Switching Fort Garry

Last month, I ran across the CN Fort Garry local doing its work near the former Manitoba Sugar facility. The Fort Garry area used to be served by both CN (from its Letellier subdivision) and CP (from its La Riviere subdivision). CP removed that spur around 2006? and now only CN can switch it. A lot of track has been removed but there are still several customers that receive frequent rail service.

When I arrived, CN 9581 and CN 7243 were sitting on the main line, with nine (9) centerbeam flatcars loaded with lumber. The tail end was partially into the southern of the two spurs off the main line.

Over the next hour and 20 minutes, they performed several switching moves. I’ve summarized the moves below.

1. Spot 4 lumber loads into Manitoba Sugar area
2. Pull empty centerbeam lumber car WC 38103 and extra height boxcar CN 558413
3. Park WC 38103 and CN 558413 on main line south of work area
4. Pull empty centerbeam lumber car CN 625728 from Taiga Building Products along with covered hopper cars WFRX 898142 and WFRX 898135 from Universal Reload
5. Stow those 3 cars temporarily out of the way
6. Spot 5 lumber loads at Taiga Building Products – pull 1 slightly east to clear the crossing
7. Retrieve 3 stowed cars
8. Push back onto two parked cars, connect air hoses, etc.
9. Leave the area

The “Manitoba Sugar area” as I call it is a bit of a tangle of tracks. If you look at the satellite view, you can see tracks going into the Bluestar Distribution facility, a pair of tracks by Ryerson Steel, and a few tracks by Providence Grain Solutions (the former Manitoba Sugar facility) that extend quite a ways west. At one time these connected to CP on the west end.

I think there is a lumber staging area here as well, and I think that’s where the CN local spotted the last four cars. They pulled an empty centerbeam car out, along with a CN boxcar from somewhere.

After pushing those last two cars out of the way, they came to the northern of the two spurs. This one leads mostly west and serves Taiga Lumber as well as Universal Reload and Manitoba Hydro. There’s a spur that curves north but I’m not sure if that is still used.

Here’s a view of that spur before the CN local arrived. They pulled all three of these cars. Note the stacks of lumber.

For this view, I was in a park just north of Ballantrae Drive. This area is being developed and condos and housing is growing daily.

Here’s a wide view showing the local collecting the cars to remove. They’ve coupled to the two covered hoppers and are pushing back to get the empty centerbeam car. There’s some derelict track in the foreground, including a few switch stands.

After they retrieved the cars, they pulled forward out of my view. They stowed those three cars somewhere – maybe on the track curving to the north – and then pushed back with the five lumber loads.

There’s a private crossing within the lumber facility, so they had to spot the last four cars, tie them down, then uncouple one car to pull it east of the crossing.

That was the end of their work on this spur. Off they went to collect the rest of their train.

After picking up those three cars they stowed – somewhere – they returned to the main line, then pushed back onto the two cars they left there.

The final train: WFRX 898142, WFRX 898135, CN 625728, WC 38103, CN 558413.

While they did that, I relocated a few crossings north and waited for them. They came rolling up, then stopped for a while.

Eventually they started up again and headed for Portage Junction, where they would join the CN Rivers subdivision.

Note that they did not have a FRED / EOT (end of train) device monitoring brake pressure on the last car. This is because they were operating as a transfer, which is limited to 15 MPH.

I hope you enjoyed this look at the CN Fort Garry local. It was very interesting for me to watch the unhurried, careful work the crew did.