Taken This Day: August 11

Just for fun, I thought I’d go through the photo archives and see what train related photos I’ve taken on this day – August 11. Here you go.

2001

On August 11, 2001 I was in Chaplin, Saskatchewan with my family. Some of my wife’s family lived in Chaplin at that time and we were there on our summer vacation. Naturally, I did a little railfanning, since Chaplin is on the CP main line.

On this day, I caught a westbound military move meeting an eastbound train in Chaplin. The westbound train was led by “dual flags” CP 5652 and St Lawrence & Hudson #5627. I wrote about this meet here.

2002

On August 11, 2002, we were on summer vacation again, but further west. We were straddling the border between Alberta and British Columbia. My pictures show us in Field, BC and in Lake Louise, AB.

While we were looking at the classic train station in Lake Louise, an eastbound train pulled up and stopped, waiting for its turn to proceed. The engineer invited my son Nick into the cab!

2007

August 11, 2007 was a great railfan day. My friend David Morris and I started the day early, in Matapedia, Quebec, greeting the VIA Rail Chaleur as it rolled into town on its way to Gaspé, Quebec.

I took 338 photos on that day, as we followed the train on its slow journey along the beautiful Gaspé peninsula. I wrote about it on my old blog but I need to rewrite it, as many of the image links have broken.

The photo above was taken on its return trip from Gaspé, crossing the Grand River at Pabos.

2009

We moved to Winnipeg in late July 2009. My office was on Scurfield Boulevard, in the area known as (West) Fort Garry. A contractor was scrapping a lot of Canadian Pacific SD40-2, GP7 and GP9 locomotives on a spur in the area and I made a point of photographing them each morning as I drove to work.

On August 11, 2009 the following locomotives were on the chopping block: 1506, 1586, 1593, 1613, 5398, 5679, 5688, 5716, 5753, and 5829. There were quite a few more over the next month or so.

2010

We were back in Chaplin, SK on August 11, 2010, and I was back at “work” taking photos by the Chaplin grain elevator.

2012

From my office on Scurfield Boulevard, it was about a ten minute drive to the CN main line. On nice days, I would take my lunch and make the short hop to the main line to catch the westbound VIA Rail “Canadian” leaving town. On this day in 2012, the Canadian had a long summer consist of about 22 cars, with VIA 6416 on the head end and BANFF PARK on the tail end.

Sadly, VIA’s schedule changed and that was no longer possible, but at least I could still catch the Churchill-bound train on occasion.

2013

Another year, another VIA train… on this day in 2013 it was the Churchill-bound train (formerly known as the Hudson Bay), crossing the Assiniboine River in downtown Winnipeg.

2014

In 2014 I was building a Walthers model train kit, the “ADM Grain Elevator Kit“, and I was apparently gluing the silos together on our deck.

2017

My wife and I went to New York City in 2017 – our first time there – and I made a point of visiting Grand Central Terminal. It was kind of a pilgrimage, a “must do” for a railfan visiting Manhattan. It was worth it. What a station.

Oh, the bridge on the right is for sale; I can give you a good price.

2019

On this day in August 2019, I had a very enjoyable time riding a combine near Marquette, Manitoba. I was invited by a reader of this blog to come ride with him and I accepted. It was a lovely summer evening and I had a great time chatting with Sheldon and experiencing big time farming in Manitoba.

On the way back, I witnessed a night-time meet between Canadian Pacific trains at the Meadows siding. Read more about it here.

2020

I was down in Niverville, Manitoba in the evening of August 11, 2020, capturing a “heritage” CP SD70ACU passing the grain elevator there. I wrote about it here.

Sadly, this scene cannot be recreated as the elevator was demolished on October 23, 2021.