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

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