ES44ACs on the Sprague

It was a beautiful afternoon on Sunday, March 8th, so I bundled the kids in the car and we headed out to see some trains. I decided to visit the CN Sprague subdivision because, well, that's where I've been going recently. When I reached the intersection of highway 1 with the Perimeter Highway (here), I saw there were two freight trains waiting to leave Symington Yard, and one was already rolling out onto the Sprague. Time for a chase!

I decided to shoot the train coming off the bridge over the Floodway. This necessitated getting my feet a bit wet, as I had to trudge through some wet calf-high snow to get a decent angle. I think this is really more of a summer shot location, but what the heck. This was 3:48 PM.

I had a feeling they were going to meet a train at the Lorette siding (mile 138.2). I don't know why I felt that way - just a "railfan hunch" I guess. Sure enough, there was a train waiting there, headed by shiny new ES44AC locomotives CN 2910 and CN 2944.

The crew dismounted to give the oncoming train a rollby inspection. The engineer was quite friendly and commented that there was a lot of traffic due to the northern Ontario derailment near Gogama. He also said the new ES44ACs pull very well.

Very soon the train was on us and I captured the meet.

This sure beat sitting at home!

It wasn't long before CN 2910 throttled up and headed into Winnipeg. Hopefully they managed to park the train before they ran out of hours!

Once they pulled out, we headed south toward Dufresne (mile 130.9), because I wanted to include the grain elevator in some photos. CN 8912 East was still trucking along but I was able to catch up to it, especially when it slowed down approaching Dufresne. I thought they were going into the siding for another meet. I was able to get ahead of them enough to get the grain elevator in a shot.

For the record it was CN 8921 / CN 2322 / CN 2666 / CN 2182 with no DPU.

Notice their headlights were out. As CN 8921 rolled slowly by, I saw a train entering the siding at the far end. Soon I could see CN 2832 coming up the siding - my second meet of the afternoon.

Clearly this was set up as a rolling meet as neither train stopped, with 2832 crawling along until 8921 East had cleared the west end of the siding.

The RTC was on the ball, lining the switch for 2832 to get on its way without any delay. Fortunately they were going slow enough that I could get on the highway side of the crossing well before the lights came on. Here they are just leaving the siding.

As I sped back toward Winnipeg, I noticed them coming around the bend and decided to stop and take a photo or two. The Prairies have this neat feature where there are connecting roads between the two sides of the 4-lane highway every mile or so, unlike the Maritimes, so it's easy to turn around.

One more turn and I was back on my way toward Winnipeg. I decided to stop at Lorette and catch them passing by. Sadly - for them - they took the siding at Lorette too!

Their meet was soon upon them as CN 3032 blasted by. Meet #3 for me!

This train had CN 3032 and CN 2906, with CN 2824 as DPU power in the middle - lots of ES44ACs this afternoon.

By this time it was 5:05 PM so it was time to get the kids home and make some supper. CN 2832 was still in the siding so I figured they were going to meet another train. After driving for a few kilometres, I saw another eastbound coming so I pulled over to grab one last train.

CN 5685 broke up the ES44AC streak, and CN 2580 was trailing power on this train, composed mostly of autoracks.

A few tank cars and one loaded lumber car... the end.

Not bad... five trains in less than 90 minutes.

Running extra - the day before this (Saturday), I was driving home through a blizzard when I spotted a CN train rolling on the Rivers sub. I pulled off the highway to photograph it but noticed VIA's Hudson Bay (er, VIA 692) rolling the other way and decided to shoot that instead. I only had my iPhone with me but the old saying goes, "the best camera is the one you have with you." Here it is.

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!

November 26 Observations

On Saturday November 26 I did my usual survey of the CP yard in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. There were a collection of the "usual suspects" (GP38s, AC4400s, SD90s) with a few more interesting units. The first was CP 8957, another one of the shiny new ES44AC engines that Canadian Pacific Railway has purchased.


