Just for something a little different, let's look at some of the cars found on CN 2329 East, spotted on September 13, 2018.
CN 2329
By the name I've given the train, obviously CN 2329 was on the head end. 2329 is a GE ES44DC locomotive, built in mid 2010.
I first spotted this locomotive on train 404 on April 4, 2011 (see "404 on 4/04"), several hundred feet further east from the photo above. The second time I spotted 2329 was on October 9, 2012, pretty much at the exact same location. I might take a lot of photos in the same area... what do you think?
There was another locomotive on the train. You'll see it soon...
MGLX 625056
MGLX 625056 in Winnipeg
The first freight car I photographed was this Saskatchewan! car now owned by MobilGrain, MBLX 625056. The taggers have been all over this car, unfortunately. I always liked the green SK cars.
GTW 138205
Long live the Grand Trunk
The next car I photographed was heavily weathered GTW 138205, sporting the giant white "GT". It even has its multicolour ACI label visible to the right of the "T". I can't quite read the built date but it looks like "11-76", which is comparable to the dates on other GTW cars like this that I have photographed. 40+ years of working... too bad rail cars don't get a pension when they are retired.
CN 395299
Faded glory
Next up is highly faded CN 395299, with its Canadian Wheat Board logo and lettering barely visible. I remember it being almost pink in colour to my eye. Another car on borrowed time...
CGEX 1085
Cargill's CGEX 1085
I see a lot of Cargill grain cars. CGEX 1085 here is one of the common types, but I also see a lot of Cargill cars with external, vertical ribs. The reporting marks tend to be CGAX, CGEX or CGOX. I don't know if there is any reason for the difference in reporting marks.
You'll see another Cargill car shortly.
EFNX 160760
A truly boring car
I took a photo of EFNX 160760 not because there was anything interesting about it, but because it is a prime example of today's truly boring rail cars. This 5200 cubic foot car was built in September 2016 and is one of many cars in Element Financial's fleet of rail cars available for lease.
In "days of yore", railroads owned a lot of rolling stock. Not any more. I believe the majority of today's rail cars are owned by lessors like Element who lease them out to customers. It probably makes a lot of financial sense for the railroads to be out of the lease market, but I miss the corporate logos on rail cars. This car is truly and literally the beige among the rapidly disappearing GT blue, the UP yellow, and the rainbow Canadian grain car fleet.
CNA 385112 looks like a pretty ordinary 4740 cubic foot rail car, with external ribs, built in March 1972 and still sporting its ACI label. However... what's that in the top left of the car?
Aha! Cargill!
This was a Cargill car! Also note that it used to be NAHX 5xxx3 before CN acquired it.
These little details keep me watching the train after the locomotive(s) go by.
The FURX Cars
FURX FTW
I saw a string of these gray FURX cars on the train next. You can see they are three bay open top hopper cars, 2400 cubic feet. I can see external controls to open the doors, so they must be pneumatically controlled. I see the pistons to operate the doors and there are nozzles on the cars labelled "AIR". It's weird how the middle door is "C" and the "A" and "B" doors are on the ends.
The real "win" on the train for me was this pair of 86 foot boxcars, with the PHRX reporting mark. The PHRX reporting mark is owned by Premier Horticulture Ltd., a company founded in 1923 around sphagnum peat moss. Their head office is in Rivière-du-Loup (Québec).
I remember seeing 86 foot boxcars on the New Brunswick East Coast Railway in northern New Brunswick. There is a lot of peat moss on the Acadian peninsula, and in fact the former Caraquet and Gulf Shore Railway (and later CN Caraquet subdivision) hauled a lot of peat moss.
Note the CN Aboriginal Affairs logo that these new locomotives wear. I love how there are labels with tiny letters along the frame edge... someone is very optimistic that these will be readable! My guess is that they will become covered in grime and be unreadable within a month.
Canadian Grain Cars
A rainbow
There was a rainbow of Canadian grain cars near the tail end of the train to finish things off.
I hope you enjoyed this little rolling stock review. Let me know what you think in the comments!
I've been wanting to railfan all day on June 21 for several years now. It's the longest day of the year, after all. This year it fell on a Thursday, so I had to work, but I did manage to get out at the start and end of the day.
