RIP Raymond Kennedy

Canadian railway enthusiast and historian Raymond Kennedy died on November 26, 2024. He was 83. The Toronto Railway Historical Association shared the sad news on Facebook.

CPR 1238 for the Waterloo Central

The Waterloo Central Railway just announced that they have reached an agreement to purchase ex Canadian Pacific Railway steam engine #1238. This “Pacific” type steam locomotive operated on tourist railways in the USA for years, and has been resting in Winnipeg since 2015 at the Prairie Dog Central.

Dances and Daydreams – My New Book

Dances and Daydreams cover image

I’m pleased to announce that Dances and Daydreams, my fifth book, is now available as an eBook on Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited. Dances and Daydreams is a selection of my poetry, written between 1986 and 2022. It’s a little different than my other books, naturally… although there is one poem about trains. I will … Read more

Rail Park Finally Getting Built?

Aerial view of proposed Rail Park at CentrePort in Winnipeg

The CBC reported that Focus Equities Inc. has been engaged to build the Canada Rail Park. Winnipeg’s CentrePort is billed as a multi-model transport hub, located on the northwest edge of Winnipeg near the James Richardson airport. It has access to major highways, the airport, and three railways via CP’s Glenboro subdivision and through interswitching, CN and BNSF.

Timetable World

Railways operated on official timetables, issued a few times a year, and they still do in many locations. There are two types – public and employee. If you’ve taken a train, you’ve probably consulted the public one in some form or another. The employee timetable is far more detailed and gives a lot of information … Read more

New Rocky Mountaineer Route

The Rocky Mountaineer near Kamloops, BC

Rocky Mountain Railtours is advertising a new route for their luxury cruise train, the Rockies to the Red Rocks route. This route, slated to start a late and abbreviated season in August 2021, will see the train start in Denver, Colorado and proceed west through the Rocky Mountains to Moab, Utah with an overnight stop … Read more

Railway Coastal Museum Closing?!

The Railway Coastal Museum in St. John's

Via Twitter, I heard that the Railway Coastal Museum in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland was closing. Apparently the city of St. John’s is in a cash crunch, and to save money they’ve decided the museum has to go. I visited this beautiful building and toured the museum in 2016. It’s a great museum. Why Close … Read more

Train Derails East of Winnipeg

A westbound CN train derailed on the CN Sprague subdivision near Deacon’s Corner outside Winnipeg on the evening of July 30, 2020. Train train B781 had cleared the Lorette siding and was on the final stretch of track toward Symington Yard in Winnipeg when the centre of the train derailed. 26 cars of fertilizer derailed. … Read more

VIA 2 On The Move?

VIA Rail’s service across Canada was brought to a standstill due to the railway blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en pipeline protest. The blockades started on February 6 in response to an RCMP attempt to enforce a court injunction. The blockades popped up in numerous locations across the country. This forced the cancellation of numerous … Read more

VIA Rail To Get New Trains

VIA Rail has selected Siemens Canada to provide new trainsets for the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. These trains will replace the existing MLW-built LRC cars, built in the early 1980s. Siemens was selected over Quebec-based Bombardier. The LRC ( Light, Rapid, Comfortable or Léger, Rapide, et Confortable) cars were designed together with their locomotives to provide … Read more