What's on CN 2329 East?

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.

OK, rant over. Incidentally, another photo of this very rail car is available on RRPictureArchives.NET.

CNA 385112

What's that in the top left corner?

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.

FURX was First Union Rail, recently renamed to Wells Fargo Rail. It's another railcar and locomotive leasing company.

The 86 Foot Boxcars

PHRX 4794

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.

Eric Gagnon has an excellent article on 86 foot boxcars hauling peat moss.

PHLX 206036

I'm sure you noticed the locomotive...

CN 3826

CN 3826

This shiny locomotive, CN 3826, is one of the 260 new Evolution-series locomotives GE is building for CN to ease its power shortage. I imagine this was one of the first revenue runs, as the locomotive is still clean!

Shiny new loco

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!

Visiting the Souris Railway Museum

Interior of the Souris Railway Museum

My family toured southwest Manitoba over the Dominion Canada Day weekend in 2018. We stayed in Boissevain and visited the International Peace Gardens, then visited "small town Manitoba". It was a nice, low-key weekend and I really enjoyed the gardens, and especially revisiting many grain elevators that I had last seen on my two-day elevator tour in 2014.

One town we visited was Souris, Manitoba. This is a lovely town that has a great downtown full of interesting shops, and it also hosts the Souris Railway Museum.

The Souris Railway Museum, from the outside

The museum is in a building built to look like a bay window caboose. The interior is filled with many railway artefacts from the area, from Canada and beyond. There is a lot to see in a small space, and I spent a good half hour in the building, looking at the displays and talking with the two enthusiastic ex-CP volunteers there.

One end of the museum contains a diesel locomotive simulator, a device they are quite proud of. It is really only available "by chance", as not everyone is trained in how to use it. The two volunteers there couldn't operate it but did show it to me.

Diesel locomotive simulator, Souris

This is a purpose-built simulator, not a control console taken from a real locomotive. It's pretty high tech and the volunteer didn't want to mess with it. He said it was quite a good simulation.

The museum is well worth visiting if you are in the area. Visit their web site for more information!

Other Attractions

While you're in the area, see caboose CP 437180 just up the road at the Hillcrest Museum.

Caboose CP 437180 in Souris, Manitoba

Don't forget the famous swinging bridge - just on the other side of the Hillcrest Museum.

Souris Swinging Bridge

Happy Accident

CP 2201 in Souris, Manitoba

We went to get some ice cream after touring Souris. As we were walking to our van, I heard a distant horn. I hustled the family into the van and headed trackside, to find CP 2201 and 2212 running light through the town. A lucky catch!

Postscript - Train Register

One artifact I was particularly interested in was this train register book from Lyleton, Manitoba, containing entries from 1955 to 1964.

Lyleton, Manitoba train register book

The page shows trains 105, 123, 124, 230, 251, 530 and 551. Some of those trains are interesting because the 1955/04/24 employee timetable only shows trains 123 and 124 (first class passenger trains) and mixed trains 253 and 254.

CP Lyleton subdivision, 1955/04/24

Those train numbers are a bit of a mystery to me.

Lyleton must have been 2-6-0 "Mogul" territory at that time, as the locomotives listed on the register are CP 1274, CP 1285 and CP 1291.

The trains weren't huge, as the CP Lyleton subdivision was a "dead end" subdivision starting on the CP Napinka subdivision in Deloraine and ending in Lyleton. The register shows 3 or 4 passenger cars and no more than 10 freight cars.

CP Derailment Near Rosser

Derailed containers near Rosser, Manitoba

Late in the afternoon of May 29, 2018, around 4:45 PM I think, an eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed between Rosser and Winnipeg, Manitoba. About 13 double-stacked container platforms were blown over by strong winds.

Local railfan Felix Lesiuk passed by the scene before the highway was closed and took some photos. He graciously gave permission for me to post a couple. There are more on the Winnipeg Model Railroad blog.

CP derailment scene. Photo by Felix Lesiuk.

Truck and kingpin - a rare sight. Photo by Felix Lesiuk.

I was initially unaware of the derailment. After supper, I went out for a bike ride. When I returned home, I checked my email and a friend in the area had sent me a message about the derailment (thanks Sheldon!). It was 8 PM at this point. I grabbed my camera bag and rushed up north toward Rosser.

I arrived "on scene" at 8:40 PM. Highway 221, which parallels the CP Carberry subdivision, was blocked off just over 5 km west of the Perimeter Highway (road 3E), where the head end of the train was.

The marked location "2.77 km" is where the train was, on the west side of Winnipeg. The 2.77 km is the approximate length of the train.

The location

A closer look:

The local fire department was manning a blockade on the east end, with CP Police right behind them. I parked down road 3E then walked up to the barricade to take the photo above. The firefighters eyed my camera and cautioned me to be safe. I assured them I would stay on the public roads outside their perimeter.