Morning
I hit the road at 6 AM, heading toward Symington Yard and points east of Winnipeg. Passing over the Sprague subdivision, I didn't see any approaching trains nor any action in the yard. I kept going around Winnipeg to the CN Redditt subdivision and headed east toward Dugald. At Dugald, there were no signal indications showing an impending train, but I did see this hay bale, so it wasn't a complete loss. ;)
Hay bale sunrise
I headed back to Winnipeg and carried on west on Dugald Road to see if anything was happening at the Greater Winnipeg Water District. Often they run out to the water treatment plant (or beyond) on Thursday. When I arrived, it looked like a few crew were arriving to get started but it would be a long time before anything would be moving. I didn't have time to wait, so I carried on toward Symington Yard. I decided that if nothing else showed up, at least I could see the SD40 locomotives working the hump.
On my way there, I spotted a CN locomotive and slug leaving the yard on the St. Boniface spur.
CN 7251 and slug CN 252 on the St. Boniface spur
Slug 252 was leading CN 7251 as they rolled along. There were three crew on the head end - I'm assuming one was a trainee, wearing a green safety vest instead of the usual orange.
I carried on down Lagimodière (that's a hard word to say) Boulevard to the south end of Symington Yard. There I spotted CN 8805 and Norfolk Southern 1108 pushing a train into the yard. I grabbed this terrible photo of NS 1108.
NS 1108 in Winnipeg
The sun was not in my favour!
Two hump yard sets were working. CN 6016, CN 6010, grey GTW 5948, and a slug (probably CN 203) were on one track, and GTW 5943, CN 6015, CN 6005 and slug CN 217 were on the other.
As I watched, the GTW 5943 set started putting on a sound and smoke show, getting their string moving out from the yard in preparation for pushing it up the hump.
GTW 5943 smokes it up
It was impressive to watch - and hear!
That was the morning.
Evening
I saw on the VIA Rail tracker site that VIA 1 was coming into the city late (as usual). I thought I might be able to catch it before it was too dark.
I headed out along the CN Redditt subdivision toward Anola. I pulled over a couple of times to check its progress, and I saw I had plenty of time. I zipped up to the CP main line but saw no signals lit, so that was a bit of a bust. At least I took a few silhouette photos.
Silhoutted CP Signal
That was at 9:11 PM, so there was still a bit of light around.
Back to CN! I headed east to a crossing just west of Anola. I arrived at 9:32 PM and familiarized myself with the area, since I had never been to that crossing before.
The east facing signal was green over red.
Green signal = GOOD
Waaayyy in the distance to the east I could see headlights.
In order to get a decent shutter speed, I selected ISO 1600, and f/3.2. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/200 seconds.
VIA 1 blasted through at 9:43 PM with VIA 6453 and 6427 leading.
VIA 1 blurring its way west
1/200s was not fast enough to freeze the action!
I liked the going away shot better, with the sunset sky.
VIA 1 facing a green signal
I knew there was no way I was going to catch VIA 1 again, so I packed up my gear and headed back toward home. I went along Dugald Road with the forlorn hope that VIA might be stopped in Transcona Yard - no luck there.
I headed south past Symington Yard to find a CN freight stopped by Tinkertown, just outside the yard. CN 2136 was the lead unit.
CN freight train outside Winnipeg
This was taken at 10:05 PM. I can't remember if I used a tripod or a monopod, but I'm sure I used something to steady the shot. My camera settings were ISO 3200, 1/30s shutter speed, aperture f/3.2. It wasn't totally dark but the sun was well below the horizon.
Note the third locomotive, BNSF 5366.
BNSF 5366 in Winnipeg
You can tell it was pretty dark, because the step lights are visible in the two photos above. Normally you don't see these during the day. I'm not sure if they are always on or if the engineer turns them on... I imagine they must always be on.
I posted a little video to my Instagram stories to show how dark it was.
I texted my wife that I was heading home, and I hit the road for home. Symington is about 15 minutes from my house.
The train wasn't moving very fast - at all - so it was a bit of a wait. It was OK, though, as it was a nice night and the bugs weren't too bad. It's been a dry spring in Winnipeg, so our legendary mosquitoes haven't had much chance to breed yet.
(yes, I did text my wife to tell her I would be a "bit" later)
At 10:34 PM, CP 8564 rolled past, dragging a long oil train.
CP 8564 by night
At this point, I had set my camera to a ridiculous ISO 6400 to be able to use a 1/40 second shutter speed. There is definitely grain in the photo - lots of it - but it is still a usable photo. My new Canon 77D is doing yeoman work.
At the private crossing I was at, there is a "yard" light providing illumination, so the side view has a lot more light.
Blowing through the crossing
The second unit was CP 9648, followed by a buffer car and a hundred oil tanks...
So many tank cars
After the 100 tank cars, there was another buffer car... then more locomotives!
One was a CP locomotive but the other was NS 8125. Two Norfolk Southern locomotives in one day!
