Occasional Canadian photos, mostly from Vancouver area

[pH]

7 hours ago, VIA185 said:

The three Canfor SW1200RS switchers from the closed Englewood Logging railway on Vancouver Island went to a Vancouver yard for storage/disposal. Does anyone know if they are still there or did they find a buyer? (CJL)

When were they moved? And any idea where they went to in Vancouver? My first thought would be the SRY yard in New Westminster and if it was I could drive by and take a look.

[VIA185]

13 hours ago, pH said:

When were they moved? And any idea where they went to in Vancouver? My first thought would be the SRY yard in New Westminster and if it was I could drive by and take a look.

There's a video on Youtube that shows them being hauled through New Westminster late at night on 31 October 2021. It says they were being taken for storage at Trapp Yard until they could be sold. Since then it seems everything has gone quiet. The yellow one (303) has been stuffed and mounted at Woss along with the big steamer 113. The three red and silver ones - if they were not ruined by their length of time dumped in the woods near Woss - had been re-engined and should have been capable of serving a new owner. (CJL)

[VIA185]

Link to the movie:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1810921849110630

 

[VIA185]

Two of the three re-engined SW1200RS switchers (No. 303, the fourth switcher was kept in original condition and has been stuffed and mounted at Woss Camp on northern Vancouver Island) assemble a loaded log train at Camp A Reload. The island highway to Port Hardy is underneath the locos. For some bizarre reason No.303 has been repainted into the red and silver colours, though it only ever ran in service in the yellow and black. Nos. 301/2/4 were last known of stored at Trapp Yard in Vancouver but I do not know if they were sold or have been scrapped. The Englewood operation was the last logging railway in North America. It closed in 2017 following a runaway which killed or injured five staff when a derail mounted on a rotten sleeper (tie) failed to stop 11 loaded log cars. The railway has since been entirely removed. (CJL)

Edited December 7, 2022 by VIA185
correcting omission

[VIA185]

My favourite shot from that trip up-island. The engineer (I think he was Larry Knutson) refuels 302 at Woss ready for work tomorrow. The 1954-built SW1200RS had been extensively rebuilt on more than one occasion. Canadian Forest Products specified dynamic brakes and Flexicoil trucks. (CJL)

[pH]

'The wall' strikes again. The wall constructed to separate the CP tracks from those of the Skytrain (rapid transit) in Port Moody obscures the lower part of trains on CP.

 

Here's the top half of BNSF ES44AC #6300 pushing on the rear of a westbound CP grain train earlier this week. BNSF units are almost unknown on the CP mainline through here.

 

 

There was a proposal for a pedestrian bridge over the tracks here, which would make photography much easier. It may happen yet, as there is a major housing development scheduled for the land on the other side of the tracks. But when?

[VIA185]

Flashback to 1991, and the Rocky Mountaineer was so new that the Santa Fe locomotive and VIA Rail (ex-CN) coaches had not been repainted. I was driving a rental car, stopped to look at the station at Banff and had no idea what I was seeing. (CJL)

Edited January 14, 2023 by VIA185

[pH]

Switching set at Port Coquitlam yards this morning - SD30C- ECoS #5005 and #5002:

 

 

Another pair were building a train of tanks, which they then took out westwards (apologies for the particularly poor quality of this cellphone picture). Ex-Soo SD60 #6261and GP38-2 #3026:

 

 

And for "newbryford", a selection of yellow things. They were cleaning ballast on the west end of the yard. They were also replacing some individual rails there earlier this week.

 

 

 

The last picture was (obviously) taken with the light, all the others against it.

Edited February 11, 2023 by pH

[pH]

More pictures from Port Coquitlam yards this morning.

 

The switchers today were two pairs of GP38-2s.

 

One pair was #3094, with a winterization hatch over one of the fans:

 

and #4523, converted from a Union Pacific GP40X, hence the flared radiators:

 

Notice the distinct difference in paint shades.

 

The other pair was #3070 and #3074. Again, different shades of red:

[pH]

At Walker, a railway location in Burnaby, BC on the Canadian Pacific mainline into Vancouver (not in Newcastle), this morning:

 

A very long grain train, with CN power:

 

 

 

Locomotives #3020 (ET44AC) and #3307 (AC44C6M). AC44C6Ms are rebuilds of C44-9Ws.

