Paper, the Prairie Dog Central, and Parrish and Heimbecker in Moose Jaw before coming to Aspen Crossing. See also: 8454 on the Prairie Dog and Aspen Crossing's New Locomotive Gets Delivered.

CP 105

CP 105 at the Aspen Crossing Railway

This car went through several hands before arriving at Aspen Crossing. It started out as UP baggage-mail car 5811, built in 1949. It went to Doyle McCormack as DLMX 5811 and was acquired by CP for use with steam engine CP 2816. A few years ago CP put it up for sale and Aspen Crossing bought it.

45 Tonner

45 ton locomotive at Aspen Crossing

This 45 ton GE locomotive was built in April 1958 and worked for Manitoba Sugar for many years. It went to Rogers Sugar in Taber, AB after Manitoba Sugar was shuttered, and then came to work at Aspen Crossing. I believe it was their first locomotive.

Ex CP Baggage Car

I don't know the lineage of this car other than its last job was as a CP Rail work car. The label says "Cook Diner Sleeper". It may have been CP 411742.

CP 404924

ex CP 404924 at Mossleigh, AB

This was another ex CP Rail work car, labelled as "SERVICE TOOL CAR". This was originally CP 4230, a baggage-express car built in October 1948. It was reassigned as a work car in 1967 and became CP 404924.

CP 42816

CP 42816 at Mossleigh, AB

Boxcar CP 42816 was partially visible from behind one of the elevators. This boxcar was built in June 1952 as CP 199001.

Behind CP 42816 was a CP caboose that I could not photograph without trespassing. My guess is that it was CP 434719, since that was stored with 42816 and 42506 in De Winton, but I don't know for sure.

CP 42506

CP 42506 in Mossleigh, AB

Boxcar CP 42506 was also peeking from behind a grain elevator. It has a multimark on it but it's not visible in this photo. This Hawker-Siddeley built car was built in August 1965.

CP 226277

Boxcar CP 226277 in Mossleigh, AB

CP 226277 is one of several boxcars at Mossleigh.

CP 403629

CP 403629 at Mossleigh, AB

Boxcar CP 403629 still has a faded "Canadian Pacific Railway" showing through the faded paint.

There was a snowplow next in line but I couldn't see very much of it at all, so no photo!

Crane and CP 418214

Crane and flatcar CP 418214

This crane / flatcar combination was next. The crane is ex Canadian Pacific Railway, according to the lettering on the cab, but I don't know what its number was. The flatcar is ex CP 418214.

Caboose CP 434470

Caboose CP 434470 at Mossleigh, AB

Fairly modern caboose CP 434470 was in the line as well. This is one of over 300 cabeese built by CP's Angus shops in Montreal between 1972 and 1981.

The remainder of the cars were owned by Nagel Tours / Funtrain Canada Inc. and used on the Okanagan Valley Wine Train from 1999 to 2003 from Kelowna, BC. When the Wine Train shut down, they were parked in Kelowna for years until they were sold and hauled out, two at a time behind a rail truck, in late 2015 just before CN removed the track to Kelowna. You can read the press release of their sale and Caboose Coffee's story of the Wine Train.

Former Okanagan Valley Wine Train cars

These cars are ex CN, ex VIA Rail "blue and yellow" cars, mostly from CN's massive 1954 car order.

FTRN 1128 "ELMSDALE"

FTRN 1128, "ELMSDALE"

ELMSDALE is a sleeper built by Pullman for CN in 1954.

FTRN 752

FTRN 752 in Mossleigh, Alberta

FTRN 752 is a café-lounge car built in 1954 as a coach, CN 5502, before being rebuilt as a café-lounge car, CN 3004. It became CN 752 then VIA 752.

FTRN "BOULEVARD CLUB" / 658

FTRN BOULEVARD CLUB aka "The 50s/60s Rock and Roll Car"

FTRN 658 is a club galley car, subtitled "The 50s/60s Rock and Roll Car". This car went through a number of changes in its lifetime, starting out as CN buffet sleeper #1015 "VALLEY MILLS". It was rebuilt as a diner (CN 1355) then became CN 658 "BOULEVARD CLUB" and finally VIA 658 "BOULEVARD CLUB".

FTRN "CLUB YORK" / 659

FTRN CLUB YORK aka "Variety Car"

FTRN 659 had a similar history to BOULEVARD CLUB above. It started as CN Buffet Sleeper #1018 "VALLEY ROAD", then diner CN 1355, then it became CN 659 "YORK CLUB" and then VIA 659 "YORK CLUB".

