CN's Prairie North Line and the Flooding

People in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are used to dealing with flooding every year. With the flat land, the water goes everywhere. 2009 was a bad year in Manitoba. 2011 was not great. This year the flood forecast for Manitoba is not too bad, but Saskatchewan... Saskatchewan is in trouble. They had a lot snow this winter and now it is melting and communities are experiencing flooding. So far five municipalities and one First Nation have declared states of emergencies.

The village of Borden, Saskatchewan is desperately fighting the flooding. Borden and the town of Radisson (also in emergency) are both located on the CN Aberdeen subdivision, part of CN's Prairie North Line. The provincial Water Security Agency is reporting that the water is backed up behind the railway grade today.

Another town in emergency is Maidstone, on the CN Blackfoot subdivision, also part of the Prairie North Line.

So far CN's State of the Railroad says its operations are normal, but they are monitoring the situation.

In what might be quite a coincidence, last week CN announced they are investing $30 million in upgrading the Prairie North Line. The investment is to upgrade the line to better serve CN when it has to divert some or all traffic off the main Winnipeg-Saskatoon line. Currently the sidings are in the 6,000-7,000 foot range, not long enough for meets with the typical 10,000+ foot trains that CN runs. CN is also investing $60 million in the main line "for additional double track and new sidings between Winnipeg and Saskatoon on the main line" as well as $15 million within Winnipeg's yards.

Stay dry!

Rail Safety and NB Southern

J.D. Irving, owner of the New Brunswick Southern Railway, is participating in National Rail Safety Week. Good for them!

Rail Safety Week with Operation Lifesaver

Today is the start of Rail Safety Week, hosted by Operation Lifesaver. OL is holding events all across Canada to help educate the public on rail safety. For example, here in Manitoba, CN and CP Police will be holding Trespass and Traffic Enforcement activities at various locations throughout Winnipeg and elsewhere all week. On May 1 there will be a mock collision near the Saint John High School in New Brunswick. On May 2 VIA will host an open house at the Halifax station. There are school presentations being held across the country.

Operation Lifesaver does great work in helping to educate the public to be safe at railway crossings and to not trespass on railway property. The statistics show that the number of crossing accidents has been on a more or less steady decline over the past 25 years. Still, there is a lot of work to be done.

Have a look at all the resources they have... and stay safe around the trains!

VIA 693 Derailment in Saskatchewan

VIA train 693, the Winnipeg-Churchill passenger train, derailed near Togo, Saskatchewan around 6 PM on Sunday night. There was a washout, likely due to spring runoff, and the track was undermined. There is a highly distorted but dramatic photo in the CBC article showing a coach hanging in mid-air with only one truck on the ground. Fortunately noone was injured beyond "a few scratches". The seven (7) passengers were taken to a nearby lodge in Duck Mountain Provincial Park for the night and presumably other arrangements have been made for the rest of their journey. Reports say the track may be out of service for two days.

There is no word on damage to the train, except that there was a fire under one of the engines, presumably from a punctured fuel tank. The news reports say the fire was quickly extinguished. The plume of smoke was visible from a CN freight train over a dozen miles away.

In case you are wondering why the train was in Saskatchewan, the CN Togo subdivision that VIA 692/693 takes does cross into Saskatchewan and the Hudson Bay is in Saskatchewan for about 4 hours before returning to Manitoba for the long trip north to Churchill. (VIA timetable - PDF)

The Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to the location to investigate.

Other References: Winnipeg Free Press article

EDIT: Added paragraph about engine fire.
EDIT: Added TSB comment.

Update on Maple Leaf Terror Plot

Here's a few updates on the Maple Leaf Terror Plot, as I'm calling it, for lack of a better phrase.

Aljazeera is calling it the Canada train plot. Raed Jaser, of Toronto, is reportedly in "shock and disbelief" at the charges. Tunisian-born Chiheb Esseghaier is being remanded in custody in Quebec, presumably until the legal paperwork is done to bring him to Ontario for trial. He was in court today and doesn't believe the Criminal Code applies to him because it is not a holy book. Good luck with that argument.

CNN has more analysis here about the supposed Iranian Al-Qaeda link to the suspects. There are suspicions they are part of a broader network.

I thought of these guys yesterday evening when I was shooting a few engines in the Symington yard from the comfort of my car on the side of the road... thinking I might look suspicious doing that. Maybe I did.

