Finishing the Job: Part 2 - CP's Turn

This is part 2 of a series photographing grain elevators in Manitoba. (Back to the start / ahead to part 3, part 4, part 5)

Binscarth

After I finished photographing the grain elevators of the former CN Rossburn subdivision, I carried on to Binscarth, mile 76.6 on the CP Bredenbury subdivision.

The town of Binscarth was the junction of the Bredenbury and CP Russell subdivisions. There is still a remnant of the Russell subdivision, a wye and a few miles of track. This was (maybe is still?) known as the Agricore spur and leads to this Viterra grain elevator north of town.

Viterra grain elevator, Binscarth

This elevator was an Agricore elevator, built to replace the Manitoba Pool elevator that was in town.

Mile 1.05, Agricore spur, Binscarth

There were several maintenance-of-way (MOW) cars on the wye.

Gons on the wye

There is a much larger grain elevator southeast of town, the Paterson inland terminal.

Paterson inland terminal, Binscarth, MB

This baby can hold 21,600 tonnes of grain. There were quite a few grain cars nearby, including this interesting Union Equity car, reporting mark GROX 60652.

I grok the GROX

There is one more grain handling facility in Binscarth, Marquette grain.

There were also quite a few maintenance of way vehicles on side tracks in and around Binscarth. I guess track work is being done on the Bredenbury!

Read more on Binscarth's grain elevators.

That was fun, but there were many more elevators to see. On to another spot on the Bredenbury subdivision...

Solsgirth

Marooned car in Solsgirth

The town of Solsgirth looks like a classic Prairie ghost town. It has all the elements: decaying grain elevator, abandoned houses, empty churches, no school... but there is still a bit of a pulse left to this town.

For one thing, Canada Post still delivers here (postal code: R0J 2B0). Another thing: it still has active railway tracks - mile 51.2 on the CP Bredenbury.

When I visited, there was a string of empty flatcars in the siding. They are obviously to carry the maintenance vehicles I saw in Binscarth, based on the rails mounted on the flatcars and the ramps seen at the end of the train.

Flatcars in Solsgirth

The grain elevator is an ex Cargill elevator, the former Manitoba Pool "A" elevator. I don't think it is being used any more but I could be wrong.

You misspelled "GRILL"

There are a few of this "modern" style of Manitoba Pool grain elevators around. Niverville comes to mind right away. The rectangular style with the machinery perched on top may have been modern and efficient, but to my eye it is not attractive at all.

You may have noticed the marooned hopper (SOO 125084) in the first photograph of Solsgirth that I posted. This hopper is up on blocks, for reasons unknown, and its trucks are nowhere to be found. I have no idea what if anything it is being used for.

SOO marooooooned

More on Solsgirth and its history.

Solsgirth is only 15 miles away from where I was last on the Bredenbury sub, at Shoal Lake.

After photographing the two churches in Solsgirth (more later), I moved on to Birtle, mile 59.2.

Birtle

A busy little elevator

The Birtle grain elevator was a little hard to find! The town of Birtle is located in a valley formed by the Birdtail River. I followed highway 83 into town, expecting to find the elevator in the midst of town like most prairie towns. However, the elevator (and rail line) is not located there, but is north of the town above the valley. After a few minutes I found the elevator, at mile 59.2. There are a few CP maintenance-of-way buildings there.

CP MOW buildings at Birtle

The elevator is obviously in use.

In downtown Birtle I saw this little elevator in front of the Hewson's store, a nice callback to the Angusville grain elevator.

That was Birtle. Now I left the CP Bredenbury and went on to abandoned rail lines, at Beulah. Ahead to part 3!

Finishing the Job: Part 1 - Grain Elevators of the CN Rossburn Subdivision

On April 30th I set out on my last marathon Manitoba grain elevator trip. I had about two dozen elevators left to photograph, and this trip would get all but one of them. I did my planning and on the evening of April 29th, I was ready to go. My camera was charged, I had a zillion podcasts on my phone, and my wife thought I was crazy. She might be right.

My alarm went off at 3:00 AM and I jumped out of bed. OK, maybe I just rolled out of bed. After a quick shower and breakfast of toast and milk, I was off.

First up on the podcast list was A Modelers Life. With one "L" (inside joke).

Yes, that's 3:22 AM

I hit the road, headed west to Portage la Prairie then up highway 16 through Gladstone.

Gladstone

As I approached Happy Rock Gladstone, I decided to take a few minutes to photograph the new Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator on the CN Gladstone sub just off the highway.

I took a side road and set up my tripod for a long exposure shot. 30 seconds did the trick!

