Call It a Learning Experience

Adopt-a-train

Sometimes it just doesn't go right. You're out taking photos but you're not "feeling it", or you make a poor decision and miss a great shot. All you can do is call it a learning experience and try again another time.

That was me on July 27th. I looked out around 8 PM and noticed the sky was looking nice, so I decided to hit the road and see if I could catch a sunset train or two. I debated which way to go - Rivers or Sprague subdivision - and decided to head east to the CN Sprague subdivision.

The First Train

Here's a map of the area, courtesy of Google Maps. The Sprague subdivision runs from the top left / northwest to the bottom right / southeast in this area. The Perimeter Highway runs around Winnipeg - hence the name - and highway 1 is the Trans-Canada Highway and parallels the Sprague for a number of miles out of Winnipeg.

As I drove across the Sprague subdivision on highway 100, I saw headlights to the southeast. I was taking the exit to highway 1 anyway, as the sight lines on that overpass are such that you can't look directly southeast unless you are already taking the exit. Often I take the exit while looking for trains, and if I don't see any, I turn around short of Deacon's Corner and go somewhere else.

The train was close... closer than I would have liked. I didn't have much time to pick a spot to photograph it. It was too late to stop and photograph it from the overpass. I could have stopped just after the bridge over the floodway and taken a side shot, but I wanted to be on the other side of the train - the sun side.

As I approached the highway 207 intersection it was clear they were going to get to the intersection before I did, so I had to pull over and shoot from the highway on the "wrong" side of the light.

Fortunately I was fairly close to the tracks at that point but there was a lot of brush in the way.

A curious consist

Nice light on the nose... BC Rail second unit... wait, what's that in third position?

Kansas City Southern 4692

Kansas City Southern 4692 was paying a visit to Winnipeg! What luck!

That was exciting. This was only the second time I've seen a Kansas City Southern unit. I know I haven't blogged about the first time I saw a KCS unit (two, actually) but if you were on my mailing list, you would have seen the photos. You're on my list, right? You know where to go to sign up..

ANYway, I was stoked to see that. I watched the head end in the lovely evening light...

Soft train light

The train was entirely covered hoppers... maybe a frac sand train?

As the tail end approached, I spotted something else interesting on this train.

One of these things is not like the others

The passenger car was CN CHAMPLAIN (ICMW 101314). I saw this car back in September 2014.

As I understand it, unoccupied business cars like this are supposed to be marshaled at the rear of the train, but there is some rule about not being the last car on the train... I had a quick look but I couldn't find the regulation.

I photographed it, but I was not satisfied with shooting it from the "wrong side" of the sun.

The First Train, Round 2

I decided to try to get ahead of the train and photograph it from the other side of the train. I had two possibilities... beat the train to the crossing at Tinkertown Amusements (see map above) or take Fermor Avenue overpass and find a spot there.

By the time I caught up to the head end, they were already in the crossing, so the Fermor overpass was the only option.

I was there well before the train, and I noted that two tracks were being used to feed the hump yard in Symington. I thought about shooting from the overpass but I thought the view might be blocked by the strings of cars feeding the hump.

I zipped around on Fermor / Plessis Road / Symington Road - see map below. The red arrows indicate my trip and the blue arrow indicates the train's direction of travel.

It's a bit annoying to have to go all the way around, but there's no crossings, so... you can see where there used to be a crossing at bottom right. You can still go to the end of Symington Road (N) but the view is very restricted there. The Symington Road on the south side of the tracks is much better in the evening as you are on the "good" side of the light.

Fortunately I got there before the train, so I could photograph it before it disappeared behind freight cars.

Wires, wires everywhere

I made a bad choice here. As you can see there are fallen telegraph wires everywhere along here. I could/should have gone just a bit farther to get a clear gap... instead I got this:

Not my favourite

Here's the other side of KCS 4692. By then the light was pretty low and I was shooting at 1/60s shutter speed so it's a bit blurry.

KCS 4692 in Winnipeg

They passed the hump yard units - CN 6015 and friends.

Passing the hump yard dogs

Here's the tail end passing the hump yard units.

