Monday, August 6th 2018 was a holiday here in Manitoba. It's called a "Civic Holiday" here, other provinces call it "Family Day" and it's not even a holiday in some provinces. Anyway, I had the day off.
I went out to catch VIA's "Canadian" leaving Winnipeg. It turned out that the first train I saw was CN 8906 West - see above. I elected to catch it at Carman Junction at the curve, to get the head on view above.
The train had CN 8906 / CN 5694 / CN 8823 on the head end.
Westward ho!
After the train passed, I went west to Diamond to set up for VIA. I caught up with some of the train so I amused myself by taking a few shots of the old wooden "Diamond" sign.
Diamond signs are forever, apparently
I hope nobody steals this sign.
VIA 1
VIA Rail Canadian heading west
I got what I came for - VIA 6455 leading the "Canadian" with two other units and 20 cars.
"Glacier Park" was on the tail end.
Prairie Streamliner
Central Manitoba Railway
4002 and 4004 parked on the Carman subdivision
Two Central Manitoba Railway GP9s, 4002 and 4004, were parked on the Carman subdivision.
I noticed this shiny new equipment box in the gap between the main line and the track to the CEMR Carman subdivision.
CN actually owns the first little bit of the track - from the Rivers sub across Wilkes Avenue - before it becomes the CEMR Carman sub.
I didn't see anything happening after that on the CN Rivers subdivision, so I headed for home.
As I drove around the Perimeter Highway, I spotted a southbound CN train on the Letellier subdivision. That would have been CN 532, heading down to the Canada-US border at Emerson to interchange with BNSF.
Bonus train!
CN 532
The dark side of CN 532
I gave chase as best I could. It was hard to catch up to the train through St. Norbert, given the 50 and 60 km/hr speed limits, but eventually I got ahead of them south of the town to get the shot above.
I was on the "dark side" of the train and I wasn't super happy about that. Fortunately, they weren't going very fast, so after they passed by, I gave chase again... this time, at 100 km/hr!
Near Ste. Agathe, I was far enough ahead of them that I felt I could leave the highway and drive the 2 km or so to the track for another round of photos. As it happened, I had enough time to get both my cameras out... one with the 70-200mm "long" lens and the other with the wide angle.
First the long lens. There was a combine working a field nearby, so I included that in the photo. You can see a bit of heat haze, so the shot isn't as sharp as I would like, but I like what's in it!
CN 5693 and a combine
A few seconds later, I took another photo as the train approached.
Storming south
The right of way looks very clean and well maintained, doesn't it?
I love that 70-200mm lens.
I "dropped" that camera and picked up my older T1i with the wide angle lens to capture the train as it went by.
Going wide
The train had a friendly crew who both gave me waves as they went by. Thanks!
One going away shot, with the Viterra elevator at Ste. Agathe just to the left of the train, and the G3 SD40-2 locomotive at far left, on the loop track of the G3 elevator at Glenlea / Saint Adolphe.
Heading south
Here's the video showing all three trains, with a "clickbait" title just for fun.
You might want to read Busy Day - same play, VIA 1 then CN 532, back in 2012!
PS - Important News
It's the end of an era.
This was the last full post that I will write on blog.traingeek.ca.
I've been on the Blogger platform for many years, since my first post in July 2005. After 13 years and 3 months, it's time to move on.
From now on, I'll be writing on my main site - www.traingeek.ca - and the posts will appear there on the home page.
I like the WordPress platform a lot more for writing. I've been thinking about this for a long time, more than a year, and now I'm making the change.
I hope you'll follow me there.
All of my old posts will remain where they are. I am not interested in moving them over!
By the way, there will be one more post, a placeholder to direct visitors to my main site.
I decided to capture the Labour Day VIA Rail "Canadian"... but I didn't want to go out to Dugald or Anola like I had been doing. I wanted to try something... different.
