Southwest Manitoba Elevator Trip, Part 9 - Nesbitt To Brandon

Back in August 2014 I took two days (Aug 8-9) to photograph every grain elevator in southwest Manitoba. Here's part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4 and part 5 and part 6 and part 7 and part 8.

After Minto was Nesbitt... and whoa! A train!

Here was CP 8755 and CP 3079 working the Cargill grain facility just west of Cargill. I watched from the nearby crossing as they shunted cars around.

You might remember I described the Nesbitt area in my Grain Elevators of the Glenboro Subdivision post. I'll just share a few more details and photos I didn't originally share.

The sun was very much touch-and-go and I had to choose my moments to get good lighting.

I reminded myself that I wasn't here to railfan, so off I went to Nesbitt to photograph the former Manitoba Pool grain elevator.

Nesbitt

The town of Nesbitt has a single ex Manitoba Pool grain elevator just east of the town.

I didn't get very close to the elevator as it has the appearance of still being used.

There is an old weathered church in town, or should I say ex-church as it does not appear to be in use.

After photographing the elevator, I returned to the Cargill facility. I hesitate to call it an "elevator" although surely it does elevate the material and let it flow down into the bins.

The train crew was still shunting away so I took a few more photos and carried on.

OPENZ graffiti

I regret that I did not photograph the switcher at the Cargill facility at this time. According to the Trackside Guide, it is a leased ex-CSX GP15-1, LLPX 1502. The train cars on the main line were blocking the view and I only caught a tiny glimpse of it. However, by a strange coincidence I did photograph this unit almost nine years previous, in the CP Winnipeg yard.

Set the wayback machine to October 2005

I said goodbye to Nesbitt and carried up the CP Glenboro subdivision to Souris.

New and old elevators near Nesbitt

Souris

Souris hosts the west end of the CP Glenboro subdivision, where it joins the CP Estevan subdivision at mile 15.9. The ex Manitoba Pool elevator shown here is at the junction.

You can see some CP MOW buildings and equipment to the left, on the Estevan subdivision. There is a wye to the right to the Glenboro subdivision.

There used to be a roundhouse in Souris. You can still see the traces on Google Maps.

I found this reproduction from the Manitoba Archives online, circa 1890s.

After Souris I headed north to Alexander on the CP mainline.

Alexander

The town of Alexander is home to a former Manitoba Pool grain elevator, now owned by Mission Terminal aka the Canadian Wheat Board/CWB. They even put their sign over where the Pool logo was.

There was a single grain car spotted at the elevator when I was there.

I walked around a bit but didn't linger too long.

There was a nice old tractor by the elevator.

From Alexander I carried on east to the outskirts of Brandon, also known as...

Kemnay

Kemnay has a concrete Pioneer grain elevator.

I didn't linger very long as time was running short and I had a few more stops to make before I was done. I did notice their Trackmobile 4300 was working to haul some cars around.

From Kemnay it was a short drive into Brandon to photograph the last new grain elevator of the day... join me for the last post in this series, for that elevator, a view of CN and CP in Brandon as well as a rainbow!

Product Review: Freehands Gloves

I wanted to post a quick review of the gloves I wear when photographing outside in cold weather, Freehands Gloves. These gloves are made with Thinsulate insulation and are great for keeping your hands from freezing when you're outside snapping photos.

They are not bulky at all so they go on easy and feel very natural. You could use them as driving gloves and in fact I often leave them on when I get back to the car and drive off to the next photo location.

The tips of the index fingers and thumbs fold back so you can use those fingers for manipulating your camera, using your phone, and so forth. There are circular magnets embedded in the gloves that keep the tips folded back and out of the way, which is pretty neat in my opinion.

They are definitely not a replacement for proper winter mitts. If it's below -20C/-4F, these will not keep your hands warm long-term. If it's really cold I will wear my winter "skidoo" mittens over top and just slip those off to shoot.

One thing, good and bad, is that the material over the thumbs and index fingers is quite thin. I keep the fingers "on" when using my camera as I can feel the camera controls through the material and don't need to flip them back. However, that means they aren't insulating very well and I can end up with a couple of really cold fingers after a while. Thicker material would mean I'd have to flip them up to use my camera and bare skin is not good in Winnipeg's winter. I don't know what the solution is.

These are fairly inexpensive - see them on Amazon or at your local camera store. I have fairly large hands and I use the XL size.

I heartily recommend these or similar gloves for shooting in winter.

See them on Amazon

Note: I do receive a commission if you follow the Amazon link and purchase something. I only recommend products that I have personally used or come highly recommended to me.

Happy 20th Birthday, NB Southern Railway!

NBSR in Harvey, NB 2009/02/21

The New Brunswick Southern Railway ran its first train on January 6, 1995... 20 years ago yesterday. The NBSR took over from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which left the Maritimes* on December 31, 1994.

The Canadian American Railroad Company took over the former CP track between Sherbrooke, Quebec and Brownville Junction, Maine. NBSR partner Eastern Maine Railroad Company took over the section between Brownville Junction and the US-Canada border.

When the NBSR first started, they leased CP power to operate their trains until they could acquire their own locomotives. In fact two of those locomotives (1813, 1866) ended up back in New Brunswick on the New Brunswick East Coast Railway.

NBEC 1866 in Miramichi, 2007/01/30

I believe NBSR's first purchased power was the pair of high hood GP9s NBSR 3700 and 3701, followed by a series of chopped-nose ex Southern Pacific GP9s later in 1995.

