Stories about railfanning – trip reports and so forth. Any time I’m trackside and writing about it, it’ll be here.
I went out railfanning early in the morning of March 23, full of hope for a good morning of photographing trains and flying my drone. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men often going awry… or, to more accurately quote the Robert Burns poem, “The best laid schemes … Read more
After visiting the Stony Beach grain elevator, I went out again on February 1. This time I had decided to head to Pasqua then head down the CP Weyburn subdivision toward its namesake town. I had never been along this line. As I arrived at Pasqua, where the Weyburn subdivision branches off the main line … Read more
It has been a long time since I was in the Regina, Saskatchewan area… August 2015, I guess! A member of my wife’s family passed away and we had to travel to Saskatchewan for the funeral. We spent a few days in Regina to attend the funeral in Moose Jaw, and to catch up with … Read more
On August 30, 2018 I went out in the evening to catch the eastbound VIA Rail “Canadian” coming into Winnipeg. It was a beautiful evening, and I was hoping to get a nice sunset. The Rivers Subdivision Parking Lot I hit the road a little early and caught my first train, CN 2962 East, stopped … Read more
Saturday, September 5th, 2018 was a big railfan day for me – and not just for flying my drone. OIL and Foreign Power My youngest son was busy downtown for a while mid-day, so I had an hour and a half on my hands. As I usually do, I drove up to the CP yard … Read more
You may recall that I went out on a mission to find the new rail inspection portal at Nattress, west of Winnipeg. You might also recall that I didn’t find it. Well, I did some research, and consulted a few people, and determined exactly where it was. Consulting Google satellite views, I wasn’t sure that … Read more
“Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled linesHanging on in quiet desperation is the railfan wayThe time is gone, the train didn’t come,Thought I’d something more to say.” – “Time”, Pink Floyd, with a few revisions As I mentioned in … Read more
Every year, Canadian Pacific Railway runs its Holiday Train across Canada and the USA to support local food banks. This is its 20th year of operation. It actually runs two trains, one through Canada and the other through the US. I try to catch it every year, with varying success. I caught it in 2011, … Read more
I went out early in the morning of November 17th on a mission. I was looking for a new structure on CN’s main line. CN and partner Duos Technologies has been building rail inspection portals at four locations around Winnipeg. These devices will do automated rail car inspection at high speed. I’ll write an article … Read more
The Greater Winnipeg Water District (GWWD) railway is a pretty unique little railway. It was built to service the aqueduct supplying water from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg. The railway was completed in 1915 and has served the city since then. It used to carry passengers along the 102 mile route, but it has not done … Read more