Canadian Railroads > Inland Cement Cadomin Limestone Train Part 1 - On the Edson Sub

Some people are less interested than others in rolling stock, so the hopper cars are part of a companion post to follow. There are four shots to this post, from Monday, May 21.
1. My buddy and I are at the double track between Carvel and Duffield, where Range Road 30 stub ends at the tracks on the south side. I'd shot here a few years earlier, but a bit later in the day, and wanted to get the nosier light of earlier morning. Without knowing from the scanner what was coming (calling Wabamun and MP 45 was almost 10 miles west), we were pleasantly surprised to get #724, actually U724 (there are a lot of different 700-series trains listed in the TSG), the limestone train for Inland Cement that runs from Cadomin to Walker (according to the TSG; I'm going to guess it doesn't get in to Walker, but just goes direct to the Inland Cement plant at Bissell. Any information is welcome). This was at 0905, and the power is 2448 and 8920, and I never did get the info from the detector at MP 36, about where we are. The TSG says this is a daily operation, though I'd not seen it in the handful of days I'd been out on this stretch in the last couple of years. Backing up the 100 miles to Bickerdike would put this at 0700, neglecting time lost for any meets, so I wonder if this has a regular timing out of Cadomin, and is it generally too early to shoot and chase on the Foothills and Mountain Park Subs. Does anyone (e.g. tsokolan?) know? A morning EB is as good as it gets for chasing.
2. It had been preceded by an EB, and then another EB followed, and was held up as it passed us. Everything was working a little more slowly, as foremen held things from MP 32 to 26 or 28 (can't remember). It all resulted in lots of talk and information, so we knew 724 was being held for two WB. I really wanted a more open shot of the limestone train, near the east switch Carvel at Range Road 22. We pulled out of our first location and took to the Highway 770 overpass to get the passing meet with the first WB, #119 at 1031 behind leader 2310. The light was a bit iffy for the WB, but the overpass lit the top, and showed the limestone hoppers nicely.
3. We bailed to Range Road 22 for the second WB, not wanting to risk losing the stone train. That came at 1053, then 724 pulled at 1105, two hours after its arrival. The crew would not put on the lights, despite all my frantic hand motions pointing at the nose and ditch lights, until they were within a few feet of the crossing; drat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/18 09:40 by feclark.

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4. Once the next EB came through Carvel, we moved to Wabamun (yesterday's post), then out to Magnolia Bridge over the Yellowhead Highway, west of Gainford. First, #108 came through and stopped at Gainford, and was told it'd be there for two WB. First came #199, and it stopped at Evansburg (12,500') and would wait for two. Well, how is the RTC going to handle this? The next WB was only about 5000', so it was able to fit in at Entwistle (6530'). It turned out to be U725, the WB limestone empties from Edmonton to Cadomin, and an RTC's best friend when shorter sidings are needed for meets. Once the WB were in place, the two EB came through. The power is 2554 and 5649, at 1652, and again I wonder, is its timing regular, and would it be working down the Foothills and Mountain Park Subs in good afternoon light?

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