Two Trains and a Bridge

CP Emerson Bridge over Floodway Winnipeg 20200414

On the evening of April 14, 2020 I went out for a bit of railfanning. I took my usual route “A” of heading counter-clockwise around the city, crossing the CP Emerson, CN Sprague, CN Redditt and CP Keewatin subdivisions in sequence. The Sprague subdivision had a train heading out of CN’s Symington Yard, so I … Read more

2021 Calendar Survey Results

Thank you to the 43 who took the time to complete my survey about calendars for 2021. I appreciate it! I asked three questions: Are you interested in purchasing a calendar featuring grain elevators in Manitoba? Are you interested in purchasing a calendar featuring Canadian trains? If you are interested in purchasing a calendar, would … Read more

At Least I Got The Moon

After my success with the sunset meet I wrote about recently, I wanted to go out at last light again and photograph more trains. I puttered around the house until it was close to sunset, then hit the road east toward the CN Sprague and CN Redditt subdivisions. There was nothing happening on the Sprague … Read more

Sunset Meet

CN 3148 approaching Lorette at sunset

I had to run an errand for my wife on the evening of August 29. After I did that, I decided to see if anything was happening on the CN Sprague subdivision. As I approached the area, I saw an eastbound train leaving Symington Yard. I gave chase along the Trans-Canada Highway, which parallels the … Read more

Fog in Winnipeg?

After hearing that the La Salle grain elevator was demolished on August 22, I decided to go there the next morning to photograph the wreckage. Moments after I started driving, I saw fog – lots of fog. I’m no stranger to fog. I lived in the Halifax, NS area for three years and saw fog … Read more

Scaling Down

The Cranbrook History Centre, home of the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel / Trains Deluxe, recently announced that they are releasing nine cars from their collection of passenger rail cars. It might be a bit shocking but these things happen. Organizations have limits on funds and volunteer time… especially time. Restoring and preserving century-old railway … Read more

Three of a Kind

In my last post, I talked about having railfan friends and the benefit of being plugged into the “railfan network”. On August 13 the news came out that westbound train CP 421 would have not one, not two, but three SD70ACu locomotives on it, including a “heritage” maroon and gold locomotive. Three of a kind… … Read more

Return to Niverville

CP 7013 passing the heritage display in Niverville

It’s very helpful as a railfan to develop a network of friends. You can share your good shots, commiserate on the “one that got away”, and share intelligence of interesting train movements. I’m fortunate to be friends with a good group of people who support each other. Word came from “the network” that a Canadian … Read more

A Photo Scanning Jig

Photo Scanning Jig

I had some photographs that I purchased on eBay that I wanted to scan. Unfortunately, I am currently “between scanners” so I had no good way to scan a photo. I did a bit of thinking and ended up using my DSLR camera on a tripod to do the job. Here are a few I … Read more

Smoking Hot Maroon

Rumour had it that “heritage” locomotive CP 7018 was on train CP 298 due into Winnipeg early Saturday morning, August 8. Nobody knew if it was in the lead or not, but it was coming. I awoke at my usual 6 AM, and after a shower and a quick breakfast, I was on the road … Read more