WESTERN:Andy Cassidy caught the BNSF local coming over the Fraser River Bridge from New Westminster with BNSF 2726 and 2084. BNSF 2726 is an EMD GP39-2 equipped with a Turbocharged 12 cylinder 645E3 engine producing 2300 HP. BNSF 2084 is an EMD GP38-2 equipped with a Roots Blown 16 cylinder 645E engine producing 2000 HP. They are seen pulling a small train west off the bridge into the Brownsville yard. The Bridge has three legs off the south end. The East leg is CN, the Centre leg is SRY, and the West leg is BNSF. The shots here are from the East side. There is a lot of traffic going over this bridge on a daily basis and upgrading the trestle works has begun at the south end of the bridge, replacing the wood structure with concrete and steel.
After shooting the BNSF power coming off the bridge, Andy snapped the SRY switching one of the industries on Timberland Road. The SRY mainline comes straight off the Fraser River Bridge and runs south following Scott Road. Just off the bridge, it switches back north to service the local industries below the bridge in the Brownsville BC Area, crisscrossing under and over the neighbouring CN and BNSF lines along the way. A short train of bulkhead flats with lumber being handled by SRY GP9’s 124, 129, with SW900 907 sandwiched between. For those who may not be aware, an SW900 is equipped with an EMD 8 cylinder 900 HP Roots blown engine, whereas a SW9 is equipped with an EMD 12 cylinder 1200 HP Roots blown engine. Sometimes people get confused on these. The GP9's of course having EMD 16 cylinder 1750 HP Roots blown engines. Bringing up the rear of the local is SRY “van” A5. The SRY is the only railway left in this area that still employs cabooses.
Andy also snapped this good looking SRY set switching the east end of Trapp Yard in New Westminster, BC with SRY GP9 122 and and Slug (ex-SW900) SRY 001. Prior to the slug rebuild it was the Howe Sound Pulp & Paper 950-001.
On April 26, 2011 White Pass & Yukon Rotary Snowplow #1 pushed by 2-8-2 #73 and 2-8-0 #69 makes steady progress two miles into British Columbia between Summit and Fraser near MP 22. Needing to open their line in time for the first cruise ship of the season on May 6 the WP&Y invited railfans to photograph the rotary snowplow in action. One of the veteran crew members that operates #1 is retiring this year and the plow was run to help in training others. The event was a spectacular success for the 17 railfans that attended and the WP&Y may consider running a similar event in the future. Photographer Ken Storey wrote that he chased the train over a mile on snowshoes to get this photo! Certainly, well worth the effort!
Great Western Railway (GWRS)
On April 30th, CP delivered two ex-BNSF B40-8W's, 563 and 575 to the Great Western Railway of Saskatchewan in Assiniboia that were purchased from Stirling Rail Equipment in Texas two months ago. Ken McCutcheon clicked GWR 2004 and graffiti free 575 and 563 on the shop track May 15th. The week of May 23rd one of the pair of ex-BNSF units made their first revenue trip.
Prairie Mines and Royalty Ltd leased GMTX SD40-2 6973 (ex-ONR 1731) is not operating well and in need of rebuilding and will be returned to the USA. However, PM&R is awaiting the delivery of a replacement unit before sending the 6973 back. On April 30th CITX 3101 arrived Assiniboia via CP, and was thought to be the replacement unit, but this proved incorrect and currently leased to CP. Replacement power in the form of JLCX SD40-2 5643 is enroute from Vancouver to PMR.
This ex-CP baggage car for Ogema, Saskatchewan's new tourist railway was photographed by. As mentioned in CRO two months ago, the Southern Prairie Railway is Saskatchewan's first tourist railway. This baggage car was built by Canadian Car & Foundry in Montreal, QC for Canadian Pacific Railway as Baggage-Express car CP 4747 in 1952. In 1978 this car became surplus to passenger service and was downgraded to Railway Service Equipment (RSE), renumbered CP 404925 and assigned as a cable car to the heavy auxiliary crane at Moose Jaw, SK. As well a coach currently in Minneapolis and should be across the Canadian border very shortly.
In mid-May NREX GP40 5517 was at the CN Symington Diesel Shop. The pale yellow coloured unit is destined to The Pas, MB for use on the Hudson Bay Railway. The (3000 HP) NREX GP40 5517 is ex-CNW 5517 exx-CR/PC 3028 nee-NYC 3028 with frame #7831-29 Oct 1965}.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2019740 In late May, NREX GP15-1 1498 was sitting at the CN Symington Diesel Shop destined for lease to the Hudson Bay Railway (HBRY). The ex BNSF/BN/SLSF (Frisco) unit is painted the same pale yellow with black underframe (as is the 5517 posted above and sent up to the HBRY last week). The Frame number of NREX 1498 is 767076-24. Nearing completion at VMV shop in Paducah Kentucky is Neptune Bulk Terminals new “Slug Set” numbered NREX 805 and 805A and should be in transit in early June In May Norm Shurygalo was first to send shots of the two Stewart Southern Railway GE’s (1009-1010) with repainted handrails and sporting new SSR lettering. Seen here in Fillmore, Saskatchewan, they look almost rogue with no cab side numbers.
