Canadian Railroads > Black Canyon Revisited

After shooting a couple of trains on BC Rail last Friday (that I posted below on Nov 11) I continued on to the Ashcroft area to see what was running in the Thompson Canyon. My intention was to try a couple of new spots including the CN/CP junction that serves as the east end of directional running in the Thompson and Fraser Canyons. The predicted nice weather didn’t exactly cooperate all weekend but I did manage to get a few images I’m happy with.

I’ll start with a look at the junction that CN calls Coho and CP calls Nepa. The two railways are side by side on the south side of the Thompson River and at relatively the same elevation. This made it the logical choice to create a junction allowing trains to cross over for directional running for 157 miles west of here to CN Matsqui and CP Mission. Normal traffic flow is westbound trains use CN and eastbound trains use CP between these two points.

1. CP stack train heads east from Nepa to Black Canyon with 8607 shoving on the rear. The crossover track allows eastbound CN trains to go from CP to CN here.

2. CN train 117 rolls through Coho westbound staying on CN rails all the way.

3. CN 8012 east takes the crossover from CP to CN.

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4. Empty CP coal train 8913 east negotiates the junction. On the right is the connecting track allowing westbound CP trains to cross over to CN.

5. CP 8769 west negotiates the crossover from CP to CN.

6. Immediately west of the Coho/Nepa junction both railways have sidings named Basque. On CP around the corner west of Basque is this view of an eastbound CN train along the bluffs. That’s the CN sixth crossing of the Thompson River in the background.


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7. Just east of the junction we see CP9634 heading west with loads of glycol on the head end.

8. A few minutes later CN class unit SD70I #5600 leads GE Dash 8-40CM #2450 and recently acquired ex-BNSF C40-8W now CN 2159 from the Black Canyon towards Coho.

9. Later in the day CP SD40-2 #5794 pulls 20 loads of ballast from the pit at Walhachin and heads west towards Vancouver.



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10. Sunday morning CN train 301 negotiates the black bluffs at mile 52.3 of the Ashcroft Sub.

11. About 10 cars back in train 301 was this coach heading to the West Coast Railway Association in Squamish.

12. After meeting train 301 at Coho, CN 2698 runs along the black canyon walls at MP 52.



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13. East of Ashcroft at MP44 on CP’s Thompson Sub CP 8759 leads empty sulphur hoppers eastward.

14. Between McAbee and Ashcroft CN train 101 makes its way west over the fourth crossing of the Thompson River just minutes after the CP sulphur train had passed this location. An early snowfall leaves its mark on the landscape.


I hope you enjoyed my visit to one of my favourite places to railfan.

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Nice set of photos!

Did you go down the pumphouse road at the ginsing farm to see the CN bridge.tunnel combo? This is a couple kms north of Nepa. Or is public access no longer allowed there?

I've been down there once (in 2001), the memory of the bridge truss shadows being projected onto the canyon wall by the locomotive headlight is still fresh and stunning. (After dark).

Here's the site on Google's aerial photo, https://maps.google.com/?ll=50.663805,-121.310434&spn=0.005536,0.010418&t=h&z=17
The pumphouse is compass south of the CN bridge, and across the river.

Thanks for sharing,
Ted in OR

Did "we" have to trespass on Indian (excuse me - First Nations] land to get any of these shots?

Rick

What a set of pictures, excellent work Ken!

This is a very sought after location, very dramatic scenery and lots of good photo angles. I'm also curious what the access 'issues' were or may have been. The First Nation folks have some great scenery on their side of the fence.

Very nice.......I worked as an Engineer on this territory since 1975......still going and still love the road and all the great scenery from Vancouver to Kamloops....CN and CP.

rschonfelder Wrote:
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> Did "we" have to trespass on Indian (excuse me -
> First Nations] land to get any of these shots?
>
> Rick


Natives I talked to in the past did not have any issue with me leaving footprints. In fact the last one I asked about crossing the land said thats what the land is there for.

Photos at the Nepa/Coho junction were accessed along the fence from Basque and I had permission.

Access to the overlook on the north side of the river at the oxbow in the Black Canyon is granted through the rancher working the land. I did not go there this trip as I was looking for new locations.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos.

cp1400

Now that is an impressive series of photos. Well done.
John

Every tribe is different with its laws

A very nice album of photos! Love the trackwork and searchlight signals and the very dramatic setting. Thanks for taking me somewhere I'm not likely to get to.

Tom

Kinda scary how much sense that makes.

> -----
... asked about crossing the land said thats
> what the land is there for.
>

Thanks for posting.

OUTSTANDING set of pics!!!!! Thanks for sharing.