CHAMPLAIN and CN 6015 and friends

Those last two might be my favourites of this train. I know I complained about the telegraph wires but I think they added to these shots.

I had a hunch there was another train coming on the Sprague subdivision. I don't know why I felt this.. but I had a feeling. I headed east on the Trans-Canada toward Lorette siding to see if my hunch was correct.

As I approached the Lorette siding - the first one on the Sprague subdivision - I saw the lights facing west were lit - red. That meant there was a train on the east side of the signals. It didn't say anything about whether the train was going east or west, just that there was a train in the block.

I continued up to the siding and in the distance I saw headlights. My hunch was right.

The Second Train

By this time I was past the start of the siding, so I had a couple of choices if I wanted to get on the "sun" side of the train.

There is a private crossing in the middle of the siding. I'd never used it so I had no idea what the view was.

The other option was to continue to the west end of the siding, where I knew there was a signaled crossing. I chose this option.

I didn't have much time, but I made it there a good 30 seconds before the lights started flashing. I saw there is a dirt road paralleling the track on the west side, so I drove my Civic down there toward the signals, thinking maybe of including them in the shot. Bad idea.

I slammed on the brakes and bailed out to get the shot. Someday I swear I'm going to forget to put the car in park.

That train was moving!

Panning CN 2899

The above pan was the best of the photos. That was at 1/50s and the train was really motoring along.

The next photo shows why I picked a bad location.

BSW - Big Stupid Wire

Notice the giant wire and poles totally ruining what could have been a lovely sunset photo.

Remember when I talked about careful composition? I didn't do that here. Driving just a bit farther would have opened everything up and that lovely sunset photo would have been possible. I didn't have time to set up the shot and I blew it.

I did manage to salvage a half decent photo with some serious editing. 

Thank you, Adobe Lightroom

This photo is basically the same as the one with the wire, except that:

• I've cropped in a LOT
• I removed the wire
• Lots of spot healing
• Various editing to keep as much quality as possible

At least I got the exposure right for the setting sun.

So those were my two "learning experiences".

Lessons Learned

• Look for shots without "foreground clutter"
• It's better to get in position quickly and then spend a few seconds composing, than to try to get the "best" location and have no time to compose
• Some editing skills can save a photo

Better luck next time!

If you like abandoned places, check out BW Bandy's blog Everybody Has To Be Somewhere. He posts frequently and includes a few grain elevators now and then. He likes photographing hay bales, so I took this photo between trains and include it here for him.

See Also

• Disappointment
• Focus... Focus!

Planning the Shoot

Canadian Pacific is running a "Canada 150" train across (most of) Canada from west to east to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday year. This classic train has four "F" units on the head end - certainly a rarity in Canada! The train several of CP's Royal Canadian Pacific heavyweight cars and two special cars - the "Spirit of Tomorrow" car and a stage car for the show they put on at each stop.

Naturally, I'd love to photograph this train.

It'll be on display in Winnipeg on Friday, August 4th from 5 PM to 8 PM at the Southdale Community Centre, 254 Lakewood Boulevard, which is actually not that far from me. This is on the CP Emerson subdivision and I understand they will proceed from the yard to that location, then back up into the CP yard again after the show, since they'll head to Thunder Bay next. Complete schedule here.

For opportunities like this, it is very important to plan ahead to maximize your photo opportunities, visualize what photos you want, and plan how to get them!

As a Winnipeg railfan, I basically have five chances to get the train:

1. Coming into Winnipeg from Regina on the CP Carberry subdivision
2. The move from the CP yard to Southdale
3. Parked at Southdale
4. The move back from Southdale to the CP yard
5. Leaving Winnipeg on the CP Keewatin subdivision

Let's look at each one.

Coming Into Winnipeg

Realistically I would only be able to catch it somewhere between Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg, and honestly it would be between Marquette and Winnipeg, a stretch of some 16 miles. It's open terrain and with some luck you might be able to get it twice.

The trick is knowing when it is coming into Winnipeg. Hopefully railfans will be posting on the RailsMBSK Facebook group so we can get some clues. I know there have been a lot of reports as it has traveled through BC and Alberta and now into Saskatchewan.

I may or may not be able to catch it on the way in.

