Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Winnipeg 360 (Part 2)

This is a continuation of my tour of the railway lines around the perimeter of Winnipeg (part 1).

Imagine you're returning from your western trip, and you approach Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway. You might choose to go around Winnipeg on highway 101 (the "Perimeter") to the north.

1. The first rail line you would encounter north of the Perimeter is the CP Glenboro subdivision. This lightly-used subdivision comes out of the CP yards downtown, crosses the highway here, then crosses the CN Rivers subdivision at Diamond before meandering southwest.

2. A few kilometers north of that, an overpass marks the crossing of the CP Carberry subdivision, CPR's main line to the west.

3. Almost within sight of that, there is a level crossing with the Prairie Dog Central. This is the former CN Oak Point subdivision that heads northwest to Warren, MB.

4. The 101 heads straight east now, and a level crossing marks the intersection of the highway with the CP Arborg subdivision here.

5. The next crossing is the CP Winnipeg Beach branchline heading to Gimli, MB. This is another level crossing (here).

6. Getting tired yet? The CEMR Pine Falls subdivision crosses the 101 here at grade. A truck hit a CEMR train here on September 15, 2009.

7. CP's main line heads east out of Winnipeg here as the CP Keewatin subdivision. The highway crosses the tracks via an overpass.
CP 8872 on the CP Keewatin subdivision

8. Not to be outdone, CN's main line (the CN Redditt subdivision) crosses the 101 at grade (!) here. Construction is underway for a rerouting of the single-lane 101 here and I expect an overpass will eventually be built.

9. Last but not least, the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway (GWWD) crosses the 101 at grade here.

Recap: part 1 described the CN Sprague, CP Emerson, CN Letellier, CP La Riviere, CEMR Carman, and CN Rivers subdivisions. This post described the CP Glenboro, CP Carberry, Prairie Dog Central, CP Arborg, CP Winnipeg Beach, CEMR Pine Falls, CP Keewatin, CN Rivers, and GWWD subdivisions.

Only fifteen railway lines!

Further Reading


3 comments:

roldac said...

Thanks for the useful information, I'm new to railfanning and need all the help I can get. Just wondering if there is a web site out there that can give me a schedule of train arrivals and departures in the Winnipeg area, I seem to spend alot of time waiting around for train sightings. Thx

roldac said...

Thanks for the useful information, I'm new to railfanning and need all the help I can get. Just wondering if there is a web site out there that can give me a schedule of train arrivals and departures in the Winnipeg area, I seem to spend alot of time waiting around for train sightings. Thx

Canadian Train Geek said...

Hi, there are no schedules except for VIA's... the Canadian and the Hudson Bay.

The only other thing you can anticipate is that BNSF will fire up their engine at about 10:30 AM weekdays and do some switching before heading over to Fort Rouge.