Business Cars on CN

The kids and I were bored on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to "take them" railfanning. Aren't I a good dad? ;)

As we approached the CN Sprague subdivision south of Symington yard, I saw a long string of autoracks. I investigated and found three SD40-2s and a slug with a long string of cars ready to shove up the hump (consist).

I was thinking of driving up Plessis past the yard, but as I crossed the track by Tinker Town, I glanced south down the line and saw a very distant headlight. Train!

I turned right and headed down highway #1 toward Lorette siding. It became obvious that the train was in the siding at Lorette so I pulled up and parked on Station Road (here) at the north end of the siding.

The train was CN 3036 with four business cars on the head end! A lucky find. They were just crawling up to the end of the siding when I arrived.

I stepped out in the brisk (-27C) weather and walked along to photograph each car. The lead car was CN 1710, FRASER SPIRIT. 1710 is a power car, and I could hear the generator running, especially since Tier 4 ET44AC locomotive CN 3036 was so quiet.

CN 1710, FRASER SPIRIT

The next car was IC 800413, GREAT LAKES.

IC 800413, GREAT LAKES

Here's a closeup of the classy Illinois Central observation platform.

Closeup of GREAT LAKES' observation platform

That would be fun to stand on while the train was rolling along!

The third passenger car was a dome, IC 800723 / CN 99 AMERICAN SPIRIT.

IC 800723 / CN 99, AMERICAN SPIRIT

I'm just not sure which number the car is!

The fourth and final passenger car was IC 800653, SANDFORD FLEMING.

IC 800653, SANDFORD FLEMING

This is a theatre car, with theatre-style seats inside and a large rear window. When I saw it the window was covered up a large roll-up door.

That would be a fun place to be, too!

Anyway, the train sat there in the siding, obviously waiting for a meet. I stood outside taking photos and waiting. I was well-dressed for the -27C / -17F weather:

• Snow boots
• Jeans
• Three layers on my torso - T-shirt, hoodie, parka
• Toque with hoodie hood on
• My Freehand gloves with winter mittens on top

Thankfully there was no wind.

Every now and then, I walked over to the crossing to check the signal facing north. After 25 minutes, it was green over red and I saw a headlight in the distance. The meet was on!

My camera was getting a little sluggish in the cold and the battery light was blinking. I had a spare in my pants pocket but I decided to stick with the battery and trust that it would last long enough for the meet.

Here's CN 2842 approaching the crossing. That's my car to the left.

CN 2842 at a crossing

I boosted the exposure quite a bit as the sun was very close to the horizon by this point (4:39 PM).

Here's the meet.

CN 3036 meets CN 2842 at Lorette

The crew were on the ground for the inspection.

Inspecting the passing train

The eastbound train had CN 2871 as the DPU, near the rear of the train.

CN 2871 at Lorette

Note The Moving BOX on the well car ahead of the locomotive. I've never seen that before! I must confess that I don't pay a lot of attention to containers. You see OOCL, Triton, Tex, Zim, APL and so forth quite a bit, as well as CN and CP domestic containers. Occasionally something like the above container pops up...

Once the train passed, the crew got back on 3036 and they were on their way. In the cold, 3036 was smoking like a steam engine as they accelerated away. It turned out that the train did have a DPU, shiny CN 3005.

CN 3005 at Lorette, Manitoba

That was the end of the light and therefore the end of my railfanning. We hit the road back home and made supper.

Before getting in the car, I made sure to protect my camera gear from condensation due to the change in temperature. You do not want condensation in your lens - think fungus. I had left my camera bag on the trunk to get it down to the outside temperature. Once I was done shooting, I put the camera in the cold bag and zipped it closed before putting the bag in the car. At home, I brought the bag inside and left it alone for a few hours until it came up to room temperature. It's good to remember to take the card out before putting the camera in the bag!

Stay warm!

Foreign Power on the Emerson Sub

One Sunday morning (March 9) I decided to go spend a couple of hours railfanning here in Winnipeg. Nothing was going on and it was a reasonably nice day to get out of the house after a long winter. I did a little tour of the Symington yard area and saw a few trains - nothing special - then went around the Perimeter Highway toward home. As I crossed the CP Emerson subdivision, I saw a headlight to the north, indicating a southbound train.