A concrete dream

That was my first new grain elevator.. not planned, but I'll take it!

After grabbing some breakfast at McDonald's a Scottish restaurant in Neepawa, I carried on through downtown Minnedosa, then headed north on highway 262 to Clanwilliam, the first on my list.

Clanwilliam

When I arrived at 6:19 AM, the sun was above the horizon but not quite above the trees yet.

The grain elevator in Clanwilliam, Manitoba

The elevator sits alone on Railway Avenue (of course) and is no longer in use. I understand it was last used 6 or 7 years ago. The CN Rossburn subdivision used to run between a point near Neepawa and Russell, but all that was abandoned back in 1996.

This elevator has two discharge pipes on the railway side. Any guesses why there are two?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

There are two because the longer one was for loading grain into the (side) door of grain boxcars and the shorter one was for loading into the tops of grain hoppers. Simple, right?

The elevator is not in great shape, but certainly better than some I've seen.

So that was Clanwilliam.

On to Sandy Lake!

Sandy Lake

The Sandy Lake grain elevator

The grain elevator in Sandy Lake dominates the skyline, as elevators often do. It helps that it is up on a ridge, above the cottages and houses that dot the shores of the lake.

Compare this elevator to Clanwilliam's and you'll notice a few things:

• This annex still has a peaked roof, unlike Clanwilliam's which has machinery/piping on the top;
• Sandy Lake's roofs have been replaced
• The cladding has been patched here

It turns out that Sandy Lake's elevator is privately owned by Lewandowski Farms.

Lots of interesting piping here!

Just for fun, I recorded a short walk-around video.

By this time I was running behind schedule... the elevators were just too interesting, I guess! I resolved to try to pick the pace up.

Of course, as I approached Oakburn, I had to stop and take a few photos... even though it wasn't new to me. But first I noticed this:

Milepost 65 of the CN Rossburn subdivision

A milepost! Oakburn's siding was mile 65.6. There was another milepost still existing on the other side of Oakburn too.

Oakburn

I was here in late 2014 so I didn't linger very long. The annex doesn't look like it is leaning any more.

More on the Oakburn grain elevator...

I drove past Vista - which used to have a few grain elevators - and on to Rossburn, namesake of the subdivision that used to go through here.

Rossburn

The Rossburn grain elevator is located in the heart of the town. It looked to me like it is still being used. I was impressed by how bold the lettering is on the elevator... no wear at all. I wonder if they were reapplied recently.

Elevator selfie

I had to take a selfie here. I was taking one or two photos of each elevator with my iPhone, just in case I had problems with the SD card in my camera. I'm paranoid that way.

At this point it was 8:40 AM and I had been up for close to 6 hours. Go caffeine go!

I was taking pictures of the Ukrainian churches that I found, like I did last summer. I'll publish them in a separate post later.

After photographing Rossburn, it was on to Birdtail. I punched the GPS coordinates into my phone's map application, as I had been doing, and went on my way.

Birdtail

No elevator :(

The elevator wasn't there.

I hadn't been 100% sure that there was still an elevator at Birdtail. There was no Street View available and the satellite view of the area was old. Still, a little disappointing.

The Birdtail grain elevator was a wooden structure with no annex. It was labelled for Tanasychuk Farm according to old photos of the elevator.

There was no sign of it, so I carried on. At least I caught up on some time!

Angusville

The grain elevator in Angusville is interesting. There is a garage attached to the elevator, where the annex used to be.

I spoke with the owners - who moved here from Scotland a few years ago - and they don't know much about the elevator itself. It's not used and in fact the garage is blocking the driveway doors on the elevator.

The office appears to still be intact. There is a pile of timbers out back that might be from the demolished annex.

After visiting these towns, I have a couple of tips for you if you choose to go elevator fanning:

• Leave the town by a different route than you came in, if possible - you might see something else interesting on the way; and
• Always look back - you might get a cool view.

This was my look back for Angusville:

On to Silverton and its very interesting elevator(s).

Silverton

Old house and grain elevator, Silverton

I had to stop and include this old house in the shot. It looks like someone was stripping the house down to its bones.

The Silverton grain elevator is obviously a former UGG elevator. It wears its heritage proudly on the side of the annex and elevator.

Ex UGG grain elevator, Silverton

Note the "B" on the elevator indicating that there was an "A" elevator. My guess is that the Manitoba Pool elevator that used to be in Silverton was the A elevator and this became the B during the six Agricore United years when the UGG merged with Agricore (itself a merger of the Alberta Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevator). I could be wrong.

