Canadian Railroads > Jasper & Banff Question

Eastern Board member here who will be spending time in Jasper and Banff next week. I would greatly appreciate any insight into trains and locations good for railfanning as me and my son look to spend time trackside when not on the trails. Thanks in advance.

I can help out with the Banff side of things. Railfanning from Exshaw through Canmore can be accommodated on the 1A highway. Banff station you will find easily. Just west of town, from the Trans Canada Highway, you will see the turnoff for the 1A again which will follow the CPR. Some nice shots are at a picnic spot at Muleshoe, a picnic spot just west from Johnson Canyon and of course, Morant's Curve. Definitely get back onto the TCH and go down to Field.

For non-railfan locations and hiking, please ensure you go see Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. I also recommend Emerald Lake just near Field - turnoff is just down (2 kms west) from the turn into Field. The drive to Takkakaw (spelling?) Falls is great as well. There is a good viewpoint at the start of the drive which will allow you to see the Upper Spiral tunnel very well - at least you used to be able to see it.

I might add that railfanning all the way to Golden is good but if you cannot do that then consider the first point of interest after Field, Ottertail Curve. Please prune some of those trees for the greater good of the Railfan world.

Rick

Jasper of course a terminal on the CN mainline... so you're looking at 24-30 trains a day, likely some nice opportunities east of town toward Devona, Snaring, Henry House... see examples here:

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?train_id=CN 111

here's the Booking-in room & Bunkhouse in Jasper with Mt. Edith Cavell in the background.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/14 17:01 by xcnsnake.

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Couple of places just west of Jasper: Geikie and Decoigne have really good overlooks i.e. you're high up on a cliff, looking down the tracks. Easy pullouts off the Yellowhead Highway. Geikie is 10 miles from Jasper, Decoigne is 14.

East: Henry House, about 12 miles east of Jasper is a classic spot. Further to the east by a few miles, look across the lake to Davona.

Plenty of other places a few miles further in either direction.

BobE

Of course one of the world's great drives (yes I'm biased) is Hwy 93 - aka the Icefields Parkway - between just NW of Lake Louise and Jasper, however:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/07/14/banff-wildfire-closures_n_5586231.html

Hopefully things clear up by the time you're there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/14 20:19 by xcnsnake.

Contact me off list and I can send you some information about the CP.

Having just returned from this area I had forgotten just how much train activity there is through Jasper. At times it was about every 15 minutes. You also have VIA and the Rocky Mountaineer. Also stop by the nice looking train station in Lake Louise. We were lucky enough to catch CP's business train with the F's both there and in Banff.

Jim Barton

Many thanks for all the contributions, sounds like we are going to have a lot of great options (as long as the fire doesn't interfere).

here's to a great trip for you!

No need to go to Hinton just to photograph "Union Station" though...

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