Moving from the Yard to Southdale

Likely this will be done mid-afternoon on August 4 to position it for 5 PM. Looking at Google Maps, I think the best shot would be at Point Douglas crossing the Red River. That would be a nice photo and the light would be pretty good. Failing that, by the former Central Grain on Archibald would be decent as would a couple of other spots along Archibald.

I'm not going to do this as I have other plans for Friday afternoon.

At Southdale

Photographing the train during the show would be great to catch the crowd and the vibe, and to enjoy the music and performances. It's probably not prime railfan photo time but I think it would be important to include the crowds in the photo to give a sense of the occasion.

I will try to be there but I will certainly miss the first part of the performance.

Moving Back to the Yard

The same locations I mentioned above will work but it'll be close to sunset, so I would say the bridge shot would be killer if the sun was still giving enough light. They certainly won't be backing up very fast so chasing it would be easier.

Leaving Winnipeg

If they left in the morning, that would be great as you would have light on the nose of the train.

I would be tempted to go out Deacon Road / highway 207 to here and walk over to photograph them crossing the Floodway. It's wide open and there's a rise you can stand on to get the whole train.

You can't chase them on the Keewatin as there aren't any parallel roads. I guess if you were really ambitious you could go farther east into the Whiteshell or into Ontario but I am not that ambitious.

Again the question is when they will leave Winnipeg.

What Shots To Get?

I basically would like three different photos:

1. A "whole train" or nearly a whole train view;
2. A nose on photo of the F units; and
3. Views of the cars, preferably with spectators

Your Turn

What do you think? Where are the good shots? Do you plan on seeing it if it is coming your way? (consult their schedule) Have you seen it already? Comment below.

PS thanks to BCR_766 and David Gray for posting photos to Flickr!

Three Passenger Trains in Northern Québec (Guest Post)

The following is a guest post by Al in Vancouver... enjoy!

In June and July of 2017, I had the opportunity to ride three passenger trains in northern Québec. This guest post will focus on overall impressions and tips for railfans.

Sept-Îles - Schefferville

This passenger service is operated by Tshiuetin Rail Transportation, owned by three first Nations in the region.  The head end crew and track between Sept-Îles and Emeril, Labrador are provided by the QNS and L Railway, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

The train operates twice weekly.  As tickets are non-refundable and the person at the phone number listed on the website told me the train is never full, I decided to buy my ticket at the station in Sept-Îles the morning of departure.  I was surprised to learn they only accept cash (no credit or debit cards) at the station in Sept-Îles.  There is no ATM at the station.  After all passengers with tickets were boarded, I was allowed to buy my ticket and board.  Photo ID is required at boarding.  Seating is first come, first served.


I was surprised at the length of the train:  Two locos (TSH 7205, 601), baggage generator TSH 1423, four baggage (TSH 1422, 1401, 1455, 1445), cafeteria TSH 1000, three older coaches (TSN 1002, 1004, 1005) and two newer coaches (TSH 13518 and 13517).  I was directed to sit in an older coach with red seats (TSH 1004) which was also equipped with a projector and screen suspended between the luggage racks to show movies.  I sat far enough away from the movie equipment so that it would not obscure my view out the window.  A Québec tour group (tour conducted en français) occupied the first newer coach while the trailing coach was kept for employee use.  I estimate 50 to 60% of the seats were occupied.

None of the windows on the train were clean; disappointing as this affected the view.  Even if they were clean, I believe the age of the windows would still diminish the view.  Fortunately a photographer with the tour group was given supervised access to open the vestibule windows, and I was able to use this for photos soon after we left Sept-Îles.  The interior of the train was kept quite clean.

The first 100 miles north from Sept-Îles pass through beautiful scenery as the route climbs along the Moisie River.  Sit on the left (west side) of the train for the best view.  We had a few meets with QNSL iron ore and work trains.  Speeds are generally between 30 to 40 mph.

It is interesting to watch the changes in scenery as the train climbs the Canadian Shield and gains latitude north through Labrador.  While the track is in good condition south of Emeril, there are sections north of Emeril that are rough and slow.

