Canadian Railroads > Wainwright Sub Wednesday - Arrival at Unity, SK

I've spent several weeks posting Fabyan trestle, most recently on 2/07/18. In continuing eastward from Wainwright, we'd see Greenshields (posted 3/18/17), then Heath (several posts, most recent 3/04/17), and not too far east of Chauvin, you lose contact. Dropping down the AB/SK border, you connect with CP's Hardisty Sub at Macklin, MP 62.2, and follow that in to Unity on Highway 14. Just west of town, which is MP 20.8, CP flies over MP 64.1 on CN's Wainwright Sub (all mileage info courtesy of TSG); Unity West is MP 60.9, and Unity itself is MP 58.7. So on our 2015 road trip, we connected with CP at Macklin around 1330, and nothing moved on the Hardisty before sundown. CN was better. I can't get their numbers off the Google Map, but west of Unity, there is a pair of range roads that bracket the flyover; we drove in on the west one, hoping it would take us into the space between the two railroads, west of the flyover. Gated and posted road, no luck, so we parked and hiked in along CP on a blazing hot July 20, 2015.
1. First action at 1505 was an unidentified WB grain train, with 8946 and 5474 on the head end, and 8945 as the DPU pusher running backwards. The detector told us 686 axles, so we had 167 grain cars moving at 57 mph at 27 degrees. Lens set at 55 mm. As much canola as you see out west, I think this was my first decent shot showing a bright yellow field in the background.
2. Next up was EB grain empties #808 at 1611, behind 2159, 5723, 5699, and 5712. Almost made a perfect GMD consist, so the GE was a real disappointment. There were 708 axles, so 171 cars, at 48 mph; lens set at 34 mm. This is my desk top image at work; on a winter's day, or any day, what a wonderful summer image. Love the curves here; you see the train for miles, wrapping around the lakes. Saskatchewan is not all flat. As an afterthought, I would guess that much of what you see in these first few photos, and to be posted in future weeks, is gone in the intervening two-plus years, as those darned trees (poplars?) grow up so quickly, in this case in the wedge between the two rail lines west of the flyover. You can see already that they're nipping at the CN rails.
3. We walked back to the car, explored a little bit, and eventually settled on the range road east of the flyover. This overview (I like the next shot better) gives you a sense of the stretch to town and grain elevators in the distance, and Gordon Lake in the foreground. You can see the bluffs/cuts on the north side of CP's line, above CN. This is #315 at 1711, behind 2833 and 2842, with auto racks, tanks, and other mixed stuff; lens set at 72 mm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/18 19:38 by feclark.

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4. This is the one I really wanted, using the old shelter and fence for photo elements; same train, and you'll note how much higher CP's line has climbed, relative to CN, to make the flyover just west of here. Lens set at 55 mm. With apologies in advance to one of our veteran members (who shall remain unidentified unless they choose to reveal themselves) for "poaching" on their territory. With Google Maps and Satellite, it sure makes it easy to identify targets, although in fairness they had raved about the location to put it on our radar. More Unity to follow in subsequent weeks.
Fred

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Big sky and green grass make for good shots.

Ken

Nice images.

No snow...nicer!

611

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