FTRN "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB" / 653

FTRN MOUNT ROYAL CLUB aka "The 30s/40s Hollywood Car"

This car actually started as a coach, CN 5639, and was rebuilt to club galley car CN 653 "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB" before becoming VIA 653 "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB".

FTRN 5552 "KAMLOOPS" / 5654 "KELOWNA"

FTRN 5552 / KAMLOOPS in Mossleigh, AB

FTRN 5654 / KELOWNA in Mossleigh, AB

KAMLOOPS and KELOWNA are both coaches built in 1954 by Canadian Car and Foundry, still with their original CN numbers and in their original roles.

FTRN 654 / The Western Car

FTRN 654 aka "The Western Car" in Mossleigh

FTRN 654 is another club galley car. It was originally built as a parlour car as CN 582 "LAKE O'BRIEN" but became CN 654 "ST. JAMES'S CLUB" and then VIA 654 "ST. JAMES'S CLUB".

FTRN 5603 "ARMSTRONG"

FTRN 5603 "ARMSTRONG"

FTRN 5603 was another coach, built as CN 5603 in 1954 before becoming VIA 5603 later in its career.

FTRN 9653

Baggage car FTRN 9653

Baggage car FTRN 9653 was the last car on the siding. Note the faded VIA logo, not covered over with the Okanagan Valley Wine Train logo like the rest. This car was built by National Steel Car (NSC) in 1958 as CN 9282, but became CN 9653 later on and then VIA 9653.

Stored equipment at Mossleigh, Alberta

See Also

• 40 Mile Rail Starts Up
• Grain Elevators of the CP Stirling Subdivision
• Train Day at Aspen Crossing
• Grain Elevators and Ghosts (includes Mossleigh)
• Lethbridge's High Level Bridge

Railfanning Prince George, Part 3

In late June 2014 I went to Prince George for a few days. See part 1 and part 2.

On June 25 I was able to visit the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum for about half an hour before it closed. I was really interested to see it as I have no direct experience with BC Rail (or its predecessor the Pacific Great Eastern) and I wanted to see some of their equipment.

I have quite a few photos loaded in my Prince George Railway Museum gallery, but here are some highlights. The museum has a lot of interesting rolling stock in its collection.

One of the former Tumbler Ridge locomotives

Can I climb on the flanger?

Two of the three CP pieces here (the other is a steel caboose)

They have several items not on display on the other side of the turntable

A BC Rail Remote Control Car and some MOW cars

You can go inside this snowplow, very nice!

View from inside the snowplow

Their only steam engine, CN 1520

I liked this little GE 40 tonner, repainted in 2002

Nice interior of a passenger car

This RS-10 is not on display - needs a bit of TLC

On display but needs a LOT of TLC

They have a good collection - heavy on BC specific items as you might expect with good BC Rail, PG&E and CN representation. Many of the cars and engines have a placard nearby with a few facts about the item.

Unfortunately, all of the rolling stock is outdoors so they are showing the signs of weathering, some pretty heavily. I don't mean to complain - I know money and volunteer hours are short at all museums - but I wanted to make that observation.

There is a miniature railway on site but I didn't see it running.

Very narrow gauge!

For part 4, the final chapter, we see the Skeena and a few CN trains as well as another look at the huge bridge over the Fraser River. Thanks for reading.

A Train and a Crane on the Plain

This one has been sitting in the queue for a while... back on May 6 I was out near Diamond west of Winnipeg when I spotted a train coming around the bend. The train itself was fairly ordinary, CN 8879 leading a general freight train with a lot of tank cars, but it was what was on the south track that was interesting.


Yes, that's a self-propelled crane pushing a gondola. Not something I see every day!


In good time the crane trundled closer to me. You can see it was pushing two gondolas and pulling a flatcar.


The fellow driving the crane seemed to be enjoying his job!


CN 50472 is an Ohio model DE 400 crane built in 1976 and it is capable of lifting 40 tons. You can see it in action at Eric Gagnon's excellent Trackside Treasure blog as a pile driver.

MOW Encounters

On May 18 I was driving home along the CN Rivers subdivision when I spotted this "tie train". A truck was at the head of five flatcars containing ties and a crane. This was quite remiscent of the Herzog tie train I saw in February.



The truck is labeled as CN 433-29 but also CN 074056 on the door. Very confusing. It is a Brandt rail-mounted truck built on a Western Star truck chassis, and includes couplers at both ends, headlights on the roof, flashing lights and a horn.


The crane, CN 691-00, was apparently picking up old ties. When I stopped it was not moving, perhaps in preparation for a passing train.

The complete train consist was:
433-29
664575
664561
664592
664596
664600

As I went on my way, I was stopped at the Perimeter by a short CP train heading north on the La Riviere subdivision. The usual suspects CP 1128 and CP 3028 were leading, but what was interesting was the set of 9 "branchline rehabilitation" hoppers trailing the power.