Canadian Railway Observation's December issue has a better photo of 8957 by Ken McCutcheon in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan.

For me the most interesting unit in the yard was CP 9015, a "red barn" SD40-2F. Blog readers know I like the red barns, but this one is special because it has a rebuilt nose.


CP 9015 was involved in a grade crossing accident with an oil truck earlier this year (I believe) and the Weston shops here in Winnipeg rebuilt the nose end.

Compare it to CP 9017... shot here in Winnipeg on October 25, 2009.


The candy stripes are gone, the bell is painted, and most importantly, the shop didn't bother repainting the whole locomotive! Given the age of the red barns, it doesn't make sense for CP to spend a lot of time and money doing cosmetic work to them.

Here's a photo of CP 9015 from Flickr.

Complete list of units seen.

CP Winnipeg Yard

On Saturday I spent an hour or so prowling around the Canadian Pacific Railway yard in downtown Winnipeg. Regular readers know I railfan CN much more than CP so I try to visit CP when I have spare time.

I started off at the east end of the yard, where I found CP 5863 and CP 1550 shunting. I mentioned CP 5863 before as one of the two SD40-2 engines that still has a multimark.

The real prize, though was CP 8904, one of the shiny new ES44ACs delivered to Canadian Pacific this year. This is the first time I've seen one of the 8900 series.


CP 8904 and CP 9682 pulled away almost as soon as I arrived, pulling a grain train out of the yard.

Right after that, CP 8798 and CP 8548 pulled up. I took a few shots and then I went to the Salter Street bridge. It has been years since I've taken any photos from that bridge. Normally I like the Arlington Street bridge more, but I thought I'd go back to Salter Street.

There were a few switchers parked between the two bridges at the fuel stand. CP 1530, 1532 and 1597 are all visible in this photo.


On my right, I saw CP 1540 pulling a cut of cars through the yard, so I jogged over to get this overhead shot of 1540 and 1585.


After they passed, I returned to my car and drove over to shoot the engines at the shop. There were quite a few engines there... SD40-2s, including three "red barn" SD40-2F units; SD90s, ES44ACs (including shiny new CP 8903), and a few GP9s.

Here's "red barn" CP 9010. I've heard from people that work at the shops that these SD40-2Fs are a real pain in the neck. I just like the look of them.


Dual-flag SD40-2 CP 5936 was also there. The paint is looking a bit shabby now.


After I did my photo inventory, I heard horns from a train approaching from the south. I figured it was a train on the La Riviere subdivision, so I drove over to take a quick video. It turned out to be CP 8251 and CP 1587 running light.


I was just about out of time, so I returned to the east end of the yard to see CP 8798 now coupled up to a train. They started rolling and scared off a few Canada geese.


The complete list of engines I saw is in my sighting database.

Winnipeg to Regina Trains

On June 25, we drove back from Winnipeg to Regina. On the way, we saw a few trains (mostly CP) and I managed to record two of them.

Broadview, Saskatchewan is a division point and you can often see a train there. This time I saw CP 3100 and 3034 resting there. Unfortunately they were not in a photogenic spot.

Later, I saw an eastbound freight just east of Grenfell, Saskatchewan. It appeared to be accelerating from a stop. I pulled over to a rural crossing and set up my video camera, only then noticing that it had been left ON. The battery light was blinking but I turned it on anyway and then started shooting stills. The battery died about halfway through the train, which is good enough, I guess. You can just see the Grenfell elevator in the distance behind the train in the photo.



As we passed Grenfell, I saw a westbound freight off in the distance. Clearly there had been a meet. We carried on and soon came to Sintaluta, SK (love that name) where another eastbound freight waited in the siding. I stopped to take a few stills before heading on. I was pleased to see the second unit was CP 6078, an SD40-2 converted to a "B" unit with blanked-out windows.



I understand the B units were created by CP because they were dedicated to Locotrol (remote control) service and would never lead.