Because I run a web site and a blog about trains, I get a fair number of emails from people looking for information. In many cases people are looking for historical information, like what train their grandparents may have taken to get from point A to point B, or looking for an old photo of a station. In some cases they are looking for current information on train movements or rail lines. The vast majority are innocent and I have little hesitation providing a response. There have been a couple over the years where I've held back a bit out of caution.

You may have noticed that although I publish timetables, I don't publish any recent ones. To me there is little harm in publishing information from 20 years ago but I refrain from publishing more recent timetables for security reasons.

The point is that responsible railfans are doing nothing wrong. We are taking photographs of trains from public areas, not helping terrorists. We are out there looking for anything unusual, and hopefully if we spot something "off", we call the appropriate authorities (CN Police, 1-800-465-9239; CP Police, 1-800-716-9132; or your local police department). I've called CN Police before and I would not hesitate to do so again if necessary.

Keep on keeping on.

Alleged Terror Plot Foiled

An alleged plot to attack a VIA Rail passenger train has been foiled by the RCMP and others, and two individuals arrested. The RCMP issued a press release indicating that Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser allegedly watched trains and railways in the Toronto area and were in the planning stages for a terrorist attack. Reports say they were under surveillance for more than a year and the investigation involved the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security, VIA Rail and others. The police also said that they were receiving support from "Al-Qaeda elements" located inside Iran. Officials said there was no imminent threat but that the accused had the "capacity and intent" to commit an attack.

This article indicates the route was Toronto-New York, indicating the intended target was the Amtrak Maple Leaf, also known as VIA 97/98 (current timetable).

Congratulations to the law enforcement agencies for the arrests (assuming the charges stick).

Some have expressed concern that railfans may be "hassled" by law enforcement officials after this. For me, I intend to continue railfanning just as I always have, legally and in full public view with no other reason than for the joy of it.

Links to news articles:

• CBC
• RCMP press release
• Al-Jazeera
• CNN article
• CNN video

See The Light?

One of the most basic mistakes made in railfan photography is not paying attention to the direction of light. I know this because I made this mistake many, many times.

Here's an example of terrible light. I shot NBEC 1855 in Campbellton, NB in May 2009 shortly before it was scrapped. This is straight out of the camera with no editing.

Awful, right? Where's the sun? Off to my right, creating terrible shadows on the unit..

Now some creative editing in Adobe Lightroom or other programs can help bring details out, but the result is going to look artificial. Keep in mind that in digital photos, bright areas hold more information than dark areas, so when you lighten a dark area it will be very pixelated. I did some serious smoothing on this image to try to get rid of the pixelation.


It's much better if you can walk around and take the shot from a different angle.



The common rule of thumb is to have the light source (usually the sun) behind you, over one shoulder. This should give your subject decent illumination, not quite head on but enough to get rid of most shadows.


Of course, you cannot always get the angle you want. I was fortunate in this case but in many cases you're stuck with the sun in front of you. What to do?

Some people would just not take the photo. I figure, it's digital, why not? Maybe you can get something good out of it.


Here you sacrifice all ground and engine detail but you get a lovely sky and some nice light on the side of the train. Notice I'm still on the "sun side" of the train. If I had walked across to the other side before the train came, I would have been shooting right into the rising sun.

Shooting into the sun? Well, we can make that work too.

The trick is to expose it properly. The sun is going to make your camera sensor underexpose everything. If it is a static scene like this one, you can use HDR like I did and take several frames at different exposures and combine them. Or, you can go for a silhouette shot and expose for the sun and let the subject go totally dark.

But what about a moving target, like a train? Well, chances are, unless you are super prepared you are going to be using automatic exposure and you're going to get a dark train. Your best bet is to not do it.

Here's an example. I was up near Symington Yard in Winnipeg when I saw an interesting train leaving, led by GTW 5948 and new-to-CN 5442. The problem was they were heading north out of the yard in October at 1:30, so the sun was basically high and behind the train. Hence this kind of light:

Terrible, right? I knew this was a throwaway shot but I took it anyway to make sure my camera was working. I took side shots of each engine as they went by, and the light was better.


A "going away" shot would have been even better for light, except that I was on the wrong side of the train!

In this case there was no way to get on the other side of the train without being unsafe and trespassing, and I won't do that. Take what you can get.

I've only been talking about the direction of light. Another whole blog post would be about the quality of light - noon, sunrise, sunset, "blue hour".

