Northwest Manitoba Elevator Trip - Winnipeg to Dauphin

After my planning, it was time to go. My alarm went off at 2:15 AM, and after a shower and a couple pieces of toast, I was ready to roll. The weather forecast was still calling for a chance of thunder showers. I fired up my podcasts and hit the road in the pitch dark, 17 minutes ahead of schedule.

Super early!

As I drove around on the Perimeter Highway, I spotted an eastbound CN freight train on the Rivers subdivision passing under the highway. Something made me decide to go photograph it, despite the darkness. I exited and chased it up Wilkes Avenue. As I approached the head end, I saw a bright light coming from the rear of the head end, which was odd. Overtaking it, I saw they had three TEST cars behind the two locomotives. I got ahead of the train and stopped before Shaftesbury Boulevard. I quickly put my "nifty fifty" 50mm f/1.8 lens on the camera (it's the most light-sensitive lens I have, and quite inexpensive) and photographed the train.

Lots 'o' lens flare!

TEST cars behind the power

The trailing car (which was occupied) is CN 15008 and I believe the middle car was CN 15007. The lead boxcar is an "ATGMS TEST CAR".

ATGMS stands for Autonomous Track Geometry Measurement System (not Anti-Tank Guided Missiles like Google suggested) and is a system designed to be added to regular freight trains so railways don't have to run a special train for track testing.

That was exciting. I got back onto the highway and headed up to Headingley and west on the Trans-Canada Highway. The sky started lightening around 4 AM but it was overcast so there was no real sunrise. I bypassed Portage la Prairie and took highway 16 to Gladstone. There was no action on the CP Minnedosa subdivision.

As I approached Gladstone, I spotted a flashing red light just to the right of the highway, meaning the end of a CN train. I exited and went to the grain elevator in Gladstone to find CN train 853 by the elevator. CN 8902 was on the head end.

Blue hour in Gladstone

I'm not sure what they were doing in Gladstone - I heard them rev the engine for a few minutes - but I couldn't sit around, so I carried on to my first target, Glenella.

On the way there, I had to stop to capture the former Waldersee school... I think it was a school, anyway.

Waldersee School?

Glenella

Who knew?

Beyond being the broomball capital of Manitoba, Glenella has a single grain elevator, a former Manitoba Pool elevator.

Manitoba Pool #166

It's a handsome elevator.

The Glenella grain elevator

Note the MPE painted on the side of the ramp.

Manitoba Pool Elevators

Like many Prairie towns, Glenella has a small hotel. I don't know how many people actually stay in these hotels...

Corona hotel and elevator in Glenella

On to McCreary... but first, I spotted this former gas station and had to photograph it. As you can see I was making a point of photographing decaying old buildings en route.

Parkview Petroleum Products - for sale!

McCreary

The town of McCreary has an ex-UGG grain elevator and a preserved train station.

McCreary elevator and train station

The sun was coming in and out so I was trying to time my shots to get some light. It came out to light this side up.

UGG 4ever!

I do like that UGG logo. It's rare to see it in Manitoba.

I took a few photos of the McCreary train station. It was built in 1912 and closed in 1982. I believe the town bought it in 1997. I saw the museum sign but nothing was open and the windows seem to be mostly boarded up.

McCreary's train station

The lighting wasn't good because the elevator was shading the station.

I was just packing up when I spotted a headlight to the southeast. It was CN 853, the same train I saw in Gladstone. I quickly decided on an angle to feature the elevator and station, fired off the necessary test photos to get the exposure right, and took the shot.

After the head end passed, I packed up and waited for them to clear the crossing before heading off to the next destination. I hoped to get them at the highway crossing just north of town, but the crossing lights came on before I got there, so I watched them roll by before carrying on to...

Makinak

I took a few back roads to get to Makinak, the first time I had left pavement on this trip. On previous trips I swear I was mostly on gravel but not this time!

I had just pulled up near the elevator when I heard a train blowing for the town crossing. CN 853 was right behind me, so I sprinted over to get a shot with the elevator.

CN 8902 in Makinak

The approach shot was fine but my shots of the head end passing the elevator were out of focus. :(

At least this turned out.

CN 853 and grain cars in Makinak

There was a large foundation beside the elevator. At the time I thought it might have been a second elevator, but a little research shows it was a building, probably for fertilizer and other products. You often saw auxiliary buildings beside elevators containing all of the flammable stuff.

Foundation

I shot the other side of the elevator and captured a few sun rays.

Like many Prairie towns, Makinak has a lovely church.