I really like the checkerboard look on the cupola of the elevator - very unique in Manitoba.

The elevator looks well maintained, with a new roof. Hopefully it is still serving after so many years!

As it happens, there are two grain elevators in Silverton.

The second is on a nearby farm. I spotted it as I was driving out of town. I took a few shots of the elevator from a public road but didn't get any closer, as it is clearly on private property.

Private elevator, Silverton

I wonder what the history of that elevator is...

Anyway, on to the former terminus of the CN Rossburn subdivision, Russell.

Russell

The grain elevator in Russell, Manitoba

I arrived in Russell to find the ex Manitoba Pool grain elevator to be in fine shape. It is privately owned and apparently still in use for grain storage.

Things are looking up!

The Trans-Canada Trail runs along the former CN line here. Russell used to be a division point on the CNR, with a roundhouse, station and so forth. The CN Rossburn subdivision ended here in a yard, and the CN Tonkin subdivision continued on into Saskatchewan.

Clayton Chaloner contributed his photo of a brace of GMD1s lifting the last loads from the Pool elevator in Russell.

CN 1604 in Russell, photo by Clayton Chaloner

The CP had a presence on the west side of Russell with the CP Russell subdivision running from Binscarth to Inglis. At one time the majority of the grain elevators were on the CP line but there are none there now.

Russell CPR station and grain elevators, early 1900s

Russell is near the large Bunge plant in Harrowby, MB (on the CP Bredenbury subdivision) as well as potash mines in Saskatchewan, so it is a "happening" place.

Speaking of the Bredenbury sub, that's where I went next... to Binscarth. Read on!

Derailment Week

There were three derailments in the news this week. Quite an unfortunate run.

QNSL

The Quebec, North Shore and Labrador (QNSL) railway derailed 14 cars (and perhaps the locomotive?) between Sept-Îles and Schefferville, Quebec on May 11. Nobody was injured and there is no environmental issue, according to the company.

This was a better outcome than the derailment in November 2014 that claimed the life of engineer (and sole crewman) Enrick Gagnon. The train ran into a landslide and the train derailed and ended up in the Moisie River.

Canadian Pacific

On the same day, May 11, CP train N51 derailed the last 17 cars of the train at mile 97 (Cheviot) of the CP Sutherland subdivision just outside Saskatoon, SK. Again, fortunately, there were no injuries and no environmental release.

CN

On May 9, CN train 121 derailed 8 cars near Plaster Rock, NB. They were quickly righted and the train continued on with only a few hours' delay.

The RCMP are saying that the derailment was caused by a 'deliberate act' and they are looking for an ATV driver who was seen in the area.

Let's hope the individual(s) responsible are brought to justice. There is no need for that.

Let's also hope that next week is a much quieter week!

Follow Friday: Yukon Yeti

On some forms of social media, Follow Friday is a tradition where people recommend that their readers go check out someone else's stuff. It usually has the hashtag #ff. I'm trying out the same idea here but for web sites and blogs.

This Friday I wanted to feature a Flickr user, "Yukon Yeti". I don't know his real name but he has some great railway photos!

Here's a selection of Canadian-related photos. A lot of them are in the British Columbia area but he certainly gets around.

How did this one get in the Canadian list? ;)

He has a lot of American photos as well as European trains... and a good mix of roster-style photos and action photos. Highly recommended.

Check out Yukon Yeti's Flickr stream!

Diesels on Prince Edward Island eBook Now Available

I wrote an eBook!

Diesels on Prince Edward Island is my first eBook. This 18-page PDF describes every diesel-electric locomotive type known to have operated on PEI. The book has 15 photographs, including a few never published before. Check it out!

You can buy it on Amazon or as a PDF from Gumroad below.

Diesels on PEI eBook

RIP Peter Lacey

I heard today that Peter Lacey passed away. Peter was a noted railway historian in Manitoba, known for his work with the Midwestern Rail Assocation / Winnipeg Railway Museum and as an author.

The Muskeg Limited, by Peter Lacey

Peter wrote two books that I know of:

1. "The Muskeg Limited", about the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway; and
2. "Tramway to the Pointe", about Winnipeg Hydro's tramway to the Pointe du Bois dam.

I know he was almost finished a book "3,000 Years of Railways" and may have been working on another about the Midland Railway / Burlington Northern Manitoba Limited.

Peter was also the St. Vital community correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press, and was involved with the public transport advocacy group Transport Action Canada.

I met Peter once, at the Prairie Dog Central Railway. He seemed like a nice man.