Here's what I want you to take away from this:

• Know where the light is coming from
• Try to keep the light behind you, over one shoulder
• If the light is in your face, try a different angle or be inventive to save the shot

All Aboard For Safety in Halifax

VIA Rail's Ocean in Rogersville, NB. Photo by David Morris.

VIA Rail, Operation Lifesaver and the Dartmouth Model Railway Club have teamed up to present "All Aboard for Safety", an open house at the VIA Rail train station in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

This event takes place on Thursday, May 2 from 9 AM to 4 PM at the station at 1161 Hollis Street in Halifax. It will feature presentations by Operation Lifesaver, tours of VIA train equipment, model train displays, and more.

Here's a poster (PDF).

Thomas the Tank Engine Coming to Canada

Mark your calendar - I just heard that Thomas the Tank Engine is coming to Canada this summer. He'll visit:

• Calgary's Heritage Park on May 4-5 and May 11-12
• Squamish's West Coast Railway Heritage Park on June 1-2 and June 9-10
• St. Thomas' Elgin County Railway Museum on July 19-21 and July 26-28
• Saint John on August 9-11 and August 16-18.

Tickets are available through Heritage Park (Calgary) and Ambassatours (Saint John) or directly through TicketWeb for all locations.

Buy Thomas the Tank Engine toys on Amazon

In Calgary, I assume they will go around the loop inside the Park. (FAQ)

In Saint John, the train will depart from Long Wharf (near Harbour Station) and cross the Reversing Falls bridge to behind Moosehead Breweries, then come back for a total of 24 minutes. They start departing at 9 AM and continue until 5 PM, so there will be plenty of opportunities to ride or photograph the train.

As far as I can tell, the host railroad provides the coaches and a diesel to do the actual work, and the Thomas engine provides the steam and photo opportunities. There will be plenty of other Thomas sights and activities at the site, including photo ops with Sir Topham Hatt™.

Here are a couple of videos showing Thomas at work. The first shows Thomas in St. Thomas, Ontario.

The second shows Thomas at the Gwili Steam Railway in Wales. He's smoking it up!

Links:

HIT Entertainment

Calgary:

Heritage Park

Saint John:

Ambassatours

Discover Saint John

EDIT: Added some more dates.

Buy Thomas the Tank Engine toys on Amazon

The Afternoon Meet

After my noon shooting of the Canadian and other trains, I went back to work for a few hours. On my way home, I decided to take a spin around Wilkes Avenue to see if I could catch a train. Right away I saw a potash train heading east into Winnipeg but I didn't see the head end. However, I *did* see that a westbound train was passing it. I was able to catch up to the head end around mile 7 but I didn't think I could get my car stopped safely at Carman Junction, so I carried on to the next crossing and parked and ran back to catch it.


This turned out to be CN 117. I got ahead of it and shot it on the open prairie just before Diamond.


Watching it pass, I noticed headlights coming the other way - a meet! I jumped back in my car and headed to Diamond but I missed the meet by just a bit. Here's the other train at Diamond itself.

Note the propane tank for the switch heaters.

I headed back east, and decided to try a few pacing shots. Out of a dozen or so, two turned out OK.


For my last shot, I stopped at Hall Road and got them before the Perimeter. You can see the late afternoon sun was against me in this photo.


It was a good end to the day.

A Busy Noon

Thursday March 28 was a busy railfanning day. I went out at noon to see the Canadian and I ended up seeing a little more.

First, I saw a short CP local rolling north on the La Riviere subdivision at Kenaston Boulevard. CP 8216 and CP 3132 were pulling some tank cars and cement hoppers from the local industries. They were quick about clearing the crossing so they didn't hold traffic up for very long.

I went up to the Rivers subdivision around mile 8 and waited for VIA 1. After some time, I grew bored and headed west to see what might be out at Diamond. I passed the track gang that was hard at work replacing rails. They have been doing this for the past few weeks and look like they are just about done.


Just west of Diamond, I found CN 316 sitting patiently on the north track, waiting for their light. 316 had three engines, SD70M-2 CN 8868, SD60F CN 5528 and GP40-2LW CN 9418. The Geep was a nice find for me, as I rarely see GP40s anywhere and in fact I've only seen eight of CN's GP40 engines.


As I headed back east past Diamond, I saw VIA 1 coming quickly, so I grabbed this shot at the crossing just east of Diamond.


Note one of the track workers on the other side of the Park car.