 

[pH]

On 22/11/2022 at 07:03, VIA185 said:

The three Canfor SW1200RS switchers from the closed Englewood Logging railway on Vancouver Island went to a Vancouver yard for storage/disposal. Does anyone know if they are still there or did they find a buyer? (CJL)

 

On 23/11/2022 at 03:49, VIA185 said:

There's a video on Youtube that shows them being hauled through New Westminster late at night on 31 October 2021. It says they were being taken for storage at Trapp Yard until they could be sold. Since then it seems everything has gone quiet. The yellow one (303) has been stuffed and mounted at Woss along with the big steamer 113. The three red and silver ones - if they were not ruined by their length of time dumped in the woods near Woss - had been re-engined and should have been capable of serving a new owner. (CJL)

 

I was in New West for other reasons this morning, so drove down to the Southern Railway of BC engine facility at Trapp Yard. The Englewood Logging switchers are still there. I only had a cellphone for taking pictures and I was on the other side of a busy dual carriageway (there's no easy, closer access to the yard) so this is the best of a bad bunch of photos:

 

 

However, now that I know they're still there, I may go back with a better camera.

[VIA185]

On 08/03/2023 at 01:37, pH said:

 

 

I was in New West for other reasons this morning, so drove down to the Southern Railway of BC engine facility at Trapp Yard. The Englewood Logging switchers are still there. I only had a cellphone for taking pictures and I was on the other side of a busy dual carriageway (there's no easy, closer access to the yard) so this is the best of a bad bunch of photos:

 

 

However, now that I know they're still there, I may go back with a better camera.

Thanks for that, I've looked to see if they've been advertised for sale but could find nothing. Although they've been re-engined etc they date from the 1950s so they may simply be 'past it.' Looks like the Englewood names have been painted out and the logos have gone off the cab sides. I guess they'll go for scrap eventually - sad end to a railway that was so fascinating. (CJL)

[jamie92208]

It would be interesting to know what reporting marks they carry as that might give a clue as to the current owners.  However I understand the problem of getting decent photos.

 

Jamie

[VIA185]

Looks like everything has been obliterated with the possible exception of the numbers, carried on the red part of the hood - 301/2/4. They've been out of use for six years, since the accident in 2017. (CJL)

 

[pH]

The switchers are actually visible on Google Maps/Streetview. Search for “SRY Rail Link, Burnaby”  and go from there. (The east end of the yard and engine facility is in New Westminster and the west end is in Burnaby.)

[pH]

At last! After several ‘near misses’ over the last few years, I finally managed to get a picture of a KCS engine on the CPR here this morning.

 

ES44AC #4783 as the pusher on a tank train entering the Port Coquitlam yards:
 

[pH]

A couple of long-distance shots with a cellphone, taken at the east end of Port Coquitlam yards this morning.

 

Two SD30C-ECoS (#5015 and #5002) being used as a yard switcher.

 

The main CPR Port Coquitlam yards are to the left (west). A short distance to the right (east) is CPRs Vancouver Intermodal Terminal in Pitt Meadows. The pair were moving west from the intermodal yard.

 

A train of container cars leaving eastbound - empty cars on the headend.

 

It is unusual to see 'foreign' units from US railways getting this far west on CPR - two in one day (KCS one pictured in post above) is very unusual. KCS units may become more common if the CPR-KCS merger is completed. Sorry, I can't identify loco numbers or types at this distance. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by pH

[pH]

Some pictures from in and around New Westminster and Burnaby today:

 

Southern Railway of BC (SRY) control cab/slug #121 and GP9 #135 in New Westminster:

 

Both were built as GP9s for Northern Pacific in 1957. As you can see from the colourscheme, SRY is owned by the same organisation as Montana Rail Link - the Washington Group.

 

Two Canadian National units waiting to leave the east end of New Westminster yard: 

 

 

#8927 is an SD70M-2, #5724 is an SD75I.

 

#3001, an ET44AC, as  pusher on a westbound potash train in Burnaby. The train is moving left to right in the picture. A train of doublestacks is on the track behind #3001.

 

And this is the mid-train unit on those doublestacks - ES44AC #2972:

 

Sorry for the slight flare - it was a lovely bright spring day and I was shooting into the sun.

Edited March 23, 2023 by pH

[pH]

This afternoon, we had a walk along Burrard Inlet, just above the CPR mainline into Vancouver. I saw more traffic than usual. Despite it being the west end of a mainline, trains aren't too frequent. Many westbounds stop at the Port Coquitlam yards to the east, and eastbounds are often made up there. However, unit trains of grain, sulphur, potash, ethylene glycol and canola oil are among those which bypass the PoCo yards.

 

The trees are just starting to come into leaf. While there are branches in the way of these pictures, in a couple of weeks it will be hard to see very much of the trains on this stretch of line.

 

A unit train of potash arrived, with CPR AC440CWM #8171 as the leading loco, and CSX ES44AH #3145 as the mid-train helper. I presumed there was a rearend pusher as well, but the train was stopped to allow it to be broken up and switched into sidings with the tailend out of sight.

 

 

This is the second CSX unit I've seen in the area in the last couple of weeks – they are rare. Perhaps it's the same one. I didn't get the number of the first one I saw. Behind the train is the equipment to handle sulphur unloaded from unit trains by a rotary dumper out of picture to the left.  