NBSR 3700 in Saint John, 2003/09/15

I first saw an NBSR train on July 18, 2000 when NBSR 3744 and NBSR 3787 were bringing some containers to CN's Island Yard.

NBSR 3787 in McAdam, 2000/11/12

I've had many happy chases of NB Southern trains.

Since those early days, NB Southern has accomplished a lot:

• Took over almost all local switching in Saint John in 2002
• Ran Trailer-On-Flatcar trains for several years
• Took over operations in northern Maine after MMA

At the 20 year mark the railway is doing very well and I wish them all the best in the future.

NBSR 2318 in McAdam, 2008/07/19

* well, except for a tiny bit of track in northwest New Brunswick near Grand Falls.

Southwest Manitoba Elevator Trip, Part 8 - Hartney to Minto

Back in August 2014 I took two days (Aug 8-9) to photograph every grain elevator in southwest Manitoba. Here's part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4 and part 5 and part 6 and part 7.

After Reston, I carried on to the town of Hartney.

Hartney

The town of Hartney has a single grain elevator, a former Manitoba Pool elevator that seems to have had some additions done to it.

I'm not sure what that low structure is between the elevator and the street. It might be part of the dust collection equipment. I thought it was curious that it had two roll-up doors, one on each level.

The elevator has a siding but it doesn't appear to be in use.

Hartney is served by the CP Estevan subdivision. It used to be served by the CN Hartney subdivision until that was removed in 2007 after the Southern Manitoba Railway failed. CN and CP used to cross with an interchange track. Check out this diagram on display in the Hart-Cam Museum:

CN-CP interlocking in Hartney

Speaking of the Hart-Cam Museum, it was open when I was in Hartney so I spent about 15 minutes walking through it. They have a lot of items on display and they are well displayed in a nice walk-around format on two levels.

There's a caboose on display in Hartney, CP 437207, that apparently used to be the village information office.

CP 437207 on display in Hartney

After Hartney, I carried on to Hathaway. On the way I spotted this old farmhouse in the distance.

Hathaway

This grain elevator is owned by a nearby farm. The structure itself seems to be in reasonable shape but does not appear to be used for much.

Hathaway used to be on the CP Boissevain subdivision until it was abandoned in 1975.

The lettering on the side shows its heritage.

The Pool Co-Operative Association phrasing is the same on all elevators, it seems.

Notice something in this photo?

I spotted that old car on the former right-of-way and had to investigate.

I can't really tell what kind of car it used to be. If it were a boxcar I would not expect to see windows but if it was a caboose it should have a cupola. Curious.

The lettering inside seems to indicate it was a boxcar that perhaps was modified afterward to add the windows. Note what appear to be load lines below.

Next on my list and just up the road was...

Regent

I drove to where my GPS said the elevator was, and... nothing. There was no elevator in sight. I drove on for a bit, passing one house, but there was no elevator to be seen other than the distant Hathaway elevator I had just visited.

I did, however, notice a foundation with some blackened remains on it. Fearing the worst, I stopped at the house and knocked. A lady came out and I asked her what happened to the elevator. She said the owner had moved away and didn't own any land around it, and wasn't willing to maintain it and keep the pests out of it, so in the spring of 2014 they set it on fire and burned it down.

It still smelled like a fire had been there.

I had to watch my step as there were a lot of nails and sharp objects around.

So that was the Regent grain elevator. A miss.

With a heavy heart, I carried on to...

Elgin

At least this one still existed!

Like many ex Manitoba Pool elevators, the letters are falling off.

This one is emblazoned with Dodds Farm Ltd.

Elgin was also on the CN Hartney subdivision and was the end of the Southern Manitoba Railway track.

I had lunch at the diner in Elgin - quite nice - and then visited the outside of the museum in Elgin. They had UGG and Manitoba Pool logos outside so I had to model one.

Vanna White, watch out!

After that it was on to..

Minto

There are two grain elevators in Minto... or at least there were two when I visited in August. Notice a problem with one of them?

Tornado-strength winds went through Minto in July 2014 and pretty much ripped the cupola off this elevator.

 It is basically flipped over and hanging on by not very much.

A pigeon curiously gazes upon the exposed machinery.

The damaged elevator appears to have been a Paterson elevator. The other elevator is still marked for Paterson.

There was lots of tape around the damaged elevator to keep people away - quite wisely, since that cupola could have fallen at any time.

After Minto, it was on to Nesbitt to see the two elevators there - the old Pool and the newer Cargill elevators. Next post!

Train Photo Survey Results and Analysis

I asked "Where do you view train photos" back in late December. Thank you to the 37 people who responded! 27 came from this blog and 10 from my TraingeekImages Facebook page.

Here are the results.

Keep in mind that people were allowed to select more than one option.

I have a few observations:

• I didn't realize that many people were using Flickr
• I'm surprised only one person is using Instagram
• The Google+ numbers are pretty strong
• I was really surprised to see so many using railpictures.ca
• The "other site(s)" surprised me too - see below

For "other site(s)" the responses indicated they look at this blog, Trackside Treasure, the Beachburg Sub, and Google Images. One person mentioned 500px and one mentioned Fallen Flags.

I wanted to do this survey to decide where to concentrate my photo sharing in 2015. Here's where I am already active in sharing my photos:

• This blog
• Manitoba Grain Elevators
• Google+
• Facebook
• Railpictures.Net (just started again recently)

I'm occasionally active on:

• Flickr
• Instagram
• 500px

I intend to become a lot more active on Instagram as I believe that is where a lot of traffic is going. I'm going to try Railpictures.ca. I will try to remember Flickr but my personal feeling is that it is not likely to grow.

What are your thoughts?