As I scrolled through Google Maps, following the route of VIA 1, I found the highway overpass near Beach Junction and the north entrance to CN's Symington Yard. This overpass is where the 4-lane Lagimodiere Boulevard crosses over the two-track CN Redditt subdivision.
Looking at the satellite view, I saw that the shoulders on each side were really wide - more than a lane's worth - so I was not very concerned about safety from the cars zooming by at 80+ km/hr. You have to watch that with overpasses - some of them have very little space between the cars and the guard rails. Safety first!
There's no place to park on the overpass, but there are side streets nearby, and I don't mind walking a bit.
My alarm went off at 6:03 AM on Monday morning, and I hopped out of bed and checked VIA's web site to see where VIA 1 was. It was approaching Elma, supposedly an hour away from Winnipeg, so I had lots of time. I quickly dressed and grabbed my Lowepro SlingShot 102 AW and hit the road. I normally bring my AmazonBasics camera bag, but since I knew I was going to be away from my car for an extended period, a small camera bag seemed more appropriate.
Waiting for the sun to rise
Within 20 minutes, I was "on station". It was a chilly 8 degrees Celsius, and I was glad I wore a light coat. I was wishing I had brought my gloves, too!
The First Train
I noted there was an east-facing CN train stopped just west of the overpass, just before Panet Road. These days, CN's trains pause a bit as they wait for their turn to enter a yard or proceed farther down the line. That's the curse of having so much traffic...
Eventually that train started to roll forward, and I took a few photos as they rolled under me and proceeded into Symington Yard.
CN 2438 and 2023
It was a nice cowl leader - a Dash-8!
After nine minutes, the tail end passed me and they curved around into the yard.
Round the bend
It was not long before the second train came along... and the third.
The Second and Third Trains
I saw a train coming out of Symington Yard, led by CN 2951. I decided I would shoot video, to show the train squealing around the curve and onto the main line.
I was glad I brought my monopod, as I could record the train easily without too much camera shake or strain on my arms. As I kept recording, I heard another train behind me, and after about 4m 45s after I started recording, CN 2596 East rolled past on the north track and went into the yard.
It was really cool to see the two trains passing on the curve. They almost looked like model trains!
The Fourth Train, and a Friend
CN 8833 East
It was a container train, crossing over from the north to the south track - and carrying on past the yard.
Just before this train showed up, I received a message from Mark Perry. In the past few weeks, Mark and I have both gone out to photograph VIA 1 coming into the city, both in the same area, but we never ran into each other. It's been amusing, really. Anyway, he messaged me asking if I was out shooting VIA. I replied and told him where I was, and he said he'd be there shortly.
Note the track curving off to the left in the photo above. That's the CEMR Pine Falls subdivision, leading to their yard on Day Street. The Central Manitoba Railway runs down that track onto CN and then into Symington to interchange cars with CN. They also continue west on the Redditt and then the Rivers sub to get to the CEMR Carman subdivision.
Here's a black-and-white photo, in homage to Mark, who likes black and white photos.
Black and white rules!
This was definitely "cowl day", with two cowl units on this train - CN 2418 and BC Rail 4601.
BC Rail 4601 and a CN cowl unit!
Mark drove by while the train was going by, and parked nearby. He walked up to the other side of the overpass and photographed the train going away.
Mark and the "going away" angle
There was a hot air balloon nearby. It would have been a great morning for going up!
CN and the hot air balloon
We had about a 25 minute wait for VIA 1 to arrive.
Mark is a great railway photographer. His photos and articles have been published in a number of books, and magazines such as TRAINS. I admire his work and his photographic style. I keep urging him to write a book but so far, he's not interested. I'll keep trying!
VIA 1
It's coming right for us
The "Canadian" came around the corner out of Transcona yard and started down the straight section.
I took a few overhead shots, then switched to the sun side.
The problem with shooting into the sun... dark nose
I suppose I could have stayed and kept shooting "head on" - I do like head on photos - but I had visualized the shot I wanted before I came to that location, and I wanted to get it.
