Occasional Canadian photos, mostly from Vancouver area

[pH]

We were back in New Westminster this morning. While my wife went shopping for sewing material, I had a look round the railyard.

 

Here's a CN freight heading east out of the yard. SD70I #5622 leading SD75I #5729: 

 

 

The head of this train consisted of loaded autoracks. Trailer Train own the flatcars under these cars, but individual railways/railroads own the racks built on the flatcars. There seems to be complete mixing of this type of car. In addition to the local CP and CN, this train contained racks from (at least) BNSF, UP, Conrail(!), NS, CSX, KCS (Kansas City Southern), FEC (Florida East Coast), Ferromex and TFM(Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana).

 

This being Western Canada, there were a lot of grain cars in the yard, including a batch with EFCX reporting marks, which I've not seen before.

 

 

They have obviously been Canadian Wheat Board cars at some time - turns out, they appear to be Wheat Board cars again! The previous Canadian government 'downsized' the CWB, and part of this process was to re-assign (give?) CWB-owned cars to Canadian Pacific (CPWX cars) and CN (CNWX cars). Apparently, some cars have now gone back from CP to the Wheat Board, using  this EFCX mark, newly assigned to the Wheat Board.

[pH]

How's this for an "industrial" locomotive?

 

 

My son visits mines in Saskatchewan as part of his job. He was at the Poplar River mine near Coronach yesterday, and took the photograph. The output of the mine goes by rail to a SaskPower thermal station nearby.

 

The locomotive is a SD32ECO, rebuilt from what was initially an Ontario Northland SD40-2. There's an unusual structure at the end of the long hood. I can't work out what it might be for:

 

 

The PRMX reporting mark is interesting - I can't find it in any list of AAR reporting marks. The railway name is 'Prairie Mines and Royalty', so you might expect it to be PMRX, and that does exist. However, it doesn't appear to be anything to do with the railway - it's registered to Progress Rail Leasing Corp. Should this be in the 'Prototype for everything' topic - a locomotive with a non-existent mark? 

Edited November 16, 2016 by pH

[pH]

A trip using the new Evergreen Line of Skytrain to the BNSF depot in New Westminster. This is where engines off BNSF trains from Seattle lay over between duties.

 

Today's big surprise - Norfolk Southern C40-8W #8318:

 

 

coupled to BNSF ES44C4 #8065:

 

 

Difficult to get accurate colours shooting into a strong sun, but here is BNSF GP50 #3191, still in Santa Fe yellow and blue:

 

 

A head-on shot shows BNSF GP40M #3010 in Cascade green beside #3191. #3010 was put into service as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy GP40 #186 in December 1966, so it's 50 years old.

 

 

 

[pH]

And the chap kneeling devoutly in front of it

 

It's indeed quite unusual to see an NS unit that far west  in Canada, even when NS and CP seem to have some cooperation agreement. I'm aware of "engine equation" arrangements, to compensate running hours as a result of running rights over various railroads, so BNSF may have the NS unit on their system for a while yet..

I thought he was kneeling, too, when I first looked at what I had taken. But if you look closer, you'll see the horizontal bit is a bag - you can see the handle. He was the conductor on the NS/BNSF set and was lining the switch to park them in front of the caboose on the left.

 

I don't think the NS unit is "far west  in Canada", but more "far north on BNSF", since that's the way it would have arrived in New Westminster. I have never seen an NS unit on CP in the Vancouver area, but that's the third one I can remember seeing on BNSF. I would agree that it's almost certainly paying off horsepower hours, since none of the BNSF trains to New Westminster are run-throughs off NS - they all originate in states on the US west coast.

[paulbb]

There is a New Westminster station on the Skytrain Expo line in Vancouver - would that get me to the Railroad yard photographed above?

[pH]

There is a New Westminster station on the Skytrain Expo line in Vancouver - would that get me to the Railroad yard photographed above?

It would be a long walk from New Westminster station, but interesting, since you could be beside railway tracks all the way, depending on your route.

 

The large raised concrete structure appearing in all the pictures is the Skytrain track and the yard is between two other stations on the Expo line. In the second picture in that post, the one of BNSF #8065, Braid station is actually hidden by the engines. And in the last picture, the one of #3191 and #3010, the structure spanning the tracks in the background is Sapperton station.

