Happy Halloween

For those who participate, I hope you enjoy Halloween. Watch out for the kids tonight!

CN 305 On The Main Line

Kevin Gaudet recently posted a video of CN 305 rolling through Berry Mills in the early morning. I liked how he had the hotbox detector recording at the beginning of the video.

It was good positioning of the camera, too, to compensate for the low sun. It's hard to get good early morning shots where the track goes east-west.

That video inspired me to dig back in YouTube history for other shots of CN 305 on the CN mainline in New Brunswick. Here's saintjohnrailfan's video of CN 305 at McGivney, with a DPU no less, on August 24 2008.

The train horn echoes well in McGivney.

Here's jamminjoel's video of CN 305 at the route 625 crossing on September 6, 2008.


Finally, here's one of my own shots of CN 305, at St. Basil NB outside Edmundston on August 12, 2007.

Just a Few More Minutes

"Just a few more hours
And I'll be right home to you
I think I hear them callin'
Oh, Beth what can I do
Beth what can I do" - Kiss

I decided to take the kids out and do a bit of railfanning Sunday afternoon (October 25). Most trains I see in Winnipeg are CN, so we went northeast to CP country.

There were no signs of life on the CP Keewatin subdivision at the Perimeter, so we went in to Day Street to see what was going on at CEMR. Answer: nothing. I did see CN GMD1 1413 there, and the engine of CEMR 4013 was exposed. CP 1530 and 1532 were idling in the North Transcona yard.

We made a quick trip down to Dugald Road to see if anything was happening around CN (no), so after a Tim Hortons stop, we went back up to Day Street. After a bit, a headlight was visible to the west. In good time they rolled by at 16:30 with red barn CP 9017 leading and CP 6041 trailing.


After they passed, I saw a headlight to the east. Great! Except... it didn't move. I waited, and waited, then went to Redona Street at 17:00 to get a closer look. Olympic unit CP 8872 was waiting at the head of CP 115 under the Perimeter Highway. I waited and waited some more, but I had to get going to buy some pumpkins. They were still waiting at 17:15 when I left.


On my way around the Perimeter, I crossed the CP Emerson sub and saw a southbound freight's headlight... again, no time to wait.

Maybe next time!

Caboose To Be Moved

Malcolm Peacock's caboose is due to be moved to the Village Historique Acadien in Caraquet, according to this Times Transcript article. They have built a replica train station and will now have a caboose to put in front of it.

Malcolm died in August 2009 and his family was looking to dispose of his caboose. I'm glad it is going to a good home.

I stayed overnight in that caboose a few times when volunteering at the New Brunswick Railway Museum in Hillsborough. Malcolm was very proud of the caboose and kept it in good shape. He often brought museum visitors through it, even though it was his private caboose and not the museum's.

The Race is On

There was a little race Monday (Oct 27) at noontime. I knew the Hudson Bay (VIA 693) was due soon, but I also knew CN 199 was ready to roll at Fort Rouge at the same time. I was curious how it would pan out. Normally westbound VIA trains are on the north track.

The RTC put CN 199 on the north track. As it rolled toward me, I could see the headlights of the Hudson Bay behind them. I couldn't imagine that the RTC would make VIA tag along behind the freight, and she did not. The Hudson Bay was on the south track, rapidly overtaking the container train on the north.

CN 199 passed me first, with CN 5731 and 2721 leading a long container train.


Within two minutes, the Hudson Bay was rolling by on the south track.


The train had the regular power, VIA 6413 and VIA 6456, on point, with baggage car 8600, three coaches (8106, 8110, 8100), diner York (8418), and two Chateau sleepers (8221 Radisson and 8223 Rigaud). I heard the previous Hudson Bay had a dome car... I keep hoping to see one on this train.

You can see the head end of CN 199 in the photo above. No doubt VIA was past CN before Diamond.

I think that's the first time I saw two trains passing in the same direction... it was very interesting.

Slug On The Road

I saw a strange sight just before supper on Friday (Oct 23). I saw a CN westbound beside the Perimeter Highway on Wilkes Avenue, with ordinary units CN 2256 and 2682 leading... but they had GP9 7243 and slug 203 trailing!


Strange to see a slug on a mainline train.

Red Board at Carman Junction

Allan Peden has a great story here about his involvement in a wreck at Carman Junction in western Winnipeg in the early morning of October 17, 1956. CN Extra 2503 East ran a red board at the Junction and collided with a train coming off the Carman subdivision. Mr. Peden was the head-end brakeman in the engine. The fireman was critically injured when jumping from the engine, and died later.

The Carman subdivision was sold to the Central Manitoba Railway, but Carman Junction still exists and is used. These days they have signal lights instead of boards!

Read the entire last days of steam series. There are several stories about working on CN, in and around Winnipeg.

This Day, 13 Years Ago

Two slides for you today!