Here it is.
The side glint
Three locomotives, four domes, stainless steel... I feel very lucky to be able to see this train.
Some day I want to ride this train
The only problem with this location is that the "going away" shot is no good... you can't sprint across four lanes of traffic and jump the giant gap in the middle between the pairs of lanes. Not safely, anyway.
Not a good "going away" photo
After VIA passed, Mark and I both packed up our gear and headed out. I had family stuff to do and Mark had to get to work!
Post Game Analysis
Overall, I was very pleased with that location. I feel it has a lot of potential for overhead shots, which are certainly in short supply in the Winnipeg area. You can see signals to the west, which are very helpful for knowing when a train is coming. Parking is available at the mall or nearby side streets.
The only downsides I see are that you can't switch sides easily, and you are definitely in the public eye when you're up on the overpass in such a high traffic area.
I'll probably be back!
It was great to see Mark again and finally meet up after a few inadvertent joint VIA photo sessions.
I've been meaning to read this book for some time. I borrowed it from Winnipeg's excellent library system and devoured it over the course of a few days.
As the subtitle says, it is a history of VIA Rail. It's not a picture book. It's a scholarly and definitive look at the origins of VIA Rail, from the passenger services of CN and CP through the formation of VIA in the mid 1970s through to 2007, the publication date of the book.
The book goes into detail on many of the decisions that were made by CN, CP and the federal government that led to the formation of VIA Rail, first as a "company within a company" in CN and then as a crown corporation. I knew the overall timeline already, but the book really delved into the reasoning and the political pressures and realities that led to the VIA we have today.
One of the main problems with VIA Rail today, and indeed ever since it was founded, is that it is a political football, subject to the whims of the government in power. It was formed through a "back door" political maneuver (an Order in Council) rather than through a bill passed in Parliament. This has hamstrung VIA from the start and really prevents a lot of long-term planning, as VIA's funding is dependent on how the current government feels about passenger rail and other competing funding priorities. The book goes into a lot of detail on why this came about and why it continues to persist to this day.
The book talks about the start of VIA, dealing with the passenger fleets of CN and CP for the first few years, and then talks about the devastating cuts of 1981 and 1990. The book is new enough to be able to talk about the Renaissance period at the turn of the century, but not new enough for the refurbishment of VIA's F40 and LRC fleet.
The book has a multitude of photos illustrating VIA throughout the ages. As I said, it's not a picture book, but there are many photos and they complement the text very well.
If you are a fan of passenger rail, or Canadian railways in general, you should read this book. It's one of the few books on VIA Rail and is well worth a read. You can buy it on Amazon or perhaps get it from your local library.
My Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, meaning that I receive a small commission if you buy anything from Amazon after using this link, at no additional cost to you.
I've been wanting to railfan all day on June 21 for several years now. It's the longest day of the year, after all. This year it fell on a Thursday, so I had to work, but I did manage to get out at the start and end of the day.
Morning
I hit the road at 6 AM, heading toward Symington Yard and points east of Winnipeg. Passing over the Sprague subdivision, I didn't see any approaching trains nor any action in the yard. I kept going around Winnipeg to the CN Redditt subdivision and headed east toward Dugald. At Dugald, there were no signal indications showing an impending train, but I did see this hay bale, so it wasn't a complete loss. ;)
Hay bale sunrise
I headed back to Winnipeg and carried on west on Dugald Road to see if anything was happening at the Greater Winnipeg Water District. Often they run out to the water treatment plant (or beyond) on Thursday. When I arrived, it looked like a few crew were arriving to get started but it would be a long time before anything would be moving. I didn't have time to wait, so I carried on toward Symington Yard. I decided that if nothing else showed up, at least I could see the SD40 locomotives working the hump.
On my way there, I spotted a CN locomotive and slug leaving the yard on the St. Boniface spur.