ONTARIO: Ontario Southland Railway (OSRX) RS 23 503 and RS18 182 are doing what MLW/Alco's do as they leave Beachville Ontario. The pair had just completed switching out some cars and headed next to Ingersoll Ont. 5-12-2011
The Ontario Southland Railway acquired an acre of land next to their property to allow for more trackage and an extension to the Salford Shop. In mid-May, Tim Ball noted a variety of OSRX power at the Salford Shop in May 2011, including OSRX GP9 383, S6 500, S13 501, RS23 502, and even M420W 644 getting started up! Tim also clicked OSRX RS18u 182 and GP9 378 in their TH&B (maroon and cream) inspired livery out on the road.
Later that day Tim caught two units at the Trillium Railway Yard in Tillsonburg: Ex-CP RS18u 1842 acquired from the old Ottawa Central Railway, and HR412 3582 that was used on the Timber Train tourist operation that ran out of Mattawa, ON.
Ontario Northland Railway Motive Power:Listing of Active ONR units as of May 5th, 2011; SD40-2’s 1730, 1733, 1734 and 1735 GP38-2’s 1800, 1801, 1802, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1808 and 1809 GP40-2’s 2200, 2201 and 2202 SD75-I’s 2103, 2104 and 2105 GP9’s 1601, 1603, 1604 and 1605 GP9 1600 is currently on lease to a paper mill in Northern Ontario. ONR 2100, 2102, and 1737 have been written off after the wash out derailment on the Temagami Sub last month.
At Mile 140 on the CN Newmarket Sub, Wayne D. Shaw clicked the southbound Northlander with the ever-regal 1805 at Martins Siding In Huntsville, Ontario. This used to be the location of a previous siding known as Mallard Siding, long since removed with the passage of time leaving very little evidence of it ever being there. Mallard siding was only about half of Martins 4710 feet in length making it defunct once Martins was constructed to handle the increasing freight train lengths? Nowadays 4710 feet isn't enough to handle really long trains but since there is little traffic on this line anymore, and of what there is only one of two meeting trains would ever be longer than the siding, it suffices. The longer train will pull through the siding holding short of the far switch and allow the opposing train (typically a Northlander on the rare occasions it happens) to pull into the siding. Once the switch has been re-aligned for the main the freight will carry on its way allowing the passenger to exit the other end.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=362933
On May 17th Wayne caught the southbound Northlander led by GP40-2 2200 move up a slight grade between Aspdin Road and Lake Vernon on their way to a meet with northbound CN 595 at Martins, ON.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=363749
The Canadian Pacific Track Evaluation Train was back on the ONR System performing the annual inspection of ONR's Mainline Trackage. Ordered for 14:30 May 18th, Work "CP 3060" inspected the Temagami Subdivision and part of the Ramore Subdivision (North Bay to Swastika), then the Kirkland Lake Subdivision (Swastika to Rouyn, Quebec). After inspecting the Ramore Sundivision (Swastika to Timmins) and Devonshire Subdivision (Porquis to Cochrane), the consist of GP38-2 3060, Accomodation Car #68, "Guage Restraint Measurement Vehicle" CP 424993, and Track Evaluation Car #63 tied down at Cochrane Yard's "Van Siding"on May 19th for the Victoria Day Weekend. On May 24th inspections continued on the Kapuskasing Subdivision (Cochrane to Kapuskasing) and Island Falls Subdivision (Cochrane to Moosonee). The long Weekend tie down at Cochrane allowed Mike Robin to get some detail shots of the equipment.
James Lalande uploaded over 200 photos of the April 12th ONR wreck at Mile 16.6 on the Temagami sub. He suggests you try the slideshow view first as it will take you through the progessive views of the derailment site, clean up preparations, car removal, right of way restoration and unit recoveries. You will notice in one shot a partially submerged CN boxcar in what was left of the flood waters on the north side of the road bed. The photos progress over the six days the line was closed finishing with the recovery of 2100 while mother nature unleashed all the nastiness she could to make things miserable in the way of 21cm of record snowfall for that day in April. There are many remarkable shots that will give you a better appreciation for the terrorizing ride the crew must have endured not to mention the conditions the cleanup crews had to contend with. http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/Brutus_231/ONR%20units/WreckRecovery/ Algoma Central Vignette: When the WC first bought the ex VIA F's for Agawa Canyon service they tended to stay in passenger service, even during the peak fall color season when the tour train could run up to 30 cars. During Sept. and early Oct. it wasn't uncommon to find five F's struggling along on these monsters. That only lasted a couple of years though as the F's were having failures and WC started to use SD40-2/SD45/F45/FP45/GP40 units during the fall color season. This train 4 has 1751, 1754, 1752, 1755, 1750 leading the tour train southbound passing Searchmont station on September 18th 1996. Chuck Schwesinger photo with thanks.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=363421&nseq=113 QUEBEC:Now off lease, Quebec–Gatineau (QGRY) has sent two of their leased units, GMTX GP38-2 2644 and 2646, to the Hudson Bay Railway (HBRY) for service. They were interchanged on April 26th to CN at Allenby, (Quebec City), for their move west.