I was heading back east, satisfied, when I saw a set of headlights coming. It was a westbound general freight train, and I shot it around mile 7. It had CN 5726 and CN 2187 for power and had a lot of wood products on board.


That was great... but I saw more after work...

Blame the Headlights?

The CBC is reporting that a coroner's report is suggesting changes to headlight regulations for trains. The corner, Kristyna Pecko, investigated the deaths of three teens in October 2010. The children were spray painting graffiti near a railway tunnel and apparently did not notice the train coming.

I haven't seen the report, but the CBC says it recommends not dimming headlights for oncoming traffic (Canadian Rail Operating Rules rule 17(b)). It also recommends fencing for the area, and, according to the CBC, "The coroner's report also suggests that organizations create campaigns to make people aware of the dangers of railways". Hmmm.. like, oh I don't know, Operation Lifesaver?

Being a parent, I have great sympathy for the family of the deceased. I can't imagine losing one of my children, especially to a totally preventable accident like this. It is clear the children were in a place where they should not have been, and fencing likely would not have prevented them from doing their vandalism.

I found this article where Montreal-area "graffiti artists" were interviewed after the incident.

I really want to read this report. I looked for it but I don't read French well enough to find it, if it is even available online.

Bottom line: Stay off the tracks and do not trespass. It's just not worth it.

PI Day Trains

Thursday, March 14 was "PI day" (3.14). I went out at noon to try to get the Canadian at Portage Junction in Winnipeg. I saw CN 7044 and CN 1435 working Fort Rouge yard. They were likely the "local" train gathering cars before working the Fort Garry area.


CN 7044 is equipped for remote control and the crew were using that while shunting. While I was watching them, CN 2256 came rolling up on the south track at the head of CN train 199. They stopped with 2256 halfway around the curve at Portage Junction.


I realized this was going to block my view of the Canadian, now imminent, so I went to my car and headed over to Waverley Street to get them there. I was about a minute ahead of VIA 1 and got the shots.



Kokanee Park was on the rear of the Canadian.


I saw them pass through St. James Junction and there was a CN train stopped on the south track near the golf dome. The headlight was not on, indicating the train was unoccupied.


CN 199 was going to be there a while, I guess, as the engineer was out enjoying the view from the "front deck".


I went over to see the parked train. It had CN 8844 and CN 8012 ahead of this engine, faded CN 4761.


That was all the trains I saw on PI Day. I guess one could say I saw 3.14 trains if you count the GP9/GMD1 combination as 0.14. ;)

CN 6765 in August 1975

Here's a slide I've been meaning to scan for a while. It shows CN 6765 and CN 6633 in Toronto at Union Station at an unknown location on August 9, 1975. The photographer is unknown to me.


I've been trying to nail down when CN 6765 was repainted into VIA colours, and also when it lost the CN on the nose and gained the VIA. I'm slowly narrowing it down.

1. 1972/06/13 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
2. 1976/07/24 - CN black and white stripes with red nose
3. 1977/01/26 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
4. 1979/11/20 - VIA blue and yellow with red CN on yellow nose
5. 1980/04/27 - VIA blue and yellow with red VIA on yellow nose
6. 1981/07 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
7. 1988/10/16 - VIA blue and yellow with yellow nose
8. 2001/08/30 - CN green and gold
9. 2005 - CN green and gold

EDIT: Thanks for the location information!

EDIT2: I found a reference to VIA 6765 on Railpictures.ca where it says 6765 had a yellow pilot in November 1976. See the comment to this photo. There's also a reference here that says 6765 was the last FPA4 in green and gold, in 1965.

Bob Liming Rides the Ocean

My railfan friend Bob Liming came up from South Carolina to ride the Ocean from Montreal to Halifax and back in late February. He sent along some photos and information about his trip.

Soon after leaving Montreal, one of the Chaleur sleepers developed a wheel issue and had to be set off at Drummondville. You may recall that the Ocean and Chaleur are together until Matapedia, where the Chaleur separates to head north.

Here's the consist: Engines 6419 and 6439; Baggage 7003; Coaches 7220; 70217, and 7231; Service Car 7309; Dinner 7401; Service Car 7308; Sleepers 79515, 7518, 7506 and 7513; Transition Car 7601 and Skyline car 8312.

Bob said the crew was quite concerned about the prospect of CN abandoning most of the northern New Brunswick line.

Here is the train in Halifax.


