A Frosty Morning

In January we had several mornings where everything was coated in a beautiful and delicate frost. Everyone calls it hoar frost but I understand it was rime ice in most cases. Fog in winter leads to rime ice, usually.

However it formed, it was beautiful.

On the morning of January 22, I was delivering a timetable to someone in Transcona (hi Kris!) so I brought my camera along. I wanted to capture the frost and this was a convenient excuse to get out and make some photos.

I passed by CN’s Symington Yard on my way north on Plessis toward Transcona. The hump yard was in action as usual, and I captured this view of a waiting hump set, the yard tower, and a grain car rolling down the hump in the background. Oh, and some frost.

After delivering the timetable, I decided to head east toward Dugald and see if I could find a train. There was nothing visible on the other side of the Floodway, so I headed north to CP. The sky was a lovely blue and it really set off the frosty trees.

There were no trains coming on CP, so I headed back south to the CN Redditt subdivision. Unfortunately I missed the head end of a westbound container train, but I decided to head to Dugald anyway in the hopes of seeing another train.

It had been a few months since I’d been there, so it was time to get another photo of the Dugald grain elevator.

Carrying on eastward, I kept an eye out for photo locations and for trains. The train gods were smiling down on me and sent another westbound container train my way. I retreated to Dugald to capture the train under the frosty power lines.

I thought I’d try to catch them again before they arrived in Transcona. Respecting the 60 km/hr speed limit through Dugald, I was able to get ahead of them before Winnipeg.

By this time it was almost noon, but since it was January, the sun was still low enough in the sky to give some nice side light to the train.

I tried to capture the signals between cars but there just wasn’t enough room to fit them.

Satisfied, I headed home.

That was my one railfan outing in January. So far I’ve had one in February, but there’s still 10 days left in the month…

Just One More Thing

I just finished Sid Meier’s Memoir!, a great book by the famous video game creator.

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Sid is best known for writing the game Civilization, but he wrote so many more great games. He cofounded MicroProse, who released many games that became classics, like Pirates! and F-15 Strike Eagle and Master of Orion. Sid wrote a lot of the MicroProse games and became a leading figure in the game community.

Memoir! is a warm and witty look at Sid’s career in computer gaming. It proceeds linearly through his life, with each chapter showing the games he wrote during the period. For me it was a great trip down memory lane, from my Commodore 64 days onward.

Sid shares many observations about how computer games should be written, without being preachy. He seems like a very down-to-earth person, someone who loves computer games and loves sharing them with others.

I really enjoyed this book.

Buy Sid Meier’s Memoir! on Amazon