Well I look over yonder across the plain
“Steel Rail Blues”, Gordon Lightfoot
The big drive wheels are poundin’ along the ground
Gonna get on board and I’ll be homeward bound
Now I ain’t had a home cooked meal
And Lord I need one now
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love
The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club held their open house on April 23 and 24. I decided to attend right after opening at 10 AM Saturday morning, since my wife and I were going to the Winnipeg Jets’ game that afternoon. Since it was a beautiful morning, I chose to do some railfanning to kill time before heading to the show.
I hadn’t seen any trains on the Canadian Pacific since the CP-Kansas City Southern merger, so I headed there first. I was hoping for an eastbound train to take advantage of the early morning sun, but CPKC gave me a westbound instead.
With my drone in the air recording video, I took some photos with my wide-angle lens as the double-stack train rolled past on their way toward Calgary (and beyond?).
Those 60 foot Canadian Tire containers really hang over the end of the car!
Once the train passed, I recovered the drone and had a quick look to see if another westbound train was coming. Sadly, that was it, so I headed west to Marquette and then down to Elie. On my way, I saw that Lee-Anna’s Diner in Marquette was very popular for breakfast! My little Civic would look out of place amongst the pickups, and I doubt they have much in the way of gluten-free options.
I didn’t have a lot of time to hang around in Elie, but I noted that one of the east-facing signals at East Elie were showing a green light.
Having photographed many trains in the Elie area, mostly around the grain elevator, I decided to try something a little different. I put the “long” lens on my camera and set up to record the approaching train near the former Elie train station.
Westbound One
This little stub track is mostly used to store maintenance-of-way equipment. I believe it used to be a double-ended siding.
I pulled back to include the former train station as CN 2940 West rolled past. This is the result of some heavy editing in Adobe Lightroom, since I was shooting mostly into the low sun.
The “going away” shot shows a multitude of signs and the Elie grain elevator.
Here’s the (backlit) video.
Another Westbound
Time was running short, so I hit the road toward Winnipeg. It wasn’t long before I spotted headlights indicating another westbound train. I was just past Dacotah, so I doubled back to catch the train there with this unimaginative “wedge” shot. I didn’t have much time to set up.
There were a few interesting cars on the train. I spotted this ex Conrail car.
I have no idea what its number is… I’m pretty sure its reporting mark is now NRLX but what is the car number? The end says 89128 but the side says 47something…
Near the end of the train, five brand-new NKLX covered hoppers were sporting very shiny paint. The build dates on the end of the cars were 2023/4! This might have been their first time out of the factory.
That was it for me for full-size trains. I had a good time at the show, chatting with some old friends and gathering some inspiration for my own, mostly dormant, layout.
Just One More Thing
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot died on May 1, 2023 at the age of 84.
Railfans know him for “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” – playing as I write this – but he had so many iconic songs. “Sundown”, “Bitter Green”, “Rainy Day People”, “Don Quixote”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “Carefree Highway”, the list goes on and on. He was one of a kind.
He will be missed.
For there was a time in this fair land
“Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, Gordon Lightfoot
When the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white men and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
And many are the dead men
Too silent to be real
He will be missed! Enjoyed listening to his music over the years!