The railway community has suffered a big loss. Rest in peace, and my condolences to his family and friends.

Peter's obituary

Ticked Off

Well, I'm ticked off.

Or should I say.. off with the tick!

A day after I returned from my last marathon Manitoba grain elevator trip, I noticed something stuck to my lower abdomen. I went to flick it off, and realized it was stuck there. I looked, and saw this:

Yikes!

After taking a photo with my iPhone, I pulled it out* and threw it into a nearby sink. It promptly started marching away so I fetched a Zip-loc bag and put it in there until I could decide what to do with it.

There are two main types of ticks around here: black-legged ticks and American dog ticks (also known as wood ticks). The dog ticks typically do not transmit disease while the black-legged ticks do. This one is a black-legged tick as it lacked the white markings on the back that dog ticks have.

It turns out that you can send ticks in for analysis (PDF). They test the tick for Lyme disease, among other things, and will email the results. This can take weeks so don't rely on this to tell you if you have Lyme disease!

Symptoms of Lyme disease include a characteristic ring around the entry area, headaches, fatigue, fever, chills, rashes, numbness or tingling... there are quite a few.

Here's a close-up of my little friend, before I sent it off for analysis.

Tick tock

I've been keeping an eye on the area for signs of the characteristic ring around the entry area, but so far nothing has appeared and I feel fine. The tick wasn't engorged so it hadn't fed much, so the chances of any infection are low. I washed the area with soap and water and then applied alcohol to try to sterilize it.

* you remove ticks by pulling them straight out, with your fingers or with tweezers. Try to remove the entire tick without squeezing it. Don't apply any chemicals, grease or anything like that - they don't work.

So - public service announcement - after tromping around in the wilderness, be sure to check yourself and your companions for ticks!

More resources:

• About black-legged ticks
• Identifying ticks
• More about ticks
• CBC article

UPDATE: Manitoba Health emailed me on July 29th to let me know that the tick I sent in was "an adult American dog tick, also known as a wood tick." These ticks do not transmit diseases to humans.

Follow Friday: Shane Stewart's Canadian Railroads

On some forms of social media, Follow Friday is a tradition where people recommend that their readers go check out someone else's stuff. It usually has the hashtag #ff. I'm trying out the same idea here but for web sites and blogs.

I was doing some web searches and stumbled across Shane Stewart's Canadian Railroads. Shane's web site features some excellent drawings and photos of Canadian locomotives and rolling stock, photos of many Alberta grain elevators, train stations and a lot more.

Check out his moving train GIFs, for example. Click on one of the links on the left to view a VIA passenger train GIF, a CN ballast train (complete with Operation Lifesaver caboose and orange ballast cars, dumping gravel with a crew walking beside operating the doors), and several more.

I like his list of Alberta grain elevators as well. I saw Foremost and Skiff and others from the CP Stirling subdivision.

See Shane's site at http://canadianrailroads.ca/ !

North Dakota's High Line Bridge

The High Line Bridge, North Dakota

Recently I had the opportunity to see the High Line Bridge in North Dakota. This bridge is a very long steel bridge and resembles other bridges I have seen such as the Salmon River viaduct in New Brunswick and the Lethbridge High Level Bridge. This bridge is also called the Hi Line Bridge.

The High Line bridge is in Valley City, ND near mile 65 of the BNSF Jamestown subdivision, a secondary main line running west of Fargo. It sees a few trains a day over it, and probably a train or two under it from the CP line that ducks under the eastern end of the bridge.

Panorama view of the High Line Bridge in North Dakota (west=left)

This bridge was built by the Northern Pacific Railroad to avoid steep grades in and out of the Sheyenne River valley. The bridge was completed in 1908 and was important for traffic in both World Wars.

The bridge is 3,860 feet (1,180m) long and towers 162 feet (49m) above the Sheyenne River. It is just a few feet shorter than the Salmon River trestle and 33 feet shorter. The High Line bridge has 61 spans.

The bridge appears to have been built to carry two separate tracks. I am not sure if it ever had two tracks but it only has one track now.

A lot of steelwork in the High Line Bridge

The nearby Chautauqua Park is a good place to observe the bridge from. All of the wide angle photos in this post were taken from there.

Wide angle view of the BNSF High Line Bridge

I apologize for the distortion in the wide angle / panorama views. I used the iPhone 6 panorama function and it definitely puts a hump in the middle of the bridge that is just not there.

Sadly no trains came along in the short time that I was near the bridge. Perhaps next time!

More information:

• Wikipedia
• North Dakota Tourism
• Ghosts of North Dakota