Catching Up

Here are a few "catch up" photos of individual trains I've seen over the past couple of months. The above is CN 8812 leading IC 2700 into Winnipeg on April 18. The early morning sunlight is bright on the nose of 8812 and its waving crew.


Later that same day, I caught another Illinois Central unit, IC 2714, leading train 198 into Winnipeg ahead of CN 2513.


Fast-forwarding a bit, I had a bit of luck and caught CN 532 on June 14. I was driving over the tracks at the Perimeter when I spied a headlight to the north. A quick exit brought me to the nearest crossing (mile 5.30) where I shot faded CN 2414 leading a very long train.


It's amazing how one little engine can pull so many cars. The Letellier subdivision that CN 532 runs on is very straight and flat.

There were several interesting flatcars on the train. They were all bearing the COER reporting mark, belonging to the impressively-named shortline the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad. Any idea what these cars were used for?


Two days afterward, I caught a large CN freight near Carman Junction. The train had CN 8927 leading CN 2440 and CN 8862.


They had a clear signal on the south track.


As I watched the train roll by, I was surprised to see a DPU engine, CN 8007, midway through the train. Not many of CN's general freight trains have DPU engines.

CN Buying New Power

Reuters is reporting that CN will purchase 65 new and 96 used locomotives to handle "heavier traffic". The new locomotives, for delivery in 2013-2014, are to be:

• 35 GE ES44AC
• 30 GM SD70ACe

This is remarkable because these will be the first locomotives CN has purchased with AC traction motors. Traditionally CN has used direct-current (DC) traction motors in its entire fleet. Canadian Pacific has used AC locomotives for years but their traffic tends to be more bulk hauling than intermodal.

AC traction motors are better suited for low speed, heavy hauling like coal, sulphur, and other big, heavy unit trains. DC units have a lower purchase cost and easier to maintain. See this EMD presentation to see the merits of AC traction.

CN's news release says that CN will purchase the following used locomotives this year:

• 42 GE Dash 8-40C
• 11 GE Dash 8-40C that were leased (ex-LMS, see above photo for an example)
• 43 EMD SD60 (rumoured to be ex-GMTX)

I shot IC 2458 a couple of days ago and it should be one of the 11 Dash-840Cs to be purchased from lease. See Trackside Treasure's excellent article on CN leased locomotives for more information on these and others.

So... new locomotive types on CN in 2013 and 2014. Something to look forward to!

February 5

We spent last weekend in Fargo, North Dakota doing some shopping. I did not have any time for railfanning while in Fargo, which is too bad because Fargo has a lot of BNSF action. I did see one BNSF caboose... woo. ;)

On the way home, though, I saw one BNSF train, led by BNSF 4901 and BNSF 4151. It was between Fargo and Grand Forks.

Once we passed through Canadian Customs (a 35 minute wait) we were on the road for home... until about 3 minutes later when I spotted CN 532 approaching the border. I pulled over and took a series of shots as the train rolled past. SD60 CN 5503 led the train with ex-BNSF CN 2145 trailing.


The sunset colours were pretty good. I spotted the moon over the tracks and grabbed this shot of the engines under the moon.

Recent Shots

Here's a few recent shots.

First, a long distance shot of two CP switchers working the Spectra Energy plant at the Perimeter Highway on January 26.


I believe that location is part of the Natural Gas Liquids pipeline that brings propane (and perhaps other liquids) from the Burstall, SK production facility to various points in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The product is loaded into railcars and trucks for distribution. The facility is on CP's La Riviere subdivision around mile 12.

Moving on, here's an eastbound train west of Winnipeg on January 31. CN 2632 approaches the curve just west of Diamond outside Winnipeg.


The crew of the train looked curiously at me as they rounded the bend.


I hopped into my car after the head end passed and caught up with them before mile 10. They had crossed over from the south to the north track at Diamond and that slowed them down enough for me to pass them. Here they are just east of mile 10.


It's nice to see those red, white and blue BC Rail units still around!

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.

CN Voyeurism

I was near the CN Symington yard in Winnipeg around noon on November 21. I took a few minutes to shoot the units in front of the diesel shop. You need a long lens to see them from Lagimodiere Boulevard and I always feel like a voyeur / stalker doing that!