CN 7251 and slug CN 252 on the St. Boniface spur
Slug 252 was leading CN 7251 as they rolled along. There were three crew on the head end - I'm assuming one was a trainee, wearing a green safety vest instead of the usual orange.
I carried on down Lagimodière (that's a hard word to say) Boulevard to the south end of Symington Yard. There I spotted CN 8805 and Norfolk Southern 1108 pushing a train into the yard. I grabbed this terrible photo of NS 1108.
NS 1108 in Winnipeg
The sun was not in my favour!
Two hump yard sets were working. CN 6016, CN 6010, grey GTW 5948, and a slug (probably CN 203) were on one track, and GTW 5943, CN 6015, CN 6005 and slug CN 217 were on the other.
As I watched, the GTW 5943 set started putting on a sound and smoke show, getting their string moving out from the yard in preparation for pushing it up the hump.
GTW 5943 smokes it up
It was impressive to watch - and hear!
That was the morning.
Evening
I saw on the VIA Rail tracker site that VIA 1 was coming into the city late (as usual). I thought I might be able to catch it before it was too dark.
I headed out along the CN Redditt subdivision toward Anola. I pulled over a couple of times to check its progress, and I saw I had plenty of time. I zipped up to the CP main line but saw no signals lit, so that was a bit of a bust. At least I took a few silhouette photos.
Silhoutted CP Signal
That was at 9:11 PM, so there was still a bit of light around.
Back to CN! I headed east to a crossing just west of Anola. I arrived at 9:32 PM and familiarized myself with the area, since I had never been to that crossing before.
The east facing signal was green over red.
Green signal = GOOD
Waaayyy in the distance to the east I could see headlights.
In order to get a decent shutter speed, I selected ISO 1600, and f/3.2. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/200 seconds.
VIA 1 blasted through at 9:43 PM with VIA 6453 and 6427 leading.
VIA 1 blurring its way west
1/200s was not fast enough to freeze the action!
I liked the going away shot better, with the sunset sky.
VIA 1 facing a green signal
I knew there was no way I was going to catch VIA 1 again, so I packed up my gear and headed back toward home. I went along Dugald Road with the forlorn hope that VIA might be stopped in Transcona Yard - no luck there.
I headed south past Symington Yard to find a CN freight stopped by Tinkertown, just outside the yard. CN 2136 was the lead unit.
CN freight train outside Winnipeg
This was taken at 10:05 PM. I can't remember if I used a tripod or a monopod, but I'm sure I used something to steady the shot. My camera settings were ISO 3200, 1/30s shutter speed, aperture f/3.2. It wasn't totally dark but the sun was well below the horizon.
Note the third locomotive, BNSF 5366.
BNSF 5366 in Winnipeg
You can tell it was pretty dark, because the step lights are visible in the two photos above. Normally you don't see these during the day. I'm not sure if they are always on or if the engineer turns them on... I imagine they must always be on.
I posted a little video to my Instagram stories to show how dark it was.
I texted my wife that I was heading home, and I hit the road for home. Symington is about 15 minutes from my house.
The train wasn't moving very fast - at all - so it was a bit of a wait. It was OK, though, as it was a nice night and the bugs weren't too bad. It's been a dry spring in Winnipeg, so our legendary mosquitoes haven't had much chance to breed yet.
(yes, I did text my wife to tell her I would be a "bit" later)
At 10:34 PM, CP 8564 rolled past, dragging a long oil train.
CP 8564 by night
At this point, I had set my camera to a ridiculous ISO 6400 to be able to use a 1/40 second shutter speed. There is definitely grain in the photo - lots of it - but it is still a usable photo. My new Canon 77D is doing yeoman work.
At the private crossing I was at, there is a "yard" light providing illumination, so the side view has a lot more light.
Blowing through the crossing
The second unit was CP 9648, followed by a buffer car and a hundred oil tanks...
So many tank cars
After the 100 tank cars, there was another buffer car... then more locomotives!
