Dog Catching

You know the old yarn that in the Prairies, you can watch your dog run away for three days? It might be an exaggeration, but you sure can see a long way out here.

In early August I was in Regina, Saskatchewan, one of the flattest areas I've seen in the Prairies. I negotiated some railfan time early in the morning of August 8 and headed out at sunrise to get some shots. I shot a few grain elevators and then moved to the west side of Regina. I had noticed one elevator there on the CP mainline and wanted to see it. It's at the intersection of Pinkie Road and 13th Avenue, here.

It was raining lightly as I approached the main line. I saw a couple of CP GP9s working outside the Brandt facility. CP 1541 and 1533 were switching some tank cars.


They had an honest-to-god caboose there too, CP 434412.


I watched them switch for a while in the rain and took some video.


Finally, they coupled up to their caboose and I figured they were headed back to Regina, so I took off east on 13th Avenue to wait for them. After about 10 minutes I realized they were going west. Oops. I came back and saw they were waiting to go north just west of where I was. I took this long-range shot of the completed train.


I figured I would investigate where they were going, so I drove north to route 730 to have a look. I got snared in road construction and as I was waiting, I saw a westbound train approach. I tried to get to the crossing by 13th Avenue but the train was there just before me. CP 8866 and CP 8831 blew by.


I waited in the rain for the train to pass. CP 8521 was a mid-train DPU engine.


Good thing this is the Prairies! After the train cleared the crossing, I returned to the Trans-Canada Highway and headed west. Since everything is wide open it was obvious where the train was... just a kilometre or two north of me! I overtook the train and was well ahead of it by Belle Plaine, so I pulled off to shoot it there.

I saw there was a westbound train stopped at Belle Plaine in the siding. CP 8604, CP 5908 and CP 9614 were patiently waiting.


Those SD40-2 engines, once the primary power of Canadian Pacific, are getting more and more rare. The ES44AC engines and the AC4400CWs have taken over. I'm trying to get my shots when I can!


Soon enough CP 8604 West blew through. I had the shutter speed a little lower than I wanted, but I kind of like the light blur on 8604, suggesting motion.


I had my video camera set up too.


I was out of time by this point, so I headed back to Regina to rejoin my family.

EDIT: Added the videos.

Evraz in Regina

When I was in Regina, I had a look through the good old Trackside Guide looking for interesting things to see in the area. I noted that Evraz Inc. had quite a selection of industrial switchers, so I spent some time there in the morning of August 5.

Evraz has a large facility just north of Regina on Albert Street. They basically fill a square bounded by Pasqua Street to the west, Albert Street to the east, Sherwood Road to the north, and Armour Road to the south. They are served by CP off the CP Lanigan subdivision, which runs right next to their facility. Click on the map to see it in Google Maps.


When I arrived there, I saw an orange switcher pushing some gondolas down a spur track. I waited patiently at the Pasqua Street crossing until it came back. It was engine #11, a GMD SW900 built in 1955 as CP 6716.





I found this little video, shot from the same location I was at.


Another switcher was active, #5, an EMD NW2 (!) built in 1949 as Great Northern #156. It did not venture out of the property but I was able to get a few shots with the long lens.



Note the homemade #582 on the freight car. It was pulling a string of those cars.



I think that is a track scale in the foreground.

After that, I drove around trying to see more of their switchers. I started down Industrial Drive and met an SUV coming out of the facility. He waved me over and asked if I was "the gentleman taking pictures of our facility." I said, yes, that is me. He asked me very politely what I was photographing, and I told him that I take pictures of trains and I was shooting their locomotives. He asked if I was going into their facility, and I said, "no, of course not!" He said OK and was on his way.

That's how a challenge like that should go. Plant security has an obligation to go question suspicious people, and there's no doubt I was doing something out of the ordinary. I was being very obvious about what I was doing, not skulking about, and certainly not trespassing.

Some might say I was within my rights to say nothing, or to challenge him back, but what would be the point of being belligerent? He'd probably call the police and then I'd have to talk to them. Better to be up front about what you're doing, and 9 times out of 10, they'll nod and be on their way.

After he drove away, I got out and shot a few of their stored locomotives from Industrial Drive. Clearly they are being parted out.





I also saw #10 (in BN green) but didn't get any decent photos of it. #6 and #8 might have been there or they may have been scrapped already.

Wheat City Metals is co-located with Evraz, and they deal in scrap metal... like old Government of Canada grain cars!


