Another GWWD Fan Trip

Photographer Mark Perry very kindly scanned seven slides from his collection that feature a fan trip in 1983, probably from the Winnipeg NMRA convention that I talked about in my previous post.

The photographer isn’t marked on the slides. In fact, they have no markings other than the Kodak “July 1983” stamp, which I believe marks when they were processed, not when they were taken.

The slide below shows the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway yard in St. Boniface in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There are a LOT of interesting details here.

GWWD Yard in Winnipeg, 1983 Slide from Mark Perry

Note the strings of ore cars on the left side. At the time, the GWWD hauled gravel for Supercrete from a pit at or near Ross, Manitoba. Wikipedia says this stopped in 1992. I took some photos of a few of those cars on my visits to Winnipeg. I think the majority have been scrapped.

Also note the grain elevator past the ever present St. Boniface water tower. These elevators are gone.

The yard is fenced now, and the engine house and the station building, both in the distance, still exist.

View to the northwest
View to the northwest

This slide was taken just southwest of the diamond where CN crosses the GWWD (or the GWWD crosses the CN, your choice). It’s facing northwest and you can see the GWWD yard, water tower, and grain elevator from the previous photo in the distance, with the Supercrete facility closer. There’s a wye on the left, past the station wagon.

The CN track comes off the St. Boniface spur and allows CN to service the Shell bulk terminal, as well as Lafarge, the owner of the former Supercrete facility.

Outbound from the GWWD?
Outbound from the GWWD?

I believe the above photo shows a view looking south-east. They are passing through the Supercrete facility, which was very close to the GWWD yard. I believe the rock train is on the east/south leg of the wye. I think we are looking at the tail end of the train as it is returning to the yard, and maybe the crewman is setting the switch so the rock train can come off the wye.

Meeting the GWWD Rock Train
Meeting the GWWD Rock Train

It looks like the excursion train met a rock train somewhere. Clayton from the RailsMBSK group said the train went to mile 30, which would be Monominto, so maybe that’s where this is.

I’m told this is Richland siding, a stub siding.

There’s lots of rock ballast!

GWWD 101 meets 103
GWWD 101 meets 103

Here’s the rock train on the main, featuring GWWD 101 for power. I can see that 103 is powering the excursion train.

Convention members on the caboose
Convention members on the caboose

The NMRA convention members are riding the caboose, as evidenced by the name tags on the two gentlemen on the rear. The GWWD crewman must be having a good time!

Here’s one final photo, showing the GWWD yard at a different time.

The GWWD yard in Winnipeg
The GWWD yard in Winnipeg

It’s a slightly different view than the one earlier in the post, and you can see the train geeks are wandering through the yard. There’s a locomotive in the engine house that wasn’t there before, too.

Thank you very much to Mark Perry for allowing these to be posted here.

Just One More Thing

GWWD mixed train schedule, June 16, 1969
GWWD mixed train schedule, June 16, 1969

Eric Gagnon shared this public timetable for the GWWD a while ago. It is effective June 16, 1969 and shows the thrice-weekly train leaving Winnipeg at 9 AM, arriving in Waugh at 12:07, and returning to Winnipeg by 5:37 PM. That’s pretty fast for a mixed train – an average of around 30 MPH!

Also check out this marketing book on Supercrete. Very interesting!

12 thoughts on “Another GWWD Fan Trip”

  1. Hey Steve, do you know if the twin elevators in the pictures were from the old McCabe Elevator Company?

  2. Hi Steve,

    I agree with you about the placement of the Outbound from the GWWD photo. If you look at the top right of the picturem you can see a small Manitoba Hydro substation which is still present. The substation is located on Dugald Road, just east of Dawson Road. Great post!

    – Patrice

  3. Hi Steve,
    The siding which 103 is waiting for gravel train 101 to pass is, Richland siding at milepost 26 (which is a stub siding). It’s located just west of hwy 12 rail crossing.
    Great post with pictures
    -Kris

    • Cameras and especially film were more expensive back then! Imagine what photos we’d have now if everyone had cell phones back then.

  4. Some neat vintage slides! Thanks, Mark for sharing! Thanks, Steve for making them available to us to view!

  5. I went on the self propelled passenger coach once in 1955 with a friend who used to take it regularly to visit his uncle in Waugh. I remember it made many stops for the cottages who used it. Now. It is a service train to haul larger goods to end of rail and still stops for cottages along the wayside. Those were FUN times.
    Richard Poersch

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