We arrived Schefferville around 20:30.  I did not have accommodation reserved but managed to arrange a clean, quiet and efficient room for $75 at a facility for workers named Bloc Orange.  From what I saw of the conventional motels, it is easy to pay over $200.  There is no road access to Schefferville, so things are expensive.  Your mobile phone will not work for voice or data unless you get a local SIM card.  Also note that WiFi gets very congested during the evenings due to high usage over limited bandwidth.

The road between the town of Schefferville and the train station is gravel.  If you decide to walk like I did, there is a good chance someone will stop and offer you a ride!  There is a taxi service in Schefferville, but there was a long wait once the train arrived.  I was also told the taxi is not open in time for the morning southbound departure.

The southbound trip the following morning was on the same equipment, except that locomotives TSH 601 and 701 were leading.  The station at Schefferville accepts credit and debit cards for tickets. Again, photo ID is required at boarding.  There was no tour group southbound and both of the newer coaches were kept for employee use.

We arrived Sept-Îles around 22:00.  The train was turned prior to the station stop.  Apparently it is not unusual for the train to arrive hours late due to meets and slow orders.

There is a good thread about the train on trainorders.com and a CBC documentary on YouTube.

Full photo album on Flickr

Senneterre to Montreal

VIA Rail operates this train, as well as the Jonquière train described below, over CN tracks.  Each train is operated with a single F40PH-2 loco, one 8600 series baggage car and one HEP2 coach. They operate three times a week.  Seat selection is not pre-assigned.

Due to limitations in my schedule, I chose to do this trip one-way from Senneterre to Montreal.  In retrospect, I would have done a return trip on this route, as the scenery is nice and because this train is always at the rear of the combined Senneterre and Jonquière train south of Hervey, providing access to a window facing out the rear of the train.

Note that not much is open in Senneterre before the train departs (even for the later Sunday departure), so bring food with you or buy it on board.


The scenery is interesting with lots of forest, lakes, rivers and some hills.  As with the other routes, the northern portion of the route provides access to camps, cottages and settlements that do not have good road access.

We were two hours late arriving Hervey due to meets and slow orders.  We pulled into Hervey station for passengers, then reversed out to allow the train from Jonquière to get into the Hervey station ahead of us.  We then coupled to the rear of the train from Jonquière.



The route from Hervey to Montreal is similar to the route between Québec City and Montreal with lots of rich farmland and stretches with good track speed.  There are some significant trestles on the Joliette subdivision (miles 50, 52, 58, 65 and 76), a tunnel at mile 51 and an interesting route through Shawinigan.

As we were still late approaching Montreal, the train stopped at Gare Sauvé for the crew to take a 20 minute rest break, allowing them to extend their operating day by 2 hours.  As the Jonquière train has a later start than the Senneterre train, the Jonquière crew is fresher and this is why the trains wait for each other in Hervey and are coupled with the Jonquière train and crew leading.  By the time we arrived Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal, we were two and a half hours late. Note this train does not use the Mont Royal tunnel, so it takes a while to route through the yard at Saint-Luc.  Most shops at Gare Centrale close at 21:00; fortunately a nearby Provigo supermarket was open til midnight.

I noticed a brochure at Senneterre station describing (en français) an outing using the train from Senneterre to Press, with a re-enactment of the last spike ceremony at Press followed by brunch and return to Senneterre by bus.  Remaining dates for 2017 are planned for August 6 and 20.  Info is available by emailing cde@ville.senneterre.qc.ca or calling +1-819-737-2296 extension 221.

The local tourist bureau can suggest activities in the region.  They can be contacted by emailing tourisme@ville.senneterre.qc.ca or phoning +1-888-437-2694 or +1-819-737-2694.

Full photo album on Flickr

Montreal - Jonquière

This train is assembled with the baggage car trailing the coach, i.e., locomotive followed by coach followed by baggage.  I was told this is to allow canoes to be loaded and unloaded using the rear door of the train from the baggage car.

I didn't see this door being used, but I can imagine a stop on a banked curve or conditions at the side requiring rear access.  Note that this arrangement prevents passengers from seeing out the rear of the train.

Between Montreal and Hervey, the Senneterre train is coupled (elephant style) to the rear of the Jonquière train. For this portion of the route, please see my comments above.