What really caught my eye were these bright shiny units, clearly with new paint. These are C40-8W engines purchased from BNSF. I find it interesting that they are very plainly painted with no class identification under the engine numbers.

According to the July Canadian Railway Observations, CN 2161 was released from the CN Centralia, Illinois paint shop on July 22 but didn't have number boards at that time. These ex BNSF units have been stored for some time, so they need some work before entering service. The finishing work is being done at various CN shops as well as contract shops. I guess CN 2181 needs some number boards, to start!


I saw CN 2161, 2178, 2181, and 2184.

I also saw ex-UP C40-8 CN 2100, seen on the right of the photo below. I was more interested in GMD1 CN 1410, as well as hump GP9 CN 7211. I last saw CN 2100 in Newton, Manitoba in March of this year.


In case you're curious, the lettering on CN 7211 is: "GY-418a / H / 7 M.P.H. THRU MASTER & GROUP

RETARDERS"

On the south end of the yard, an intermodal train was pushing back into the yard. CN 8007 and CN 2287 were the power on that train.

Hump set CN 7530-501-523-7513 were working on the south end. I shot them but they are severely backlit.

That was the end of my voyeurism for one day.

Clever Title Here

I was out for an extended lunch break on Thursday (September 22) and I saw a few trains. My intended target was the Canadian and she did not disappoint.

There is crossing work going on at the Shaftesbury crossing off Wilkes Avenue, just west of the former Winnipeg Intermodal Terminal. This is related to the new IKEA store and I think they are widening the crossing to put an extra lane there to handle IKEA traffic. The crossing is closed to northbound traffic while they do the work, which is good for railfans because trains must call in to the foreman to get permission to pass their red flags. This means we get advance warning on the scanner and the trains run a little slower through there.

I set up just west of the crossing to shoot the Canadian, and it was through on time with VIA 6425 leading.

The standard "going away" shot...

I chased them west down Wilkes, barely pacing them as they were going the maximum 55 MPH. I heard them call "Clear to Limited" for the Diamond signal, meaning they would have to slow down at Diamond. I hurtled down the gravel portion of the road and slowly caught up to the head end. It would have made a great pacing video if there was someone in the passenger seat to film it! They crossed over from the north track to the south track at Diamond - hence the Limited speed.

Unfortunately once they crossed over, the engineer put the pedal to the metal and they pulled away. Still, it was fun to chase them.

I returned east to Wilkes and waited for more trains to come. From the scanner traffic I could tell that CN 199 and CN 852 would be passing by soon. CN 199 was first with CN 2629 and CN 2429.

I really need to clean my lens!

Next, CN 852 came along with CN 5659 leading and ex-BNSF Dash-8 CN 2194 trailing. CN 2194 was originally ATSF (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) 859, which became BNSF 859. CN purchased it and a number of Dash-8s recently. This is my first sighting of an ex-BNSF Dash-8. You may recall I've seen a few of the ex-UP units.

That was all I waited around for. It was clear there would be no more trains for a while.

Later in the afternoon, I headed home along Wilkes and stumbled across CN 114. They had just met CN 117 at Diamond and were rolling into Winnipeg. It was odd to see non-container traffic on 114.


That was it for the day... now if only I had a clever title for this post.

Running Light

Just a quickie for tonight. In the morning of July 20 I caught these two units running light west on the CN Rivers subdivision. These two were heading out to Elie to pick up their train. I have no idea why it was out there. My guess is that an eastbound train needed some power and they were given the engines off this train. I believe these two engines were operating as train 853.

The lead engine was one of the now-ubiquitous SD70M-2 engines, CN 8870. The trailing engine was one of my current favourites, Dash-8 CN 2418.


I've seen CN 2418 twice before, at a meet at St. James Junction in November 2009, and in Saint John in January 2002. I just saw CN 8870 last month.

More Humpyard Dogs

Steve Vallis was out shooting at CN's Symington Yard here in Winnipeg last week and took some photos of CN's GP38 humpyard units (see previous post about humpyard dogs).

On the 11th he caught CN 7530 and 7513 (with slugs) working the yard. CN 7530 is definitely looking grubby.


CN 7513, on the other hand, is looking nice and shiny.


While he was there, he saw a train come off the Sprague subdivision. Here it is at CN Navin, with CN 5600 (SD75) and CN 2433 (Dash-8). You can see the shiny new signals on the right, installed when they extended the switching lead through Navin.


