Glory in the Sky

It was time to grab my camera and tripod and hit the road. The aurora was calling… and I had to answer.

Before I even left my driveway, my wife and I were outside our house, snapping away. I just upgraded to an iPhone 16 Pro and I am absolutely amazed by the night photography that it is capable of. The photo just above these words was taken with the iPhone, handheld, in my driveway in southern Winnipeg.

I decided to keep it simple and head for my reliable night-time spot, the CN Rivers subdivision west of Winnipeg. Lots of trains and wide open spaces.

The aurora was really popping on the night of October 7-8, 2024. I mentioned that I could see it from our driveway in the city. Outside the city… well, it was even better!

I took the photo below – again, with the iPhone 16 – to show the extent of the aurora. It was covering large parts of the sky.

I paused briefly at Diamond but headed 3.5 miles west to mile 17.9, my favourite location. It has signals facing both directions that are always lit, so they are good props.

Soon I saw a westbound train approaching, so it was “go time”.

It’s a tad overexposed but I am quite happy with it.

Very soon afterward, an eastbound train headed past toward Winnipeg on the other track.

I really liked how the lights of the train balanced the ribbons of the aurora.

As I was packing up to leave, another westbound train came rolling through. I overexposed the head end in my haste to get set back up, so I pivoted to get the “going away” shot of the train with the end-of-train device (EOT, FRED, whatever you want to call it) blinking away.

That was it for CN… for now. I headed north to the CP Carberry subdivision in Rosser, Manitoba.

Red and the CPR

The sky was amazing when I arrived there. Just stunning.

I’ve never seen red in the aurora before with my naked eyes. I was so blessed.

It was an astounding sight – even with no trains – and I’m glad I went up there.

It was after midnight and I needed to get home to grab some shut-eye, so I started driving back south. However, as I crossed the CN Rivers subdivision again, I saw headlights, so…

The Canadian

Unwittingly, I arrived trackside as the westbound VIA Rail Canadian was leaving the city. It doesn’t look much like a passenger train but that’s a stainless steel passenger train rolling past.

After that, it was definitely time to get home and try to calm down enough to get some sleep.

It was truly a great night to be outside.