[Parthia27]

I follow some of the PNW BNSF railfanning sites and there always seems to be s trickle of NS and CSX units heading to from Seattle so it is not too far a stretch for a unit to go north via Everett to New Westminster. Good catch whatever and I love the fact that you have former ATSF EMD power in the snow!

 

Chris

Edited December 18, 2016 by Parthia27

[pH]

A couple of the rapidly-disappearing Prairie grain elevators, in Wakaw Saskatchewan. These are being replaced by fewer, much larger, concrete structures. This means grain is trucked longer distances to elevators, and branch lines are being closed as a result.

 

 

There were a couple of locomotives here - it would appear the elevator does its own switching, which is not too unusual at the larger ones. However, the engines themselves were (I thought) remarkable. They are FURX engines, previously Norfolk Southern engines with the same numbers:

 

 

 

They are labelled "GP38-2", but they are a bit unusual. They were built as Norfolk and Western GP38ACs and converted to GP38-2s. Because of that, they are missing the oval sight glass on the right side of the long hood, a pretty definitive spotting feature for Dash 2 locomotives.

 

The temperature when I took the pictures was minus22C, and the engines were not running. I presume they had had the cooling systems drained, since EMD engines do not like cold weather - as far as I know, there is no antifreeze in the older engines.

[pH]

Canadian Pacific U3c class 0-6-0 #2166 at the Western Heritage Museum in Saskatoon. Apologies for the pretty carp cellphone picture.

 

 

Built by CP in 1905, sold out of service to the Manitoba and Saskatchewan Coal Company in 1947, retired by them in 1966/7 and preserved.

 

We visited the museum with our two and a half year old granddaughter. She loved the place, there are quite a few hands-on exhibits, and her favourite was this locomotive! You can get into the cab, various handles and levers can be moved - and all of them were. We had to take a final walk to the back of the building to climb into the cab "one more time, Granda" before we left the museum.  

 

 

[mikjd]

"They are labelled "GP38-2", but they are a bit unusual. They were built as Norfolk and Western GP38ACs and converted to GP38-2s. Because of that, they are missing the oval sight glass on the right side of the long hood, a pretty definitive spotting feature for Dash 2 locomotives."

 

      Just a shame they didn't retain the high hoods  .........

 

 

 

Mick.

[pH]

BC Rail was absorbed by Canadian National in 2004. Most of the BC Rail locomotives taken over by CN are still in their original colours (though getting more faded all the time) and are used all over the CN system, coast to coast in Canada, and down into the US. Here is C40-8M #4625 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in October 2016.  

 

 

The photo was taken through the window glass of a moving car, using a cellphone camera, by my daughter-in-law. Given that, I think it's a pretty good picture.

Edited February 6, 2017 by pH

[pH]

A shot from an overbridge in Vancouver this afternoon:

 

 

This is a Skytrain on the Millenium Line, running beside the BNSF-owned, but CN-operated main line into Vancouver.

 

Less than a minute later, this passed underneath:

 

 

I meant to take a longer-distance shot, but finger (and brain) problems meant I got this top-down picture. CN C44-9Ws  #2562 and #2552 on containers. I have no idea why they would have the nose door open - while it wasn't as cold as it's been for several weeks, it certainly wasn't warm. Incidentally, the gradient the train is going down, on the last 2 miles into Vancouver, is the steepest gradient on the whole CN cross-Canada route.  

 

 

[pH]

A good 3 or 4 hours chasing trains today. I started off at New Westminster, on Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). Here’s a view over the New Yard at New West, with a good variety of cars in the yard. GP38-2 #2000 in the centre of the picture was originally a Union Pacific (UP) GP40.

 

 

The yard switchers were #3026 (GP40E) and 3009 (GP40M). Both were originally Chicago Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) GP40s, rebuilt by EMD and Morrison-Knudsen respectively.

 

 

A train made up ready to go south into the US. Locomotives are #5171 (C44-9W), #8452 (SD70-ACe) and #4893 (C44-9W). I like the different arrangements of fuel and air tanks below the walkways, which show up well in silver. At this point, the sun was shining brightly, directly on the nose of the lead unit.

