The Glorious First of June – Part 1

June 1, 2019 was a pretty glorious day of railfanning. So glorious, in fact, that I have to present it in two parts.

I set out early in the morning to take some photographs of grain elevators with my drone. Since it was June 1, the new drone rules came into effect and there were more places I could fly it. I went along the CP Glenboro subdivision to photograph Starbuck, Fannystelle and especially Culross.

I couldn’t figure out where to launch my drone from at Starbuck, so I didn’t fly there. I always want to launch from, and land on, public property and nothing appeared available. I’ll need to do more research.

Fannystelle

I’ve been to Fannystelle several times, so I went straight to the road leading to the Viterra elevator and launched from the shoulder. A few minutes of flying brought the drone to where I wanted it to be. I took the photos, landed and got back on the road.

I did take a quick photo of the other grain elevator in Fannystelle, the old Stevens & Company elevator. (more info on the Fannystelle grain elevators)

Culross

I’ve always liked the white grain elevator in Culross. It has such clean lines and it looks spotless. I’ve shared photos of this elevator before (Chasing Down the Glenboro, A Grain Elevator Loop, and the start of my epic Southwest Grain Elevator Trip) – but obviously never from the air.

(More info on the Culross grain elevator)

Again, I just popped the drone up in the air for a few minutes to take photos, then landed it and moved on. I didn’t have time to continue on to Elm Creek, so I turned around and headed back up the Glenboro to the CN Rivers subdivision.

Getting Some Trains In

I did manage to get one train on the way home. CN 2959 and 2808 were leading a container train east into Winnipeg. I noted something a bit unusual in the containers trailing the locomotives. The pink ONE (Ocean Network Express) containers have been on trains around here for quite a few months now, but this train also had white ONE containers.

A Little More

There were a few interesting vehicles / cars in the CP Winnipeg yard. Unfortunately for them, they were parked in the area that normally contains cars that are destined for the scrapper, so they may not be long for this world.

That was the first half of the day. Not a bad start!

The end of the Glorious First of June, 2019 will feature a glorious sunset to match, with several CP trains… and here it is!

The Back Story

A little back story on the title of this post. Quite a few years ago, I was really into Napoleonic era naval fiction. Very specific, I know, but that’s the nature of being a geek – deep focus in one area. I particularly enjoyed the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O’Brian, beginning with Master and Commander that was made into a movie.

Anyway, one of the major naval battles of the Napoleonic wars was the Glorious First of June, where a French fleet escorting a supply convoy battled a British fleet. The battle was unusual in that both sides claimed victory after the battle. It was a tactical victory for the French in that the supply convoy got through, but a strategic victory for the British in that they attained naval superiority for the remainder of the war. The British called it the Glorious First of June to celebrate their victory.

Other famous naval battles of the Napoleonic period were the Battle of the Nile and the most famous, Trafalgar.

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