 

Then a couple of CN units came past light engine from the Vancouver direction – CNR ES44AC #3845 and ET44AC #3250:

 

 

The relationship between all these GE models is confusing. As well as I can make it out:

 

- GE introduced the AC4400CW in 1993

- GE introduced the 'Evolution' series in 2003 to meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 2 emission standards. The ES44AC model in this series replaced the AC4400CW.

- The ET44AC was introduced later to meet EPA Tier 4 emission standards, replacing the ES44AC.

- CSX ordered ET44ACs with additional weight, and designated them ET44AH (H for 'heavy').

- Starting in 2017, Canadian Pacific started having GE rebuild and update their AC4400CWs, designating the rebuilds as AC4400CWMs (M for 'modernised').

 

I am open to correction!

[pH]

Here's a bit more information on the Pacific Terminals facility in Port Moody. When we came here in 1982, the commodities handled were sulphur and coal. The coal was stacked in covered heaps, the sulphur was (and still is) left uncovered. Apparently, when dampened, elemental sulphur forms an impermeable 'skin' which sheds water, so no covering is needed. Coal is no longer handled – there are now much larger facilities for that in North Vancouver and at Roberts Bank in Delta.

 

Since 1982, facilities have been added to handle other commodities – tanks for canola oil and ethylene glycol and a large covered shed for potash.

 

The bright yellow piles of sulphur really stand out. Our granddaughter was skiing on one of the local mountains one evening this week. Several miles away, several thousand feet higher up, in darkness, she said she could make out the sulphur piles under the lights at the terminals.

 

There are information panels along the path we were walking on. (Apologies if they're a bit small to read on phones.)

 

 

This next one gives the history of the location. The first Port Moody station, the original terminus of the CPR transcontinental, was built here on deep water. When the line was extended to Vancouver a few years later and much of the traffic was moved there, a new station was built a short distance to the east, nearer the town centre.

 

Here's a view of the area described in that last information panel, showing loaded potash cars, empty sulphur cars and a ship being loaded with sulphur:

[Chris116]

Those information boards are very interesting and I found them easy to read on my phone by simply enlarging the written part of the image.

[pH]

CPKC (ex-SOO) SD60 #6245 and SD30C-ECO #5017 on westbound tanks at Port Coquitlam this morning:

 

 

[VIA185]

I may have posted this before but if I did it was so long ago that it's got lost in all those missing pictures from whatever went wrong a couple of years back. Anyway it's pre-VIA Rail (just) and I still have my Canadian Pacific ticket. We took a ride into Victoria BC on the southbound 'Dayliner' on our first Canadian holiday in 1976. Shawnigan Lake was a flagstop and I wanted to take a picture, which meant Di had to stop the train. We'd read about flagstops and having to put out the white flag but there was nothing to put out. Di asked what she should do. "Imagine its a request stop for a bus, and stick your arm out!" So that's what she did. VIA continued the practice for a while but then introduced a system where you had to telephone and book a stop. The island rail service ended in 2011 and although a group still exists to promote re-opening, the line needs rebuilding from the ground up to meet modern standards and its never likely to happen. CJL)

[pH]

I only post this picture because of the unusual arrangement of engines and to explain the probable reason for it.

 

 

It’s taken on the CPKC (still sounds odd!) mainline through Port Moody. When the Skytrain line in the foreground was built, the wall was built between it and the  CPKC line. As you can see, that blocks the bottom half  of a train on the mainline.

 

Engines are  AC4400CW #8615 and AC4400CWM #8178 and they are on a train of loaded potash hoppers, delivered to a terminal for transfer of the cargo to ships for export. The photo is taken looking towards the direction from which they’ve come. 
 

It is unusual to see the lead loco on a train running backwards and nose to nose with the second engine. 8615 has been the pusher on the incoming train, facing backwards and 8178 has been the lead engine facing forwards. There will be a third loco as a mid-train helper. The train is now going to be broken up and switched into several sidings. 8178 has been transferred from the front of the train to the back to help with the process and to avoid it being trapped in a siding.

[pH]

Several pictures taken today at Craigellachie on the CPKC mainline in British Columbia. This was the point at which tracks being laid from the east met those being laid from the west coast, completing the original CPR transcontinental route.

Here is the historical marker for the site and event. Note the ‘iron spike’ - no wasteful gold one here!
 

 

This is the commemorative cairn:

 

There are stones from all the Canadian provinces and territories on the plinth of the cairn, added many years after it was first built.

 

Here is a sample:

 

British Columbia:

Ontario:

 

Prince Edward Island:

 

There is also a stone from Craigellachie in Scotland:

 

Trains still run right beside the site. This is a westbound train of coal for export:

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by pH