One was a CP locomotive but the other was NS 8125. Two Norfolk Southern locomotives in one day!
NS 8125 on a CP freight train
Note the BNSF buffer car just going through the crossing. Buffer cars are used in dangerous goods trains like crude oil trains to separate the cargo from locomotives, for crew safety.
Here's another Instagram story video showing that it was pretty dark.
There were another hundred oil tanks on this train. That's 4 locomotives and 204 cars... a monster!
STOP - NO EXIT
The final car was an old CN grain car, the final buffer car.
The final car
That was my experience railfanning the longest day of the year. Someday I hope to continuously railfan the day, but that will have to wait for another year... or two...
PS just a reminder that I have some recommendations on Amazon for things I have purchased and used, like train books, photography gear, batteries, etc. Check it out!
When I was going to sleep Sunday night, I checked VIA's web site for the current position of VIA 1 and 2, the west and eastbound "Canadian" trains. They have been consistently late all winter and this spring has been no different. VIA 2 is due in at 20:45 on Sunday night, but last night it was showing an arrival time of around 06:30 or around 10 hours late. I decided to get up a bit early on this Victoria Day Monday to see if I could catch it coming in at sunrise. Eastbound trains at sunrise... nice.
I woke up at 05:25 and checked the web site, and sure enough, it was showing a 06:45 arrival. I threw on some clothes, left a note for my wife (who sadly is working today), and hit the highway. I figured I would get to the CN line, then head west to Diamond to wait there for VIA 2 and shoot it in the wide open prairie.
As I took the exit for Wilkes Avenue, that plan was shot all to heck when the lead engines of VIA 2 shot by the nose of my car.
I took a hard right and brought my Civic up to speed in pursuit of VIA 2. Since they were within city limits, they were down to a reduced speed, so it was actually possible to catch up to them. I'm not sure what the speed limit for them is, but I overtook them in the 90 km/hr zone and crossed the tracks at Elmhurst Road.
I pulled to the side, threw the car in park, and jumped out with my camera and sprinted to the crossing. As I arrived, the lights started flashing and the bell started ringing. This didn't deter one approaching motorist, who gunned it through just before the gates started to drop.
I did some quick settings changes - low light, gotta go with ISO 1600, need a decent shutter speed, try 1/800s, f/8 aperture to get enough of the train in focus - fired a test photo, checked it, exposure looked good, let's go...
VIA 6449 at sunrise
VIA 6449 and company looked pretty good in that morning light!
I fired off several frames as the train approached, then banged a shot off for every car so I could get the full consist. There's no art in the recording of numbers, just a quick pan and click for every car to get the number or name off the side.
Skyline 8516
Back to "art" mode for the "going away" photo, the EVANGELINE PARK looking very nice in the golden sunrise.
VIA's Evangeline Park at sunrise
It wasn't the location I wanted, but you take what you can get, and I'm glad I actually caught VIA 2 this time. I tried this stunt a week or two ago and missed VIA 2 by about 30 seconds, so I'm grateful that I "got the shot".
After the adrenaline faded, I headed west along the CN line to see if anything else was around. CN 8875 East was stopped just short of Hall Road, presumably waiting for their turn to enter Symington Yard.
CN 8875 East
That face... these SD70M-2s mean business. There's no curves anywhere, just brute power.
This train wasn't going anywhere for a while. I drove along the train, looking for a DPU engine, but the two at the head end were the only locomotives on the train.
At the highway 334 crossing, I photographed the train all stretched out along the prairie.
Sunrise train
There were tons of red-winged blackbirds around, so I photographed a few of them too. They are very talkative and it was nice to hear them chirping and see them fluttering about.
Red-winged blackbird
I also saw one of these - not sure what it is, but it's cute!
Pretty bird
I decided it was time to head home, so I hit the highway back to home and back to bed for a little while. It was a nice way to start off Victoria Day.
