Occasional Canadian photos, mostly from Vancouver area

[pH]

Went for a walk this afternoon, ended up at the CP tracks along the south side of Burrard Inlet and caught these SD40-2s on grain empties from the Vancouver docks to Port Coquitlam yards:

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by pH

[gridwatcher]

Lovely images. A great place to be a railfan too!

[pH]

West Coast Express F59PHI number 905 arriving at and leaving Port Moody station this afternoon eastbound:

 

 

[pH]

A few from the late 1980s/early 1990s:

 

Canadian Pacific GP9s at New Westminster with high short hood before rebuilding (note the open autorack):

 

 

CP GP9u at Port Coquitlam yards with low short hood after rebuilding:

 

 

CP SD40-2s on sulphur empties at Port Moody:

 

[roundhouse]

Here are a few photos taken in 1992at New Westminster, Vancouver of a weed killing train. Took us a while to work out what this train was!

 

Ian

[AndrewC]

The blue car with the red multimark was converted from one of the old robot units. Can't tell which one by the number though. One of the Angus built ones.

[gridwatcher]

Keep them coming. I have taken (divine) inspiration from Vancouver for home project which is in build. We stayed on the BNSF (?) rails near Burnaby and in the first 2 hours at the RV park saw BNSF, CP, CN, Amtrak, Via trains and..... NS and UP power in consists. That was enough really! Deal done! Great place.

Simon

[pH]

A batch of pictures of Canadian Pacific Railway #1201 at Port Moody in 1986. The engine visited the Vancouver area in 1986 to celebrate the centenary of the completion of the CPR transcontinental mainline to Port Moody (later extended a few more miles to Vancouver) and to appear at SteamExpo at Expo86.

 

1201 is a class G5a Pacific, and is the last steam locomotive built in the CPR's own shops (in 1944)

 

 

 

 

 

[pH]

Keep them coming. I have taken (divine) inspiration from Vancouver for home project which is in build. We stayed on the BNSF (?) rails near Burnaby and in the first 2 hours at the RV park saw BNSF, CP, CN, Amtrak, Via trains and..... NS and UP power in consists. That was enough really! Deal done! Great place.

Simon

 

Simon, I'd guess that was this RV park, then? The rails curving round to the north of it still belong to BNSF, but they are now maintained and operated by Canadian National. Here are a couple of photos taken about a mile west of the RV park in the mid 1980s. The first one is VIA F40PH #6401 eastbound. The other is a CN 'straight' SD40 (i.e. not a dash-2) #5123 going west.

 

 

[298]

Vancouver...? Go on then...:

 

Granville Island & Model Train Museum:

 

 

 

 

 

Science World Interurban stop:

 

 

 

Nr Skytrain Waterfront Station:

 

 

[pH]

Southern Railway of BC (SRY) switching autoracks on Annacis Island today:

 

 

Both are SW900s (note the road numbers). However, quite a few differences - stack, battery box cover, emblem and lettering, position of number. (Potential here for a 'spot the differences' thread?)

[goodmayes]

Something about that 4-6-2 steamer is whispering  "Tri-ang Railways".

 

Ted

[alastairb]

I thought I'd contribute a few pictures from a holiday in Vancouver in 2010:

 

 

A Canadian Pacific GP35 slug and GP38-2 in the waterfront yard in Downtown Vancouver, very close to Canada Place and Gastown.

 

 

Another pair of CP GP38-2s bring a cut of double stacks into the downtown yard.

 

 

Grain cars by a large waterfront elevator in North Vancouver. The picture is taken through the windscreen by my wife as we drove past.

 

 

CP Rail diesels at the diesel shops in Coquitlam Yard. Photo taken through the chain link fence on the new overpass.

 

Alastair

[pH]

CP Rail diesels at the diesel shops in Coquitlam Yard. Photo taken through the chain link fence on the new overpass.

 

Alastair

Thanks, Alastair. Driving over that bridge, I've never been sure that the mesh on the fence is large enough to be able to get a camera lens through it. Now that I know, I'll have to have a try.

[alastairb]

Thanks, Alastair. Driving over that bridge, I've never been sure that the mesh on the fence is large enough to be able to get a camera lens through it. Now that I know, I'll have to have a try.

Hi pH

It isn't large enough to get a DSLR lens through (it would probably be possible to get a compact digital camera lens through though) . However, I found that if I was careful to centre the lens to "the hole" in the mesh and use a telephoto setting you can get a decent shot. It's a pity that they didn't put any camera ports in.

Regards

Alastair

[pH]

Canadian Pacific MP15DC 1443 and GP9u 1591 at Port Coquitlam yards August 13 2013:

 

 

[pH]

There was a passenger train run today from Port Moody to Mission on the CP tracks, part of the celebrations for the centenary of Port Moody's incorporation as a city. The power was FP9A 4107/F9B 1900/FP9A 4106: 

 

 

 

A lot of power for only a generator car, two passenger coaches and heavyweight coach 'Mount Royal', which I think was a support coach:

 

 

Shots of each individual locomotive as the train started off:

 

 

 

 

 

[ZiderHead]

I worked in Gastown for a couple of months in '99, there was a little food shack by the tracks run by some Mexicans so I used to grab lunch there sometimes - the burritos were ok, the trains were great

[pH]

Stretching the definition of 'the Vancouver area', here are some pictures from in and around Kamloops taken last week.

 

To begin with, two of the Kamloops yard engines. The first is GP38AC 3008, with a caboose. It's a long time since I've seen a CP caboose, but there were a couple in Kamloops yard.

 

 

Then SD40-2 5794 leaving the main yard, possibly to switch an industry further west. I remember when SD40-2s were CP's newest road power.

