Running the Route

Drone view of a CN freight train on the Canadian prairie, lit by early morning sun

I railfanned a lot in 2021. Looking back, it seems like every spare moment was spent trackside, or driving to and from railway tracks. I think it was an escape mechanism, to keep myself busy and avoid the sad thoughts I was having. It worked for a while.

After the PDC

Composite image of two Canadian Pacific Railway trains

Early in the summer of 2021, the Prairie Dog Central participated in the filming of The Porter, a CBC miniseries about Black railway porters. As I was driving away from recording the PDC train, I saw that a train was approaching from the west.

From the Pile

Composite image of several trains

There was a period of time where I was so far behind in processing my photos that I gave up and threw a thousand or so images into a folder to deal with later. Last spring I threw a few hundred more in, and this is the result.

Worth It

CN train punching through snow drifts

It had been a while since I took a photo of a train. A long while – about six weeks. I just haven’t been inspired to go trackside. I’ve written about this before (It’s Been a While, Seasons of Interest). However, on Christmas Eve I actually went trackside again. My wife was working that day … Read more

Blame the Cat

Streaks of light from locomotive headlights at night

It’s the cat’s fault.
I had every intention of sleeping on Saturday morning, but my annoying cat Felix walked into our bedroom in the middle of the night and meowed at me, repeatedly. Apparently his food dish was empty and he wasn’t happy.

Leapfrogging Home

CN locomotive rounding a curve

After the CP cornucopia of cargo trains, I went south to the CN main line to see some more trains. I decided to head to Nattress on the east side of the Assiniboine River.

Hot Times on the CPR

Train passing the Richardson plant in Portage la Prairie Manitoba

Around Winnipeg, CN runs a lot more trains than CP does. I’d say you can see three times as many trains on CN west of the city. However, the ratio was a little more even on June 20, 2021.

Between the Buildings

Locomotive crossing a street at night

During our planning for my trip to Waterloo, Ontario, my son Nick suggested that we should try to catch the CN local running down the Elmira spur through town. It’s a really interesting operation. One highlight on the route is where it runs between two buildings in downtown Waterloo en route to Elmira.

Bayview Junction

GO Transit passing the CN Bayview sign

I crossed another item off my “to do list” – I visited Bayview Junction in Ontario. I listed three goals for 2022 in my Looking Back, Looking Forward post at the start of this year: As the classic Meatloaf song goes, “two out of three ain’t bad.” I rode the Canadian to Sioux Lookout earlier … Read more

It’s Been a While

Blurred train moving fast

I haven’t been railfanning much. I haven’t felt like it and I’ve been respecting that. In October I took a few photos of trains – almost entirely because I was bicycling past – and I didn’t “go out railfanning” once. In early November, I was finally inspired to go photograph some trains. On Friday night … Read more