Canadian Railroads > Wainwright Wednesday - Low Velocity on the Parking Lot, 17 Shot

Last Wednesday, April 3, I got a rare chance. A Chinese geology student friend came to North America on his Easter break from Zurich, and rode The Canadian from Toronto, Sunday through early Wednesday (arrival around 0100, over four hours late). I picked him up from his hotel around 1115, and we got out to the Wainwright by noon, at the MP 245.63 crossing of Township Road 524. What I wanted more than anything was to get him out to the Battle River trestle near Fabyan, especially as he had come through in the dark and not seen it. This is an 18-shot post; sorry.
1. Signals showed clear on the north track, for WB, but that could have been lined up for something as far away as Tofield. We started driving east on Highway 630, and saw lit signals coming up to DeVille Community Hall. So I turned around and got us back to Range Road 210, MP 242.06. At 1213, grain train #811 came through behind 2235 and 5614, without ambushing us if we'd continued driving. We got on the road again, and I took him in to Lindbrook via Range Road 194. We heard #116 and #119 giving each other the roll by, so I knew we were in tight, as this would have happened near Tofield. Sadly, 119 was on the crossing already, but my friend got shots out the window of 53' containers (new to him) and a DPU pusher, also new to him.
2. Out to Highway 14 and heading eastward, we had just cleared Holden on the east side and saw headlights very close. I was able to get turned around (a theme here) and to the west side access to Holden. CN 3293, 3202, and 3899 were on the point of frac sand train #771 at 1257.
3. We had passed the old elevator at Shonts, MP 220, so I had no trouble persuading him we should head out quickly and get this train passing a structure he would not have shot before. This is the same train, at 1308. I was able to add DPU pusher 3135 to the observations.

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4. Back on the road, heading east toward Fabyan, once again headlights caught us by surprise, just east of Holden. The quick turnaround got us stopped in time for my friend, but I only got the going-away shot of #347, lumber empties and other stuff, behind 8957 at 1330. DPU 8829 was assisting, a total of 620 axles (152 cars) doing 30 mph.
5. Before we got to Torlea and Viking, more WB headlights appeared, and we pulled in at Range Road 144/MP 194.98, to shoot 3886 on the point of a WB stack train at 1354. The DPU pusher was 2818, the temperature was 5 degrees C, axles 460, speed 28 mph.
6. Swimming against the current, still hoping to get to the trestle at Fabyan, headlights just east of Viking announce another WB. It wasn't moving quickly, and we had no trouble setting up across from the old station. I'm happy to shoot 2794 (ex-CREX) coming up to the water tower, which still bears the Canadian Centennial logo from 1967. Time is 1415, mileage is 184.5. We'll see this train parked, many hours later and not much further west.

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7. We knew from scanner talk earlier that there were only two EB in any sort of range for the trestle in daylight. One was 402, which I expected would be switching at Torlea/Viking (which it did, as we learned), and the other was 808. On the way to Fabyan, I took my friend in on Range Road 111, just east of Kinsella, to see and photograph the beaver lodge in the lake south of the tracks. He then asked what the plan was. Would we walk up on the embankment to shoot a train? I said no, this is not 'The Trestle.' We headed out from under this short bridge, ready to turn onto Highway 14 at the stop sign. I heard #115 announce clear to stop at Kinsella, south track, but before I could even turn around and get back on the right side of things, there it was, behind 3845 at 1449. This is not yet MP 171 (Kinsella); we'll see this train, stopped, on the way home.
8. I didn't note the time, but we finally made the Battle River Trestle, sometime between 1515 and 1530, as I recall. At last, lunch. My friends eyes grew wide at the sight of the trestle, 2775' long and 195' above the valley floor. What was relatively new to him was the steel construction; he's more familiar with stone viaducts and such from Europe and England. To him, the day was made, even if we saw no trains on it. At last, horns in Fabyan announced the arrival of a WB, in this case #313. Led by 8942 and 2710, this tank train arrived at 1623, at 9 degrees, 632 axles, 155 cars, doing 40 mph. I had switched to monochrome mode because of the high cloud cover, and sun angle having swung around. It was a good decision. This train called clear to stop, take siding at Irma just over 8 miles away, so we were confident we'd get an EB for my friend. It would just take patience with the two-way travel time between Irma and the trestle.
9. The cloud bank had started clearing, and the sun was out on a tight angle, so I stuck with monochrome. This is EB grain empties #808, behind 8935 and 8916 at 1659. My friend thought this was just brilliant, to have gotten two freights on the trestle. The valley and scenery really made an impression on him, too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/24 19:37 by feclark.

