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

Thank You, Jet Lag

I never regret getting up early to take photos. Whether I’m on vacation or at home, getting those early photos is worth losing a bit of sleep. I’m a big fan of sunrise photography. We were in Europe recently on a family trip – that’s a post or two in the future – and we … Read more

The Glorious First of June – Part 2

After the railfanning and grain elevator-ing (vatorfanning?) I did in the morning of June 1, I would have been quite satisfied. However, there was more to come before the day was complete. My daughter was out with friends and I was tasked to pick her up at 10 PM. The rest of us were at … Read more

The Glorious First of June – Part 1

June 1, 2019 was a pretty glorious day of railfanning. So glorious, in fact, that I have to present it in two parts. I set out early in the morning to take some photographs of grain elevators with my drone. Since it was June 1, the new drone rules came into effect and there were … Read more

Recent Foreign Power

I have a massive backlog of photos and video to process. It’s embarrassing, really. I had more than a thousand images and videos, dating back to mid March, waiting to be renamed, keyworded and filed away on my file server. I try to be very organized with my photos so I can find photos later… … Read more

Rare Mileage for the Prairie Dog

It was about 8:06 AM on Saturday, June 22. I was laying in bed, wondering if I should get up or doze a little longer. I put my glasses on, checked my phone, and saw a Facebook message from a friend, from 6:40 AM. “If you are up Steve PDC leaves GWWD at 0900” I … Read more

Louis Riel Day Railfanning

Back on February 18, 2019, I was sitting at home, wondering what to do. It was Louis Riel Day, a holiday here in Manitoba, which always amuses me. As someone who was schooled primarily in eastern Canada, I was taught that Louis Riel was a traitor to Canada who was justifiably hung for his crimes. … Read more

Two If By Air

I’ve had my drone for a few months now and I can say that I am starting to get the hang of it. I’m still no expert but I have used it enough that I have confidence that I will get a decent video out of it. I was out for my regular late Tuesday … Read more