Negotiations and Love Songs

It's a great album.

We had a little family trip to Saskatchewan back at the end of August / beginning of September, 2012. I negotiated a few hours of railfanning on the morning of September 2, so I hit the road at sunrise to get as much railfanning as I could in before my time was up. The sunrise was so awesome that I didn't even reach the end of the driveway before I started taking pictures.

Anyway, I finally did get moving. We were staying in Pense, SK just west of Regina.

Pense, SK

After photographing the grain elevator (again), I decided to head west to Moose Jaw and see what was up in the yard. I didn't see anything moving on the line and I started circling the yard, shooting as I went.

There was the usual collection of SD40-2s, AC4400CWs, and so forth, as well as long-time resident SW1200 CP 1251.


You can view all the engines I saw in Moose Jaw here.

On the west side of the shop buildings, CP 1536 and CP 1554 were shunting some tank cars whilst a CP freight was sitting in the yard.


There was quite a collection of locomotives parked on the west side of the shops. I believe this is where locomotives go to die... or at least wait for repair.

I photographed this odd Viterra elevator in Moose Jaw. I assume the giant concrete structure was built after the wooden annex but I really don't know.

I left the immediate downtown area and started spiraling out, in search of elevators and anything else I hadn't photographed before. I found this Viterra concrete monstrosity west of town.

I found a place where a CP line crosses over CN.

The crossing is mile 42.02 on the CN Central Butte subdivision.

Note the Cargill grain elevator in the distance. That's where the CN line goes, and ends. The CP line is the CP Outlook subdivision.

I started to head back to Pense after that. I had a bit of time and remembered that the Canadian Trackside Guide mentioned a caboose at Pasqua, so I took the time to stop there. Pasqua is where the CP Weyburn subdivision diverges from the CP Indian Head subdivision and heads southeast to the US border.

I found the caboose easily enough - together with a decrepit train station.

I'd say the caboose was in better shape than the station appeared to be. The station is not original to Pasqua but was moved there quite a few years ago.

The caboose is clearly ex-CN as the "wet noodle" is visible under the cupola.

There was another caboose in Pasqua... a maintenance-of-way crummy.

CP 434646 and cars were parked on the beginning of the Weyburn subdivision.

PS - Here's quite a few photos of the near ghost town of Pasqua, by Mike Stobbs.

Some Recent Grain Elevators

Some of you may know I'm a bit obsessed with grain elevators as well as trains. Heck, I have a whole grain elevator photo gallery for them. Here are a few I've seen this month.

This is the Viterra elevator at Pense, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian Pacific main line. This one is not new to me. I took this shortly after sunrise.


Later that morning, I shot this grand complex in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This Viterra elevator apparently handles mustard seed, and is served by CN off the Central Butte subdivision. The elevator dominates this area of Moose Jaw by its height, rivaled only by the Parrish-Heimbecker elevator on the other side of the Canadian Pacific yard.


Just a bit west of Moose Jaw is this grain elevator, another Viterra property. It is basically right on the Canadian Pacific main line.


Lest you think there are only Viterra elevators in Saskatchewan, here is the Cargill elevator just outside Moose Jaw. Sorry for the blurry shot, it was a long distance photo.



Switching provinces, here are two views of a grain elevator complex in Maidstone, Ontario near Windsor. Until fairly recently this was served by CN off the Caso subdivision.


As I mentioned before, the Caso subdivision is now idle and the trains don't come here no more. You can see the rails are still in the ground here.

Moose Jaw in August

I had a few minutes to kill on August 14, so I drove around the CP Moose Jaw yard to record the locomotives there. I didn't have time to walk across the overpass, so the photos weren't great, but here are a few of the photos I took.

It's getting rare to see these SD40-2 units now!

I like the colours on this unit... too bad about the shrub in front.

Here is the complete list of units I saw.

SD40s in Moose Jaw

Continuing the Moose Jaw theme, here are some shots of SD40-2 engines I saw in the Canadian Pacific yard in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

CP 6013 and 6602 are both SD40-2 units. 6013 was one of the 489 SD40-2 engines that CP bought, and it was built in late 1980 or early 1981. 6602 was built as SOO 6602 in May 1980 but has clearly been repainted as a CP unit.

CP has leased a number of CEFX and CITX units for quite some time, especially CEFX AC4400s. Here are two leasers I saw in Moose Jaw, both SD40-2s.

I like the bright blue... looks like Conrail.

CITX 3095's colours are not as impressive to me.

Red Barns in Moose Jaw

I mentioned that I had been in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on May 21 and took many photos of the large CPR yard and shops there. One distinctive engine type peculiar to CP Rail is the "red barn", aka the SD40-2F units (read this for more information). I saw three red barns at the shops.

Above you can see CP 9007 and 9002. They were alongside the shops on the south side. Below is a bad photo of CP 9009, taken from the parking lot on the north side of the yard.

CP Moose Jaw Yard

I was in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan back in May and I took some photos of the yard and its contents. Here is my first post on the subject.

Moose Jaw was selected as a divisional point by the CPR in 1881, mainly because it was a good place to cross the river valley and it had an abundant supply of water for the CPR's steam locomotives. Work trains reached Moose Jaw on September 6, 1882 but it was not until April 1, 1883 before the first scheduled passenger train arrived.

Moose Jaw has been important to CP ever since. They maintain a large shop facility here, and their presence here is much larger than in nearby Regina.

The yard is bounded by Manitoba Street on the north, Main Street to the east, and Maple Street to the south, with the 4th Avenue viaduct crossing over the yard just west of the shops. There are plenty of places to get shots of power in the yard, especially the 4th Avenue viaduct.

The yard diagram above is visible from the parking lot along Manitoba Street. A quick walk south from Manitoba Street could take you to the fueling area, but that area is off limits. It can be photographed from the parking lot but there aren't any clear shots. You can shoot the engine house farther east on Manitoba Street but again, it is not a great shot.


Shooting from Maple Street can yield a few shots. I took this shot of the fuel tanks from there.


The best shots by far are from the 4th Avenue viaduct. Here is the view from the south end.


Walking north gets you more angles.


Further north...


You can even shoot across the yard to get some MOW equipment.


In my next post, I will share some closer shots of engines in the yard.

Parrish and Heimbecker

I was in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan recently and I couldn't help but notice Parrish & Heimbecker's massive elevator in downtown Moose Jaw. I like grain elevators, but this massive concrete structure is not exactly a thing of beauty!

P&H is celebrating its 101st year of operation as a private, family-owned business. They have about 40 locations featuring elevators, sidings, and terminals.

What really caught my eye was P&H's switcher, #8454. This is a loco with a story! It was built by MLW as an S-3 as CN 8454 in January 1952. It was eventually sold to Manitoba Paper in April 1963, then it went to Pine Falls Paper, then to Railside Locomotive Services. RLS leased it to the Prairie Dog Central when the steam engine died. In August 2005 it went to P&H.

Pretty, isn't it? There are lots of photos of this unit on the web.