Down highway 221

The train was headed by CP 8764 (which I last saw in Spillimacheen, BC), with a mid train DPU (CP 9769) and a tail end DPU.

There were about 8 or 9 autoracks in front of the tail end DPU and all were still upright, along with a couple of doublestacks.

I was glad to hear that nobody was injured, and there seemed to be no concern about hazardous materials. The road was blocked off so the cleanup crews could work without interference from passing cars.

There were a fair number of people gawking from their cars but I don't think anyone was walking around like I was. I talked to two gentlemen from a nearby farming colony who were pretty curious about the situation.

It looks like about 13-15 platforms blew over right behind the mid train locomotive. Lots of equipment was on site and cranes were in operation, with more arriving while I was there.

Reinforcements arriving

I brought out the long lens to get some shots from the grid roads around the train.

CP 8764 and emergency crews

I walked north up road 3E to get some decent angles. The 70-200mm lens was earning its keep.

Farther

Nearer

I tried the road parallel to the highway, a mile north. You can see track panels on a truck trailer in the photo below, ready to install to patch up damaged track.

Note the track panels on the truck trailer on the right.

I took a video of the train, using my long lens and my monopod for a little stability. It's still a bit jerky but a lot better than it would have been hand-held.
It was getting fairly dark by this point - about 9:15 PM.

Looking through the bottoms of the cars

Working at night

I cropped the heck out of the above photo to show this worker cutting a doublestack apart. I guess they can't be unlocked in that position...

Cutting a doublestack of containers apart

I tried the west end of the blockade, but it was a long way from the train and there really was nothing to see from there.

I decided that I had all the shots I could get, so I wrapped up with a few more from the head end and prepared to leave.

CP 8764 and a fire truck

A few more photos of the scene...

The blockade and the train

As I was getting in my car, I heard CP 8764's horn blow. I watched as the front end of the train slooooowly crept forward, dragging the front end of the train behind it. This was 9:40 PM.

Pulling through the crossing

I headed for home after that.

Everyone on site was very professional and were working hard to clear the wreck and restore service. It's unfortunate that this happened just before the CP engineers and conductors went on strike. Fortunately they quickly reached a tentative agreement and they are going back to work.

News Links

• CTV News
• CBC

See Also

• CN Derailment in Downtown Winnipeg (Jan 2015)
• CN Derailment in St. Norbert (Apr 2014)
• Lac-Megantic (Jul 2013)
• VIA Rescues CN (Mar 2013)

Finishing the Job: Part 1 - Grain Elevators of the CN Rossburn Subdivision

On April 30th I set out on my last marathon Manitoba grain elevator trip. I had about two dozen elevators left to photograph, and this trip would get all but one of them. I did my planning and on the evening of April 29th, I was ready to go. My camera was charged, I had a zillion podcasts on my phone, and my wife thought I was crazy. She might be right.

My alarm went off at 3:00 AM and I jumped out of bed. OK, maybe I just rolled out of bed. After a quick shower and breakfast of toast and milk, I was off.

First up on the podcast list was A Modelers Life. With one "L" (inside joke).

Yes, that's 3:22 AM

I hit the road, headed west to Portage la Prairie then up highway 16 through Gladstone.

Gladstone

As I approached Happy Rock Gladstone, I decided to take a few minutes to photograph the new Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator on the CN Gladstone sub just off the highway.

I took a side road and set up my tripod for a long exposure shot. 30 seconds did the trick!

A concrete dream

That was my first new grain elevator.. not planned, but I'll take it!

After grabbing some breakfast at McDonald's a Scottish restaurant in Neepawa, I carried on through downtown Minnedosa, then headed north on highway 262 to Clanwilliam, the first on my list.

Clanwilliam

When I arrived at 6:19 AM, the sun was above the horizon but not quite above the trees yet.

The grain elevator in Clanwilliam, Manitoba

The elevator sits alone on Railway Avenue (of course) and is no longer in use. I understand it was last used 6 or 7 years ago. The CN Rossburn subdivision used to run between a point near Neepawa and Russell, but all that was abandoned back in 1996.

This elevator has two discharge pipes on the railway side. Any guesses why there are two?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

There are two because the longer one was for loading grain into the (side) door of grain boxcars and the shorter one was for loading into the tops of grain hoppers. Simple, right?

The elevator is not in great shape, but certainly better than some I've seen.

So that was Clanwilliam.

On to Sandy Lake!

Sandy Lake

The Sandy Lake grain elevator

The grain elevator in Sandy Lake dominates the skyline, as elevators often do. It helps that it is up on a ridge, above the cottages and houses that dot the shores of the lake.

