Two Trains Over Two Subdivisions (Guest Post)

This is a guest post by photographer Ken McCutcheon. He participated in my 10 Questions series a while ago. Recently he shared a pair of emails and I asked permission to share them with you as a guest post.

Last week on Thursday and Friday [June 16-17]  the Great Western Railway ran a couple of interesting trains.

Colour Me Green

GWRS 2000 and 2001 prepare to leave Shaunavon, SK. Ken McCutcheon photo.
The yard is full of stored empty tank cars.

Thursday's movement from Shaunavon, Saskatchewan to Assiniboia, SK featured MLW M420's 2000 and 2001.

I had made a comment on Facebook regarding this train. Next thing I know, Trevor Sokolan was on his way down from Edmonton to photographically record
the event.

There was really nothing out of the ordinary with this operation other than: GWR have the M420's for sale. There were two operating Alcos this day. How much longer will they be in service?

So there was an urgency to have one more experience with the M420's.

Approaching Admiral, SK - Ken McCutcheon photo

After driving through a monsoon enroute from Assiniboia to Shaunavon early Thursday morning, I hooked up with Trevor, chatted and waited for the "chase" to begin.

During this time a minivan with Ontario plates rolled up with a couple more railfans. Ted and Robin from Cobourg, Ontario just happened to be in southern Saskatchewan and on the GWR this day. I'd say they were blessed.

At 1015 Thursday June 16th the chase was on.

Approaching Pontiex, SK. Ken McCutcheon photo.

Trevor Sokolan shared a photo of the units switching the Admiral elevator here.

Colour Me Orange

Leaving Rockglen, SK. Ken McCutcheon photo.

On day two, GWR ran a potash car storage train down the Fife Lake Sub to Coronach. (The Fife Lake subdivision is used mainly now for storage of railway equipment)

Under a clear dome the two B40-8's 563 and 575 (handled 67 empty potash cars going into storage. Once again the four photographers had a great day of chasing.

Approaching Lisieux. Ken McCutcheon photo.

Trevor Sokolan shared a photo near Bexkill, SK.

For me the chase was bittersweet.

I found out the following Monday that the locomotive engineer for both these trips, Doug Knuff, had pulled the pin.......retiring from the GWR.

Doug was a gentleman and a blessing.  He was always friendly, with a wave from the cab; he shared whatever information I requested; and he will be sorely missed.

All the best, Doug, in your retirement and THANK YOU for the memories. Be blessed and enjoy your free time away from the railway.

Ken McCutcheon

Approaching Scout Lake. Ken McCutcheon photo.

Thanks for the post, Ken!

Here's a photo of Ken enjoying the GWR's Alcos in July 2015, by Trevor Sokolan.

Further reading:

• Ken's 10 Questions
• Jeff Robertson's Great Western photos
• The Great Western Railway's site

Going For A Spin

Here's a great Greg Brewer slide from November 3, 1984.

CN 2519 is taking a spin on the turntable in CN's Island Yard in Saint John, NB. It looks like Greg was shooting facing east, just south of the yard.

You can see where the turntable was, on this car control manual page.


CN 2519 was built in 1973 as an M-420(W) (W for wide) and was put into class MR-20a by CN. In 1986-87 it had its weight and fuel capacity reduced to enable it to run on branch lines. I believe those were reversed in late 1994.

CN Lines says it was leased to RaiLink of Southern Ontario in 1997, and retired from CN on February 13, 1998. It was sold to the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad in New Hampshire in 1998, and sold again the Southern Railroad of New Jersey in early 2004. The site referenced still has it and two other ex-CN M420s on the roster.

Anyone know when the turntable was removed from the Island Yard? There is no trace of it now. Locomotives are turned on the nearby wye, just as the Acadian passenger train was when it was in operation.

Backgrounds

I received my scans back from ScanCafe yesterday, so expect a batch of old photos to start appearing here soon.

I am starting to rename the files with meaningful names, and I noticed something interesting in the background of this otherwise normal slide of CN 2531 in Moncton (by Greg Brewer).

Notice the passenger cars in the background? Here's the relevant part of the slide:

The scan didn't quite work out for this slide. The cars really don't have a big bend in them!

I thought, "yellow cars, yellow cars, I've seen those before."

Then I remembered - a couple of the Salem & Hillsborough passenger cars were painted yellow when they were received. Here's a bad scan of an Al Howland picture:

This makes a lot of sense, because Greg's slide was shot on June 17, 1984, just prior to the start up of operations for the Salem & Hillsborough Railway.

Moral: Keep an eye on the backgrounds!

Dead Line

This is a sad sight. W.A. Gleason caught this scene on slide on August 12, 1997 in Moncton. A dead line of MLW M420 units. I count 6 or 7 units, all apparently missing their prime movers. The closest ones were CN 3527, 3520 and 3525. My 1997 Trackside Guide says those three units were retired in 1996.

CN's M-420s were built by MLW between 1973 and 1976. CN had 80 of them at one point. The units were originally numbered in the 2500 series, but in 1986-7 their sand and fuel capacity were reduced to bring their weight down by 12,000 lbs. and they were renumbered to the 3500 series. In late 1994 some were renumbered back to the 2500 series and the reductions were reversed.