Canadian Railroads > BC Rail's Squamish subdivision,16 May 2000

This could very well have been my best day out on the Squamish sub. Heading up the Sea to Sky I caught one freight at Furry Creek, that I only had time to get a blurry shot of. I kept heading north to see how the rest of the day would turn out. I didn't have a scanner to listen to back then. I sort of had an idea of the traffic pattern and figured if I drove towards D'Arcy, I was bound to see something. On to the results...

1. Arriving in Squamish at the south end of the siding found 4624 leading a train waiting to head south. There were a group of HCLX lease units at the time that were filling motive power needs until the Blue Dash 9s had arrived.

2. Stopping by the Squamish Station, I found CRS-20 630 and slug S-404 assigned to switching duties. I don't recall if the crew was trying out the Beltpack (Beltpac / Beltpak?) equipment or not. This was the final RS-18 rebuild, and the only one painted in the "Phantom Blue" paint.

3. After hearing train No. 1 whistle for the crossings south of town, I headed to the Mamquam River bridge to get a shot of the Budds on their northward trip.

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4. After train No. 1 was through Squamish, a northbound freight led by 4626 was leaving town. I headed north and got this pic at Garibaldi. Cloudburst Mtn. is the snow covered peak in the background.

5. Not the best lighting, but a nice view of the curve just (railway) north of the hwy. level crossing close to Brandywine Falls. The siding at McGuire is a short distance north of here. A new overpass replaced the crossing when the highway was (depending on your opinion) upgraded for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

6. The only time I saw a matched set of SoCred. painted pushers. Units were 757, 762, 743, and 748. The last unit being the only EMD built SD40-2 BC Rail modified for lead unit service. Seen here waiting for the arrival of a southbound freight I would chase back south.

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7. Having cut in the Pemberton Pushers, 4625, HCLX 6500, and 4644 accelerate through the south switch at D'Arcy for the assault on the grade up to Birken. (Darn bushes!)

8. 4625 skirts the shore of Gates lake just north of the siding at Birken. The yellow sign towards the lake form the train is the notification for the start of the descending grade down to Pemberton. The Engineer has the ditch / cornering lights out, so I'm thinking he met 4626 north at Birken. I really can't remember.

9. With the exhaust coming from the lead units, they must still be pulling some of the train up the grade from D'Arcy. They will soon have the Dynamic Brakes on to control the train downhill. This shot is from the level crossing with the Mt. Currie to Anderson lake road.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/15 12:30 by Helo-Mech.

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10. Coming downgrade, All the lights are back on. I think this location is close to SNS Gramsons. There is a short concrete box girder over a dry (at the time) creek seen in the lower left of the photo.

11. In between Gramsons and Creekside.

12. Just south of the siding at Creekside, the right of way passes beside the Birkenhead River. It is named for a Royal Naval warship I believe.

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13. Rounding the curve just before the hwy. crossing close to SNS Spetch. This would be the last day I saw 4625 before it had the nose door window and split cooling radiator modification along with an EFI engine to internally make it a Dash 9.

14. Climbing uphill again at Wedge towards the cutout point for the pushers at Mons. Not sure if the high overcast clouds worked to my benefit that day or not.

I'll continue with the southbound chase in part two. Until then, enjoy!

Mike N.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/15 00:45 by Helo-Mech.

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GREAT STUFF, more please!!! Doug

That can be classed as "A Great Day Beside the Tracks.

Nice work!

611

*blink blink*

I'm with HoggerDoug

Please send more!