Here's the complete list of Evraz switchers, according to the 2011 Trackside Guide:

• 1 - Alco S-2, built 8/1943
• 5 - EMD NW2, built 1949
• 6 - GMD SW900, built 3/1955
• 7 - MLW S-3, built 3/1955
• 8 - MLW S-3, built 5/1957
• 10 - EMD SW1200, built 4/1956
• 11 - EMD SW900, built 3/1955

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of a big place!

Regina Sightings

I was in Regina, Saskatchewan a few weeks ago on vacation. I had a chance to get out and see trains a couple of times while I was there. On August 5, I visited the CP yard downtown as well as the CN yard off 1st Avenue. Photography is difficult at the CP yard so my shots are basically through the fence and not worth posting. Since CP's main yard is in Moose Jaw, the Regina yard is pretty small and doesn't have a lot of engines hanging around. There was a collection of GP9s, GP38s and an SD40 there, as well as an American crane.

Things were a little more interesting as I approached the CN yard. I was heading north on Winnipeg Street when I saw a four engine CN set at 1st Avenue. CN 2200, CN 5640, CN 4792 and CN 4797 were by themselves there. In retrospect I think they ran light from the CN yard and turned on the wye. I saw them heading for the CN yard so I gave chase. Fortunately they were running slowly and I got ahead of them, and shot this video as they crossed Broad Street.


I went to my favourite viewing spot, atop the berm at the north end of Connaught Street. I drew it in dark gray in the map.

Standing on top of the berm, you usually can see the whole yard. Unfortunately, a large string of grain cars was blocking the view the first time I was there. I returned later and got some decent shots from the berm.

One of my favourite engine types was present, with GMD1 CN 1439 parked near the crew building.


Two GP38s were also present, CN 4795 and 4790.


Old black caboose CN 79543 was there as well. I saw the graffiti "artists" have been vandalizing it.


I last saw this caboose in August 2008.

I'll post more about my Regina sightings later, including some interesting industrial engines.

Sintaluta, Among Others

As I mentioned back in June, I wanted to go take shots of the grain elevators at Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. While staying in Regina at the beginning of August, I had a chance to go do just that. I headed out of Regina near sunrise on August 1 in search of grain elevators. I drove past Balgonie, McLean, Qu'Appelle, and Indian Head and arrived at Sintaluta.

There are two elevators in Sintaluta, one former Pool elevator and one former National elevator. Here's the National one, now displaying signs for "Sintaluta Seed Cleaning" and "Whispering Pine Farms". It evolved into quite a complex of buildings and tanks.

The word National is showing through on this trackside view.

The other elevator in town is a former Saskatchewan Pool elevator.

Anyone know what the leaf / star logo is at the top of the elevator? The logo at the top of the elevator commemorates the 1967 Centennial celebrations. The elevator at Kronau, SK also has this.

The rest of Sintaluta is pretty depressing. It is a textbook example of a formerly bustling Prairie town that has fallen into decay. Very sad.

I started back toward Regina with the intent of shooting along the way. As I approached Indian Head, I saw a train pulling out of the town. I pulled over to grab a few shots of CP 8603 East in charge of an intermodal train.

You can see the modern inland terminal in the background on the left.

I shot the Indian Head elevators again, then continued on to Qu'Appelle. There is no elevator in Qu'Appelle, but there is a seed handling facility there, Seedtec-Terramax.

From the looks of the track, and the stored flatcars on it, they don't use rail service.

There was one more elevator to shoot, the massive concrete Pioneer inland terminal here between Balgonie and MacLean.

I didn't have time to shoot the Viterra elevator at Balgonie... next time.

On my way into Regina I saw a grain train waiting to go east at Kearney, so I did a quick detour to shoot CP 9683 and 3030 as they patiently waited.

Mission accomplished!

GMD1 Videos

As I mentioned before, I saw GMD1 CN 1412 on June 11 in Regina. Here are two videos of that little engine. First, 1412 pulls a pipe train past me on its way to the yard. My youngest son provided commentary.


Next, 1412 runs light through the yard after depositing its train. Note the former Railnet units behind the GMD1.


Love those GMD1s.

GE B Units On The Prairies

I had the distinct surprise of seeing GE B23-7 units in Regina last week. On June 11 I pursued CN 1412 to the CN yard in Regina. Once I crested the berm at the south end of the yard, I saw these two units.