 

 

The morning Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver passed, with F59PHI #466. The overhead concrete beams support the Skytrain (rapid transit) track.

 

 

Then across the Fraser River to Brownsville on the south bank. This BNSF freight, which I think was a transfer to the Canadian National (CN) yard at Port Mann, was sitting without crew on board. From where it was, beside a restaurant, I think they were on a meal break. Engines #6368 (ES44AC) and #4552(C44-9W). 

 

 

Here’s a Skytrain coming off the bridge over the Fraser River from New Westminster.

 

 

A freight just entering the swing bridge over the Fraser – the first span is on the left. This came on CN tracks – possibly a transfer from Port Mann, though it would be unusual to be using BNSF power on a CN train from there. Engines #2359 (GP38-2, ex-Saint Louis-San Francisco) and #3010 (GP40M, another ex-CB&Q GP40 rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen).

 

 

Next to Coquitlam, where there are long interchange tracks for traffic between Canadian Pacific (CP), CN and BNSF. A CP train arrived from the Port Coquitlam direction just as I was parking with ES44ACs #8713 and #8886. As you can see in the background, it was now blowing sleet.

 

 

ES44AC #8891 was waiting to leave towards Port Coquitlam.

 

 

A finally, on to CP’s Port Coquitlam yards, and engine #4523, which I’ve been hoping to photograph for several weeks, since I first saw it and realised it was something unusual.

 

 

CP describe it as a GP38-2, and that’s what it is mechanically. But the flared radiators are not standard for a GP38-2. It’s a rebuild of a UP GP40X. The engine behind it is GP38-2 #4415 (ex-Soo)

[pH]

In a previous post in this topic, I put up some pictures of the S.S. 'Moyie', a Canadian Pacific sternwheeler preserved at Kaslo in southern BC - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/41022-occasional-canadian-photos-mostly-from-vancouver-area/?p=2379086

 

Here's a picture of another CP sternwheeler, the S.S. 'Sicamous', preserved at Penticton:

 

 

Also at Penticton are two of the tugs used by the railways to move rail barges on Okanagan Lake. One is the 'Naramata', a steam tug used by Canadian Pacific from 1914 to 1967:

 

 

The other is the Canadian National tug #6, used from 1948 till it was withdrawn in 1973 as the last railway tug on Okanagan Lake:

 

Edited May 11, 2017 by pH

[pH]

Yesterday morning, while filling up the car in a gas station in Chase, BC, I heard a westbound CP train about to pass the gas station. The first unit appeared from behind the building - CP #8652, an AC4400CW. Then the second unit - CSX #3121 (ES44AH) ???!!!! I have never seen a CSX unit in British Columbia before. (* see edit below) Fortunately, the speed limit on the highway is higher than on the railway, so we managed to get ahead of the train, and I photographed it at Pritchard:

 

 

A closer one of the CSX unit:

 

 

and one of the pusher, CP #8943 (ES44AC):

 

 

We caught up with the train again before Kamloops, unfortunately not in a position to be photographed. It was stopped, and the CSX unit had been cut out. From Kamloops to Vancouver is downhill almost all the way, so it would not be needed from here west, and would probably be picked up by a train going back east over the mountains towards Calgary.

 

* Edit. I've realised this statement isn't true. I have seen a CSX unit in the BNSF yard at New Westminster. "Unusual" engines turn up there occasionally. They arrive as part of the power on BNSF trains from Seattle and return there, usually the same day. However, a CSX unit in the BC Interior, on mainline service on the CPR, is something quite different.

Edited May 12, 2017 by pH

[pH]

I spent a few hours in Grand Forks, BC last week. It was an important railway town in southern BC in the early years of the 20^th century, with three different railways having lines in the area - the Canadian Pacific, the Great Northern and a local line, the Kettle River Valley Railway. The main source of traffic was copper ores mined in the area, which were taken to the Granby smelter in the town, and refined copper transported out. The smelter was ‘blown in’ in 1900 and closed after WW1. CPR took over the Kettle River Valley Railway, renamed it as the Kettle Valley Railway and used its charter to construct its ‘second mainline’ across southwestern BC to Vancouver.

All that’s left now is a short section of what was originally KVRR track, operated by the Grand Forks Railway, connecting with what remains of the Great Northern, now a shortline called the Kettle Falls International Railway.