A wider shot shows the hotel to the left and the former VIA Maintenance Centre to the right.


On the return trip, they were delayed about 10 minutes in St. Lambert, Quebec because the steps would not retract on one of the Renaissance coaches. Bob took the opportunity to photograph scruffy CN 4773.


Here's a Corridor (HEP-1) train in Montreal, I believe.


And here's Bob!


Thanks for the photos and information, Bob!

Miramichi Port Spur Torn Up

In the latest of the "death of a thousand cuts" affecting rail service in northern New Brunswick, CN started removing the rail leading to the port of Miramichi on Wednesday. This prompted Hal Raper, chief financial officer of Miramichi Lumber Products, to complain to CN (and the CBC) that they had plans to ship wood chips and lumber to Saint John starting this spring. CN says the line had laid dormant for seven years and they needed the rails elsewhere.

Mr. Raper said they planned on shipping about 700 cars/year. CN says they will put the rails back if there is sufficient business to justify it.

Miramichi Lumber Products was known as Newcastle Lumber until a few years ago, when the family-owned business went into receivership. It is back in operation with a new name and new equipment.

I don't think the rails will ever go back. The northern line is in dire danger since CN filed for abandonment in August last year and nothing has come up since then to indicate they will change their minds. There is simply not enough traffic to justify CN making the investment to repair the line's many faults. The various levels of government, private business, and community leaders need to work together to get more industries using the rails to make the business case for retaining the line. Organizations like this are good but there needs to be more... much more.



I remember seeing New Brunswick East Coast Railway trains coming down to the port many times to spot boxcars, and even to switch the Irving propane facility there when it still had rail service. I have a note that I saw an SD40 / C-424 combination coming away from the port on February 13, 2001 but in general I only saw RS-18s there. Of course, the above photo is an exception as the second unit after NBEC 1867 is NBEC 4230.

In January 2004 it was a pair of RS-18s (NBEC 1814 and 1821) working the port. Note the BC Rail boxcars. There was a shift around this time from a dog's breakfast of boxcar roadmarks to more uniform CN and BC Rail boxcars in northern New Brunswick.


The last time I saw a train at the Port was in the evening of July 18, 2006 when NBEC 1854 and NBEC 1816 were working. Clearly this was shortly before the end of rail service if CN says the line has not had customers in seven years.


Notice how my camera quality improves with each picture! ;)

VIA Rescues CN

On Thursday, March 7, CN had a small derailment in their Transcona yard in Winnipeg. The lead engine and first car of westbound CN 115 derailed while coming into the yard, blocking the CN Redditt subdivision at around 7 AM. The rest of the train blocked a busy street (Ravenhurst) and the east Perimeter Highway. This also trapped VIA 1 and a couple of freights (CN 101 and CN 111) east of Winnipeg.

Radio station CJOB 68 had their chopper in the air and took some nice aerial photos of the scene. From the photos it appears that there was a sideswipe but I am told it was a simple derailment.

Perhaps the two CN engines (led by IC 2701) were there trying to hook on to the train to pull it into the yard. I believe the derailed engine was CN 8848.

I drove up to see what I could see. I decided not to go anywhere near the derailment site, as the traffic would be crazy and based on the location I would probably not be able to see anything. I drove up Deacon Road to avoid the Perimeter and then headed out Dugald Road (route 15) toward Dugald. Very quickly I found VIA 1 stopped on the main line at Pineridge Road. The strange thing was that they only had one engine.


When I was taking pictures, a taxi came up with a new crew and they boarded the train. There were six deadhead cars on the train.

I guessed that the lead engine had been sent to help clear up the derailment scene, being the closest engine to the incident on the east side. I drove over to the Deacon Road intersection and sure enough, there was VIA 6446 on the end of a container train.


I went to the crossing and watched them slowly pull the train eastward. Quite a pull for a single engine!

Once they had pulled it far enough, one of the engineers dismounted to uncouple from the train.


Once that was done, they headed east toward the Canadian. Note the EOT / FRED / ETD back on the coupler.


They crossed Deacon Road and kept on going.


I hopped back in my van and returned to the Canadian to catch them coupling up.


Reunited and it feels so good...


Note the VIA Rail truck by the crossing.

That was fun!

Other news articles: Winnipeg Free Press , Global Winnipeg

See Also

• CN Derailment on the Letellier subdivision
• CN Derailment Downtown Winnipeg