Fallen Flags at Lorette

I had a little time to railfan recently, so I went out along the Sprague subdivision to try to catch a train. Rumour had it that this line – which goes southeast from Winnipeg to Rainy River, Ontario with a brief detour into the USA – was very busy recently, so I figured there was … Read more

Railfanning for the Weekend

Everybody’s railfanning for the weekendEverybody wants heritage unitsEverybody’s goin’ down to tracksideEverybody needs a million likes, oh – What Loverboy might have written if they were railfans This weekend, I had several opportunities to railfan. I spent them on the CN Rivers subdivision, and I’ll share the results with you. Friday Evening I went out … Read more

Incidental Railfanning

I’ve been wanting to fly my drone near some grain elevators in western Manitoba for a while now. Followers of this blog may have noted that I’ve recorded some aerial views of elevators like Barnsley and Elie, but I haven’t been back to western Manitoba for “vator fanning” since my two day trip in 2014. … Read more

A Branch Line Chase

On Labour Day, 2019, I went out in the morning with the intention of catching a few trains along the CN Rivers subdivision. I only had a couple of hours so I decided on the Rivers to maximize my chances of seeing a train (or two). As I drove around the Perimeter Highway, I saw … Read more

A Morning With Jason

My friend Jason Paul Sailer was in Winnipeg in July on vacation. You may remember that I toured the CP Stirling subdivision with him in 2016 and went rail/elevator fanning over Christmas 2018. First Try I picked him up before 6 AM to get the sunrise photos. We started out on the CN Redditt subdivision. … Read more

Early April Railfanning

Here are some trains I saw during two days of railfanning in early April 2019. I was out on April 2 and April 6. Keep an eye on the amount of snow on the ground! It’s surprising how much it varied by location and by day. April 2 On April 2 I was out along … Read more

Frost and Fog

It was a frosty and foggy morning when I set out from Winnipeg in search of trains. The date was March 17, 2019 and I had a few hours to get some trains and maybe fly my (relatively new) drone. As soon as I stepped out of my house, I saw the fog and I … Read more

A Southern Tour

Monday, August 5 was a holiday here in Manitoba. It was Terry Fox Day, a provincial holiday to honour the heroic runner who attempted to run across Canada in 1980. See below for more information on Terry. I noticed that VIA 2, the eastbound Canadian, was late again and was set to depart Winnipeg shortly … Read more

Short Stories

Most of my railfan posts tend to be long stories of what I saw when I was out railfanning. Sometimes, though, I just see a train while we’re out doing something else. I thought I’d share a few of those here… call them “short stories” instead of novels or novellas. A Real Branch Line Train … Read more

Sunflowers and the PDC

I went up to the Prairie Dog Central early Saturday morning (August 3). I wanted to make a donation to help support the PDC and its operations, so I arranged to meet with the General Manager, Paul Newsome. We ended up sitting in the office with Jeff Livingstone, the Operations Manager, and I (re)joined the … Read more