Canadian Railroads > Westbound coal at Yellowhead Pass May 1973

A westbound coal train at Yellohead Pass May 1973.

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

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You know you're in low grade country when you can run a loaded coal train with just one dynamic brake equipped unit up front.

Great Black and White image!  

Also, interesting that only one unit has a dynamic brake, especially given the mountainous terrain.

Kirk

I like it.

I was also curious about Yellowhead Pass and had to look. For as rugged as the scenery is, it looks like the ruling grade is less than 0.4% on each side.

A couple of things I noticed here. Highway 16, the Yellowhead Highway was widened in the early 1970's, and the fill that was dumped opened up a series of shots of the adjacent CN.
The railway was double tracked in the 1980's.  The west mileboard for Geikie is visible, and also a feature from before radio is visible, a square car count marker on a telegraph pole. These started at 50 cars and went up to 100 in counts of 25. CN also put the boundaries of track worker (sections) on notices attached to the pole line.

Matching noodle-painted SD40s look very nice! Good impersonation of a mountain goat, too, perched on the rocks.
Fred

Superior contrast and tonal range....me love B/W photgraphy.