I hear these trains from my house, but it's rare that I actually photograph one. Sadly I live too far away to see tracks from my front steps! I had to photograph this one. I headed south on St. Anne's Road and then cut back to the tracks on Prairie Grove Road. There's a crossing there, but I figured I had time to get on the other side of the Floodway to shoot the train with the the bridge. I kept going on Prairie Grove to highway 75, then a quick jaunt south got me to winding Hallama Drive, on the south side of the Floodway.

The problem with Hallama Drive is that there is nowhere to park when there is lots of snow on the ground. I pulled over as much as I could, put the 4-way flashers on, and nobody came along... except the train.

As it pulled out of the trees and into view, I was amazed to see a CP SD40-2 leading two CSX engines.


It made a fine sight crossing the desolate snow-covered landscape.


They were not going very fast, so I took quite a few photos. I thought I might be able to get ahead of them relatively quickly, so I headed south down highway 75. The CP track diverges fairly sharply from 75 right away, so I wasn't hopeful for a quick catch, but I figured I could go all the way to Niverville if necessary.

I don't know the area but I decided to try cutting back in fairly quickly. I drove toward what I thought was the track direction, and I came to a crossing and found the train stopped there. It turns out they were going to enter the 8,327 foot siding in Grande Pointe. But first, a little shovel and broom work was required to get the switch to move. Both crew members were on the ground digging away. They yelled to me to pick up a shovel and help! Fortunately they were joking...


I took the opportunity to photograph CP 6029, CSX 442 and CSX 861.


Once they were done clearing the switch, they lined it for the siding and slowly crawled forward. I took a few snaps and then took video from the crossing.

I hope they had a good trip!

Passenger Power in Calgary

I'm finally finishing up my Calgary trip from last month. You may recall I looked at Alyth Yard on October 28. After that, I decided to see if anything was left in Ogden Yard. Ogden has been closed down after 100 years of operation.

There are a few engines still around, for example CP 1400 and CP 9000.


CP 1400 was retired in February 2012 and has been cannibalized for parts.

This is the first "red barn" (SD40-2F) that I have seen with the "dual flags" CP Rail logo on it.


After taking inventory of the few engines in Ogden, I noticed CP 8854 rolling past. You may recall it had just come off the Red Deer subdivision. I guess they ran right through Alyth Yard and were heading out on the Brooks subdivision. I barely got ahead of them and caught this "from the car" shot at a crossing.


I then headed up to CN's Sarcee yard. There I saw CN 1409, CN 7078 and GTW 5945 rolling past the gas station there. Note the operator riding the point of CN 1409. Love those GMD1s!


Here's GTW 5945. I'm told these are actually GTW units, not owned by Alstom, despite what it says on the engine.


That was certainly fun. I went back toward Alyth, but while passing Ogden Yard, I saw this.


CP 1601 was putting the heritage engines (CP 4107 / CP 1900 / CP 4106) away. Jeff Keddy and I saw them the previous day in Alyth, and I guess they were being moved.

After the crew uncoupled, CP 1601 (and CP 1527) rolled away and left the engines there.


Sweet heritage units.


CP 1539 was also around. Note the two cabooses and I think CP 8217 on the far right.


Here's CP 1527 going back onto the main line.


I was running out of time, but I ventured back to CN's Sarceee Yard just in time to see a train coming off the  CN Three Hills subdivision. I paused to capture CN 5677 and CN 8938 bringing the train in.


I would say it was a very productive morning of railfanning in Calgary!

Grenfell, Saskatchewan

I had always wanted to photograph the elevator in Grenfell, Saskatchewan, and last month I was able to do so. I arranged to stop there on our way to Regina and I spent about 10 minutes photographing the rail area.



The elevator is quite a handsome structure, with fresh paint and it is obviously well maintained.


At one point there was a Saskatchewan Pool elevator in Grenfell, but it has been replaced by a concrete Viterrra structure outside town.


Here's another view of the Viterra structure, taken from the highway a few days later.


Check out this cool postcard I found at the Saskatchewan Archival Information Network site, showing at least six elevators in Grenfell.