Each are labeled "Government of Canada Branch Line Rehabilitation" / "Gouvernment du Canada Remise en Etat des Embranchements Ferrovaires". They are 263,000 lb cars - light enough for light branch lines, of course!

Canada spent around $1 billion in the 1970s and 1980s to rehabilitate Prairie branch lines. CN and CP bought numerous hoppers under this program, as well as material to upgrade fragile Prairie branch lines. No doubt this extended the life of some branch lines, but in the end a lot of them were abandoned anyway and more are still being abandoned.

CN and CP retain ownership of the hoppers and they are used for maintenance work on occasion. CN's are painted orange.

NBSR By Gary

Gary Lee posted a few NB Southern videos from McAdam recently.

Here's NBSR 2612, NBSR 9802, and NBSR 2319 on what is clearly a miserable day.


Another day, he shot NB Southern's "Little Giant" crane pushing a single ballast car.


Sperry truck 872 was checking the main line by the McAdam station.


Finally, here's NBSR 2319 rocking and rolling across the Magaguadavic bridge. I've always wondered what the bridge looked like.

Three Hours at McGivney

Matt invited me to go up to McGivney early this morning prior to going to the Fredericton model train show. I thought this was a great idea, and hit the road at the wee hour of 05:41. Precisely 40 minutes later I was pulling up next to Matt's car.

The signals were green over red facing east and we were expecting CN 121 at any moment. We spoke for a few minutes and then we heard the rumble of approaching engines. At 06:30 CN 121 blew through with 4 engines leading 103 cars.


My video camera has a night shot mode. If you look at Matt's video, you can see a slight difference from mine, but I wouldn't say it made a huge difference. It's still dark!

After that, we retired to my car and I bored him with photo albums. ;) At about 07:30 a CN hi-railer pulled up and the crew went into the depot. Normally the MOW crew only works Monday-Friday, but new this winter CN will have 7 days/week MOW coverage. Hopefully that will keep the trains on time!

Matt knew one of the sectionmen, and they were very friendly and told us we should expect CN 305 after 09:00 and nothing after that for quite some time. A big shout out to Tim and Frank!

Sure enough, by 09:00 we were told CN 305 was past Bantalor. Matt and I set up in the field and waited, and at 09:05 they rolled past with CN 2655, 2569 and 5385 for power.


They had a very interesting load right behind 5385.

The crane is owned by Amherst Crane Rentals of Scarborough, Ontario.


I wanted to get a side shot since the sun was still low in the east, and by shooting fairly side-on the sun would not bother the video. I quite liked how it turned out with the glints off the cars.

Matt took a more oblique shot. I think his video is sharper than mine.


After 305 got the rollby inspection, the CN crew got on the rails and headed west.


Matt and I packed up, and headed for the train show. It was a good morning.

Saint Stephen Job

Gary Lee posted a nice video of yesterday's "South Job" leaving McAdam to go to Saint Stephen. The train features NBSR 2319 leading 3 boxcars, one covered hopper, one tank car, 8 loaded log cars, and caboose 434919.


He also posted a video of NBSR's Trakrane from the same day, complete with the inevitable McAdam ATV going by. I swear there are more ATVs than people in that town.

McAdam Saturday

I had the railfan itch, so I went to McAdam on Saturday (the 13th) with my two youngest kids to see the NB Southern eastbound freight. It was a cloudy day, but fortunately it did not rain.

I had been told the eastbound left Mattawamkeag at 11:45 our time, so with the 2 hour transit time it would be in McAdam at 13:45. True to form, when I arrived at that time the freight had just arrived. NBSR 2319, 2612, 9802, and 2317 were the power. They made a drop of 2 boxcars and 3 empty centerbeam flats (all MM&A) and no pickup.


Gary Lee was there taking video.


Jody and his kids showed up to see the freight roll out at 14:00 on the dot. I taped it leaving, then loaded the kids in the van and headed out.


My initial plan was to go to Harvey Lake to catch the fall colours, but as I approached I realized I probably would not have time to get there. I knew the engineer on this train didn't waste time going to Saint John, plus I had a late start from McAdam. Instead, I elected to go to the Harvey siding and get him there after the crossing. In retrospect, my decision to go to Harvey was correct but I should have shot at the other side of the crossing where the colours were much brighter.

He rolled through at 14:34 with the four units and 31 cars, at least half of which were woodchip cars.


We spent some time in Harvey looking at the NBSR crane and flatcars in the siding, then headed home to Fredericton and ice cream.