NS 8125 on a CP freight train
Note the BNSF buffer car just going through the crossing. Buffer cars are used in dangerous goods trains like crude oil trains to separate the cargo from locomotives, for crew safety.
Here's another Instagram story video showing that it was pretty dark.
There were another hundred oil tanks on this train. That's 4 locomotives and 204 cars... a monster!
STOP - NO EXIT
The final car was an old CN grain car, the final buffer car.
The final car
That was my experience railfanning the longest day of the year. Someday I hope to continuously railfan the day, but that will have to wait for another year... or two...
PS just a reminder that I have some recommendations on Amazon for things I have purchased and used, like train books, photography gear, batteries, etc. Check it out!
In a span of about a week in April, I made a point of getting out and photographing trains. I ended up shooting trains on April 14, 16, 17, 18 and 19, and I am going to share each outing in a separate post.
Wednesday, April 18th
GTW 5943
I ducked out briefly on April 18 to photograph trains over by Symington Yard. There wasn't a lot going on beyond the regular hump yard activity. An SD40-2 rich set of power was on one pullback track, with CN 6015, GTW 5943, CN 6005 and slug CN 217 hard at work.
CN 6015 and 6016
On the other track, CN 6016 emerged from behind CN 6015 as they pulled a long string of cars back from the yard. This set was 6016-6010-GTW 5948-255. I like the grey GTW units better than the black-red-white units.
GTW 5948 in Winnipeg
The freight cars were pretty unremarkable, except for this pinkish three bay hopper car - reporting mark CC. I noted one end was painted white, so maybe it is equipped with a rotary coupler for dumping?
A carbon copy / CC?
A train was getting ready to depart the yard, but I didn't have time to stick around to chase it. Sisters CN 8903 and 8960 were on the head end.
CN 8903 and 8960 in Winnipeg, Manitoba
So that was April 18.
Thursday, April 19th
I went out along the CN Sprague subdivision on the evening of the 19th to see what I could see. As I approached Symington Yard, I saw an eastbound freight was getting ready to leave, so I headed east along the Trans-Canada Highway and set up on the "sun" side to capture the train. I decided to shoot a "going away" photo to take full advantage of the sun behind me.
CN 2323 approaching the approach signal
I believe this is the approach signal for the Lorette siding. It was showing yellow over yellow, and CN 2323 would end up taking the siding, as you will see.
There was a DPU locomotive, CN 8878, about 2/3 of the way back in the train. CN has been running a lot of trains in this "1+1" configuration, one locomotive on the head end and one in the middle of the train.
CN 8878 and my shadow
Notice my shadow and my old Canon T1i on the tripod, taking video.
I liked this Saskatchewan car - now lettered for MGLX - Mobil Grain. 663 hopper cars were purchased by Big Sky Rail, at a price of about $10K / car. The Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation sold off its fleet last summer. The Great Western Railway bought 150 and the Great Sandhills Railway bought 85.
MGLX 625444 outside Winnipeg
CN 2323 East trundled into the siding at Lorette, meeting the waiting autorack train led by CN 2818.
Meet at Lorette
CN 2818 West had four locomotives, including a lease unit.
Meeting adjourned
I repositioned to the sun side of the train to record the train leaving. I didn't have a lot of time and I wish I had 30 more seconds to set up for the video. Oh well!
The train had CN 2818 / CN 3019 / CN 5621 / GECX 7383 for power. Here's a view of GECX 7383.
GECX 7383 leaving Lorette siding
Aaaand here's the video.
I decided to let them go without a chase, so I went up to the CN Redditt subdivision. I went to the first crossing east of the highway and saw the tail end of a train heading east. Time to chase!
It turned out to be a long chase. I had to drive through Dugald and beyond before I caught up to the tail end. I continued on through Anola before I saw the head end of the train. After another few kilometres, I figured I was far enough ahead to cut right into a side road to get to a crossing to nab the head end.
As it was, I barely had time to put the car in park and jump out to get the shot of CN 8007 East.
Over the hood shot
BCOL 4615 was second in line, with CN 2009 third.
BCOL 4615 at a rural crossing
I took a few shots of the train with the setting sun glinting off the side. I liked this one the best.
Autoracks at sunset
That was nice.
I headed back toward Winnipeg. As I passed through Dugald, I noted a white bus with a red "CP" on the side. The bus had a set of "hi-rail" steel wheels on the front end and it had a lot of people in it. When I first saw it, it was coming down route 206 in company with a couple of conventional hi-rail pickup trucks. Maybe they were coming off the CP
A CP rail bus!
I continued into Winnipeg, making my way down Plessis Road past Symington Yard. I noted that CN 2818 West was stopped just short of the Fermor Avenue overpass.
