Ian and Bill Visit the West, Part 2

This is part 2 of a series. Ian Walker and Bill Hall visited the Prairies and Ian shared his photos with me (and you!). Start at part 1, if you wish.

Next, Ian and Bill visited the CN Wainwright subdivision. They stopped at CN’s Battle River Trestle, an impressive structure to be sure. It’s 2,775 feet long and the deck is 195 feet above the river. It was completed at the end of 1908.

At Wainwright, they witnessed a four-way meet:

1. CN 3845 East (CN 3845, 3892)
2. CN 314 (CN 5630, 5707)
3. Another stack train
4. CN 315

After that excitement at Wainwright, they proceeded to Biggar, Saskatchewan and photographed a Parrish & Heimbecker locomotive (ex Southern Pacific SD45 #8894) and a couple of Saskatchewan’s many short line railways.

Last Mountain Railway

Northern Lights Rail

Continuing on through Saskatchewan, Ian and Bill passed through Saskatoon and caught a stack train passing by the grain elevator in Young, SK (CN 2921, 3264, 2971).

Canora, Saskatchewan

They did a fair amount of exploring in Canora, Saskatchewan. The long station building is used by VIA’s Churchill-Winnipeg train (692 and 693). Many people don’t know that the train dips into Saskatchewan on its otherwise all-Manitoba route.

Several CN subdivisions meet in or near Canora. Note the paddleboards below that protect the diamond crossing.

From Ian’s point of view: the track behind him is the CN Yorktown subdivision to Cana Junction, SK. To the left is the CN Margo subdivision to Humboldt. Ahead in the distance is the CN Assiniboine subdivision to Mitchell, on the way to Churchill, MB.

Next… on to Manitoba!