 

The CPR station, now a pub/restaurant:

 

 

 

The tracks in front are for decoration only. This was built by the Columbia and Western Railway (a CPR company) in 1899, outside the town. From 1913 to 1952, CPR trains used the station built by the KVRR in the town centre, backing in in one direction after 1921, when a bridge on the KVRR line was washed out and not replaced.

 

This is the formation of the ex-KVRR line the CPR trains used into and out of the KVRR station:

 

 

Here’s the CPR bridge across the Kettle River, now part of the Columbia and Western Rail Trail, and dedicated to the memory of a local Canadian Forces soldier killed in Afghanistan:

 

 

The Grand Forks Railway serves a large Interfor sawmill. It has only one loco, an ex-CPR SW8. Here are a couple of pictures of it, still carrying its old CPR number:

 

 

 

Apart from lumber, traffic from Grand Forks consists of abrasive material salvaged from the huge slag heap of the old smelter. It’s trucked from the smelter site to the Kettle Falls International Railway to the south of the town, and loaded into covered hoppers for shipping. This is what the smelter site looks like, with the slag broken up into small particles for handling:

 

 

The Kettle Falls International Railway enters Grand Forks from the US. In Great Northern times, and on into Burlington Northern days, the line turned back into the US, but it now stops at the Canada-US border:

 

 

The tracks on the Canadian (nearer) side were built under the charter of the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway. The lifted tracks on the US (far) side were built under the charter of the Washington and Great Northern Railway, both under the control of the Great Northern.

 

The Kettle Falls International Railway appears to be well maintained. There were track maintenance machines parked near the western end of the tracks:

 

 

 

Later in the week, I walked a short part of the Salmo-Troup Rail Trail above Nelson, BC:

 

 

It’s on the railbed of the former Great Northern/Burlington Northern line from Spokane to Kootenay Lake. Here’s a picture taken from the site of the “Mountain” station on the line above Nelson, showing how high above the lake the line is:

 

 

It had to lose 600 feet in altitude from here, over 5 miles of 1 in 40, to reach lake level, from where a line was built back into Nelson.

[pH]

As I drove over an overpass on the CP line in Port Moody this afternoon, there was a train sitting stopped just west of it. I stopped the car, since the lead loco looked a bit scruffy and unusual. It was SD40-2 #5987. It's several months since I saw one of these through Port Moody. So, home for the camera and back out, just in time to get a picture as it moved off. (The trailer is SD30C- ECO #5019.)

 

 

I don't know if/when I'll see another CP SD40-2. All the road engines are now GE AC locos, and the yard power seems to be mostly GP38/GP38-2s.

 

[newbryford]

Just caught up with this topic as I was looking for something else.....

Excellent series of pictures.

 

Thanks for the info last year - it didn't quite pan out with the time we had, but here's a few of our limited time in the Vancouver area in April 2017.

Vancouver waterfont with Canada Place in the background. The funnel of our transport is just visible.

 

We hired a car the day after and had a drive round

2234 and 3110 in New Westminster yard

 

Skytrain at Surrey after we crossed the Fraser River. We were trying to find Whalley as that is the name of the next village down from me.

 

And a grab shot by the Mrs as we passed the Rail Link shops at Burnaby (?)

with GP20D CEFX 2036. I've been trying to find a model of these without any luck (for a potential modelling project......)

 

The day after we went to Whistler and caught this at Squamish in heavy rain as looked for the railway museum there.

3086 leads 2261/2633/8915

 

It was very persistent at the museum, so we decided to give it a miss - just took a couple of photos from the car park.

 

I will continue looking in on this thread.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

 

 

[pH]

Do you ever completely forget taking a picture? I was looking for something else (which I didn't find!) and came across this. I have no recollection of taking it, in fact I don't remember ever seeing the picture before, though it was downloaded from the camera and I do remember the other pictures I took on that day which are in the same file.

 

Anyway, it's CN SD60F #5525 starting across the bridge over the Fraser River from New Westminster to Surrey:

 

[pH]

Skytrain at Surrey after we crossed the Fraser River. We were trying to find Whalley as that is the name of the next village down from me.

