Passenger Trains > real Canadian cold!

For us Southern Californians the real weather in Canada is hard to fathom.  As evidence, I present  photos I just found on my cell phone of private car TIOGA PASS while it was parked at the locomotive shop at Medicine Hat, Alberta, in early February.  I tried to preserve a few of the icecicles in the freezer but they didn't keep well.  The temperature at the time of taking these shots was just barely below zero F.  For 19 days, the temperature never rose above zero F!  Sure was nice to feel the suns warmth thru the window as we neared Southern California.  Oops - can some one please turn the second picture 90 degrees?  I promise to be more electronic in my next life.

Norm
 

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

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How's this?

John

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Picture #3 looks like the west end of the siding at Suffield. Is it?

Ray

That's an area where you always need a snow suit, nice shots!

Squeaky snow, I don't miss it.

You need to come home, Norm - we've been having great weather!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I am home!  Arrived in LA last Thursday with 6 riders with me - including one great guy I met in Toronto - he was drivng the CP fuel truck, and we struck up a conversation.  He ended up flying to Minneapolis,  riding the Empire Builder to Shelby, then rode on TIOGA PASS with us to LA.  Also, Walstib joined us as you may know from his fantastic photos of the trip.
Yes, that was a shot of the West end of Suffield, Alberta, 32 miles West of Medicine Hat.  Suffield had a gas station, a restaraunt, and a mini-mart but the double-wide burned downm so now there is nothing there unless you drive 7 miles to the military base.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

TIOGA PASS sure looks cozy in those photos!

I've tried saving icicles, too, with no more success.  They evaporate in the freezer..."sublimation" is more correct since it's a direct conversion from solid to gas.  End of physics lesson!

Here in upstate NY, there is no need to preserve icicles, they literally grow on trees.

But for those visiting thermophiles, try a double ziplog bag, with a few drops of water in the outside bag.  You can keep hailstones or icicles for a year or more that way.

Norm; in your upgrading did you add insulation in walls, floor, ceiling or is the original CN product sufficient for these arctic expeditions? Brrrr.

​Charlie

I like squeaky snow because =14pxit usually means that it's cold out and no more snow is going to arrive anytime soon. jan and beginning of feb are like that but march snow, watch out. it can snow dense snow that weighs tons and is hard to move around...  dave, out.

The best commentary on Canadian weather was a couple years ago, we were passing thru Regina, Saskatchewan, mid-day but in a fierce blizzard.  The dispatcher instructed our head end crew to set out one of their engines in the new piggyback tracks at West Regina.  The conductor called back after about 30 minutes saying " I can't find the switch.  It is buried in the snow".  A while later, a front end loader arrived to slowly and carefully look for the switch.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/17 17:00 by aronco.