After that, it was time to head to Dauphin. I was still on schedule so I had time to divert for this farm elevator I spotted just south of Dauphin. The sun gods smiled on me and lit it up nicely.

Shortly thereafter, I arrived in Dauphin. That's up next!

CN 1501 in Winnipeg

Sharp-eyed Jeff Keddy caught CN 1501 in Winnipeg again, this past Saturday October 30.

You might remember that Jeff saw it here in February 2010.

CN TEST Train in Town

The CN TEST train is in town. A little birdie told me that train CN 496 was tying up for the evening at the Fort Rouge yard, after working the Rivers and Reddit subdivisions today. I went over to see if I could see the train. It is visible but badly backlit.

The train consists of CN 4807, CN 15007 (above) and CN 15008 (below).

The little birdie also told me that this train will be traveling down the Letellier subdivision tomorrow.

CN TEST Train

CN's TEST train has been noodling around the Maritimes in the past week or so. The train had the usual two blue cars.

Here's an okay video by NBEC69 of the TEST train with CN Geep 4770 pulling the train. Nice horn.

A CN 1501 Chase

Track inspection car CN 1501 was in Winnipeg last week. You may remember that it visited the Maritimes last April. It laid over at the Fort Rouge yard on February 25, and headed west in the morning of February 26. Jeff Keddy gave chase and took some great photos.

Jeff shot it first near Fort Rouge yard. Here you can see the CN Subway sign to the right, and the VIA maintenance center in the background to the right.


Next he shot it at St. James Junction, going over the CN-CP diamond.


Jeff said that 1501 was only going 30 MPH so it was possible to keep up with it and get some shots on the way to Portage la Prairie. They stopped just west of Diamond to drop off a couple of employees.


Here's a closeup of the end of the car, showing the CN Engineering logo.


CN 1501 was running as train #489. Here it is just west of Elie, Manitoba.


Next, the elevator at Oakville, MB.


It stopped again in Portage la Prairie at the station to make a pickup.


Thanks to Jeff for sharing such great shots!

Halifax and the TEST Train

I'm in Halifax for the week, my first trip back to the right coast since I moved to Winnipeg this summer. After my plane landed on Sunday (November 1), I drove into the city and found myself driving to the CN Rockingham yard. Imagine that. I saw a few units at the yard office, notably including CN 9639 and the two-car TEST train. I shot this in the fading light around 5 PM.

The TEST train is CN's Track Evaluation SysTem, which does exactly what it says. They run it along the line and it reports defects in the rails.

Geoff Doane reported that it came into Halifax today as CN train 482. They ran out to Autoport on the end of the Dartmouth subdivision, then backed up to Windsor Junction, then ran to the end of the Bedford subdivision at Halterm (HOT) by the VIA station and turned on the loop track there, before testing the transfer track to Millview and backing to Rockingham.

I took video as it left at 18:50 but I'm not sure how well it will turn out. Night video is tricky and I wasn't really ready.

Also in the yard were CN 4805 and 4725, power for the locals.


At about 19:00 the power for CN 121 came up from Fairview, with CN 5710, CN 5296, CN 2249 and CN 5609. It was too dark to take photos by that time.

I didn't hang around, since I had not had supper yet and I had to check in. I did chat with a couple of AtlanticRails members, Bruce and Doug, before heading out.

I don't know how much time I will have for railfanning while in Halifax... we'll see.

CN Test Train in the Maritimes

Various people on the AtlanticRails and RailsNB mailing lists have reported a CN test train in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. CN 2517 and the two test cars, operating as train 482, worked the Dartmouth subdivision yesterday.

The test train, operating as train 912 today, went from Moncton down to Saint John and back.

Hopefully someone will get some good photos of old 2517 and the two blue test cars.

EDIT: here's a video from "John" aka cn8800!

CN Test Train

The CN TEST train has been roaming around the Maritimes in the past few days. It has CN 6000 for power with two TEST cars behind it.

Saturday June 13: Arrived at Gordon Yard in Moncton at 16:30 with 30-35 cars in tow behind it.

Sunday June 14: By Sussex subdivison milepost 5.5 at 09:20 heading toward Saint John.

Monday June 15: It made a quick visit to Halifax. It rolled through Rockingham Yard around 16:55, proceeded to the Halifax Ocean Terminal (HOT) and turned on the container pier loop track, then returned to Rockingham by 18:00 and tested to Millview. They backed into the yard, waited for VIA 14 to arrive, then headed out. They were through Windsor Junction at 18:30 heading west to Moncton.

