Canadian Railroads > Old School CN in Edmonton

One of the best places to go for older CN GMDD and EMD's is Edmonton. We see our fair share of older CN power on the mainline, yards and radiating branches. The most consistent providers are the trains to and from Peace River and beyond, the trains to Fort McMurray and the freight between Whitecourt and Edmonton. The yard jobs out of Scotford, east of Edmonton outside the town of Fort Saskatchewan, also never disappoint.

After a reliable tip and a little scouting, train A421 from Edmonton to Smith, AB had a lashup too good to pass up. This is CN's Westlock Sub between these two points. The line continues beyond Smith to Peace River and eventually the Northwest Territories.

1. Crossing Highway 37, CN 9530 has all 10,750' well in hand as they climb the hill out of the Sturgeon River valley.

2. 421 passes the modernized elevators and harvest ready canola fields as they roll through Morinville. The train is mostly empty with boxcars for lumber and pulp, flats for cut lumber and empty crude oil tanks for the rapidly expanding oil export out of the Peace region among other cars.

3. Another closer view of all 5 units. The leader is the 9530 followed by the 5336, 9541, 5270 and 5272.

I will post another thread with other views along the Westlock Sub at a later date.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/14 00:22 by CP9300.

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When the power isn't SD's or GP's I still don't mind shooting GE's with some of the unique features in the neighbourhood.

4. Today's U747, rock train to Whitecourt(Silver Creek) had an older set of GE's as they trundle across the trestle in St Albert.

5. Scotford to Winnipeg/Symington train M314 waits at East Jct for their turn to head east onto CN's Wainwright Sub for the journey to Winnipeg. CN's Vegreville Sub shares a right of way with Edmonton transit and meets are common with the LRT.

6. Going back in time a month, L556 hustles across highway 28A through Gibbons on CN's Coronado Sub with tonnage from Fort McMurray. The leader is former LNG test bed 5258. A good friend shared some of his shots at the time of this chase.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,3478283,3478283#msg-3478283

Hope you enjoyed looking at the things we think of as a daily occurrence.

Happy Hunting, A.J.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/14 14:34 by CP9300.

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Thanks for sharing. I always enjoy that stuff from the north country. Hopefully some of those old GP's and SD's will see a new coat of paint someday!

Some great pics!

I've worked AB North btw Smith and Hay River NWT both as a Conductor and Trainmaster...

our motto: "Yesterday's Power Today".

I can not understand why any company would let their power look like that! Awful, just awful.

I guess painting costs $$ and time, which in turn is even more $$$;)

Sometimes the really old faded paint is testament to how good the unit or model is. It may be really old, been in storage, or passed around a lot, but it still runs! Whereas newer units with good paint go to scrap a lot sooner.

I like the old ones that show a lot of work.

Gary

tomstp Wrote:
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> I can not understand why any company would let
> their power look like that! Awful, just awful.

While I'm not entirely fond of the overall cruddy look, I find that the older striped CN units weather better than the newer CN power or the CP GE's. The early CP AC4400s have been nicknamed poo boats for good reason. I'd still prefer cruddy stripes or NAFTA map units to the newer website like on the 3rd unit.

A.J.

I have no favorite. But, whatever the scheme is it certainly should be maintained better than that.

Nice work on the photos.
Variations in consists are always fun to see.
Personally...if you are a train fan...YOU ARE a Train Fan!
As to the "weathered" units...great inspiration for our model rail friends.
Keep the posts coming...

Included "a power move at Edmonton" from a few months ago.

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5 GMD locos on a branchline, can't beat that! Edmonton is one of those cities where any direction to head there's something to shoot. My shots from the U747 chase up the Sangudo Sub (100 odd mile branch from Edmonton to Whitecourt Alberta)

#1 Onoway Alberta
#2 crossing the Pembina river at Sangudo Alberta. CP9300 had better light last time he shot at the location
2 U747 crossing a section of the Paddle River Trestle at Rochfort Bridge AB. I'd guess only a third of the bridge is shown in this shot.

-Trevor

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Again, great stuff Trevor. I hope CN provides again on the Sangudo before the days get too short.

A.J.

Posted from Android

Some great weather in Alberta the last few days with a comfortable temperature. Really nice to see all of these photos from the north of the Province.

Thanks for posting.
Rick

ok, here's some presentable 4-axle power;) on 534 - in the CN.ca, CN North America and earlier stripes scheme - ready for departure south from Hay River last summer.

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