Northeast of Hervey, the route follows the appropriately named Rivière-à-Pierre upstream.  The best views are on the north side of the train.  Many cyclists used the train, and at times the coach was around 90% full.  This is a very scenic region with infrastructure for tourists.  There was some freight traffic on the line with a few meets.  Forest product companies seem to be the primary customers.

The descent into the Saguenay region provides some nice views (again, the best view are on the north side) of Lac Saint-Jean, which is huge!

The terminus station in Jonquière is conveniently located at a transit hub, providing cheap transit options throughout the region.  I stayed overnight approximately 10km away in Chicoutimi and used transit both ways.

If you are a cyclist and not familiar with Québec's Route Verte and their 5000 km network of bike paths, check out this link.  More info about taking bikes on VIA trains is on VIA's website.

Full image album on Flickr

Final Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed all of these trains.  Although it is difficult to rank them, I have to say the trip to and from Schefferville provided the most memorable experience.  This is due to the different scenery and the QNS&L railway but also because most people operating and using the train were from First Nations.  I suggest that if you take this train, try to get to know some of them (the seats in the cafeteria car provide a good place to do this).  The person who picked me up on the way to the station in Schefferville made a lasting impression as he shared his background and stories with me.  The farther north you go, the more English is spoken, so language should not be a barrier.  Note that if I did not have access to open vestibule windows, it would have diminished the experience.  You might want to bring something to clean your window!  And you should be prepared for mosquitos.

The Québec tour group I encountered on the train from Sept-Îles also offer tours using the Senneterre and Jonquière trains.  While these appear to be conducted en français, the itineraries may offer some ideas.

I'd like to ride all of these trains in winter; perhaps April or May to allow for longer daylight, before leaves on trees along the line obscure the views.

I hope you get the chance to experience these trains!

Al is a railfan based in Vancouver.  He has ridden the rails on six continents and is a guide with JapanYourWay.com offering custom tours to Japan (a great destination for railfans!) and beyond.

See Also

• All guest posts
• All Quebec-related posts

Rainbow Railfanning 'Round Rivers

On June 19th I was in the Carberry-Brandon area of Manitoba and had a free evening. I had seen some photos from a location just east of Rivers (the namesake of the CN Rivers subdivision) and I wanted to check it out.

Little did I know how many rainbows I'd encounter around Rivers!

Warning! This is going to be a long post, and very picture heavy. Let's go.

In Rivers

From Brandon, I headed north on highway 10 past the old grain elevator at Forrest, under the CN main line, and then turned west on highway 25. This road parallels the CN line a few kilometres to the north and I saw a train go by as I was rolling west.

I arrived at Rivers and drove through town. I noted a locomotive parked by the former station (more on that later) and I continued to the west end of town.

I saw an approaching container train in the distance, so I set up to photograph and video it by the former Cargill grain elevator(s).

Soon, two of CN's finest, ET44ACs CN 3035 and 3048 rolled past the elevator.

CN 3035 and 3048 passing the Rivers grain elevator

It was nice to see the elevator's  doors open, indicating that it is still in use. In fact, later on I saw a grain truck drive up to the elevator.

The skies were pretty interesting that night, as you'll see later.

Recording.... recording...

Here's the video of that train.

Once the train passed, I headed back into town. I stopped by the VIA station to check out CN 2438 idling away.

CN 2438 is one of CN's GE Dash 8-40CM (or C40-8M) units with the "Draper taper" behind the cab for greater crew visibility. Opinions are very mixed on whether the visibility is improved very much, and I don't think many crews like them.

Many of the 55 CN units that were built have the "CN North America" logo on them.

CN North America Logo

Grant's Cut

The location I wanted to shoot at is nicknamed "Grant's Cut". I don't know why.

To get there, you drive east from Rivers on highway 25, then hang a right on Road 120W - basically the first right after crossing the Little Saskatchewan River. Drive straight through the 4-way intersection and keep going and you will cross over the CN Rivers subdivision. This is Grant's Cut (Google Maps).