GECX 7383 and company, waiting
That was the end of the railfan day for me, and this marks the end of this series. Thanks for reading these "four" days in April, which ended up being five. Call it a bonus day! :)
Some railfan excursions work out really well and you see something new, or different, or get a great photograph. Some... well, on some excursions, you are just grinding.
"Grinding", for those who aren't computer gamers, is doing repetitive actions in a game to gain points or experience to advance in the game. Sometimes it's called "farming". An example would be going out and killing some monsters in the game and collecting gold. It doesn't advance the plot but it gains your character some money or experience points.
Sunday afternoon was a grinding expedition.
I knew the photos weren't going to be spectacular from the start. It was a gray, overcast day with no prospect of any sun. I didn't expect any unusual power but I was hoping to catch one of CN's "new" rental units (see below).
I decided to head to the CN Sprague subdivision. As I approached it, I saw a train coming into Winnipeg from the east. I barely got to Symington yard before the train.
Symington Yard
CN 2037 and BCOL 4647 coming into Winnipeg
CN 2037 and BCOL 4647 were hauling a decent-sized train. They stopped briefly after they passed me, probably to line a switch, then carried on.
BCOL 4647 and CN 2037
On the second track was a hump yard set with CN 6016, GTW 5948, CN 6010 and slug CN 203.
GTW 5948 in Winnipeg
These are permanent members of the hump fleet here in the 'peg.
On the third track was an intermodal train led by CN 2657 and CN 2141. I wasn't sure if this train had just arrived or was about to depart. It turned out that it had just arrived and was probably pushing its containers back into the intermodal yard in Symington.
So. Many. Wires.
The Redditt
It didn't look like anything was coming in on the Sprague, since that train had just arrived, so I decided to go east and check out the CN Redditt subdivision. That's Redditt with two "t"s, not the well-known Internet site with one "t".
There was nothing going on in CN's Transcona yard - cars but no locomotives - so I headed out toward Dugald. There was no indication of any action as I passed through town, and I went just east of Dugald and looked east down the arrow-straight track and saw nothing. Oh well.
Back to the Sprague
I returned to the CN Sprague subdivision. I saw there was a green signal facing Symington, indicating it was clear for an outbound train, but nothing was moving yet.
I drove out to the Lorette siding and found a 4-unit train sitting there.. led by shiny CN 2991 then grimy CN 8865, CN 5773, and CN 8852.
CN 2991 and friends in the CN Lorette siding
CN 2991 was shiny and new so I took a few photos of it.
Side view of CN 2991
You can see how the sky was pretty dull... there was a little colour in it due to the (hidden) sunset but it wasn't really photogenic.
The train had about 15 or 16 loaded coal cars... odd for Winnipeg.
Loaded coal cars
I continued down to Dufresne, wondering if another train was in the 6500' siding there. There was no train, but the new LED signals were well lit up.
Signals and the Dufresne grain elevator
On my way back, I passed the train at Lorette again with no sign of the train it was supposed to meet. I finally did spot the train right at Deacon's Corner but I wasn't able to get over to photograph it. It had CN 2909 on the head end of the intermodal train, with another locomotive on the rear.
By this time, it was almost 5 PM and it was time to hit the grocery store and get home to make supper. Also, it was getting pretty dark.
The Emerson
As I crossed the CP Emerson subdivision on my way home, I saw a headlight to the north. I went to a quiet crossing just north of the Perimeter Highway and waited for the train to come. I decided to put my camera on the tripod and take a 1 second exposure and let it streak, rather than try a pan. I had my phone out to take video.
It was a potash unit train with CP 8750 and CEFX 1059 leading the charge.
CP 8750 smearing the sky
I do like long exposure train photos!
That was enough for me... off to Sobeys!
CN's Leasers
I mentioned that CN has some "new" rental locomotives. CN has been experiencing a surge in traffic and is short on crews and power. They have been aggressively hiring people and now they've leased a bunch of locomotives. There are a lot of rumours about how many locomotives they are getting but here's what I do know is "on the property":
19? CREX ES44AC locomotives in the 1500-1520 series
2 PRLX SD75 locomotives (201 and 204, patched Warbonnet units)
There are rumours of more but that's what has been confirmed to date. The CREX units are apparently getting microwaves installed so they can lead on CN. Union rules on CN require a microwave and refrigerator in the lead locomotive, so usually American locomotives have to trail on CN because they don't generally have both of those. CP's union doesn't insist on having a fridge or microwave so CP's trains often have "foreign" power leading.
I'm sure I will catch a CREX unit soon... I just have to keep grinding!
