Railfan Stories

Stories about railfanning – trip reports and so forth. Any time I’m trackside and writing about it, it’ll be here.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

by

I have climbed the highest mountainsI have run through the fields…But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for– U2 I’m still searching for CP’s newly refurbished locomotives in the “maroon” and “military” schemes, commonly known as “heritage” paint schemes. These reconditioned SD90s, now designated as SD70ACu locomotives, are roaming the rails, but not in … Read more

Flashback: Last VIA Budd Train For a While

by

This is a repost. The original post was written in May 2006. I thought I’d freshen it up and resurface it for those who weren’t following this blog almost 14 years ago (gulp). Hope you like it! My comments and additions will be in italics. David Morris, Peter Gough, Ken McDonald and I decided to … Read more

Searching for the Maroon

by

Canadian Pacific Railway has been sending its old EMD SD90MAC away for rebuilding to Progress Rail in the USA. These SD90MACs were unreliable when delivered to CP (and Union Pacific) and were stored for years, many here in Winnipeg. Progress has been remanufacturing them into “SD70ACU” units; Norfolk Southern purchased some from UP for the … Read more

First Trains of a New Decade

by

Happy new year! And happy new decade*! I was taking my daughter to her work this morning, and as I have been doing over this holiday season, I did a bit of railfanning after I dropped her off. This resulted in the first trains of 2020 for me. A quick drive west along the CN … Read more

Revisiting the Maritimes

by

I was in the Maritime provinces for a week in December 2019. Here are a few rail-related things I saw during my visit. Train Stations En route between Moncton, NB and Halifax, NS, I stopped at the train stations in Sackville, NB and Amherst, NS. They are not far from each other and are easily … Read more

Playing Leapfrog

by

I had the good fortune to follow an empty grain train down the CP Glenboro subdivision recently. I mentioned at the end of a recent post, Chasing an Oil Train, that I found something more interesting to chase and this was it. Aside: We railfans often talk about “chasing” trains. In some cases we are … Read more

2 UP

by

When I was younger, I used to drink 7 UP a lot. That lemon-lime flavoured drink was a favourite pop of mine. These days, when I drink pop (and I do, too much) I drink Diet Pepsi or Pepsi MAX. I find 7 UP too sweet now, plus I like caffeine. Anyway, I found two … Read more

Chasing an Oil Train

by

There once was a man from the prairie,Who admired the work of Mark Perry,He chased an oil trainAcross the open plainWas he up early? Very! – me I had the opportunity to do a little railfanning early in the morning after dropping my in-laws off at the airport. Since CP has been cranking out SD90 … Read more

Noise and Confusion

by

I was watching the progress of VIA Rail’s westbound Canadian (VIA 1) as it rolled through Ontario one Thursday morning, with growing interest. Under the current schedule, VIA 1 is due into Winnipeg at 7:30 PM, which in November after the time change is well after sunset. However, the Canadian on November 7th was running … Read more

Morning Light

by

In the previous post, Dark to Light, I covered my trip from Winnipeg to Dacotah along the CN Rivers subdivision. As the sky was starting to get bright, I arrived at Elie. Elie I’ve been to Elie’s grain elevator many times. It’s adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway and has been featured in many of my … Read more