Gotta love those Dash-8s!


On the 17th, Steve caught one of the newly painted GP38s with the "15 Years" emblem, CN 7505. They are celebrating the 15 years since CN was privatized.


It was part of a set with CN 7522 and slugs 511 and 502.


Great shots, Steve!

More Rocky Mountaineer Cars

I had a tip that Thursday's Canadian would have a couple of Rocky Mountaineer cars, so I went out at noon to see them. It was another beautiful but cold day. When I arrived at Wilkes Avenue I saw an eastbound freight train stopped a little west of St. James Junction. The power was SD60 CN 5506 and Dash-8 BCOL 4618. Old power!

BCOL 4618 has been repainted in CN colours.

BCOL 4618 in Winnipeg

The number sounded familiar, so I looked it up after and I realized I shot this unit in her BC Rail colours back on August 21, 2009.

BCOL 4618 still in BC Rail colours

I went over to the Junction and waited with another railfan for the Canadian. It was about 10-15 minutes late.

VIA Rail with Rocky Mountaineer cars

The lead Rocky Mountaineer car was RMR 9523, a dome car built by Colorado Railcar.

RMR 9523, Rocky Mountaineer

Trailing that was Rocky Mountaineer 5506, a former CN/VIA Dayniter.

Rocky Mountaineer #5506

That was fun!

VIA Rail "going away"

Shortly after the Canadian left, the freight started rolling. It turns out it was CN train 852.

CN 5506 in Winnipeg

While it was rolling by, CN 101 passed on the north track. CN 852 had to stop because 101 was crossing over from the south to the north track in front of 852.

Another nice day for photos and video.

See Also

• VIA Rail with Rocky Mountaineer car
• More Rocky Mountaineer cars

Well Met at Lorette

On February 11 I was running errands in Winnipeg. Afterward, I went over to CN's Symington Yard to see what was going on. The yard slugs were working the humpyard, and a CN freight was rolling out onto the Sprague subdivision. I shot a few photos and a bit of video from the Fermor overpass, then headed out to try to get the CN freight.

I pursued it for a bit and was able to overtake it shortly before the Lorette siding at mile 138.2. There was a train in the siding, waiting for the eastbound freight to pass. The waiting freight was CN 343, with engines 2572, 2539, 5677 and 2225.

First, the oncoming freight: CN 438 with engines 2244, 5775, and ex-UP unit 2111.

CN 343's crew was on the ground, waiting to give 438 an inspection. Here one of 343's crew gives a wave.

It's still a bit unusual to see those ex-UP Dash-8s... but I'm getting used to it.

The crew diligently watched the train, looking for stuck brakes, dragging equipment, and the like.

There were a group of potash cars near the end of the train.

With their job done, the crew of 343 went back to their train and headed into Symington.

"CN 343, diverging to clear signal at Lorette".

Grab Shot

We've all done them. You see a train, you don't have any time to set up, so you grab the camera, point it at the engines and shoot, hoping for something half decent. Much of the time, the shot is "meh", maybe a quarter of the time it is awful, but occasionally you get a great one. You can be the judge of this one.

I was driving around with the kids on January 2, 2011 looking for trains. I drove by the CN Symington yard, not seeing much of interest. At the CN Transcona yard, there was a train parked with a pair of engines being backed onto the west end. CN 5747 was the lead engine, and the conductor was riding BCOL 4604 as it was shoved onto the consist.

That wasn't the grab shot. I took a bunch of photos from Dugald Road and then moved on.

Next I went up to North Transcona to see what was up around CEMR and CP. There was nothing happening on the CP Keewatin subdivision. Multimark GP9 CP 8251 was parked in CP's North Transcona yard but it was not in a very photogenic location. The usual dog's breakfast of old units were parked behind CEMR.

I drove back down to the CN Reddit sub in Transcona, and for whatever reason decided to head east to Dugald to see if I could catch a train there. I can't remember if I heard something on the scanner or did it on a whim. Anyway, I went to Dugald and didn't see anything, so I took a photo of the elevator and then, just as I was walking back to the car, I saw a headlight to the east. TRAIN!

I didn't have much time, so I raced the car to the crossing and parked in front of the gates. As they came down and the lights were flashing, I ran over to try to get a head on shot of the train. This was my grab shot.

What do you think?