On May 4th, Quebec-Gatineau moved two other units now off lease GMTX GP38-2’s 2639 and 2645, to the CN Interechange at Allenby for return to the USA.
Waybilled to the Port of Becancour, QC from Metro-East Industries in East St. Louis. CEFX 2017 and 2026 were noted in the CN yard at Du Quoin, Illinois May 12th. CEFX GP20D’s 2017 and 2026 are enroute to the Arnaud Railway at Sept Iles, QC, to join to other GP20D’s all ready there to replace two or three QNS&L SD40-3’s that were used there. The CEFX pair moved separateluy on M 37091 15 IC 2697 CN 2512 CEFX 2017 and on M 39671 14 CN 2673 CN 2641 CEFX 2026 in May..
Now owned by Arcelor Mittal, Quebec Cartier Mining (QCM) is disposing of four MLW’s that have been in storage for about two years. Three QCM M636’s and one RS18 were put up for sale two months ago, and have been purchased by a scrapper. The Alco’s are expected to be moved off the Cartier around press time.
http://www.tamr.org/Andy_Inserra/quebec_cartier_mining_railway.htm
In mid-May Arcelor Mittal announced a $2 billion investment for their extensive mining project in Port Cartier and Mont Wright, translating to more Canadian jobs, and more ore car loads! Maxime Boule clicked Roberval & Saguenay “Super 7” B23-7S #50 at CN Taschereau Yard (Montreal) on March 2oth sent two CADRAIL in Lachine, Quebec for repairs.
Lorence Toutant clicked
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. subsidiary Western Labrador Rail Services (WLRS), have a long-term rail service agreement with Labrador Iron Mines (LIM), a subsidiary of Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited. Under the terms of the Agreement, WLRS will operate LIM's recently constructed six-kilometer railway, which connects LIM's Silver Yards processing facility in western Labrador to Tshiuetin Rail Transportation (TSH), a privately owned rail line that runs from Schefferville, QC to Emeril Junction, QC. WLRS will provide and operate up to five locomotives that will also be used by TSH to haul unit trains of iron ore to Emeril Junction. The iron ore will then travel over a third privately owned railway to port facilities in Sept-Iles on the St. Lawrence River for export to the seaborne iron ore market. Operations are expected to commence in May 2011. WLRS is part of the G&W family of shortlines and provides rail service to mining companies operating in Labrador and the Quebec North Shore.
About Labrador Iron Mines: LIM's Schefferville Area project involves the development of twenty direct shipping iron ore deposits in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec near Schefferville, Quebec. The Company's properties are part of the historic Schefferville area iron ore district where mining of adjacent deposits was previously carried out by the Iron Ore Company of Canada from 1954 to 1982. LIM contemplates mining in stages, the first phase of Stage 1 comprising the James and Redmond deposits where mining has already commenced and construction of the Silver Yards processing plant has been completed.
We have this update on
the Charlevoix Railway equipment at the Jonquiere yard: Six cars
(Gallery Coaches) are outdoors and two more are inside the shop in
early May, presumably for paint. The two “Pennsylvania” stainless
coaches are out back and blocked up with their trucks were removed.
One RS18u was behind the car shop with a baggage car , but nothing has
been done to them yet. Another baggage car was at the Roberval
Saguenay RR yard in Arvida where the other RS18u is in storage due to
lack of space in the Jonquiere yard. In mid-May we learned the opening
date has been postponed from September 2011 to Spring 2012.
EASTERN: In May, Montreal Maine & Atlantic conveyed 230-miles of little used branchlines to the Eastern Maine Railway. New Brunswick Southern Railway (NBSR) is getting four HELM (ex-UP) GP38-3s; (HLCX 906, 909, 913, and 917). The quartet is to arrive in early June and will be repainted NBSR green. Three NBSR GP38-2’s 2317-2319 stenciled “Owned by Eastern Maine Railway” will be sent to Northern Maine including NBSR GP38-2 “mother” 2318 which is mated to NBSR slug #008 (ex-CN 519) After moving across the country in April, the flat car with famous steam engine “Dunrobin” and the Duke of Sutherland's private coach arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on (DPU equipped) CN train #120 May 1st. Just before 09:00 May 2nd the flat car with the locomotive was parked by itself, just opposite the old carman's shanty in Rockingham, NS. It was moved to the pier at 12:30 the same day. The tank engine and carriage left aboard the ACL ship ATLANTIC COMPANION May 10th arriving in Liverpool a week later. Jeff Keddy submitted these shots of the “Dunrobin” and its accompanying carriage as they passed through Winnipeg on CN April 22nd from Ft. Steele, BC.
Here are web links pertaining to the "Dunrobin" steam locomotive. http://www.heritagerailway.co.uk/news/dunrobin-purchased-by-beamish-museum http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2084036
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