Here is a slide shot 13 years ago today, by Glenn Cunningham. Three of my favourite MLWs, CP 4228, 4243, and 4211, rest in London Ontario. 4243 was NBEC 4243 at the end of its life, before being scrapped in 2009 after the New Brunswick East Coast Railway was purchased by CN.


This is another slide shot on the same day in the same location by Glenn Cunningham. CP 4214 is the lead engine of this triplet.

Pacing Videos

It's rare to find pacing videos of trains. By pacing videos I mean shots where the train and the observer are moving side by side. You need two things: a road parallel to the tracks with few obstructions in between, and a driver. I haven't shot any pacing videos because I usually railfan alone.

Caleb aka CNCRW94 posted a video of local CN 507 rolling through Windsor Junction. He chased it and provided some pacing footage as shiny CN 4805 and grimy CN 4725 pulled a few hoppers and tankers along.


Dave aka nbsrfan has long been a practitioner of the pacing shot. Here is his video of a recent NB Southern Railway passenger train, with a nice pacing sequence through Westfield at 4:02 and 4:27 and 5:09.


Nice job, guys!

Monday's Trains

I never got around to posting the trains I saw Monday noon. I arrived near St. James Junction and I immediately saw CN 2553 and CN 5732 hauling a westbound container train past. Definitely no time for a tripod!

Sometimes you get lucky and the train is right there; sometimes you miss it by 10 seconds. :)

The Canadian could be seen right afterward. It came up to St. James Junction and stopped, presumably waiting for the freight to clear the block so it could proceed. After about 10 minutes, the Canadian started up again. From my vantage point near Kenaston I could see the lead engine was green, meaning it was the Telus engine VIA 6429.

It had a diner "Empress" deadheading behind the engines. On occasion you can see a car deadheading (traveling unoccupied) as VIA moves equipment around.

Full consist here in my railway sighting database.

The River Hills Railroad

Manitoba's newest shortline is the River Hills Railroad Inc., formed to investigate acquiring a portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Glenboro subdivision.

CP has added the 101 kilometers of railway between Rathwell and Nesbitt to its 3 Year Network Plan aka list of sections for abandonment. That basically cuts out of the middle of the Glenboro subdivision, leaving the section from Winnipeg to Rathwell, and from Page into Saskatchewan.

Former Rural Municipality of Victoria reeve and councilor Harold Purkness is the President of the new company.

Their intent is to do a feasibility study to see if a shortline is worthwhile. Rail West Management has been retained to perform the study.

Links:

• Teamsters Canada Rail Conference
• Carman Valley Leader
• Carman Valley Leader
• Morden Times
• Railroader.ca

CN 302 at Sunset

I was in Portage la Prairie today. I didn't see any trains on the way there, and all I saw while I was there was resident switcher CP 3082 and white caboose CP 420989.

I caught CN 302 passing through as I was heading home to Winnipeg. First, I saw it as it came into Portage at 18:04. CN 2226 and IC 1026 were the engines on the point.


I went around Portage on the Trans-Canada Highway, and I saw 302 meeting 401 as the latter came into Portage. 302 was really moving, but I was able to get ahead and set up at a crossing just west of Elie. 302 blasted through at 18:35 in the falling dark.


302 had just passed by the time I crossed over Wilkes Avenue on the Perimeter. They were making good time!

Sunday Night Railfanning

I was out Sunday night (Oct 18) to see a friend at VIA's Union Station. That didn't work out, but I did manage to see a few trains.

First I went to CN Subway to try to catch the Canadian as it came in. As I arrived, a westbound roared by at 20:04 with CN 8824 and IC 6100. I set up the tripod and put the video camera into "night mode". Soon enough a headlight was visible to the east, but it was not the Canadian

It had CN 2531 on the point, with a BC Rail Dash 8 and another BC Rail unit (an SD40 or SD40-2) trailing. There were a lot of loaded paper products cars in this train.

As the train rolled on by, I saw another headlight to the east, and the train ended up rolling up right in front of me. This one had IC 6200 and CN 5245.

With my view blocked, and time getting short, I figured I should head to the station. It turned out that the Canadian had arrived at the station almost an hour early. I wandered around the station looking for my friend, but I never saw him.

After a while, I left and headed over toward Symington Yard before heading home. I saw and shot an eastbound near Beach Junction with CN 5556 and CN 5534 for power. I last saw 5556 by the Prairie Dog Central.


I heard there were two westbounds ready to leave the yard but time was growing late, so I headed home.

EDIT: Added second video

Scanners - Frequencies

Previous: Introduction to scanners | Programming scanners

Now that you have an idea how to program a scanner, what do you put in it? You need to know the frequencies you want to monitor. For Canadian railroads, your best bet by far is to get the Canadian Trackside Guide, the railfan's "Bible". You can buy it direct from the Bytown Railway Society, at your local hobby store, or try to find it on Amazon. The price ranges from $28 to $33. You can always buy a used one for a little less money, since the information inside does not change that much every year.

