These photos were taken 27 years ago today – on June 17, 1999.
I had to double check my math. Twenty-seven years! How is that possible?
Anyway. At the time I was dating a woman who lived in Regina, Saskatchewan. I lived in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and I flew out to visit her for, I think, the third time we spent time together in person. I married her a few years later!
On one of the days I was there, she had to work, so I borrowed her car and wandered around Regina with my film camera. Mostly I visited the CP yard downtown and the CN yard in the northwest.
The CP Yard in Regina
The CP yard is mostly gone now, but at the time it hosted a lot of track and you could find a few locomotives parked there, along with trains stopped on the main line for crew changes. I didn’t find it to be very accessible for photographs, but maybe I didn’t know where to go.
A numerically adjacent pair of GP38s, 3103 and 3104, were resting beyond the spare wheels, while GP9 1532 is just visible past the caboose (!) and I think another GP38.
The former union station is visible past the caboose and locomotives. Today it hosts Casino Regina.
The CN Yard in Regina
This long distance view of the CN yard shows a couple of GMD1 locomotives near the sand tower.
This wasn’t a very satisfactory angle, so I relocated to see the GMD1s a little better.
GMD1 1600 is coupled to another unit by the sand tower.
Nearby, CN 1063 is almost on the overpass over Lewvan Drive.
I just noticed the Terra Transport container at the far right, behind the fence. Those things showed up everywhere.
I’m not sure on the order of things, but I think I caught CN 1405 going over Lewvan Drive before I took the photos above. It’s been a while..
I spotted a caboose in the yard and took a photo, although the light was terrible.
I don’t know what the “550” scrawled on the side of caboose CN 79867 meant – maybe the train it was assigned to?
In the Evening
Later that day, we were driving up Albert Street and the CN crossing lights came on. As we came to a halt, I jumped out and started photographing this eastbound train. The building behind CN 5450 is now a car dealer, Crestview Chrysler.
The train had four units – CN 5450, 5269, 5310 (all some kind of SD40) and GMD1 1419.
I’m pretty happy with this photo!
I banged out several photos, and ended with the “going away” photo.
After all that railfanning, she married me anyway. 😉
This was standard fare for Regina in 1999. CN was operating the last of the 6 axle GMD1s out of the city into southern Saskatchewan, the 4 axle 1400s lasted longer in Regina until a few years ago. I was in touch with a CN officer who made arrangements for a cab ride on them but never had the right timing to take the offer. Engines 5269 and 5310 in your last photos were General Motors SD40-2W diesels.
Thanks, David. It’s too bad you didn’t get the cab ride. That would have been fun!