Oh, when I was in Grenfell I saw two CP SD40-2 engines idling away, coupled up to a spreader. I guess they were part of a work train but there was noone in sight.


Thanks for reading!

NBSR Oil Train With CP Power

Several New Brunswick railfans caught the NBSR unit oil train coming into New Brunswick on NB Southern Railway tracks on July 2. The great thing about this train was that it used run-through Canadian Pacific Railway power... with a great leader.

Jody Robinson was first up with these great shots of the train at McAdam.


The train had Iowa, Chicago and Eastern engine ICE 6450 on the head end. ICE 6450 is an SD40-2 built in September 1979 as Oneida and Western OWTX 9956. It became a BC Rail BCOL 749 and then ICE 6450, "City of Welcome". I don't know if the engine refers to Welcome, Minnesota or Welcome, North Carolina!

What a rare sight in New Brunswick!

Behind ICE 6450 was CP 5926 and CP 5928, two more SD40-2 engines. I've never seen CP 5926 but I did see CP 5928 once, trailing on a train through Pense, Saskatchewan back in 2008.

It sure is nice to see Canadian Pacific Railway engines in McAdam again.

The fourth engine was an MMA engine, MMA 3603, a GE C30-7 built as ATSF 8016 in 1977.


Now on to the videos. Gary Lee shot a handheld video of the train leaving McAdam.


Next up was Brian Barchard shooting the train through Harvey. His video combines three NBSR trains, two from June 30 and the July 2 oil train starting at 5:17.


Matt aka saintjohnrailfan shot it at Welsford at the first highway crossing. Nice wave from the engineer! I noticed that there were several doors open on the MM&A engine; maybe it was having mechanical issues.


Dave Dineen aka nbsrfan was also at Welsford and shot it there, at my favourite spot in Grand Bay, and entering the yard in Saint John. Here they all are in one video.


Great shots all around for a great train. Thanks to Jody, Gary, Brian, Matt and Dave for the photos and video. Well done.

Yet More Humpyard Dogs

On June 8 I took a quick trip over to Symington yard to see what was going on. I finally saw the three SD40 engines and the slug up close and took a few photos. The consist was CN 203, CN 6005, CN 6009 and CN 6012.



They were running light through the yard, maybe to go pick up another string of cars.


I shot another set of the "dogs", GP38 CN 7528, slugs CN 504 and CN 502, and GP38 CN 7532. Look closely behind the slugs.


Yeah, that's right, Rocky Mountaineer cars. It's a real shame I didn't actually notice those cars at the time. Grrrr.

CN 2282 and ex-BNSF CN 2197 were pushing a train back into the yard. I've never seen CN 2197 before but I saw CN 2282 back on January 30, 2010.


PS: I wrote about Symington's "humpyard dogs" here and here.

Rail Train!

On Tuesday afternoon I was driving west along Wilkes Avenue when I spotted a train heading west as well. I could only see the rear but it seemed a little odd. As I caught up to it I saw that it was a rail train and it had two cabooses on the rear!

I passed it at about mile 10 and kept going. I passed Hall Road and got far enough ahead of it to shoot it just before route 334.


CN 6014 was the sole power on the train. CN 6014 is an SD40u (an SD40 remanufactured in early 1995 to SD40-2 specifications) and apparently has been doing ethanol train duty recently, given this video from Michigan and this one from Illinois.


I shot a few detail photos of the cabeese as they rolled by. First, BCOL 1873, an "engineering use only" "crew transporter". This caboose was built by BC Rail's Squamish shops in 1973.


On the tail end was CN 77014, all decorated in Operation Lifesaver colours. It is a Pointe St. Charles caboose built in the 1970s. Modelers, you can buy this caboose as an Athearn ready-to-run model (and was an Overland brass model).

I'm not sure when this was repainted but in March 2002 it was still in red yet in April 2008 it was in OL paint. There are a couple of pictures of it on RailPictures, one from May 2007 in OL colours too.


They had a "Limited to Clear" signal at Diamond so they slowed for the track change, and I got ahead of them again to shoot this video.


That was a very exciting catch that I was fortunate to see.