Compare this elevator to Clanwilliam's and you'll notice a few things:

• This annex still has a peaked roof, unlike Clanwilliam's which has machinery/piping on the top;
• Sandy Lake's roofs have been replaced
• The cladding has been patched here

It turns out that Sandy Lake's elevator is privately owned by Lewandowski Farms.

Lots of interesting piping here!

Just for fun, I recorded a short walk-around video.

By this time I was running behind schedule... the elevators were just too interesting, I guess! I resolved to try to pick the pace up.

Of course, as I approached Oakburn, I had to stop and take a few photos... even though it wasn't new to me. But first I noticed this:

Milepost 65 of the CN Rossburn subdivision

A milepost! Oakburn's siding was mile 65.6. There was another milepost still existing on the other side of Oakburn too.

Oakburn

I was here in late 2014 so I didn't linger very long. The annex doesn't look like it is leaning any more.

More on the Oakburn grain elevator...

I drove past Vista - which used to have a few grain elevators - and on to Rossburn, namesake of the subdivision that used to go through here.

Rossburn

The Rossburn grain elevator is located in the heart of the town. It looked to me like it is still being used. I was impressed by how bold the lettering is on the elevator... no wear at all. I wonder if they were reapplied recently.

Elevator selfie

I had to take a selfie here. I was taking one or two photos of each elevator with my iPhone, just in case I had problems with the SD card in my camera. I'm paranoid that way.

At this point it was 8:40 AM and I had been up for close to 6 hours. Go caffeine go!

I was taking pictures of the Ukrainian churches that I found, like I did last summer. I'll publish them in a separate post later.

After photographing Rossburn, it was on to Birdtail. I punched the GPS coordinates into my phone's map application, as I had been doing, and went on my way.

Birdtail

No elevator :(

The elevator wasn't there.

I hadn't been 100% sure that there was still an elevator at Birdtail. There was no Street View available and the satellite view of the area was old. Still, a little disappointing.

The Birdtail grain elevator was a wooden structure with no annex. It was labelled for Tanasychuk Farm according to old photos of the elevator.

There was no sign of it, so I carried on. At least I caught up on some time!

Angusville

The grain elevator in Angusville is interesting. There is a garage attached to the elevator, where the annex used to be.

I spoke with the owners - who moved here from Scotland a few years ago - and they don't know much about the elevator itself. It's not used and in fact the garage is blocking the driveway doors on the elevator.

The office appears to still be intact. There is a pile of timbers out back that might be from the demolished annex.

After visiting these towns, I have a couple of tips for you if you choose to go elevator fanning:

• Leave the town by a different route than you came in, if possible - you might see something else interesting on the way; and
• Always look back - you might get a cool view.

This was my look back for Angusville:

On to Silverton and its very interesting elevator(s).

Silverton

Old house and grain elevator, Silverton

I had to stop and include this old house in the shot. It looks like someone was stripping the house down to its bones.

The Silverton grain elevator is obviously a former UGG elevator. It wears its heritage proudly on the side of the annex and elevator.

Ex UGG grain elevator, Silverton

Note the "B" on the elevator indicating that there was an "A" elevator. My guess is that the Manitoba Pool elevator that used to be in Silverton was the A elevator and this became the B during the six Agricore United years when the UGG merged with Agricore (itself a merger of the Alberta Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevator). I could be wrong.

I really like the checkerboard look on the cupola of the elevator - very unique in Manitoba.

The elevator looks well maintained, with a new roof. Hopefully it is still serving after so many years!

As it happens, there are two grain elevators in Silverton.

The second is on a nearby farm. I spotted it as I was driving out of town. I took a few shots of the elevator from a public road but didn't get any closer, as it is clearly on private property.

Private elevator, Silverton

I wonder what the history of that elevator is...

Anyway, on to the former terminus of the CN Rossburn subdivision, Russell.

Russell

The grain elevator in Russell, Manitoba

I arrived in Russell to find the ex Manitoba Pool grain elevator to be in fine shape. It is privately owned and apparently still in use for grain storage.

Things are looking up!

The Trans-Canada Trail runs along the former CN line here. Russell used to be a division point on the CNR, with a roundhouse, station and so forth. The CN Rossburn subdivision ended here in a yard, and the CN Tonkin subdivision continued on into Saskatchewan.

Clayton Chaloner contributed his photo of a brace of GMD1s lifting the last loads from the Pool elevator in Russell.

CN 1604 in Russell, photo by Clayton Chaloner

The CP had a presence on the west side of Russell with the CP Russell subdivision running from Binscarth to Inglis. At one time the majority of the grain elevators were on the CP line but there are none there now.

Russell CPR station and grain elevators, early 1900s

Russell is near the large Bunge plant in Harrowby, MB (on the CP Bredenbury subdivision) as well as potash mines in Saskatchewan, so it is a "happening" place.

Speaking of the Bredenbury sub, that's where I went next... to Binscarth. Read on!