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10. Now for something new to me. We were driving west and hoping to eventually overtake #313. It was stationary, not at Irma, but a bit west at a new piece of double track that had been constructed a few years earlier. This runs between Jarrow and Kirby, and there's a grade crossing with lights and arms, and good views. This is one of the crew of 313, who'd popped out of his train for the runby. In the distance on the south track (near camera) is 402, having completed its work at Viking. Running around it on the north track is 104, which will use the crossover soon.
11. The crossover is just west of the grade crossing; you can make out that geometry. The lights were dimmed until just before the crossing, when we got full headlights and ditch for the crossing. As soon as it was occupied, lights were killed for the meet. Video possibilities, I guess. CN 2862 is on the point of stack train 104 at 1748, assisted by DPU 8962 cut into the train. My friend was fascinated by these.
12. Once the tail end of 104 cleared, the crew reboarded and 313 began its pull at 1754.

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13. I had a bit of time to relocate, west of the crossing, and shot 402 at 1758. Power was 8845 and 2295, leading a motley assortment of cars. We had to wait for the train to pass before we could get back on Highway 14 and start the chase of 313. We were not helped by a slow vehicle doing less than 80 kph on the 100 limit road. We were almost to Viking before we passed the head end, and then were stuck with looking for an option on the west side of town. An unidentified stack train was sitting in the siding at Torlea, immediately west of town, and 313 was coming to a stop.
14. This is 313 crawling down the main at Torlea at 1829. The west switch to the siding is open, because #111 out of Kinsella is going to run around it. That won't happen until the EB stack clears Kinsella. So at this point, 313 has come just under 40 miles in two hours. That's 20 mph, and it's going to get worse. What velocity? What PSR?
15. We take too much time here, but the light is gorgeous and there are some neat opportunities. At least you know where this is: Range Road 133, MP 187. After enough of this faff [British term, I may have spelled it incorrectly], we realize we had better keep going. We're over 80 miles from home.

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16. By now as no surprise, we see the tail end of #115 and eventually reach the head end near the west switch Bruce at 1853. CN 3845 is in control of lots of empty platforms, having covered roughly 31 miles in just over 4 hours. Velocity (speed, really) is under 8 mph and dropping while the train waits.
17. Resuming our drive home, signals suggest the imminent arrival of something, and the headlights confirm it when #102 reaches Range Road 155 at 1859, behind 3334. No DPU!
18. The last train of the day for shooting is our WB train with auto racks that we shot at Viking earlier. The location is MP 214, the west switch of Russett just east of Ryley, and the time is 1924. That means CN 2794 has come 28 miles in 5 hours and 10 minutes. You can do the math, but that's barely above walking speed.
It was a fruitful day. My friend was so appreciative of the chance to chase trains, monitor them on a scanner (you'd guess this is not done in China), and see some railway engineering. The scale of freights is not what he's used to. We shot 17 train movements (or standstills) and saw three more trains, in a bit less than 8 hours. For him, the trip was well worth it. Thanks for looking.
Fred
 

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Excellent photos made even better by the back story! The Battle River trestle scenes are amazing.
Bob

Excellent series and narrative.

Larry

Nice pics!!

i always look forward to these wainright images.  thanks for posting.............

66

Nice series!  The monochrome images at the trestle are great.  As always, I appreciate your narratives and backstory details.

Always enjoy your Wainwright material. I followed it on my drive back from Alaska in 2019, got some photos at several of the places above, including the big trestle.

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

Compare Photo #10 with the very last photo, and look at the signal masts:

--the new SAFETRANS signal heads are askew, and don't line up above one another.........and the other signal mast is tilting.  And this is a new installation.  What gives with these new signals??!

--meanwhile, the old searchlight signals are mounted "square and true", not tilting.  Better quality and installation work, and I think searchlights required that due to their movable lens system.  Looks WAY more professional.

coach Wrote:
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> Compare Photo #10 with the very last photo, and
> look at the signal masts:
>
> --the new SAFETRANS signal heads are askew, and
> don't line up above one another.........and the
> other signal mast is tilting.  And this is a new
> installation.  What gives with these new
> signals??!
>
> --meanwhile, the old searchlight signals are
> mounted "square and true", not tilting.  Better
> quality and installation work, and I think
> searchlights required that due to their movable
> lens system.  Looks WAY more professional.

Your point is well made. Sometime on a Wainwright trip I'll have to shoot the signal base installation between Lindbrook and Tofield that looks like a horror show waiting to happen. They added road bed in the double-tracking procedure, but the slope doesn't look stable at all. The LockBlock [sp?] base for the signal installation is badly compromised. Some day ...
Fred