Looking north

Note the skies! It was really threatening to rain by this time, and the clouds were moving swiftly. I parked off the bridge - it's really just one lane - and stayed relatively close to my car just in case it started to rain.

This is the view to the west...

Looking west from the overpass at Grant's Cut

And this was the view to the east after a few minutes...

Double rainbow! What does it mean?

Rainbows were the theme of the night. The weather was very unsettled and there were some very dramatic clouds around. I was pretty concerned that I was going to be rained on - or hailed upon - but the nasty stuff passed by to the north. I did feel a few rain drops now and then. There was even some lightning in the distance.

So, nice broad curves to the east and west... and an overpass with no traffic. A lovely location! One other nice feature is that you can look straight down the track toward the east...

Mile 140.8

Wait... what's that in the distance? Red lights and a set of headlights?

CN 347

I was really hoping the rainbow(s) would stick around for the train's arrival. How cool would that be?

I've had some luck with rainbows and trains in the past. I just barely included a rainbow with a CP SD40-2 back in August 2014 and with a CP GP38/GP9 pair in Winnipeg. Back in 2010 I was railfanning in the Calgary area and caught a sunset rainbow at Keith.

Alas, it didn't happen here. The rainbow was gone by 19:03 and the train didn't arrive until 19:06. So close!

The sun was very spotty indeed. Notice the train rolling through the rural crossing and the "sucker hole" of sunlight here.

Catching the sun

This is a highly cropped view with my 70-200mm lens. The train was still a long way away.

Here they are just about to take the curve... in the dark.

Back in the dark

A few seconds later, they've emerged into sunlight again and are taking the curve.

Taking the curve at Grant's Cut

CN 2151 and BCOL 4641 were the power on this train. The profusion of empty centerbeam flat cars means this is CN 347... a train I have photographed many times. It is very distinctive.

The weather was so strange that night. Here's a shot of them a few seconds later and it looks like a beautiful day!

Gorgeous evening!?

The train rolled on, endlessly, centerbeam after centerbeam after centerbeam. I counted from my video and I think there were 138 cars. I think these were all 73' cars so that's a 10,000' foot train.

I've heard CN 347 called a "sail train" because of the appearance of the empty cars, and also because they have a sail effect and create a lot of wind at ground level for trackside crews who have to inspect the train as it passes.

No CN crew has ever said anything nice about this train!

As I said, the light was very variable and part of the time the train was in relative darkness. Challenging for photography and video!

After that train passed, there was a lull for almost an hour.

Green = GOOD

I was thinking about whether I should hang around or hit the road, but eventually the signal lit and that told me a train was en route.

Or maybe I heard the engines before the signal lit.

I can't remember which came first, but either way... TRAIN.

I knew it was coming from the west, which is not great light for evening photography, but what can you do? Take pictures anyway, that's what!

Oil Train

CN 2957 East

CN 2957 East was an oil train. They had a single unit on the head end, a CN grain car as a buffer car, then a long black snake of oil tankers.

I think the above photo turned out pretty well for shooting somewhat toward the sun. It took a fair amount of processing in Lightroom but I like that side glint.

The going away shot shows the dark and foreboding clouds and some rain on the horizon... plus a little shadow selfie.

Going away

Of course, if you crop in far enough, it looks like a beautiful evening...

Dark clouds? What dark clouds?

Pictures can be deceiving.

There was a tail end unit, CN 3041, with another buffer car between the locomotive and the tank cars. You can see it in the video I compiled.

I hung around another 10 minutes or so but it was starting to get late (8:15 PM) and I wanted to check Rivers out one more time. The clouds were still pretty dramatic... and if you look closely, you'll see a wee little rainbow on the horizon just left of centre.

Not your normal clouds

Back to Rivers

Time for.. a crew change..
Apologies to the Little River Band

I drove back into and through Rivers. On the west side I saw there was a train pulling up to a stop... out of town.

They were stopping at a rural crossing and there was a CN vehicle there.

I suspect they were doing a crew change there to avoid blocking crossings within the town.

CN 2242 was the sole power on the head end of this long freight train. It had a lot of autoracks.

I was at the highway crossing on the edge of town.

I decided to do something a little different and shoot with my "long lens" (70-200mm) to get a telephoto look, then use my iPhone to take a quick wide angle snap as the train passed.

