Canadian Railroads > Sightseer Sunday - Rocky Mountaineer and Meet at Skoonka Sheds

Last week I posted a couple of shots of the WB Rocky Mountaineer, train #609, at Ashcroft on July 10, 2002 (https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4698670). We took up the chase, to shoot it at the Skoonka slide sheds and tunnels, west of Spences Bridge coming up to Seddall. The mileages for tunnels and sheds are courtesy of the Canadian Trackside Guide. They list three tunnels and one shed, although a couple of the tunnels are extended by additional slide shed work.
1. Two years earlier, we'd shot the same train here, setting up closer to river level, and a bit more limited (see post from February 25, 2018 at https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4495589). This time, we were just off the Transcanada Highway, for a more elevated perspective. This is 8011 and an unidentified sister unit, at 1005, through the first tunnel, MP 80.2, coming up to the stand-alone concrete slide shed, MP 80.3.
2. More broadside, now through the shed and approaching the second tunnel, MP 80.4; lots of concrete work to make this happen.
3. Running away from the second tunnel now, about to enter the third tunnel, MP 80.5. You'll see how both tunnels have extensive slide shed extensions, with little exposed ROW between them. Note the optimist's orange plastic fencing high on the mountain side above; it took a few years for this to be reduced to a few dangling shreds. The fourth photo finishes the coverage, and shows the meet of sorts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/19 15:13 by feclark.

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4. As the WB Rocky Mountaineer exited the third tunnel on CN's Ashcroft Sub, an EB CN freight, #416, pulled through Drynoch on CP's Thompson Sub for a visual meet, at least. The east switch Drynoch is to the left, just past where CP goes under the highway. The power on 416 was 5302, GCFX 6063, and CN 5422, at 1006. We pulled out and dashed back to Ashcroft, because another CN EB had gone through 10 minutes earlier. We caught them both from the same high vantage point used for the photos in last week's post. Note again the extended tunnel.
Fred

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Great catch.  Thanks for sharing images and commentary.

Ronnie
Amarillo TX