Canadian Railroads > Going, Going...

In the Vancouver area, the midpoint of October ushered in a change of seasons.  In this part of the country, we do not really get much of a 'traditional' western winter, but instead have an intermediate season between our short Autumn and Spring which consists of 5 months of perpetual rain, clouds, and gloom.  Above, an eastbound 13 car 'off season' consist of VIA's #2 "Canadian"  coasts through the current east end of contiguous double track on CN's busy Yale Subdivision at Glen Valley not long after sunset.

Three elements of this image are nearing the end of their lifespans.  The stainless steel Budd Car consist of the Canadian will be replaced in a few years by new equipment in Via's long distance fleet.  The end of double track here at Glen Valley is not long for this world either, with CN having been working for the past several years on connecting the double track line segments between Glen Valley and Abrahamson.  Lastly, the venerable GRS Searchlight Signals which have stood guard at this position for two decades since the double track was extended here will undoubtedly be replaced once the second main is put through.  At all of the recent control point changes in BC, CN has installed modern colour light signals.

This line handles all of the westbound traffic for both CN and CP to Vancouver's massive north shore port facilities, all of the coal traffic for both railroads through Vancouver, and all of the intermodal traffic for both railroads to and from the Deltaport/Roberts Bank Intermodal terminal.  In addition to this, the CN trains destined to, or from Thornton yard, and CN intermodal traffic from the 'South Shore' terminals, all use these rails.  

As train lengths increased over the past decade, the job of the CN Yale Sub RTC has increased in difficulty exponentially.  In the era of mile long trains, there was space to stage a train on either side of the 3.5 mile single track gap between Glen Valley (MP 94.5) to the west, and the brief resumption of double track at Abrahamson (MP 90.9) to the east.  Now that 10-12,000 foot long trains are the norm, there are no 'crossing friendly' locations in the 15 miles between Hampton (MP 110.7) and Glen Valley for trains to hold.  Meets between opposing trains require a fair bit of planning and coordination to avoid fouling the numerous suburban grade crossings along this stretch.  Eastbound trains are staged at Thornton Yard or nearby VIT intermodal yard, and released based on the RTC's best guess at timing to meet an opposing westbound on the roll before Glen Valley.  Often times you will hear coaching from the RTC to the eastbounds instructing them to 'drag their heels' or 'go for it' to adjust to the progress of their westbound meet partner on the roll.  To complicate matters further, all eastbound trains diverge onto CP's Cascade Subdivision as part of the directional running zone agreement 5 miles to the east of Glen Valley over the single track Mission Bridge.  The communications protocol between the two railroads is that the eastbound train crew contacts the CP RTC only after departing Thornton.  This often leads to situations where the CP RTC can't yet accept the eastbound onto their rails, and that train is forced to wait in the single track gap clogging up the whole line, as its the only crossing friendly space.  Needless to say, the massive financial investment to double track this section is long overdue, and well worth the money.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/24 12:20 by BoostedFridge.

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What a spectacular atmospheric post, and very informative, too. Superb.
Fred

Good stuff, interesting photograph.

My Vancouver photos are pre- Roberts Bank, I simply don't know how the old mains connect with the Port complex. Photos of the new era are interesting, quite a bit of change. Hang in there, Winter Solstice is on it's way.

t4p.

That's long been a problem section for CN. Back in steam days there were slow orders and low speed limits due to soft roadbed and slumping bluffs. There may even be a steamer in the river, or buried in the bank along there.

It'll be a big job to get the second track in between the river and the clay bluffs in there. I predict an increase in left-hand running through there to better accommodate trains diverging to the Mission bridge, as well as getting a straight shot to Roberts Bank without interfering with traffic coming out of Thornton.

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Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

feclark Wrote:
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> What a spectacular atmospheric post, and very
> informative, too. Superb.
> Fred

Thank you Fred!  I'm glad you liked it.

TCnR Wrote:
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> Good stuff, interesting photograph.
> My Vancouver photos are pre- Roberts Bank, I
> simply don't know how the old mains connect with
> the Port complex. Photos of the new era are
> interesting, quite a bit of change. Hang in there,
> Winter Solstice is on it's way.

Thanks Clive!  I'll put together some visual cues with images in a future post to help paint the picture of how current operations work in regards to the ports.

sarailfan Wrote:
> It'll be a big job to get the second track in
> between the river and the clay bluffs in there. I
> predict an increase in left-hand running through
> there to better accommodate trains diverging to
> the Mission bridge, as well as getting a straight
> shot to Roberts Bank without interfering with
> traffic coming out of Thornton.

I think you're exactly right about the potential for eastbounds primarily running on the north track.  Currently during the afternoon 'rush' of EB trains, any empty tracks at the VIT intermodal terminal get used to stage eastbounds.  The VIT tracks are all on the south side of the main tracks though, so if that practice continues, most EB would get crossed over at Hampton.

The work has been ongoing since 2021 though, with incredibly slow progress.  I believe the environmental oversight and processes being next to the river and fish bearing creeks are part of why the work seems to drag on compared to other projects.

Nice pic!!