 

 

Did you find Whalley? If you didn't, it's probably a good thing - the 'Whalley Strip' is one of the most notorious few blocks in Greater Vancouver, and that's saying something!

 

And a grab shot by the Mrs as we passed the Rail Link shops at Burnaby (?)

 

 

The part of the yard in that photo is in Burnaby. The other ends of the tracks through the shop at the left of the picture are in New Westminster.

 

The day after we went to Whistler and caught this at Squamish in heavy rain as looked for the railway museum there.

 

It was very persistent at the museum, so we decided to give it a miss - just took a couple of photos from the car park.

 

Hey, it is the Wet Coast. You just have to get used to it.

 

[pH]

Taken at Fruitvale, BC last week.

 

 

This is the only loco of the Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway Corporation, which took over the line from International Rail Road Systems in 2012, and obviously didn't change the colourscheme, reporting marks, or loco number. It's a chop-nosed GP9, which originally belonged to Grand Trunk Western. The Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway Corporation is owned by the Atco Lumber Company, whose Fruitvale mill the line serves.

 

The Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway  was the original name of this line, built between Spokane and Nelson in 1890-93. It was taken over by the Great Northern, and eventually merged into BN. Here's a picture taken of the mill at Fruitvale, taken by 'An Entropy Bubble' of this parish, when it was served by BN - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/121161-and-the-next-photo-will-havereal-railway-version/?p=2727156 The line has been gradually cut back, and now extends only from a connection with the Kettle Falls International Railway in Columbia Gardens to Fruitvale.

[pH]

On Monday, I saw in the distance an unusual loco on the CP line in Port Coquitlam. On foot and without a camera, there was no point in chasing it. I did get the railroad name and loco number though – Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern #4001. DM&E was taken over by CP in 2008. DM&E covered hoppers are not unusual here now, but I’ve never seen a unit here before.

 

Yesterday, I was out in PoCo again and saw it once more in the far distance, so no point in trying to photograph it. Today I decided to go out looking for it, and found it switching here in Port Moody. Here it is, DM&E #4001 “City of Wall”, with CP GP38-2 #3085:

 

 

 #4001 is a GP40, built in 1966 for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas and has worked in the US, Mexico and now Canada!

 

While I was out, I took a few more pictures.

 

A new potash mine opened in 2017 in Saskatchewan. CP built a new 30km line to the mine, and the output is being shipped through new facilities here in Port Moody, using unit trains which can be up to 177 cars in length. One of these came through and, though I didn’t count them, it could well have had 177 cars. AC4400CW #8507 was on the front, AC4400CW #9770 mid-train and ES44AC #8838 pushing.

 

 

 

 

All the cars were virtually brand-new and, going by the numbers (presumably sequential), more than 600 have been built for this service.

 

 

Finally, SD30C-ECoS #5010 and #5011 brought a transfer from downtown Vancouver for the PoCo yards. I did count the cars on this one – 139, tanks and covered hoppers, presumably empty. Notice the Skytrain (rapid transit) on the left.   

 

 

[pH]

No active trains today. However, here's a picture of a picture on a local information board. There were several lumber mills in the area (the last one is about to be closed, and condos built on the site) and this is a picture of the log dump at one of them:

 

 

Anyone like to guess at the builder of the loco? (I don't know.)

 

And here's the boiler and firebox of what I presume (given where it is) was one of the engines used on the line to that same mill:

 

 

I have posted a picture of this before, but it's been absorbed into the forest even more since then.

[Wendell1976]

Chicago for sure...

 

Edit. From the system map it looks like Duluth, Winnipeg, western Minnesota, Omaha, Paducah, Memphis, New Orleans and Vancouver as well.

 

Map: http://www.bnsf.com/customers/where-can-i-ship/

 

Adrian

Sometimes the BNSF Railway interchanges with the Canadian National Railway(CN) in Everett, Washington(suburb of Seattle).

 

Wendell

Idaho, USA

[pH]

Sometimes the BNSF Railway interchanges with the Canadian National Railway(CN) in Everett, Washington(suburb of Seattle).

Wendell

Idaho, USA

As far as I know, CN has no access to Everett. To get there from the nearest CN trackage (which I think would be at Brownsville on the south bank of the Fraser River in Canada) would mean using BNSF tracks for about 100 miles.