The Savage Alberta Railway was a shortline created in June 1999 as Alberta RailNet, owned by North American RailNet. In 2005, CANAC purchased the railway, and on December 1 2006 CN bought it back.

I don't think I've ever seen a GE B unit before. It was a nice surprise to see two of them.

More mundanely, CN GP9 7261 was also there behind them. 7261 is a "mother" to "calf" or "slug" units. Note the extra hardware above the pilot to control "calf" units.

Those GMD1s

I have a soft spot for the GMD1 engine. Something about those little engines just makes me smile. Every time I am in Regina, I try to get to the CN yard to catch a glimpse of one of them.

On June 11 I had a little free time, so my youngest son and I went out looking for some trains. We found a CP mainline freight and I shot that, then we stumbled across CN 1412 with a pipe train. We stopped and watched it pull a boxcar from an industry.


Then it was on its way to the yard with a long train of pipes.

They dropped the train in the yard, then parked the engine near the shop.

The odd thing was, later on that week, I happened to meet up with one of the founders of Torch River Rail, a new shortline that runs between Nipawin and Choiceland in northish Saskatchewan. They have a GMD1, ex-CN 1432, that they use to take their loads to CP in Nipawin. He is very enthusiastic about their railroad and its prospects. It was a definite pleasure to talk with him.

The GMD1 lives on!

August 16 in Regina

I spent some time railfanning in Regina in the afternoon. First, I went to the CN yard off 1st Avenue North. My son and I stood on the berm on the south side of the yard and watched the "choo choos". There was only one unit running around, CN 4790.


4790 was kicking cars in the yard. For those who don't know the term, "kicking" refers to the practice of sorting cars by rolling them through the yard without an engine attached. The engine and cars accelerate to a brisk walking speed, then the conductor on the ground uncouples the car while the engine stops. The "kicked" car or cars continue rolling on momentum down the track until they run out of speed or couple to the cars already in the yard. It's a faster way of sorting cars but I expect it can be a little hard on the cars.


My favourite little engines, the Canadian-only GMD1, were represented by 1438 and 1415.


There were two cabooses in the yard, red 79847 and odd black 79543.


CN 4791 and 4795 were also in the yard.

After we watched for a while, we went over to Dewdney Avenue to the CP yard. I shot a collection of units through the fence, though none of the pictures are really worth printing here. I saw CP 1611, CEFX 104, CP 3133, CP 1603, CP 6007, CP 1568, CP 3103, and CP 3049 as well as caboose CP 434412, as well as one rabbit.

While we were watching, we noticed a train rolling by on the main. I ran over and recorded it with my Canon through the fence. I apologize for the backlit video. I believe the units were CP 8849, CP 8830, CP 5972, CP 6023, CP 9014, and CP 9022.


After that, it was time to go to Chaplin, SK for a day.

CN and CP in Regina

Here's a couple of short videos I took in Regina, Saskatchewan on the 16th of August. The first one was taken at the CN yard in Regina. CN 4790 was "kicking" cars, rolling them into the yard. This video shows a bit of a loud bang as they come together.


This video was taken off Dewdney Avenue in Regina at the CP yard. CP 8849 and several other engines roll along the main line.

Prairie Sightings

I'm on vacation in the Prairies, which is why I haven't been posting. I'll have photos and video later, but here is what I've seen so far.

August 15 08:58
Newton, MB
CN 5639, 2538
8 covered hoppers, 60 empty centerbeam flats

August 16
Regina, SK (CN yard)
13:30
In yard: cabooses CN 79847 and unusual black CN 79543; CN 4791 and 4795 coupled together; GMD1 1438 and 1415 separate
CN 4790 was kicking cars

Regina, SK (CP Yard)
14:10
In yard: CP 1611, CEFX 104, CP 3133, CP 1603, CP 6007, CP 1568, x115, CP 3103, CP 3049
Caboose CP 434412
On main: CP 8849, CP 8830, CP 5972, CP 6023, CP 9014, CP 9022

Chaplin, SK
17:58
CP 8859 (Olympic), CP 8752?, 95 platforms (almost all doublestacks), CP 8714 pushing
e/b

Chaplin, SK
20:46
CP 8520, ???, CP 3125, 428 axles
19 platforms, 6 steel cars, 78 others
e/b

Scanner reception here in Saskatchewan is excellent. I can hear hotbox detectors 20 miles away. There is one on each side of me so I get great advance warning of trains. I hope to bag quite a few CP trains tomorrow!