 

 

A coal train from the Elk Valley in southeast BC to Roberts Bank. ES44AC 9353 and AC4400CW 9713 on the headend

 

 

AC4400CW 8538 as a mid-train helper:

 

 

And AC4400CW 8653 pushing on the rear:

 

 

AC4400CWs 9642 and 9737 restart a westbound from the Kamloops yard office after a crew change:

 

 

It was a mixed train. Here are a few of the (IMO) more notable cars in the train. A couple of Canadian Tire containers. For those who don't know, Canadian Tire are a national chain of automotive/tool/hardware/sport/outdoor stores. It's good to see a company closely associated with road transport using rail for their own business:

 

 

There were several steel coil cars in the lineup, all with NOKL reporting marks. They're actually owned by First Union Railcar Corp - apparently using the reporting mark of a railroad, instead of that of a non-railroad company, allows different charges for their use:

 

 

While not a unit grain train, there were quite a few covered hoppers in the train. Here's a DME one. It's interesting to see how the cars (and engines) of subsidiary railroads spread across the parent system after a takeover:

 

 

　

Finally, a CN westbound about to pass under the Highway 1 bridge at Savona. Engines are Dash 9-44CW 2651 and SD75I 5628:

 

[pH]

There is a new rapid transit line (an extension to the Vancouver area Skytrain system) being built through Coquitlam and Port Moody. At one point, the line has to go under a major road, and a station is to be built at that point. The opportunity of the Remembrance Day long weekend was taken to close the road and do the work in one go, rather than trying to do it a bit at a time with the road open. Work started on Friday night.

 

Here's a general view of the site, taken from the road bridge, with the CPR mainline on the right:

 

 

A concrete box, to form the station, had been built in the space shown in the picture below, from the wall on the right towards the bridge. The earth behind the road bridge abutment was then dug out, and the box pushed from where it had been built, through the trench created, into position. This picture shows the box with only a few metres to go before its final position (the box is the concrete structure just about in the centre of the picture, with tar on top of it):  

 

 

The blue things in the picture below are the horizontal hydraulic jacks being used to push the box. They started off pushing against the wall on the right of the picture above. As they moved the box, the jacks were moved forward, concrete blocks were placed against the wall, the jacks re-positioned and another push performed - rinse and repeat as often as necessary.    

 

 

They aren't waiting for the push to be completed before starting to backfill on top of the box:

 

 

These pictures were taken about 3 p.m. today (Sunday). The schedule is for the road to be re-opened by 6 a.m. Tuesday. It looks like they will make it comfortably. (That's probably jinxed them!).

 

 

[pH]

Another location on the new ALRT line being built in the northeast area of Greater Vancouver. Guideway spans are constructed from concrete sections individually cast for their specific locations e.g. they can be slightly curved vertically or horizontally: 

 

 

And #903, one of Westcoast Express's F59PHIs, lying over in downtown Vancouver this afternoon: 

 

 

 

[Talltim]

That crane is amazing

[pH]

Some more pictures of the construction of the new Evergreen Line, a rapid transit line in the northeast area of Greater Vancouver. The existing rapid transit lines in the Vancouver area are known collectively as Skytrain. Skytrain trains are powered by linear induction motors between the rails, and are driverless. The first line was opened in 1985.

 

It connects to the existing Skytrain network at Lougheed Mall station. I thought this was going to be a cross-platform transfer, but I've just read something that says there will be runthrough trains going closer to downtown Vancouver. The picture below shows the two Evergreen tracks separately to the right (one will be supported by the U-shaped channel, and the other is directly above the red car). Skytrain's existing Millennium Line curves away to the left.

 

 

It will also connect with the existing Westcoast Express (heavy rail with bi-level coaches, powered by F59PHI locomotives, and running on Canadian Pacific tracks). There will be two connections, one at Coquitlam Centre, and the other at Port Moody. Here's work progressing on the line at Port Moody - CP tracks to the left, and you can see the low platform of the Westcoast Express station to the right of the tracks in the middle distance.

 

 

The major work on the new line will be a 2km tunnel. This is needed to keep the gradient on a long section of the line to a reasonable figure. The original plan was to take this section of the line up a long wooded ravine, which would have been much nicer, but that didn't go ahead because of ecological and geotechnical concerns. Here's the TBM just about ready to go at the lower portal of the tunnel:

 

 

And here's the gradient leading down to the upper portal, which is directly below the viewpoint of the picture. (Apologies for the flare - access to this part of the work is very restricted, and I was forced to shoot almost directly into the setting sun.)

 

 

[pH]

Some details of the construction taking place on the Evergreen Line.

 

The majority of Skytrain tracks are above grade, supported on pillars. Here are three stages of constructing a pillar. First, dig a hole with a (very) large auger:

 

 

Then set the steelwork:

 

 

And enclose that in shuttering:

 

 

I've not seen any columns actually being poured. I think that may happen at night, at least on the sections which run along streets.

 

The columns can look quite elegant, though pretty intrusive:

 

 

 

　

Here are the supports for a station, this one at Burquitlam Plaza:

 

 

　

The beams at the station site show details of the connections between those beams and the guideway spans, and also between the segments which make up the spans.

 

 

As I understand the mechanics of it, the rows of indentations across the top and bottom, and at about 45 degrees, engage with projections on the next guideway segment, and cables passed through the holes and tightened pull the span together, or the span to a station-area beam. There are narrow gaps between adjacent guideway spans, where they are supported on the columns, which allow 'wiggle room' in assembling the spans on the gantry (see my post of January 22 above

 

(I promise that's all, for a while at least!)

Edited January 28, 2014 by pH

[dibber25]

Yep, now I see why elevated railways never found favour in the UK!

CHRIS LEIGH