You will need to go to the list of subdivisions for the railway and location(s) you are looking for. For example, suppose you want to know the frequencies for CN trains in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. You would go to the CN subdivision section, then find out what subdivision Portage is on (CN Rivers). Then find the frequencies listed for that subdivision.

There is typically one train channel for the entire subdivision. In fact, for CN it is the same frequency for every subdivision. This channel is used for trains to talk to each other. They are often used to announce signals as they approach them ("VIA 1 clear signal at East Tower") to alert other trains and crews of their presence.

There are one or more RTC channels per subdivision. These are used to call the RTC (Rail Traffic Controller) to get permission to occupy track, or to do track work. Much of the RTC channel traffic is between maintenace of way (MOW) personnel and the RTC, but the train crews use it on occasion. It is helpful to listen to RTC traffic as you can get clues as to when trains will pass certain points.

Engineering channels are also listed, for use by the MOW crews, but I do not find them to be very useful to listen to.

Load your scanner up with channels for the areas you visit most. I have CN and CP channels in my scanner, on different banks so I only listen to the channels appropriate for the railway I am near.

Next, a few comments about the legalities and ethics of scanner use, followed by some tips and tricks.

Oddities in Winnipeg

I drove by CN's Symington Yard just before noon today, and I saw two unusual sights in the yard just south of the hump.

Ex-CP SW1200 8131 was sitting there by itself. I understand 8131 has been dead for quite some time.


GO Transit bilevel car 2499 was very near 8131. This is probably the same GO car I saw yesterday on the end of a freight. The last time I saw I saw a GO car in Winnipeg (Boxing Day 2007), it was coming from the Bombardier plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario.


A more normal sight was a freight at the south end of the yard, presumably getting ready to head out on the Sprague subdivision. CN 5776 and 2648 were at the head of a container train.

Note the ubiquitous Canada geese in the field. They are everywhere in Winnipeg!

Last Mountain Railway

The Regina Leader-Post has a good article on the startup of LMR.

The Last Mountain Railway started up on August 31 2009, pulling 25 cars out of the CN Regina yard. They are using the two GE B23-7 units I saw in Regina back in June 2009. They have been repainted to all black with white lettering.

Mobil Grain Ltd. is their major customer, as far as I can see.

I guess we can call this YASS, or "Yet Another Saskatchewan Shortline". I think this makes 11!

Four Unit Freight

I had a quick glimpse of a general freight this afternoon. It was coming through Beach Junction, entering Symington Yard in Winnipeg at 15:30. CN 2237, CN 2711, CN 8012, and CN 8805 were the power on the head end. I shot the above photo from the Dugald Road overpass.

Interestingly enough, there was a bilevel GO car as the second last car in the consist.

CN 8010 and 8812 were beside the hump, at the head of a container train. Another three-unit consist was drilling the south end of the yard, presumably making a train up to head south down the Sprague subdivision.

BNSF 2001

I saw new arrival BNSF 2001 on Thursday October 15. I shot VIA's Canadian at Waverley Street, then 2001 rolled by with a short transfer.

VIA first. They gave one horn blast as they went by, very unusual in this area.


BNSF headed out of Fort Rouge immediately afterward, with bell ringing.


Note the two white boxes on top of the cab. Would those be air conditioning units?

Canadian Pacific Railway Holiday Train

CP's Holiday Train has been announced for 2009. I see it will be in Winnipeg on December 6, just north of Nairn Avenue and west of Lagimodiere Boulevard. Good location!

• Ontario, Quebec


• Manitoba, Saskatchewan


• British Columbia, Alberta


• US Northeast


• US Midwest

I will have to make an effort to see that! :)

CN 9416 on the Chaleur

You may recall that CN 9416 has been leased by VIA Rail for about a month to give the Chaleur some more traction over the fallen leaves. The Chaleur typically has a lot of problems slipping on the rails in the fall due to the leaves covering the tracks, especially since there are no regular freights to help keep the rails clear. In previous years the Chaleur has had to abandon trips due to slippery rails. CN 9416 is a GP40-2.

tjmfishing shot CN 9416 leading the Chaleur into New Carlisle, Quebec on Saturday October 10.


Earlier that week (October 5), Errol Robertson shot CN 9416 and VIA 6419 at Gaspe in the pouring rain!


David Morris caught what I think was the inaugural run of 9416 on the Chaleur, on October 3. Here is CN 9416 at St. Simeon on the way toward Gaspe.


On that day the Chaleur had to turn at New Carlisle. David shot the train in the midst of the turning exercise at New Carlisle.


EDIT: Removed the comment about the GP40-2's gearing, as it is obviously not a bonus for the slow speeds that the Chaleur travels at on the Gaspe. The GP40-2 is added and removed at Matapedia so it never travels the Corridor with the Chaleur. Thanks Peter for the comment.