Thanks to everyone on the AtlanticRails list for the great sightings.

CN Test Car Update

An update to my report on Wednesday. CN 1501 has been busy in the Maritimes. It arrived in Campbellton late Wednesday night, did the Newcastle subdivision Thursday (Rogersville 12:20) and arrived in Moncton around 14:15 Thursday afternoon. It was spotted in Moncton Friday night as well.

On Friday it traveled to Dartmouth, arriving at the yard at 19:15 after doing the entire Dartmouth subdivision all the way to Autoport. On Saturday the 11th it left Dartmouth after 9 AM and traveled to Halifax, testing all sidings. It was spotted in Amherst around 5 PM on its way to Moncton.

This Monday morning it was on its way to Chipman around 10:30, going all the way to Edmundston. It should be there by now, I would think.

I had called it CN 15016 but the last digit has been covered on all of the number boards, and the painted number is 1501. Apparently it has been renumbered as an engine rather than work equipment. On the radio the crew is calling it CN 1501.

CN Test Car

CN recently retrofitted an RDC (Rail Diesel Car) as a track inspection car. It can do inspections at up to 60 mph and detect cracks in rail joint bars as small as 1 mm. It is CN 15016 (RailPictures photo by Michael Quagliano).

Wendell Lemon reported it is visiting the Maritimes as train 482. It should be on the Newcastle (ex-NBEC) subdivision today and Thursday.

EDIT: The RDC arrived in Campbellton at 8 PM Wednesday.

Test Train in NBEC Territory

...or should I say, "former" NBEC territory.

CN's TEST train is in the Maritimes. Joel Scott caught it at Parker Ridge, NB on the Napadogan subdivision as it headed east to Moncton on Saturday.


It was in Halifax on the weekend, turning on the Halifax Ocean Terminal (HOT) loop on Sunday night. It must have run to Moncton overnight, as it left Moncton on Monday morning for the Newcastle subdivision with CN 9455 leading. It ran to Campbellton on Monday.

On Tuesday morning it headed west through Tide Head and into Quebec, with a fleet of hirail trucks following it. There was a ballast train in Tide Head Wednesday morning, so expect some more MOW activity later this week.

Nice to see CN doing some maintenance!

Thanks to Joel, Jakob, Phil and Jim for the sightings.

EDIT: The consist of the test train is CN 9455, CN 15007, and CN 15008 (CAPE ROSIER).

CN Test Train in the Area

CN is running a test train through our area to check track geometry. It was spotted leaving Joffre, QC Tuesday morning by the vigilant Ron Pelletier with CN 5417 leading two blue cars, 15007 and 15008. Steve O'Brien saw it in Grand Falls, NB doing a meet with a westbound freight. Finally Phil Ross shot it near Moncton Tuesday evening.

Photo by Phil Ross, from RailPictures.net

Halifax area, October 26, 2002

On Saturday, October 26, 2002 I spent a very enjoyable morning railfanning around Halifax, Nova Scotia with my good friend David Othen.

CN 120

We met at Rockingham Yard and the first train we saw was CN 120, arriving at Rockingham Yard in Halifax at 07:25. We taped it coming around the curve by the Chinese restaurant before moving to the Halifax Intermodal Terminal for its arrival at 07:41.

The train featured SD75I CN 5735, SD40-2 CN 5318 and Dash-8 CN 2424 leading the usual intermodal consist. The video of the train is below.

CN 701

Following that, we raced to Dartmouth to catch gypsum train 701 leaving Wrights Cove with an empty train to take to Milford.

CN 701 had Dash-9 CN 2504 and SD75I CN 5646. We got 701 at a couple of locations on the way to the mines. Here it is at the mines with the National Gypsum switcher.

CN 5646 with the National Gypsum switcher

CN 148

While it was loading, we took a minute to catch CN 148 passing near Milford with SD75s CN 5642 and 5671 leading two CN test cars and an intermodal train.

Back to 701

701 was done at the mines, so we caught him at Windsor Junction on his way back to Dartmouth. It was a good chase in both directions! Here's my video of the day's gypsum trains...

Wrapping Up

We then went to Rockingham to look at the switchers (GP38-2s 4775 and 4724). It's interesting to see the difference in the cabs for these two GP38s.

CN 4775 in Halifax, Nova Scotia

CN 4724 in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Finally, we caught VIA 15 near Rockingham with 6411 and 6427 at 13:06. Apparently I don't have any photos of that online.

Not a bad day of railfanning at all!

More Halifax posts