Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Canadian and More

VIA's Canadian outside Winnipeg
I was looking after my son today, and after most of the morning was gone it was time to get out of the house. What to do on a beautiful, sunny day in Winnipeg? Go watch trains, of course!

I decided to go see the Canadian near CN Diamond just west of Winnipeg. We arrived just after noon, and I was surprised to see a westbound freight train (#347) stopped just west of the Perimeter highway. I guess they must have tripped the hotbox around mile 10. There was someone working on the rear of the train and they were chatting with the engine. I went up to the head end and took this shot at 12:20 just before they started to pull out.
CN 5722 at Diamond
CN 5722 and 2590 provided the power. Here's the video of them pulling out. I think I captured some pretty good engine sounds as they throttled up.


I heard on the scanner that VIA 1 had to back out of the station so they could take the south track. This made them a little late, and they finally showed up at 12:42. VIA 6451 and 6410 were providing a fair bit of smoke as they blew by us at a good clip.


The train had 6451 and 6410; baggage 8609; coaches 8100 and 8109; Skyline 8506; diner 8408 Empress; Skyline 8511; sleepers 8338 Rogers Manor, 8328 Grant Manor, 8342 Wolfe Manor, 8327 Fraser Manor, 8202 Chateau Bienville, 8217 Chateau Maisonneuve; Skyline 8505; diner 8409 Fairholme; sleepers 8326 Franklin Manor, 8329 Hearne Manor, and 8339 Sherwood Manor; and 8718 Yoho Park.

After that, we pulled up stakes and headed into town. I intended to go by BNSF to see if their rumoured new engine was there, but instead I saw a train heading west that made me turn around and chase it. I'll write about that next time!

No comments: