Canadian Railroads > Dawson Creek Job

I caught up with CN train 578 this afternoon as it made its way west from Dawson Creek towards Chetwynd.  I actually heard two quick horn blasts while I was in the shower this morning (about 0900h), and got to the window just in time to see three cowled GEs go coasting by outside.  As soon as I'd managed to finish getting ready, I went after them and found them at the Pioneer elevator east of Dawson on the former NAR.  Power for 578 today was CN 2448, BCOL 4614, and BCOL 4605.  Unfortunately, while the light was good this morning, the engines were almost always either in hard backlight or where I couldn't photograph them.  So I took a little drive around the area instead.

On my way back into town this afternoon, I heard 578 call the RTC and report they were leaving town around 1230h.  I went exploring some of the gravel backroads and soon heard the three GEs working up grade.  Unfortunately, now that the train was finally working west, the clouds were rolling in and screwing up the light.  I followed them for a while as the sun eluded me, but finally gave up west of Groundbirch.  A work train was just a bit further west at Foss and wasn't going to clear up for a bit, so by the time they made the Pine River bridge, the ground would have been very dark with a very bright sky.  Plus it was starting to rain...

One thing I noticed, however - the earlier BCOL C40-8Ms always looked a bit sway-backed in the middle of the frame, as if the frame/cowl wasn't quite strong enough.  The CN unit is dead straight.  Given that 2448 was built two years after the two BCR units seen today, was there some sort of design change to strengthen the units in later orders?

Nathan
http://www.drgw.net

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Three more...
- Approaching 237 Road
- Starting downgrade towards the Kiskatinaw river crossing
- West of Groundbirch, a bit over an hour after the last shot

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Here's one last going away shot at Groundbirch, at a whopping ~10mph or so.  Soon to be less than that as they wait for the work train to finish up at Foss.

Because I'm ever the BCR fan, I'm including a few better shots of the two BCR engines that would be trailing most of the day - 4614 and 4605.  Wish they were still kept as clean as they used to be and in the lead, but at least they're still running around on home rails and in red/white/blue.

 

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Thanks so much for posting these. It makes me want to get in the car right now and drive to Chetwynd. I could make it there before 578 heads out Monday morning. Which makes me wonder, why was it running today? Maybe they've changed the schedule. It used to be MWF.

- L.F.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/15 18:10 by loleta.

Good stuff! I enjoyed the "chase" on that line.

Nice bunch.
JB

So strange to see 6 axle power on the Dawson Sub...
 

Did British Columbia Railway and Northern Alberta ever have a need to interchange any cars of significant numbers at Dawson Creek?  

You're telling me.  Last time I was up here, it was two M420Ws - 643 and 644.  None of the big road power ever wandered much north of Prince George, and there was nary a GE or EMD in sight.  For that matter, Dawson Creek was a fraction of the size it currently is, I'm pretty sure there were NAR yard tracks where my hotel room currently is, and CN only came in from the east... 

I've read that there was talk of reopening the ex-NAR after the BCR acquisition, but driving up from Grande Prairie, things past Hythe looked pretty bad.  Guessing nothing ever became of that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/15 22:00 by NDHolmes.

Excellent catch. I've always wanted to see a train on that line but so far, they have eluded me. I'll be passing through this fall and I usually overnight in Dawson Creek. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I had many a trip on the Dawson Creek sub, back in the early 1970's. Recollect the slow speed, maximum 20 mph, and in the "minimum station intervals" section of the time table, running time was 3 hr 06 minutes from Chetwynd mile 0-0 to Dawson Creek mile 60.5.  For a period of time the Dawson Creek sub train direction was eastward and westward, were as the direction of travel on the rest of BCR was "north - south". The last time this direction of travel (east-west)was shown in British Columbia Railway time table 3, effective 0001 Sunday November 23, 1975. The next time table No 4, effective 0001 Sunday November 20, 1977 shows the direction of travel northward and southward. The only other east - west trackage on BC Rail would be the Port Sub. Generally we ran with two RS 18's back to back, or with a RS 3 spliced in between.

The switcher those days ran 6 days per week, with Sunday off. We would leave Chetwynd before noon, trundle over to Dawson Creek, drop our train and perhaps do the odd chore such as spotting the TOFC cars at the ramp. Grab a bite to eat and then wobble back to Chetwynd. There was a yard crew a Dawson Creek that did all the local switching and built our train for the return trip.

We used to wobble over 60 pound rail that was well used and some dated back to 1912. Eventually the rail was updated to previously used 85 pound steel. Ballast was terrible, mostly pit run river rock, sort of like ball bearings used as ballast.  On the west side of the East Pine River, the hillside was quite sandy and with a good wind or rain the sand would wash over the rail, and if the weather was cold, the sand would freeze and on occasion did derail the locomotives. In the timetables it shows " run cautiously between Mile 12.1 and 13.4 account sand cuts". The east side of the river was a wobbly mud bank with tight curves and a 2.2 percent grade. This combined with bad weather and poor visibility could make for tense moments particularly approaching the bridge over the East Pine River.

The bridge over the Kiskatinaw River, Mile 46, is rather unique, the term I recall is a Howe Through (Box) Truss span. Any how, not far too east of the bridge is a mud cut, that was called "Campbell's Pass" account a derailment there, the Engineer was on his first trip over the sub and piled up a few cars.  A TO member here knows who I would be talking about.

I could pratter on and on. Great images posted in this thread, brought back memories.  Doug
 

Doug,
What weight rail are they using now?

Mike Root
Madras, OR

shortlineboss Wrote:
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> Doug,
> What weight rail are they using now?

Mike, I'm not sure, most likley 100 pound or recycled 115 pound junk.  It's too far away for me to check!!!!  Maybe the original poster could look.  Doug