The problem with the telephoto / long shot was that there were a few shrubs (visible in the photo above) that prevented a nice full train shot, and then there was the crossing gate itself to get in the way. I'm not 100 percent happy with the shot below.

Making the best of a bad angle

It would have been a better composition had I stood closer to the tracks, but that's not safe and so I settled for this.

I prefer the iPhone shot I took a few seconds later.

The iPhone wins!

After that, I rushed over to the other end of town to shoot them passing the train station, with the grain elevator in the background.

Backlit in Rivers

Imagine this shot in the morning... golden sunrise light on the nose of the locomotive, elevator and station lit... that would be nice.

Not this time.

I had a notion to get them on the bridge just east of town.. before Grant's Cut. I knew I couldn't beat them there but maybe I could get a silhouette shot against the sunset. Worth a try!

Silhouette shot

Yep, pretty much what I wanted. Jeannette Graves has a similar shot on Flickr.

I drove back east along highway 25. Looking to the south I could see a container train slowly rolling west in the distance.

There was another rainbow. Of course.

Rainbows were definitely the theme of the night.

Did you know that "rainbow" comes from the Latin arcus pluvius, meaning "rainy arch"?

In school everyone learns ROYGBIV, the seven colours decreed by Sir Isaac Newton. I always knew it was VIBGYOR - not sure why - but I think Roy G. Biv is a lot easier to say.

Here there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow... just a container train. Nice enough for me.

The photo to right was with my telephoto, cropped in. Check out the wide angle photo below.

That's a big old cloud

I couldn't stop taking photos of the sky!

Taking a LEAP

Another rainbow...

On my way to Rivers, I had noticed a major north-south road, highway 270. As I was returning east I decided to drop down 270 to the tracks and see what I could see.

When I got there, I very quickly saw CN 2242 approaching from the west. I took a video of the train (see bottom of post) and then took a few photos of the area.

This is "Leap", a new control point / set of crossovers on the Rivers subdivision. It has all new shiny LED signals. This is part of a 9 mile stretch of double track between Knox and Levine.

There used to be a Manitoba Pool grain elevator here, at "Smart". It was demolished in 2002.

While admiring the signals, I was surprised by a westbound train.

I was so surprised, in fact, that I didn't have time to adjust my settings and shot a full two stops too dark!

Fortunately, I shoot RAW files so there is enough information in the file to recover a decent shot, despite underexposing the image so badly.

RAW FTW

Remember, kids, always shoot RAW. ;)

I liked the going away "glint" shot.

Glint FTW too

The train had CN 2953, 2969 and 5796 on the head end.

This post has been picture-heavy already, so I'm not going to post any photos of the cars, but I did want to mention that it had not one but two 2001 Census hopper cars (DCLX 7490 and DCLX 8096).

Photos by Last Light

It was getting pretty late by this point, so I went back up to highway 25 and then down highway 10 past Forrest. I couldn't resist stopping to take a few photos of the old Forrest grain elevator.

Forrest grain elevator at sunset

I combined three photos into one to get enough of a dynamic range for the above photo. A little "HDR trickery" if you will.

I was sure I was done taking photos by this time (9:36 PM), but as I passed the Brandon airport, the old T-Bird on display at the highway caught my eye.

Fine, just one more photo...

Then I was truly done for the night.

The Video

Here's my video combining the two trains at Grant's Cut with CN 2242 at Leap.


I hope you like it. I am trying a new video editing program, Hitfilm Express. So far I like it - and it's free!

Summary

It was a good night. I:

• Explored two new locations (Grant's Cut, Leap)
• Photographed five trains
• Photographed two grain elevators
• Saw a bunch 'o' rainbows
• Got a bonus plane photo

Good times and good photo opportunities. Thanks for reading.

PS - hey, do me a favour and sign up for my mailing list! I'll send you a weekly summary of photos I post on social media (if you opt in to that) and occasionally I'll send you reminders of blog posts like these. That's it. Thanks!

PPS - check out George Dutka's White River Division blog! He posts a great mix of model and 1:1 scale trains.. always worth a read.