A CN Interchange in Regina

I like to walk. One night in Regina, I went on a long walk to a restaurant, and stumbled across CN interchanging some cars with CP. Exercise and trains – a good combination!

My hotel was downtown, at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Broad Street. I walked up Broad Street to Fourth Street, then west on Fourth to Albert Street. It was about 2.5 km each way, a good walk on a nice evening.

You can follow along in the CN Regina Terminal Car Control Manual from June 1981. These manuals showed the track layout, labeled each siding and car spot, and provided instructions on how to record car movement. All of this is important so the railway can keep “track” of where rail cars are. Something like this is still used today, although probably a lot more electronic. Note that north is “left” on this map.

The tracks cross Fourth Street at an angle. As I walked over them heading toward Albert Street, I looked northwest up the tracks and I thought I saw a headlight. After standing there for a few minutes, I confirmed that it was indeed a headlight, with a train behind them!

Here they are crossing Albert Street, heading toward Fourth Street and eventually the CPKC yard.

They came rolling past me and crossed Fourth Street. The lighting was challenging, being early evening, but I did the best that I could with my phone.

Those two GP9s sounded great as they rumbled past, hauling a surprisingly long train.

The train had a wide variety of cars on it, including a few scrap metal gondolas, the usual covered hoppers, and a lot of tank cars. Some like TEIX 25183 were placarded with “3257 HOT”, which just indicates a liquid above 100C and below its flashpoint.

The train took just over 3 minutes to pass me. It was not rolling very quickly.

Note the lack of an end of train device attached to the last car. I understand this is OK for transfer moves like this; the movement is limited to 15 MPH. My quick reading of the Canadian Rail Operating Rules says the difference between a train and a transfer is the speed, and freight trains must have either a TIBS* or a manned caboose.

(TIBS = Train Information Braking System; this includes the screen in the locomotive indicating brake pressure, and the end-of-train device that reads the brake pressure and provides emergency braking if required)

I continued walking to my selected restaurant, the Agave Grill, and had a delightful meal. It looks like a hot mess, and it was messy, but it was delicious. The service was great, too.

When I finished paying, I decided to walk back to the hotel by a different route. I thought I could follow the track toward the CP yard, in hopes of spotting the transfer again.

I walked south along Albert Street, ducking into the side streets to check the parallel track to see if anything was happening. If I listened carefully, I could hear a train working nearby.

When I got to 8th Avenue, I walked to the tracks and then beside them to Dewdney Avenue. This street parallels the CP yard* on the north side.

I was just in time. The CN transfer was starting to grind around the curve leading from the CP tracks to the CN track.

My trusty phone was out to record the returning transfer. There was a lot of flange squeal from the cars going around the curve.

* most of the CP yard has been removed, and the facilities relocated to just west of Regina.

This transfer was a nice find and a great way to wrap up the day.